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Location: Oklahoma | The Child Gone Wild has really good grades and does her homework PRIOR to taking off for a weekend barrel race. I am having trouble with the school. We had a meeting today to discuss getting her absence situation figured out. I was informed that they have 2 athletes working toward Olympic try outs that miss a lot of school due their practice, etc., but I'm being hassled over the Child Gone Wild and her barrel racing. Mind you, this is middle school, we haven't hit high school yet.
Any guidance / info here? She could be home schooled, but then I would need medication or start drinking because that would make me nuttier than I already am! ;)
I will be prank calling my teacher friends, but I thought I would start here.
Edited by Pocob 2015-11-05 1:58 PM
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: London Ontario | There was a really neat letter floating around for parents for their teachers explaining how important this sport is. it also gave the parents contact info and the dates they would be missing so the teacher knew in advance. Maybe try googling it? |
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 Extreme Veteran
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Location: Northwest Florida | She could do what I did - make friends with a doctor's kid. Get all the written Dr excuses you need. Let the barrel racing begin. 
On a serious note- If they won't excuse them the only option I would know of is homeschooling. It's hard to say, whether or not I agree with the public school attendance policy. On one hand, it seems if they can keep their grades up then attendance shouldn't matter. On the other hand, school is meant to prepare you for college or a career, both of which require attendance. Good luck to you and Child Gone Wild! |
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 Strong Willed Woman
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Location: Prosser, WA | Good luck. Always interesting how schools pick and choose what is an acceptable absence and what is not. |
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 Accident Prone
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Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | BigStarBound - 2015-11-03 2:49 PM She could do what I did - make friends with a doctor's kid. Get all the written Dr excuses you need. Let the barrel racing begin. On a serious note- If they won't excuse them the only option I would know of is homeschooling. It's hard to say, whether or not I agree with the public school attendance policy. On one hand, it seems if they can keep their grades up then attendance shouldn't matter. On the other hand, school is meant to prepare you for college or a career, both of which require attendance. Good luck to you and Child Gone Wild!
Edited by Three 4 Luck 2015-11-03 3:06 PM
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Professional Amateur
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Location: Oklahoma | Exactly! I even told them I am preparing her for college and a career. She knows how to communicate, schedule, budget, cook, clean, keep track of things and be responsible. There are other kids in her school already pregnant (this is middle school. . 6th grade!), some kids do not have good grades and do not have engaged parents that are raising productive citizens. She is not an academic problem, behavior problem, etc. She's a good kid. They took her out of class and put her into "In School Detention" and counted that as an additional absence because she was in detention! I was informed today that it doesn't really matter at this point if she fails all of those classes because she will not be held back. Middle school doesn't count for transcripts she will just not be able to make honor roll, etc. They cannot take her knowledge away from her. SMH  |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: London Ontario | Shut the front door...6TH GRADE?!!?!?!?1 |
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Location: Oklahoma | Had the same problem in high school, I had good grades and had a ton of absences. I ended up getting my Ag teacher to excuse my absences, he said he could excuse them because the events I hauled to had a state finals. He said that if they wanted to push the issue we could make them form a high school rodeo team and the school would have to buy a truck and trailer. I don't know if what he said was really true, but it might be an angle you could try.
Edited by Zinger 2015-11-03 3:11 PM
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| Every state and school board/district attendance policies are different.
Contract school work is something you may want to look into if your district offers it. You can pull a contract for "x" amount of days, this allows a student to complete their work while on the road and still get attendance credit for it. The downfall is some district and states limit how many times a student can be out on a contract throughout a year. Our district requires a contract for a minimum of 5 consecutive days and a maximum of 10. I do believe however, they can pull as many contracts as necessary.
When I was in high school I had a boy in one of my classes who was trying to qualify for the Winter Olympics. Because of his traveling schedule the school board made a special exemption for him. For the exemption he had to petition the school board, attend the school board meeting and prove that he was a serious competitor. For the exemption he had to attend school every day he was not on the road or have a doctor's note stating he was not able to attend school, he had to complete all of his school work on time, maintain a 3.0 gpa and document what he was doing on the days he did not attend. I don't remember what the exemption was actually called. This was, dare I say, 15 years ago so it's possible this is no longer a viable resource.
