Totally agree. I also feel that family trips should at least be considered an excused absence. (At least in the US it's not) If you take your children on holiday to Italy for a week, don't you think that they'll learn more about the culture and history than they will from a book? I understand that there needs to be guidelines to go along with it, but I can't see not taking my child on a once in a lifetime trip because he'll miss a math test.