Do You Take Your Kids Out of School to Go to Disneyland?

[missbrooke06]

Of course not. An illness or a death in the family is not something you can plan for. And then you have to leave. A vacation can be taken at times when a child is not at school. I think it's funny people who say that all kids deserve a vacation. I have taught students who are so poor, they haven't ever even gone to a restaurant, let alone a vacation. Disney trips are truly a privilege that we are lucky to have. I think we often forget that.

Okay, I still think those kids deserve a vacation (and a stable home, consistent meals, anything else they're lacking). Not sure how not being able to take a vacation means that one isn't deserved...

 

[beachdreamr1229]

I'm curious what grade you teach. As a fifth grade teacher, there is no way I could plan my lessons weeks in advance. We sometimes don't get to a lesson and then we are behind. I'm still teaching plans I made before Christmas because my kids didn't get the math. I don't care if anybody takes their kids out. My point is don't come to me expecting me to feel sympathy for your child when they fail a test because they weren't here. Or ask me to tutor your child because they weren't here. Or give extra work. If you want to leave, have at it, but don't expect me to do extra work. I do wish, though, that people would respect the job that teachers do. You can't replicate the teaching in the classroom by going to Disneyland. 99 percent of what you do at Disneyland is not educational. Many of these posts end up being I can yank my kid because I can do a few worksheets and make up the work. What I do is far beyond a few worksheets. And elementary school does do important work. We lay the ground work for middle and high school. Is one week going to hurt your child? Depends on the child. But respect the teachers.

I don't want to hijack the thread, so I'll be brief just so I can respond and leave it. I teach high school special education, 9th-12th grade, all subjects. With the new common core curriculum, the opportunities are even more abundant to adapt lessons to a student's outside of school experiences. Here's a link to a website that has a few lesson plans that are pretty creative. Mine are all on my work computer or I'd share them, too. http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=disneyland

NOW back to the actual topic, which is probably far more productive than discussing responsibility, teaching, and taking your kid out of school.

 

[CheshireGato]

Like students, some teachers are better than others. Some teachers may have their plans laid out well in advance and are good enough to stick to them. Some may be flying by the seats of their pants. I do agree with the last sentence...

When we don't stick to our lesson plans, it's not because we are bad teachers. There is a method to our madness and a number of reasons why plans could change mid week, or even mid lesson. I would even argue that some of the best teachers change their plans and pacing guides constantly to adjust to student/class needs.

But I do agree with what others have already stated about different states/districts having different breaks and calendars. Not everyone seems to have breaks at the exact same time anymore.

 

[Sherry E]

I took all of the posts about the "taking kids out of school" subject out of the "why is there no off season" thread and moved them to a shiny new thread devoted to this specific discussion!

Keep it friendly and respectful, folks!

 

[Pucka1378]

We just pulled the kids out of school for one day on Friday for the weekend. We don't expect any special treatment, we don't ask for the work ahead of time. My youngest son's teachers all have a basket in their classroom with all the work they missed and they have a week to make it up.

My oldest is in a hybrid type school that uses the online homeschooling system in a "traditional" school setting and he gets his whole plan for the week on Monday and we had him work ahead so his Friday work was all done by Thursday night.

They both do well in school and are well behaved and good kids and so a missed day here or there is no big deal.

My oldest goes into HS next year and I think this is the last year where we can easily pull him out. So we probably will not be doing it again.

Also wanted to add that on of my son's teachers had him email him his picture from Astro Blasters for extra credit

 

[Fivers]

We have and will continue to take our child out of school for "off-season" visits - at least until high school. Elementary I didn't think twice - we didn't even ask for homework. Now in middle school we talk to the teachers a few weeks in advance, but to date other than keeping a journal for English and bringing our Animation Academy drawings to his Art teacher, he hasn't been assigned homework (and not because the teachers are unwilling, they just feel one week is not enough to truly get behind). This year our child will do the "Concours Oratoire" (French public speaking competition) on one of our favourite subjects: Walt Disney I think our off-season trips *may* come to an end in about Grade 10 due to Provincial exams and more intense semesters, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it - never say never I think as long as the child is doing well and there is an open line of communication with the teacher about expectations, I don't think it's a big deal.