Be careful with the attendance issue, some district can and do hold parents financially responsible or have the court sentence them to jail time. It's a load of bull and exceptions should be made when a student is thriving academically.
Homeschooling, or a private academy ($$$) might be your best bet if you want to avoid being the dog or pony in a circus act.
Edited by cyount2009 2015-11-03 3:22 PM
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| In Texas you can only miss some many days per semester or you do not get credit for the semester. It is like 8 days. One friend of mine went to a Christian school so she could miss when she had rodeos. Find an accredited private school |
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Location: Willows, CA | We had the same issues with my daughters when they were in High School. They went to the High School Rodeo National Finals five times between the two of them. The school liked to make a big deal about absences even though they had great grades. You are right about ADA money being a big thing. My youngest daughter won the High School Finals her senior year, and the school then made a big deal about having a National Champion. They want it both ways. |
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 Porta Potty Pants
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| My niece and nephew homeschool. Not sure what program they use but they travel all the time. Works for them. Wouldn't work for my son as he is a social kid and not into rodeo ...
Edited by azsun 2015-11-03 3:29 PM
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Professional Amateur
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Location: Oklahoma | I'll get it all lined out for this semester and I don't see it being an issue in the future, but the Child Gone While earned her honor roll grades, etc. and she is going to keep that status because I will fight for her to keep it. This is not her fault. Trying to take away what I have taught her to work for (good grades and what she gives up in order to barrel race). In order to succeed you need to be disciplined. She gives up school dances and other activities to focus on riding. We have been in communication with the school since before school started and asking what we needed to do to prevent any issues. We have been doing what we were told to do and gotten conflicting instructions from the school. When I mentioned home schooling. . I was told NO. .we will work with you, she's a good student. Yup, she has good state test scores.
I was just seeing what other people have done to get through this. Usually it's not a big deal. She doesn't get sick and uses her days for barrel races.
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 Off the Wall Wacky
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Location: Louisiana | Zinger - 2015-11-03 3:09 PM Had the same problem in high school, I had good grades and had a ton of absences. I ended up getting my Ag teacher to excuse my absences, he said he could excuse them because the events I hauled to had a state finals. He said that if they wanted to push the issue we could make them form a high school rodeo team and the school would have to buy a truck and trailer. I don't know if what he said was really true, but it might be an angle you could try.
Totally illegal but my Ag teacher would cover for me. She'd write a note to my last hour teacher, saying I had a project or something to work on in her class. I'd go out the back and mama would slow down and I'd jump in lol.
We were a small school and I was one of their "money kids", I made straight As, was in gifted classes, taking college classes, and had the highest ACT scores in my class. So they kinda ignored my antics lol. |
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I AM being nice
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Location: MD | My high school (and middle school) had exemptions in place for those who were working towards a career. I could get absences excused, but had to turn in copies of entries, proving that I was going to attend a show. I also had to jump through a billion other hoops. I had a private tutor on the road and always had my work done on time, if not ahead. There were still a couple of semesters when I had to appeal to the school board for having missed too many days, but they were always taken care of. |
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Location: Iowa | If it's a public school, homeschool her when she has to be on the road. When things slow down, re enroll her. They will excuse the time she's gone because they won't want to do the paper work everytime you pull her and re enter her into the public school system. I've seen kids come and go 4'xs in a school year.
