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

[Missytara]

Toddinboston - I live in DE and work for the government. I specifically assist JP Courts in building/maintaining their buildings.

Truancy is their number one issue right now; next to fines racked up by illegals. They have sometimes at least one full day, if not two full days in some JP Courts devoted to nothing but truancy.

 

[MarkinNM]

This is a HOT topic EVERYTIME it comes up!!!

I feel it is UP to the parents in knowing what is best regardless of the district policy/teachers demands (sometimes they are silly IMHO). Taking children out for multiple weeks is too much IMO but that is the parent’s decision and everyone else should just but out. The reason we have such attendance policies are the parents who could care less if their kids go to school or not, we all have them in our district so no flaming please, so I understand the reasoning. Short of a bone hanging out and or bleeding my kids go to school, it is that important.
What gets me going is when you have a “board” or even teacher’s telling me or better yet demanding to me what is best for my kids!! For example my sons K teacher wanted to keep him behind, for kindergarten, because he was too immature, WHAT A JOKE, he’s 5 ( FIVE) !!!!! Well needless to say he is 12 now and is a B student, so YES , “Father Knows BEST” ( ok it is a old timers show so we can replace the father with mother, parent ok ) We do know our kids better…..
As far as teachers getting a vacations during the school year, well in addition to all of the “in service days” days as I ask them how their day was in school everyday and yes, my kids tell me about when they have a substitute teacher and those days are wasted. So please yes you do take breaks, all be it not 2 weeks but yes a day here and there, much deserved, but yes they do happen, so relax, you have the daily planner? When you miss work the principal does not scold you…….
What has me baffled is how do you convince a teacher that a vacation to Disney is an educational and get away with it!!!!?

Bottom line every district has rules, read them, understand them and do what YOU feel is best………….

 

[Missytara]

To the original poster - be advised you are going down the week of the Pop Warner championships, so depending on where you stay, it may not be such a pleasant week. I made that mistake one year and will never do it again. I stick to the week after Thanksgiving.

 

[vt_disney_fan]

Ah, another one of THESE threads. It's been a while.

Do what is best for YOUR family, b/c only YOU know YOUR family well enough to gauge what will work.

There are those who will think that only a child of Satan would dare take their kids out of school to go on vacation. Hey, for those people, fine - keep your kids in school, I don't care.

Then there are those who will say, like me, to do what YOU think is best. Yes, you try to stay within the guidelines of your school district, but in the scope of a lifetime, a week (or 2) of missed school to go to WDW isn't bad. Be honest and upfront with your teachers, get as much homework from them that you can get ahead of time, do as much of it before you leave so there's not a lot of catching up, then HAVE A GOOD TIME!

We've done this the last 4 years, and have yet to experience any psychological issues, pushback from the school/teachers, bad grades, strange unexplained occurrences, or the like. It will be fine.

 

[ICF]

IMO...It depends on the grade level of the kids being taken out.

We took our son out when he was in K and again in 2nd grade for a couple of days before their fall break. Our district was cool with it and even in 2nd grade I think he may have had to take a spelling test before we left or after we got back. It wasn't a big deal.

However, our next trip is going to be in June '10 so that he doesn't miss school. He'll be in 4th grade this year and the work is much different then earlier on. They have also changed fall break so that it doesn't work for us to miss work at that time which also plays into it. I wouldnt want him to miss a full week of school, even at this level...even though like every other parent's kid on here he is of course an A student!

IMO, once you get in Jr high or HS missing a day or two is one thing (if you can plan a trip around breaks) but taking them out for a full week is going to put them too far behind....no matter how smart your kid is.

 

[Gina]

Toddinboston - I live in DE and work for the government. I specifically assist JP Courts in building/maintaining their buildings.

Truancy is their number one issue right now; next to fines racked up by illegals. They have sometimes at least one full day, if not two full days in some JP Courts devoted to nothing but truancy.

What an absolutely phenomenal waste of taxpayer money... If a kid is missing every other week of school, fine. If they are skipping class every other day, fine. THAT'S truancy. But when a kid is there every single stinkin' day, has great grades, and parents have to go before a judge because the kids miss one week of school for a family vacation???? That's insane. I'd be livid if my tax dollars were going toward such a thing.

That's as bad as the zero-tolerance drug policies that bust 12 year old girls for taking 1 Midol. Focus on the REAL problem.

