take a vacation when its slow?

[huggytree]

when im slow my kids are in school....when in busy they are off for summer break

i have decided to sacrifice my kids education instead of losing $10k+ in income

not sure about this one or how long i will continue to take vacations in the middle of the school year...

another major benefit of taking kids out of school for vacations is that the vacation area's are dead....you can walk onto any ride at Disney-crowds are 1/2 or 1/3rd of peak season...

went to a water park hotel for a few days...today we were the only one's there in certain rooms.....it was awesome

the negs....my kid loses 7-10 days of school and the teachers complain

right now its 1 kid and he's in 1st grade, but in a few years ill have 3 school aged kids

opinions on if im a bad parent or a good businessman? im having a tough time taking a vacation in the middle of summer and losing $/killing myself to catch backup....i wont be much fun if im stressing about being too busy either.

maybe ill have an employee this summer and that will solve the problem

[Patrysha]

Well my kids likely have the crappiest attendance record ever...so I may not be one to talk...but I wouldn't be too concerned about what the teacher's say...they aren't going to miss out on so much over 7-10 days. I was out for over a month when I went to India when I was a kid (I had catch up work to do...can't remember now whether it was before or after though)

[billbenson]

I'm not a parent huggy, so take this as an idea from the outside looking in:

School education in general sucks from everything I read. Additionally I suspect there are a lot of online or other training programs that are good. As an example, Loretta Stone has a bunch of good language programs. You have a pc and a microfone and headset. You are asked a question and if you respond incorrectly or don't pronounce the words correctly you don't move on. This is something you could easily spend an hour or two at before the disney park and your child might learn more than he would in school.

Don't like language, I bet there are very good programs from everything but math to geography. Probably some kids adventure tours where they learn as well.

Like I said, I'm just throwing out ideas as I have no kids or experience in this areal. Still, seems like you could have a fun educational vacation?

[Spider]

There are a whole bunch of people who home-school their children. I have some friends who do that, on a permanent basis. If they can do it for entire school years, you can do it for a month. Get the curriculum from the school, mark up the text books according to the teachers' class plan and teach them yourself - before Space Mountain, and anything else.

I bet it would make a great vacation - a month skiing, plus apre-ski around the log fire, learning and teaching. Talk about "quality time!"

[vangogh]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong either. One week out of school isn't going to put your kids so far behind. You could always try it once and see how they do. You could also try and time it when there's a 3 day school weekend. President's Day is coming up next month. If you pick that week the kids are only out of school for 4 days.

Also depending on where you take them the experience could be more valuable than what they might have learned in school. A week near the water park probably won't, but if you were taking the kids to Europe or even a part of the U.S. they wouldn't ordinarily see the experience of being in a completely different environment and around completely different people would be pretty valuable. This may not be your thing, but if you were to visit New York and took the kids to a few museums during the week they'd get a decent education with everything they see.

[Steve B]

It won't be so easy after first grade. Missing 1 week of school at a higher grade may not be fair to the kids as the burden is on them to catch up and they suffer the stress. Missing a week of math can be very difficult to catch up on. The home school concept is completely different, when you say you're taking them out for a vacation, I'm assuming you're not going to be replacing that week with "home schooling".

I think at this age you can get away with it very easily (although it is likely against your truency laws and may force you to lie to the school about the reason for the absences). But, once they hit 3rd or 4th grade, I think you'll be adding to your kid's stress just so you can make more money. At least where I live, my kids often have 2 hours of homework per night once they hit 3rd grade. All of the homework must be completed - even when the kids aren't in school.

[greenoak]

steves view is correct for our schools....it would be a big burden on the kids ,especially in another year or 2, and maybe a truancy call for the parents.....
. here they are totally hyper on attendance , even when a kid is sick....it has to do with their federal money...we have a pre asthma grandchild and its a a hassle from the school as well as the health part...

[vangogh]

A big part of this depends on your kids and how well they do in school. Some kids won't skip a beat missing a week or so of school and it's no big deal to take them out for that time. Other kids will fall behind and it will be hard for them to catch up. Only you know which group your kids fall into. In the end you don't want your kids to suffer just to be able to take a week or so off when you want.

[KristineS]

I think you can also plan for being out of school. You can work with teachers to make a plan so that the kids don't get behind. Maybe they do a little work in advance, or stay after a few days when they get back. It's likely that you'll plan your trips, so you can work with the teachers to make sure everything gets covered.