Edited by memory 2015-11-03 5:07 PM
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| I'm from Indiana, and am now a college freshmen. I started hauling competitively when I was a sophomore in high school. I did miss a lot of school. I was an average A/B student with an attitude, it was my way or the high way and the school knew that I didn't give two flying craps what they had to say about it. I was on an 'attendance contract' for basically all year, and had probably 30 after school detentions assigned to me. know how many I went to?? a big whopping ZERO. I told them to bite me, and shove all of them where the sun don't shine. I got my academic honors diploma in May and was in the top third of my class. That worked for me, but I'm also from a small town and as a senior, my history teacher became the dean of students and let me do whatever without a single word about it. haha He rocked. |
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| Meanwhile theyre letting Kaitlyn Jennar wannabes full access to locker rooms in schools. Private or internet school is the only way to go. |
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Location: Texas | I am totally going to be the odd man out on this one. I am so happy that your kiddo is making great grade that is awesome! And I will also say being around the horses and hauling is probably making her somewhat responsible. BUT what you you really teaching her about rules and respect for rules. If the school says you have to be there X amount of days is t it irresponsible to say to her " don't mind them we have a rodeo to go to". Depending on what kind of career she goes I to she may not be able to have such a flexible schedule. With the precedence you are setting I see a lot of calling in sick or having to change jobs in her future. That's just my take and I wasn't brought up from a young age around horses but it seems to me school should be your first and foremost concern for your daughter as that is where colleges and future employers will look. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
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Location: In the Hills of Texas | I think all kids need to suffer like I did and have to attend school and ride a bus an hour in the morning and an hour at night. LOL |
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Professional Amateur
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Location: Oklahoma | barrelbasher - 2015-11-03 6:15 PM I am totally going to be the odd man out on this one. I am so happy that your kiddo is making great grade that is awesome! And I will also say being around the horses and hauling is probably making her somewhat responsible. BUT what you you really teaching her about rules and respect for rules. If the school says you have to be there X amount of days is t it irresponsible to say to her " don't mind them we have a rodeo to go to". Depending on what kind of career she goes I to she may not be able to have such a flexible schedule. With the precedence you are setting I see a lot of calling in sick or having to change jobs in her future. That's just my take and I wasn't brought up from a young age around horses but it seems to me school should be your first and foremost concern for your daughter as that is where colleges and future employers will look.
She has been raised being told she has to have academic scholarships and knows about making schedules with vacation days, sick days, and holidays. I tell her there are difficult people everywhere and going to school prepares her for a job etc. The problem has been the school has mis-communicated with us on numerous occassions and we are getting different answers from different people about what we needed to do. We plan in advance and do her work prior to her taking off. We have followed instructions and I was informed by the school "we have failed you". . . when I had the first issue. This just happened to be another issue. I am getting it fixed and do not see any issues in the future. The school has taken the "it's no big deal.. .we will get it figured out". . . That's not how I work. I have a military background and have been a paralegal for over 25 years. When I am told something, I expect follow through. 3 people telling me 3 different things and it effects my child, not acceptable.
And she'll probably be an attorney. She'll pay her dues.
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
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| Nevertooold - 2015-11-03 6:20 PM I think all kids need to suffer like I did and have to attend school and ride a bus an hour in the morning and an hour at night. LOL
Allmost as bad, I rode for 30 min in the morning and little over an hour at night.
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I just read the headlines
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| barrelbasher - 2015-11-03 6:15 PM
I am totally going to be the odd man out on this one. I am so happy that your kiddo is making great grade that is awesome! And I will also say being around the horses and hauling is probably making her somewhat responsible. BUT what you you really teaching her about rules and respect for rules. If the school says you have to be there X amount of days is t it irresponsible to say to her " don't mind them we have a rodeo to go to". Depending on what kind of career she goes I to she may not be able to have such a flexible schedule. With the precedence you are setting I see a lot of calling in sick or having to change jobs in her future. That's just my take and I wasn't brought up from a young age around horses but it seems to me school should be your first and foremost concern for your daughter as that is where colleges and future employers will look.
I agree with the above. My parents told us that school was our job and rodeo and sports were a privilege. We would leave immediately after school to go to the rodeos. The rodeos were really good about working with the kids. Usually the local kids were in the perf on Thursday and Friday, the rest of the kids were up in slack. |
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Nut Case Expert
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Location: Tulsa, Ok | Oklahoma requires not only passing grades but also a certain attendance level before a student "passes" each grade level. Try calling the State Board of Education of the State Superintendent of Education to get the real/true facts so that you are completely armed to deal with the local district. |
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10D Crack Champion
| Three 4 Luck - 2015-11-03 3:02 PM BigStarBound - 2015-11-03 2:49 PM She could do what I did - make friends with a doctor's kid. Get all the written Dr excuses you need. Let the barrel racing begin. On a serious note- If they won't excuse them the only option I would know of is homeschooling. It's hard to say, whether or not I agree with the public school attendance policy. On one hand, it seems if they can keep their grades up then attendance shouldn't matter. On the other hand, school is meant to prepare you for college or a career, both of which require attendance. Good luck to you and Child Gone Wild!