 

[LilGMom]

We have taken our oldest out of school each year (K - 2) and have never met any resistance. Since you have the dates already for your upcoming trip you might consider mentioning it to the teacher at the beginning of the year. We have done that for the last three years. Than about three weeks before the trip we send a note asking for our child's assignments for the time that we will be gone and promise that they will be done upon his return to school. You are going in between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break and we've noticed, at least in our school, they don't do a lot of work on new subjects during that time. The teachers/schools seem to realize that kids are going to have their Christmas Break brains in and if they are just coming off of a week break for Thanksgiving they are dealing with that too.

We have also had my son keep a journal about the things we do and see as well as the various educational aspects of numerous things at WDW.

 

[MarkinNM]

What an absolutely phenomenal waste of taxpayer money... If a kid is missing every other week of school, fine. If they are skipping class every other day, fine. THAT'S truancy. But when a kid is there every single stinkin' day, has great grades, and parents have to go before a judge because the kids miss one week of school for a family vacation???? That's insane. I'd be livid if my tax dollars were going toward such a thing.

That's as bad as the zero-tolerance drug policies that bust 12 year old girls for taking 1 Midol. Focus on the REAL problem.

THAT is the problem here but its ones who take advantage of the situation that creates the issues. My time with my kids is MY business!!!

 

[they!]

as long as they can make up an ENTIRE weeks lessons, homework, and classwork then you should be fine.

but i don't see any decent teacher adjusting their schedule for you, so try to get the work ahead of time as much as possible

i was taken out of school for disneyworld lots of times, always made my work up.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Are a lot of these policies new? When I was younger it was no problem to pull your child out of school. My parents would submit a note, and I'd have to do an "educational journal." I would give it to my teachers who would look at it for 2 seconds and then say, "Welcome back!" I didn't have to make up any work, unless there was an exam, which I would make up during recess.

Nowadays it sounds like school districts are becoming prison camps? It's hard to believe that people don't realize how short of a time we have on this Earth, and that spending that time on a vacation with your Family is more important than anything!

 

[Tickla]

I always take my 3 kids out for up to 2 weeks in early December every year for our vacations. At our school, there are teachers every week who are gone for some reason--we have a few permanent "substitutes" that sub for any subject--they aren't even qualified for that subject--so on days that they sub that class just becomes a "study hall". And this happens all the time! Does it matter that my child misses 2-3 days of a class because all they have is a sub who can't teach it? So I feel my kids can miss that same class for a vacation instead of sitting in the classroom for an hour drooling & staring at the walls for another "study hall". Also, our school participates in the Disney's magic music days for band & choir--which is great-I participated myself 20 years ago--but when the band & choir go to Disney for this, the WHOLE SCHOOL--elementary & high school all get over a week off & they call it "spring break" even though in MN we don't have spring break, but when it is a Magic Music Days year, (they don't go EVERY year), they call it that & everyone has vacation! So if the school can do it--so will I.I have done it for 15 years--my oldest just graduated & is off to college--he had no trouble making up work--got accepted to all 3 colleges he applied to --one even in Europe--so I say this issue is just silly--just another way for the school to try & be in control. Just say you will transfer them if they give you problems--then they will be out over $3,000.00 per child that they get for your kids

 

[ugadog68]

my Ma and Pa toke me outta skool a week fer Disnet every yeer an i turnned out allrite

 

[baby1disney]

Ok...my story may or may not help with this:

DS is now 7yrs and will be entering 2nd grade this year. In Kindergarten, we took him in October to go on his very first trip to Disney!! The teacher had no problems with it because we had a month's notice of what homework was due and when it was due. So my son just did the homework the week before he left.

Now, his 1st grade teacher did everything but pack a suitcase and come with us!! Not only was she a HUGE Disney fan, she had also worked there!!! So, when I told her that we were going to Disney for vacation this past March, it was definitely no problems!!! !!

Now, this school year...he won't be going to Disney..so it won't be a problem. But, next Spetember in 2010, we're supposed to be going. I personally am having a hard time pulling him out..since he'll only been have started school about a month before that. But, I'm sure he'll do just fine. My son has been on academic honors since he's started school, so DH and I are not worried about him not catching up in his school work.

To me...schools should not worry about when you take your kids' out for vaction. Unless your kid is always absent or constantly late, then don't worry about it. I always factor at least two weeks my son won't be in school because of either vacations and/or getting sick.

I say take the kids and go and have a good time!!! Like you(the OP)said, it's right around Xmas break time and not many school districts do exams/testing. Have fun and send some Pixie Dust...just because!!! LOL!!

