Originally Posted by Portia
We also attended a school in which the field trips were considered required and parents were not allowed to attend (especially the overnights, which freaked me out in a big way since they started those in 4th grade). If the child did not attend the field trip, then they received a zero for that day. DS was so far ahead, who cared?

I always managed to schedule a doctor appointment those days.

I figure that very few things in life are MUST dos. How DS handles different situations can be dicey without me there. So I figure it's my call - not the school's (who treats everyone the same).

Whoah I am really shocked that this can happen. Are these private schools? Quite honestly, my parents, who were seriously not great parents and who were of the era of 'benign neglect' were never comfortable with us doing anything over-night. As we got older they relented, of course, if we really wanted to campfire girls camp weekend, etc. But let me tell you NO ONE would have MADE them send their kids away overnight at any age. They were seriously uncomfortable with that. Actually our very first, first grade field trip my brother and I were called out sick for because my parents were not comfortable with us going. My mom was so pissed when I had admitted to the nun (who did grill me on it) that we weren't really sick that day but rather my parents weren't comfortable sending us on the field trip. Anyway, I am really, really shocked schools would insist on stuff like this. People should challenge this stuff legally. When a kid is under the age of 18 I would highly doubt that any court would allow a school to veritably force parents to send their children off of school grounds or away overnight. Quite frankly, after a terrible bout with bed bugs brought home from a retreat place (and literally thousands of dollars spent in damage and extermination costs) I am not keen on sending my boys to any camps anywhere for that reason for quite awhile even though they would love it. Of course I have the additional problem with life-threatening allergies with one of them - another reason I'd be really unhappy with such a policy. I just do not think it is right that a school could compel kids to go places off school grounds or overnight and punish them if they do not. My kids love to do them (and the older loves to go places overnight) but I find such a compulsion to really be an assault on parental rights.

Last edited by Irena; 06/11/14 07:16 AM.