Wanted to say hi to fellow Canadian, and share how we worked off-season trips when I was in high school. Students get two weeks off for provincial exams (or at least we did in AB when I was in high school), and two of the three years I was lucky enough to have all of my exams scheduled for the first week of the exam break, so we'd go to DL for the second week. It was a really nice break before starting the second semester!

And to throw my 2 cents into the rest of the discussion, in elementary school my Mom pulled me out of school more than once for a Disney trip. The first time in grade 2, my teacher had me do a scrapbook of my trip, and to this day, 20 years later it is one of my most prized possessions. I love pulling it out and reading over my thoughts about the rides, and looking at our park tickets from the early 90s. I got pulled out of school after that a couple other times as well up until grade 8 or 9.

I completely agree that it really does depend on the student, and I'd say to some extent on the child and parents' willingness to work on school work during vacation. I was lucky in that my worst subject was math, but my Dad's an engineer and my Mom's an accountant so I had lots of help in that area! Whether or not your teacher is willing or able to provide work for the student to keep up with during the missed time may play into the decision as well. I did manage to graduate with high distinction from a top university though, so I don't think my missed days did too much damage!

 

[KatieJoy]

My kids, their teachers, their school, us, it works.
My kids have never fallen behind. If they started to, we would be getting the extra help they need (at our expense).
They do math worksheets (what their school uses for the most part), independent reading, journal writing, and a special project that I arrange and have approved by the teacher.
Their teachers encourage extracurricular experiences.
My kids attend a elementary charter school though, we're not talking college prep.

 

[VandVsmama]

Many families choose to take their kids out of school for one or more days in order to go to DL at a time of year that is more convenient travel wise or for whatever reason. Many families also homeschool their kids so they can pretty much travel whenever they choose.

Our family's philosophy is that going to DL is a privilege, not a right. It is something earned with hard work. School teachers have a limited amount of time to get the info into their kiddos' brains. I feel that for MY children, going to DL during school hours is detrimental to the #1 lesson we want our kids to learn...that education comes first.

My third grader has 30 math problems a night, even on Fridays. Plus other subjects like Humanities or Science and it adds up fast if you are absent. It is not convenient for us in terms of theme park lines to go when school is not in session, but we do it that way because that is what we are most comfortable doing.

My opinion is in no way intended to be judgemental towards others who choose differently. For me, saying that Tom Sawyer's Island is educational is a bit of a stretch.

 

[VandVsmama]

My post made it sound like homeschoolers only do it for the ease of going on vacation. That is not what I meant! Sorry!! I meant that if you homeschool, you are not bound by the traditional school calendar

 

[jasy]

No, we don't take my son out to go to Disneyland. He attends an academic charter school and it's heavily frowned upon to pull your kid out for extra vacations, etc. All parents have to sign an agreement when you enrol agreeing to the terms of the school and that just happens to be one. Because of the structure of the curriculum, missing a week is an issue, even for a strong student. Our school takes 3 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks at Spring Break instead, and for our family that works. Sure it can be a pain to travel during peak times but we adapt.

However that being said I as a child was pulled out numerous times to go to Disneyland and I LOVED it!!

I think parents should do what works best for their family. If it works for you to pull your kid out then more power to you!

 

[nicolispicoli]

Well this thread is a giant dumpster fire.

Next time, why not just do a poll and then write a long post about how you think people should parent? This is obnoxious and asking for trouble. You KNOW some people on here pull their kids to go to DLR and would be offended people telling them they're essentially bad parents for doing so. My daughter isn't in school yet and this is still annoying to read. Ughhhhh.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Moving this over to our community board.

Please remember to be courteous on this thread.

 

[Sherry E]

In all fairness, the OP of this thread did not start the thread. I moved more than 20 posts about this topic out of one thread (where it was getting too off-topic) and into this one. I created the thread using the posts, and I added the title because I didn't know what else to call it, so that people could have a place to discuss the topic. The discussion didn't belong in the other thread where it was happening, which is where the OP actually posted.

As I said on the previous page, and as Mary Jo asked above ^^, keep it courteous, friendly and respectful, folks!

 

[nicolispicoli]

In all fairness, the OP of this thread did not start the thread. I moved more than 20 posts about this topic out of one thread (where it was getting too off-topic) and into this one. I created the thread using the posts, and I added the title because I didn't know what else to call it, so that people could have a place to discuss the topic. The discussion didn't belong in the other thread where it was happening, which is where the OP actually posted.

