.. my advice is to go for it !! We took our three kids (11, 8 3/4, 6 1/2) last July / Aug. We took them out of school for 2 1/2 weeks as the cost of the trip so much more during the high season. At the time I felt that they would learn more in Bali than they would at school and it has turned out to be SO true. The whole experience has really opened their eyes to a 'world outlook' and even now 6mths later they are still talking excitedly about the trip. When asked at New Years what the best thing to happen to them in 2005 was they all replied Bali !!! As for missing school - at school each month my 6yr old daughter has an exercise where they have 10mins to write as many words as they can remember / spell - between her July & August assessments her vocabulary improved to include a whole pile of new words including ... Bali, hotel, airport, pool, monkey, snake, restaurant, taxi etc.
We are planning on returning in May this year and while the kids are staying behind (its our 15th anniversary!) Id take them again in a heartbeat !!
Sheryl in NZ