Experience on taking kids out of school to go to WDW??

[dolphindan1]

Well you kinda' already did...I mean you had to click that little "reply" button and all...just sayin'

If his/her parents had not taken them on vacation when they were in school in 3rd grade they might have realized they hit the reply button....LOL....

 

[paintnolish]

Welcome to the DIS! Just a warning, I did not read all of the replies, so if this hasn't gotten ugly yet, it most likely will. This is a hot button issue here. That being said, my parents always took my sisters and I out of school for trips-usually one longer trip (a week) to WDW and maybe a few days tacked onto a holiday weekend at a later time in the year. My sisters and I were/are all good students and grew up to be very responsible adults. I do not think it sends the message that school is not important. I think it emphasizes the importance of family time. I have and will take my children out of school for vacations as long as they are doing well in their classes. I also think it is important to let the teachers know far in advance and to be flexible with their homework and assignments. We even offer to do additional/alternative work for the class.
Do what works best for you. Good luck!

 

[monkeybug]

If his/her parents had not taken them on vacation when they were in school in 3rd grade they might have realized they hit the reply button....LOL....

LOL! Maybe if my parents hadn't pulled me for that Mexico trip in the 6th grade I would have a tighter rein on my sentence structure and they wouldn't run so dreadfully long!

 

[idieh]

[ but in the old days we would never consider taking our kids out of school to go on vacation. You just didn't do it.[/QUOTE]

Meaning no disrespect...but the "old days" are long over. In the "old days", my Mom stayed at home with my brothers and I until we were in our teens, my Dad only worked 5 days a week (weekend off) , was home by 6 pm and received 2 weeks vacation a year! Sadly, none of that applies to my DW and I. I work 6 days a week , get 1 week off a year and am home by 8!
We take our DS out of school every October and have met with no resistance from the school. The superintendant/principle actually asks our DS if we have chosen which week we will be going to WDW (she's a Disney nut too)!
Simply ask teacher if she would mind giving you the work he will be missing. Most of it is photocopies anyway. If there is reading that will need to be done, we make copies of the pages at Staples.
I hope this helps!
Doug

 

[LMN]

Thanks for all of the replies so far. Not trying to start any other discussions, here!

DUCHIE: We are actually in Leander ISD school district too! Small world! I just put Austin in my profile since more people know where Austin is. Leander ISD can be pretty laid back in some respects, but have never dealt with them on this subject before, so hopefully it will go well.

 

[WDSearcher]

Like I said before...the school district can kiss my butt...they only have there best interest in mind and will make the rules for whatever is easy on them...

My personal feelings are you are the parent and you know what is in the best interest for you and your family...if you can go and your kids will be ok...then its a no brainer...any school district that doesnt support family first should not be in the business of running a school...Also no school district can tell you you cant take your kids somewhere...It will just be unexcused absences and they will have a limit of how many are allowed...That why I go to the teacher 1st...usually a teacher will work with you...and if they tried to fail my child for going on vacation...You would see me on the national news with my lawyer...especially if my child still had passing grades

The only thing about this whole post that bugs me is the tone. The whole "the school district can kiss my butt" concept. This is a place where you put your child for thousands of hours a year -- these people teach and train and nurture and prepare your child for the world. Now, maybe they don't do it exactly the way you want them to, but they do it. On less money than they need and with fewer people than they should have. But they should kiss your butt because they have vacation guidelines?

We put all of these requirements on our school systems -- keep my kids safe, teach my kids, give them discipline, let them be creative, prepare them for college, teach them to work as a team, and on and on. And if they don't come through, boy are we quick to criticize. But should the school say something silly like, "It's so much easier to teach your children if they're actually here, so we'd like you to limit vacations during the school year" and all of a sudden they're the bad guys.

I get the concept of "they're my kids, so it's my decision." But I think it's unrealistic to expect the school system to not weigh in. The school system is simply telling people what the rules are. They're not saying "You absolutely cannot go", they're saying "If you go, these are the ramifications." For some systems, it means zeroes on work and an unexcused absence. For others, it means doing make-up work or keeping a journal. But no school should be scorned for simply having a policy.

 

[rick75]

I guess I should feel lucky I live in Wisconsin. Our district has a policy where they encourage family time and if this means taking a vacation then go ahead and take the vacation. They just require the vacation not to be taken the last two weeks of a semester. We went pulled our daughter out of kindergarden in February for WDW and everyone was very accomodating. She was given some work a couple of days before we left which she completed beforehand. She also had to keep a journal during her trip where she had to write 1-2 sentences per day and draw a picture what she did that day. She now has a great souvenier of her trip. You just have to make sure that nothing important is happening during your vacation. My DD still whines she missed the 100th day of school celebration and the Valentines Day party.

