Hi Guys, Daniel Holme wrote:
It's not so strict in the UK, I mean I will still have to coerce the school to give my son 'authorised absence' but I know of other parents that have done this for other reasons, extended holidays in far away countries for example.
some countries (like Germany) have compulsory school attendance, others (like the U.S., UK as well I think) "only" compulsory education (I say "only" because I personally would prefer your system). So, for example, homeschooling is not allowed in Germany. Unfortunately, this makes it quite more difficult for us Old Europe Germans. :-) So there are little options. We could have them take a fake sick leave, but I think we shouldn't teach our kids it is possible to go a long way with lying. Or we could try to convince the school and have a permit. AFAICS, some schools are quite liberal, but most are strict. If the school doesn't permit and we will go anyway to RIPE with the kids, the school may report this to the local authorities, which may fine the parents (or even harder penalties, in repeating cases). This really sucks. I don't yet know what I will do. Maybe I will face confrontation with school and local authorities. For now I'm quite happy my Emily is just 4 (but BTW, Vienna is her 5th RIPE meeting, maybe she is the record holder :-) and I not yet have this kind of problems. And Emily will at least join Ljubljana as well. :-) bye, rolf