 

[monkeybug]

IMO...It depends on the grade level of the kids being taken out.

We took our son out when he was in K and again in 2nd grade for a couple of days before their fall break. Our district was cool with it and even in 2nd grade I think he may have had to take a spelling test before we left or after we got back. It wasn't a big deal.

However, our next trip is going to be in June '10 so that he doesn't miss school. He'll be in 4th grade this year and the work is much different then earlier on. They have also changed fall break so that it doesn't work for us to miss work at that time which also plays into it. I wouldnt want him to miss a full week of school, even at this level...even though like every other parent's kid on here he is of course an A student!

IMO, once you get in Jr high or HS missing a day or two is one thing (if you can plan a trip around breaks) but taking them out for a full week is going to put them too far behind....no matter how smart your kid is.

I think even in high school it really depends on the kid and the family. I missed a week in 6th grade and again my junior year of high school. My parents allowed me to go to Mexico to build a home for a poor family. It was an amazing education!! On many, many levels, and I still appreciate that they allowed me to go. I was in about 50/50 regular and AP classes, and I don't remember any major issues with catching up. That's just my experience of course, it's different for everyone I suppose.

 

[monkeybug]

my Ma and Pa toke me outta skool a week fer Disnet every yeer an i turnned out allrite

 

[aja319se]

I agree with all of the pp's you need to do what is best for your family. I am in one of those situations where we were not able to take a break in the summer due to our jobs. We plan on telling the teachers early in the year (even though the trip is in October). Good luck with your decision!

 

[Tickla]

Oh --I also think this truancy thing is a joke! I can see it if the kids are skipping school & going to some hideout to smoke or whatever--actually skipping school--without the parents knowledge--but to associate it with a family vacation--how sad. Not all of us have teachers work schedules--if we had summers off, we could take vacations during that time. We however, are only able to go in the winter. It really isn't that hard to make up schoolwork. Senior high or elementary--it's always been doable.

 

[monkeybug]

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that truancy laws (which I am all for!) were put in place more because of kids who skipped school due to lack of parental supervision, and not so much for kids who were going to miss a week for a family vacation. I don't think most judges would have a problem with the latter, but like I said I could be wrong about that.
The most intelligent people I know are the ones who have been fortunate enough to experience the world beyond their own backyards. I know a family who home schooled their boys for two years while they sailed around the world. They had a little trouble catching up when they were enrolled back into school, but they did catch up, and they have a wealth of experience most adults could only dream about! I doubt they will ever regret the summer school they had to attend or the tutors they had to work with. Education is a priority in our family, but so is seeing the world where that education will eventually be put to use!

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I have responded to these threads before. My school does not "technically" allow vacations. They do, however, allow up to 6 "unexcused" absences per marking period. I have taken my kids out in the past, but would not now that they are older. I am of the opinion, if your school allows it directly or indirectly, go for it. But if it comes down to the kids taking a lot of heat for it, not worth it. And if a school has a zero tolerance type policy, forget it no way would I go.



I think more of these responses are mean to the teachers than to the parents. I mean my goodness, I have never once thought that a teacher works for me. And yes, I do pay school taxes, but that does not mean I am in charge of their response to my child's absence. That was a bit mean spirited to say, imo.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

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.

I think the school system forgets it is funded by the parents and there to serve the parents. As pp said, it operates like a prison camp.

I don't know when you went to school, but now they have much more money and staff than when I went. My whole class could read at the end of first grade compared to less than 50% now. As an adult, we lived in one of the better districts in another state and they felt graduating children were prepared for the world if they could read and add at the third grade level. I heard this both from teachers and a board member over several years' time. Private schools in the area had better success rates for as low as 1/4 the tuition rate as public schools get in per pupil expenditures, so blaming failure on the money issue is no good.
If that is all they hope for, I think a kid could miss a couple weeks a month and the only impact would be that the school district has lost federal funds from the lower attendance.
Here in TN my husband just hired someone to relocate here. The guy's wife is now against the move because she researched and found our state ranks in the bottom 5 for education--not a surprise to anyone here.
I have many friends who teach and am not slamming teachers--the education system has become a beaurocracy that has lost its focus and our children and the teachers are both suffering.
I commend the teachers who care and help a child get caught up. I think it ridiculous that schools interfere with family vacations because they are losing federal funds on absent kids--that is not what education should be about.