Edited by sodapop 2015-11-03 9:33 PM
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| barrelbasher - 2015-11-03 6:15 PM
I am totally going to be the odd man out on this one. I am so happy that your kiddo is making great grade that is awesome! And I will also say being around the horses and hauling is probably making her somewhat responsible. BUT what you you really teaching her about rules and respect for rules. If the school says you have to be there X amount of days is t it irresponsible to say to her " don't mind them we have a rodeo to go to". Depending on what kind of career she goes I to she may not be able to have such a flexible schedule. With the precedence you are setting I see a lot of calling in sick or having to change jobs in her future. That's just my take and I wasn't brought up from a young age around horses but it seems to me school should be your first and foremost concern for your daughter as that is where colleges and future employers will look.
Being a teacher, I really have to agree. |
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10D Crack Champion
| SC Wrangler - 2015-11-03 7:35 PM Oklahoma requires not only passing grades but also a certain attendance level before a student "passes" each grade level. Try calling the State Board of Education of the State Superintendent of Education to get the real/true facts so that you are completely armed to deal with the local district. 10 absences per semester. There are roughly 18 weeks in each semester and approximately 36 weeks per year. If you pick and choose the rodeos carefully, I would think the absences could stay under the limit. I don't know which rodeos or how far they are traveling. I would also look into how many days individual sports teams in the school miss per semester. If you stay within the limits allowed for an indivdual school sport team, you should be ok.
...........could also consider enrolling in a school using a 4 day week schedule. The 4 day week schools go a longer day and maybe an extra week to get the necessary hours, but most on this schedule love it. Those schools are usually off on Friday. Then you are already out on Friday. ....... not missing a school day and accumulating an absence. More and more schools are going to 4 days weeks. There may be one in the area. They say there are less absences for appointments, extracurricular activities, etc.
Edited by sodapop 2015-11-03 9:45 PM
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 Expert
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Location: on my horse | No real but here's the article someone mentioned http://eventingnation.com/an-open-letter-to-my-daughters-teacher/
I was a kid a lot like your daughter, I took tons of time off school to work (dad had a lot of surgeries and was unemployed and hospitalized for a while), run barrels, and compete at the national level in 4-H knowledge competitions as well as public speaking. I graduated in the top ten in my class (class of 398), had a 4.2 weighted GPA, started college as a sophomore, have graduated college, am slowly seeking another degree, own my own business, and currently work at a corporate office and successfully maintain their schedule and am extremely efficient in completing my work. I think that that lifestyle has actually helped me become the adult I am today.
There are negatives and positives to being a student and also having a full and busy adult-like life outside the classroom (what I did and what your daughter is doing) however I see the positives as outweighing the negatives. School is EXTREMELY important, however being able to manage school, which eventually will turn into a real adult paying job, and keep your priorities in check and your life in balance is a skill that's also important.
She's learning that not only is her school work important, but through your actions to help keep her in school and also participating in other activities, she's learning balance in her life and I'm sure she can see the emphasis you place on education.
As far as I'm concerned, education comes from many places, including the classroom but also the road. I know that if I had been a "normal" kid and gone to school every day, came home, rode my horses etc but didn't compete or work or anything like that I wouldn't be nearly as responsible/mature and definitely wouldn't be as good of a time manager as I am. A low grade isn't the end of the world, missing a barrel race isn't the end of the world, and living in both spectrums from a young age shows you that there's more to life than those things.
ETA: my passions outside of school fueled my passion for education, as well as the other way around. Without my horse and adult life driving me to be successful in school I could have easily seen myself becoming bored and lacking effort. My drive to become a better and more disciplined student in order to participate in outside life made me a better competitor.
These are things that I would try to demonstrate to your daughter's school, if you can prove that she is functioning above and beyond her requirements with entry fees, her personal budget, information about time management etc. I think she'll be able to blow the schools doors off with her maturity and level of responsibility. The more involved she is as an advocate for her own education as well as time outside the classroom, the better this will go I think.
Edited by redmansmyman11 2015-11-04 2:07 AM
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Location: Foot of the Smoky Mtns, East Tennessee | Where we live the parents can go to jail if the kid misses too much (that includes being late and leaving early). I home school now and it was the best decision I ever made. I was really worried about it at first but it's been great. My daughter is a Sophomore this year and I figured we would butt heads but it's brought us closer together. We have a routine and it works for us. We get up, feed and take care of horses, her school and then free for rest of day. Our whole family races and rodeos so there's literally something every weekend. If we have something on Friday, we usually just do an extra subject a day that week or something so that she doesn't have school on Friday to free us up. You have to do your research about which program you want to use though. Some only award GED's and not diplomas. The one we chose has an actual graduation ceremony and everything. We love it and I think we made the right decision.
