Having recently visited Orlando during the busy school holidays I wondered why more parents don't take there children away during term time. Now I am not saying I agree with kids missing out on schooling but when the airlines increase there prices by around 25% for flights during the school holiday it's makes you think.
Why go when everyone else is there, the ques are bigger and generally everything is busier!
I did a quote from one of the big airlines for 2 adults and 2 children for dates in July/August and September (flight only 14 nights) and the difference was around £800 which is a big saving (almost the cost of the accommodation). I know that parents can be fined if children miss school during term time but after reading the below article in the Daily Mail Online it sounds like if you speak to the teachers and tell them what is happening you can't be fined.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
There are lots of comments at the bottom of the article which are really interesting but the best one and one I agree with is this
"Fines for taking your children out of school in term time is not the way to solve truancy.The majority of children who take term time holidays have a good school record for behaviour and a good attendacy record. All these fines do is stop parents of low/middle incomes being able to go on holiday with their families. Which means the children miss out on visiting different parts of our country and other countries, experiences of doing and seeing things that they don't normally get to do. Most importantly spending time with family and making lifetime memories of family holidays - marie, colchester, england, 20/2/2012 14:33"
As a child I was fortunate enough to visit alot of different countries with my parent and having those experiences of different cultures, food and languages made me a more open minded and well rounded person which I don't think you can learn at school.