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A long-time insider goes behind the scenes to find out how teachers really feel when you pull kids out of school to travel.

Walking down the street one day, I passed a man smoking a pipe. As the sweet aroma of the tobacco reached me, I was overwhelmed by a memory -- the smell took me straight back to the suq in Jerusalem, the crowded, noisy marketplace I hadn't thought of once since I had been there. The intensity of the childhood memory strikes me even now, almost 20 years later and a mother of two, reminding me of how children learn: with all of their senses.

There is no question that travel is deepening, broadening, educational and fun for kids. As soon as they get past the age when traveling is easiest -- tuck them into the Snuggli or backpack and you can take them anywhere -- it becomes illuminating. Even something as prosaic as an airplane ride becomes a revelation; watching my 4-year-old son look out the window down onto Long Island as we approach JFK International Airport and getting it. This is geography; the map, for once, is the territory!

The Choice = School vs. Travel

Most teachers and school administrators agree that travel is wonderful for kids. They also agree that, ideally, trips should be planned for school vacations. But as usual, between the ideal and the real falls the shadow; family, professional and school life is a complex mix, and coordinating them all usually means that something will have to give. Quite often, it is the school schedule that is sacrificed, and it is important to consider the implications when making that choice.

In 7th grade, I was taken out of my Los Altos, California school to join a 10-day tour of Israel with my sister and father. What did I learn?

Naturally, the camel ride, the Dead Sea, the felafels, the languages, sights and smells opened up the whole world of other and difference to my 11-year-old self. But at the same time, the experience triggered a deep sense of sameness and identity as I discovered myself, my history and my culture through songs, synagogues and sites.

What did I miss at school?

Well, since I remember nothing of what I learned in my 7th grade classes, probably not much. My older sister may well have gotten a lot less out of our Israel jaunt than I did as, on top of everything else, she spent the trip pining for her new boyfriend.