As I said on the previous page, keep it friendly and respectful, folks!

Thanks Sherry, that makes a lot more sense. I was wondering why someone would create a thread ask it and then the first post it basically cutting people down for doing it. But you creating a thread with a post explains why it looks that way. Forgive my crabbiness, I just saw that getting much more ugly and felt bad for parents who felt the need to defend themselves.

 

[disneyfirsttimer18]

We're pulling our kids out of school for 4 days for our trip. We chose to have kids, we chose to send them to public school and we chose to pull them out of school for 4 days for vacation.

My kids are in 2nd grade and kindergarten. They are good students and are on grade level for everything. I'm quite confident that 4 days won't hurt them.

 

[SplashMo]

Once the kids got in the 9th grade we were more careful about taking them out. However our DD missed more than 10 days her senior year but travelled to Africa which us something she will never forget...

 

[pinkprincess30]

We have been on ONE vacation in the 12 years since we had our 3 children and I didn't hesitate for a second to take them out of school for that week. We will be taking our second vacation in 98 days (but who's counting?) and will be taking our kids out of school again. I won't even pretend that I intend to make this an educational endeavor. I will be informing their teachers with one month's notice and they can choose how to proceed (work ahead, catch up after, whatever). As their parents we decide what they need. And no nasty comments from anyone on this site or any other will make me feel guilty for that.

 

[bcwife76]

When I was in grade 12 I went to Hawaii for 2 weeks in April, just 6 weeks before graduation. Why? Because I went with our school choir and band so there were about 110 grade 11 and 12 students who went on that trip. It was fantastic, our teachers gave us appropriate homework and we did it in our downtime and guess what - we all graduated that June!

We took our kids out of school twice last year, one week at the beginning of June, near the end of the school year and one week in November. They are 6&4 so no, I don't think it's a big deal. This coming September we are taking them out for a week to go on a cruise and go to DLR. It will be 3 weeks after school starts. No big deal. They are young, my oldest will keep up with her reading and journal our trip. As well, my husband isn't able to take vacation during peak times such as Christmas and Spring break so we often have to travel during school times if we want to vacation. When the kids get older we will have to work around his schedule a bit more, depending on how well they are doing in school and if playing 'catch up' is worth it.

 

[starjazz]

My 2nd grader's homework comes out of big book of worksheets. They go in order. Her teacher simply has to pull the week's worth of those out of the book for us to take, and DD get's the homework done. While there, DD still reads every day to keep up on that. And we take 2 days off for relaxation out of the week, and we do reading and math on those days, plus the 2 travel days on the plane. I feel okay with that. We'll probably not take her out as she gets older - maybe into middle school, but we might - we'll just play it by ear, and make the decisions that work for us.

 

[AmberStar]

Our district requires independent study for kids missing 5 or more days. When we went in December they were both given their assignments before we left. My kids did a large portion of the work before we took off and did the rest in the car ride.

I teach preschool so keeping my younger two (one kinder and one preschool) busy learning was natural for me.

For my 3rd grader she wrote a paragraph daily explain her day and I corrected it for punctuation and spelling errors. We also worked through her homework very thoroughly and reviewed videos on the current common core math items they were working on in class (our district has teacher taught videos for every lesson online).

I am also the mom who does not just look over her kids assignments when they come home in the backpack but we review them. We find out why they got an answer wrong and we revisit the topic. That is my job. I don't depend on the 8 hours they put in at school to be good enough.

I also recognize that my taxes go to fund the public school. So even if I take my kid out for the day its not like I stop paying taxes for the day so guess what... its fair in my mind.

I will be pulling my kids for 1 day next month and for 2 days in april. For 5 days in december and most likely for at least 1 day in October.

If something happens to me (or anyone in our family) tomorrow they will want memories and the photos of our moments spent together and not of me forcing them into school each day. Life is about spending moments with those we love. The job, the schooling, everything else is a bonus. Yes, I value education and I cherish learning and hope my kids turn out to be civilized members of society... but I also put very much value in time spent together and in making memories.

Disney is not the only reason I pull my kids. I had free tickets to the Monteray bay aquarium recently and pulled the kids for a day so we could do some hands on learning at the aquarium. They learned so much that day and are constantly talking about it... totally worth a day of make up work.