Independent study: Taking 7th grader overseas for two weeks

Do you have experience taking your middle schooler out of the country during the school year?

What sort of preparation did you do and how was the experience overall?

I'm taking my son to Japan for 2 weeks in early November. We are in the WCCUSD, at Korematsu.

Thank you!

[Moderator Note] See "Taking Kids out of School for Family Trips" for past advice about this, including a similar question from a week ago.

Parent Replies

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Go to the office. Tell them you will be gone for two weeks and you want an independent study. Each teacher should give you work to complete the independent study requirement.  

Hi.  My best advice is to bring a kindle with a lot of already downloaded.  Reading is just as beneficial, if not more so, than doing classwork!

We took our 7th grader to Israel for 2 weeks during the school year. He attends a private school. He/we arranged with each teacher to give a talk or slide show about a topic relevant from his trip. For Geography he spoke for 5-10 minutes about the Stalagmites we saw in a cave, in Math he talked about the steps of masada, etc. Much more educational for him and his peers than doing paperwork!

If you sign up for Independent Study (go to office, get teacher's assignments, and hand them in when you get back), the school will NOT loose the daily attendance money, it will loose if you do not do this.