 

[pbnanner]

Well, we are a military family with a Dad who regularly deploys for a year at a time. Trips to Disney are our "reward" for getting through the separation. Our third such trip is coming up in our third different school district. Each district has been a bit different, but excused or not, we will continue to go at the best time for us. And yes, my kids ARE A+ students- they know that if they weren't, we wouldn't take these school year trips (try that for an incentive to excel!)....

 

[lauris87]

Wow, WDSearcher! What a well-written response! You said everything I feel... but just said it better!

EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THAT POST.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I took my nieces in January, my sister said it was ok for them to miss 3 school days...the 6 year old kindergarten teacher gave my sister slack for it but the 12.5 year old teacher just gave her homework and lessons to do while she was gone, and of course she left it at home and had to do it all on a Sunday night.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

they still have truancy officers??...go before a judge??...where do you people live??...

i'm in massachusetts...if i want to take my kids out of school for a week to go to disney, i send a note in saying our kids will be out of school for a week, see you when we get back...as far as i'm concerned, teachers work for us, not the other way around...i help my kids catch up with whatever work they missed (which usually isn't much)...

Well, we live in Alabama and in our county, if you miss 5 or more days of school that are considered "unexcused", which Disney is, you get to have a meeting with the county truancy officer and if you miss 7 or more you get a meeting with the juvenile court judge. I don't like it, but that's the way it is. We are are going to WDW this year during labor day week, so our four kids will only miss 3 days and I won't have to have the meeting with the truancy officer.

I haven't read through this entire thread, but this usually becomes a hot topic and really brings out the holier-than-thou responses. The OP just needs to be aware of her school district policies and has to do what she feels is right for her family and not worry about anybody else's opinions.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I'm always amazed there are even any kids IN school, given the #
of children we always see at WDW.

 

[diskids2]

I took my children out of school for about 2-3 days for 3 different vacations. They were all around a school holiday (week long vacation) and I did it to extend our time in WDW.

When my children were in grammar school (k-5) I saw absolutely no issues. They easily made up their work and did not fall behind.

When my children were in middle school and high school it was a different story. Even though they made up the work, they missed tests which needed to be made up after school or before school. They suffered in that semesters grading. I vowed never to do it again. I saw how hard they had to work to catch up and it didn't seem worth the extra days they were off.

In our school district, you are only allowed a certain number of excused absences and you need to work with the teachers. My children's teachers were very good about giving them assignments ahead of time, but they lost the classroom interaction and learning which was extremely difficult to make up. It was necessary for them to get notes from their peers and depending on how well that classmate did on taking notes that day impacted testing.

 

[diskids2]

The only thing about this whole post that bugs me is the tone. The whole "the school district can kiss my butt" concept. This is a place where you put your child for thousands of hours a year -- these people teach and train and nurture and prepare your child for the world. Now, maybe they don't do it exactly the way you want them to, but they do it. On less money than they need and with fewer people than they should have. But they should kiss your butt because they have vacation guidelines?

We put all of these requirements on our school systems -- keep my kids safe, teach my kids, give them discipline, let them be creative, prepare them for college, teach them to work as a team, and on and on. And if they don't come through, boy are we quick to criticize. But should the school say something silly like, "It's so much easier to teach your children if they're actually here, so we'd like you to limit vacations during the school year" and all of a sudden they're the bad guys.

I get the concept of "they're my kids, so it's my decision." But I think it's unrealistic to expect the school system to not weigh in. The school system is simply telling people what the rules are. They're not saying "You absolutely cannot go", they're saying "If you go, these are the ramifications." For some systems, it means zeroes on work and an unexcused absence. For others, it means doing make-up work or keeping a journal. But no school should be scorned for simply having a policy.

 

[Teacher03]

The only thing about this whole post that bugs me is the tone. The whole "the school district can kiss my butt" concept. This is a place where you put your child for thousands of hours a year -- these people teach and train and nurture and prepare your child for the world. Now, maybe they don't do it exactly the way you want them to, but they do it. On less money than they need and with fewer people than they should have. But they should kiss your butt because they have vacation guidelines?