[huggytree]

when i went to school i dont think i ever had homework....maybe 1-2x a month.....i had study hall and i remember listing to my walkman or reading books because i had nothing else to do....i know things have changed dramatically....

my kids go to a Catholic school, so things are much more strict and expectations are much higher....

maybe ill keep doing what im doing until its too big of a problem....right now its not in my opinion...

glad to hear im not a horrible parent.....

[Blessed]

I missed 2 weeks my senior year of high school for a family trip and it was brutal. I was one of 20 "valedictorians" graduating with a greater than 4.0 average because I took "honors" classes that were weighted heavier and even left high school with some college credit. All that to say, I was a good student - I had a lot of homework, but I always got it done and school was easy for me. I hate to think of how much more brutal those two weeks would have been if I had not been a good student.

I think you are right to say that you will keep doing what you are until it becomes a problem. Especially since we all know that vacations during non-peak times can be much more pleasant than vacations during the summer when everyone else is on vacation too - even more so if you have little ones to deal with too!

Just another idea - what about doing two or three "mini" vacations that coincide with the kids scheduled days off school - take advantage of the long weekends and hit some places closer to home - maybe pulling the kids out of school for only a day or two instead of a whole week or more.

[huggytree]

we do take some mini vacations (3 day)

high end vacations are very important to me.....its one of the reasons why i went into business...so i could afford something nice every year....cant do a high end vacation for 3 days.....its gotta be 7-10 days to be a good one....

this year were planning on a more boring-average type vacation...i may have something planned and wait to see if i have a slow week during the summer...something that can be planned w/ 1 weeks notice....thinking about the Dakota's....wife want Dollywood....or Dolly land or whatever its called...the whole smokey mountains thing....we will be driving this time for sure, so somewhere within 1-2 days drive...

[jamesray50]

What about taking your vacations during winter break or spring break? I think here they close the schools for 2 weeks for winter break, and 1 week for spring break.

[Blessed]

High-end vacations are nice and your kids will remember all the awesome things they were able to go do - which has a lot of value in and of itself.

You might have to start simply scratching out a week each summer - pick a week, fill it up on the appointment schedule with "vacation" and then schedule work around it. When you get around to hiring your assistant and getting them trained that will help out a lot in this regard - that way your business won't be totally out of commission when you are away.

[Spider]

Here's something for you guys to plan for and strive for - when you have grown your businesses to the point with a goodly number of employees and managers, there is cover for your vacations and the money to take them. I used to take a month vacation for Christmas/New Year and another month mid-summer. We flew First Class and visited such places as the Grand Canyon, winter skiing trips to Colorado and New Mexico, scuba diving in the Caribbean.

Yes, I know there are lots of reasons to remain a one-person or one+assistant business but vacations isn't one of them! When you are in business for yourself and by yourself, vacations cost you double - once for the cost of the vacation and again for the money you lost by not working.

No vacations or minimal vacations is part of the price you pay for choosing the micro-business format. But you get it back in other ways.

[huggytree]

i agree Spider

Im hoping to hire someone by the beginning of summer part time...

from what im learning if i hire 5 employees and get myself out of the field i will make less than i do by myself now......id have to hire 20 guys+ to get into a higher profit/ business running by itself situation....thats a big jump in thinking.......i know id have a heck of alot more stress with 5 employees...once your up to 20 employees id assume you hire someone to worry for you........getting to 20 may never be possible for me here......there are no large 'quality' shops....5-6 employees seems to be the max for the quality minded shops.......all the large shops are cheap/hack companies...slap it in and move on to the next job...

when someone completes their kitchen they wont wait 10 days for me to install their kitchen sink...it has to be within 2 days or even 1......new homes could wait until i returned...but there will ALWAYS be something that MUST be finished while im gone if i leave during a busy season....id have to line someone up...

[Spider]

It certainly does take a different pattern of thinking. Backing into it - as most small businesses try to do - is not, I think, the best way to go about it. When I say, backing into it, I mean growing from a sole operator, adding an emplyee here and there as the workload increases, and hiring a manager when the business has become too stressful, results in not enjoying one's business. I think one has to take a complete break and start again, or stay small.

For example, doing small jobs is good for the small business. A large business doing small jobs invariably has to cut corners and not provide the best service. Why? Because small jobs are best done by small businesses. A large business is better at handling large jobs. But that requires a totally different approach.