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| Here in Florida there is "virtual school" that the kids can take online. I know allot of kids who rodeo and travel with their horses allot do this. |
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: East Texas | Ok, you brought up several points throughout this conversation. Since you gave you back ground, I will give you mine to help understand where this reply is coming from. I have been a HS science teacher/head coach for the last 20 years. I have taught from small to big schools in multiple states and have dealt with students/athletes who have outside interest as well as my own kids.
First you mentioned that you have had multiple answers from multiple people. Find the one who makes the final decision. This is usually the principal. Talk to them and work out your solution. Before you have that conversation, you need to sit down and ask yourself what is it that you really want.
The first thing I would address would be the In School Det. Try to find a way to get the absences that you know ahead of time and work completed to excused, not counted if you are competing on that day, etc. because this leads to more missed class time and punishment for competing. From your post it sounds like you are missing a lot of school, and only going when it is convenient. You have not said, but you may have to make some show of sacrifice on your part to the school and stay in schools some Fridays and drive through the night to get to a weekend event.
You brought up wanting to make sure she was recognized for being a Honor Roll student, and that she had to get academic scholarships and not a rodeo scholarship. If that is the case, you may have a decision to make as to which is more important. Do you want to concentrate on rodeo or academics. Hard decision to make with a kid that young. I tell parents to do everything you want until competition proves otherwise.
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Miss Southern Sunshine
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Location: South Central Florida | We Home Schooled all 12 years, 2 kids. Loved every second of it. Both kidos have multipal college degrees.
The reason for "attendance" issues is financial for the schools. I say you are only a kid once...go rodeo!!!
If you can learn and keep your grades up, why do you have to sit for hours and hours...just because!
There are a million types of jobs available in the world, only some where you have to sit all day long. I would go crazy...oh, yeah, I did. Lots of different learning types, lots of different job types, lots of different personalities. I don't understand why people believe that EVERYONE has to learn in the same way and same situation.
ENJOY the childhood!!! GO RODEO
Also, you can get acc scholarhips even when you are Home Schooled, or use an online program. Once again, lots of different types of money available. AND one of mine did full ride rodeo scholarship. The other did almost full ride Band scholarship. Plus a ton of other types!!!
Edited by Swannranch 2015-11-04 12:15 PM
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10D Crack Champion
| mattslilwonder - 2015-11-04 7:12 AM
Here in Florida there is "virtual school" that the kids can take online. I know allot of kids who rodeo and travel with their horses allot do this.
There are online schools in Oklahoma. Many districts offer Virtual school too.
Edited by sodapop 2015-11-04 10:15 PM
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Professional Amateur
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Location: Oklahoma | UPDATE: Everything is fixed and corrected. The Child Gone Wild will have missed 7 days of school this semester (including the future days she will miss with events coming up). She has met her hauling goals for 2015 and this will not be an issue for us in the future. She told me to pro rodeo more and she has no desire to be in a trailer race again!!! She will help keep horses legged up and hit enough races to qualify for her associatiion finals, but she is road foundered! 
The Principal did ask me to get him some additional information because he has this same issue with other kids that rodeo, so I am working with him to help other families, and prevent the confusion with his staff in the future.
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Miss Southern Sunshine
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Location: South Central Florida | This is so GREAT, not that she is road foundered...but that the school wants more information. I truly wish the education was the focus, not the hours spent in the room, no matter what the sport or life situation!!! |
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 Color My World
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Location: My perfect world bubble | I know the kid in this article... 
Edited by Paintbrlrcr 2015-11-06 3:27 PM
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Accident Prone
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Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Swannranch - 2015-11-05 8:20 PM This is so GREAT, not that she is road foundered...but that the school wants more information. I truly wish the education was the focus, not the hours spent in the room, no matter what the sport or life situation!!!