We put all of these requirements on our school systems -- keep my kids safe, teach my kids, give them discipline, let them be creative, prepare them for college, teach them to work as a team, and on and on. And if they don't come through, boy are we quick to criticize. But should the school say something silly like, "It's so much easier to teach your children if they're actually here, so we'd like you to limit vacations during the school year" and all of a sudden they're the bad guys.

I get the concept of "they're my kids, so it's my decision." But I think it's unrealistic to expect the school system to not weigh in. The school system is simply telling people what the rules are. They're not saying "You absolutely cannot go", they're saying "If you go, these are the ramifications." For some systems, it means zeroes on work and an unexcused absence. For others, it means doing make-up work or keeping a journal. But no school should be scorned for simply having a policy.

Very well said!

 

[sharadoc]

We did it in January and our school district was fine with it. They allow 10 days for family vacation during the year. Both had to keep a journal and do make-up work when they got back which meant extra homework, but it was all good.

Our teachers also get vacation during the school year. I think my DD has had at least 10 days of substitutes, if not more. One of the teachers in her grade got married and was gone for weeks. I think the district has to do that to keep the best teachers.

We are trying end of August this year and if we can do it, we will probably lessen our winter vacation, although I think we'll always take a week - 7 days.

As another poster said, today's world is VERY different. There are divorced families, blended families, most jobs are not Mon-Fri any more.

 

[SuperTink]

We've met with resistance in our (very competitive) school district. The first time when the kids were in 5th grade--one of the teachers refused to give work to make up. That was no biggie for the one daughter, she absorbed the loss. They missed a total of 5 days.

7th grade, total 3 days missed. It was more trouble as we were dealing with a total of 14 teachers. Some were flexible; others weren't. One daughter had to absorb "zeros" for assignments missed; she was not allowed to make them up. She managed to come out with straight As again but she said it was tough. She was stressed.

If we go again next year we will likely take them out for a couple of days but no more than that. And we would not have them miss any days of high school as grades become even more crucial with college applications and I think they would both be too stressed worrying about it all.

For anyone contemplating taking kids out in elementary school I say do it in a heartbeat. Middle school; depends are what you're dealing with. I'd be hesitant in high school.

 

[jenn-]

Well, we live in Alabama and in our county, if you miss 5 or more days of school that are considered "unexcused", which Disney is, you get to have a meeting with the county truancy officer and if you miss 7 or more you get a meeting with the juvenile court judge. I don't like it, but that's the way it is. We are are going to WDW this year during labor day week, so our four kids will only miss 3 days and I won't have to have the meeting with the truancy officer.

I haven't read through this entire thread, but this usually becomes a hot topic and really brings out the holier-than-thou responses. The OP just needs to be aware of her school district policies and has to do what she feels is right for her family and not worry about anybody else's opinions.

Be prepared for the warning letter you will be receiving. I was kind of shocked since the teacher knew we were going to be out and I had sent a letter to the office. I am pretty sure it is an automatic letter that goes out without consideration as to whether there was any explanation given.

 

[palavra]

I am a middle school teacher and a parent, so I do see both sides. We have chosen to go do Disney at a school break (Thanksgiving) rather than me and my daughter having to miss any school. My school discourages parents from taking their kids on vacation during the school year with good reason. It really is hard for many kids to catch up after missing school for a week or more. That being said, if it is a once in a lifetime trip, I would personally say go for it! But taking kids out every year just because crowds are lower seems excessive to me.

 

[blondinkaya]

I'm going to be one of those parents who has to sign a truancy form. I have two boys, one in 1st grade and the other in 9th. Our district allows 10 absences during the entire school year, period, and signatures on truancy forms for five or more missed days in a row. We're pulling the kids out for five days (the week after Thanksgiving). We'll be meeting with the guidance counselors next week and will request to go ahead and sign the forms. At least they will be getting a heads-up of our intent well in advance. We will not consider cancelling the trip; it's been planned for over a year, and it's the only time the entire family can go. Seeing that it's our first multi-generation trip ever, I have no qualms about signing the form. In the grand scheme of things, the value of maintaining or strengthening our family's ties is worth much, much more than five days of school. I homeschooled my oldest for five years, before putting him back into public school for 7th and 8th grade (which he did exceptionally well in--even got high school credit for two of his classes this year), so I do understand that education is important. But my family comes first.

I don't know if they can make up the work or not (the handbook doesn't specify); I'll find that out next week. If they can't, then the chips will sit where they fall and we'll deal with it. But, if my boys are picked on and singled out because of it beyond the consequence of not being able to make up the work, then I'm going to have some pretty big issues with the teachers/district.