The education bureaucracy has lost sight of its purpose, but that's a whole other can of worms. BTW, our local public school allows 5 absences per semester before they report you to the DA and let them deal with you. 5. I would love to know who thought that was a good idea. |
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Location: on my horse | Paintbrlrcr - 2015-11-06 2:26 PM
I know the kid in this article...
yours isn't she? |
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Extreme Veteran
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| While I agree with some of the others that school should be a priority (and I teach my kids that their grades and school come first), to me the issue here should be the fact that the school allows students to miss for other sports but don't allow for rodeo. To us, rodeo is a sport - she will gain access to scholarships just as football players, band members, basketball players, etc. And since others have mentioned that school prepares her for college, many colleges now have rodeo teams and are allowed absenses based on that. She sounds responsible enough to know that in order to go to her rodeos she needs to complete all assignments before-hand and maintain good grades. To the parent - I say to fight it if it continues to be an issue. If they are allowing kids training for the olympics to miss school, then the same should be allowed for your rodeo child. |
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10D Crack Champion
| Texas54 - 2015-11-07 11:02 AMWhile I agree with some of the others that school should be a priority (and I teach my kids that their grades and school come first), to me the issue here should be the fact that the school allows students to miss for other sports but don't allow for rodeo. To us, rodeo is a sport - she will gain access to scholarships just as football players, band members, basketball players, etc. And since others have mentioned that school prepares her for college, many colleges now have rodeo teams and are allowed absenses based on that. She sounds responsible enough to know that in order to go to her rodeos she needs to complete all assignments before-hand and maintain good grades. To the parent - I say to fight it if it continues to be an issue. If they are allowing kids training for the olympics to miss school, then the same should be allowed for your rodeo child. She updated and said all was good. I assume they settled everything. She said she was assisting administration in understanding absences for rodeo with her child as well as others in the district.
Edited by sodapop 2015-11-07 1:41 PM
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 My Heart Be Happy
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Location: Arkansas | redmansmyman11 - 2015-11-04 2:01 AM
No real but here's the article someone mentioned http://eventingnation.com/an-open-letter-to-my-daughters-teacher/
I was a kid a lot like your daughter, I took tons of time off school to work (dad had a lot of surgeries and was unemployed and hospitalized for a while ), run barrels, and compete at the national level in 4-H knowledge competitions as well as public speaking. I graduated in the top ten in my class (class of 398 ), had a 4.2 weighted GPA, started college as a sophomore, have graduated college, am slowly seeking another degree, own my own business, and currently work at a corporate office and successfully maintain their schedule and am extremely efficient in completing my work. I think that that lifestyle has actually helped me become the adult I am today.
There are negatives and positives to being a student and also having a full and busy adult-like life outside the classroom (what I did and what your daughter is doing ) however I see the positives as outweighing the negatives. School is EXTREMELY important, however being able to manage school, which eventually will turn into a real adult paying job, and keep your priorities in check and your life in balance is a skill that's also important.
She's learning that not only is her school work important, but through your actions to help keep her in school and also participating in other activities, she's learning balance in her life and I'm sure she can see the emphasis you place on education.
As far as I'm concerned, education comes from many places, including the classroom but also the road. I know that if I had been a "normal" kid and gone to school every day, came home, rode my horses etc but didn't compete or work or anything like that I wouldn't be nearly as responsible/mature and definitely wouldn't be as good of a time manager as I am. A low grade isn't the end of the world, missing a barrel race isn't the end of the world, and living in both spectrums from a young age shows you that there's more to life than those things.
ETA: my passions outside of school fueled my passion for education, as well as the other way around. Without my horse and adult life driving me to be successful in school I could have easily seen myself becoming bored and lacking effort. My drive to become a better and more disciplined student in order to participate in outside life made me a better competitor.
These are things that I would try to demonstrate to your daughter's school, if you can prove that she is functioning above and beyond her requirements with entry fees, her personal budget, information about time management etc. I think she'll be able to blow the schools doors off with her maturity and level of responsibility. The more involved she is as an advocate for her own education as well as time outside the classroom, the better this will go I think.
Very very well said |
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Color My World
Posts: 4940
Location: My perfect world bubble | redmansmyman11 - 2015-11-06 10:44 PM Paintbrlrcr - 2015-11-06 2:26 PM I know the kid in this article... yours isn't she?
She is! |
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School Attendance, Barrel Racing and Rodeo - UPDATED