How do other families do it?

[EvieBug]

Attendance policies exist because schools get state and federal funding based on average daily attendance (ADA). It's not like they hate family vacations.

Good to know, but still seems punitive to the families.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The thing that's going to kill me is the cost. We like doing split stays at deluxe resorts (so as to always be close to whatever park we're visiting) with lots of table service dining. Previously, we've always gone during less popular times, where we've used discounts on top of relatively lower rack rates. As much as I love Disney, paying rack rate at a peak season with minimal discounts defies economic common sense.

Yep, it stinks. You get crowds and high prices. We stay offsite when we go during the school breaks.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We are year round school, and our breaks are in late Aug/early Sept, November, Feb, and May. It works great for all kinds of vacations.

 

[momof2n2]

Heh heh...Now you're like the rest of us

It's a whole new world.

 

[marie049]

We go usually right before labor day. Our kids aren't back in school yet here in Philly (except this year with the pope coming) . Ds will miss two half days. Hasn't affected my other kids when we did it before. DH works for ups so we will probably never get to visit during Christmas but we don't like crowds anyway. So many schools have so many different schedules these days. Two of my teens do cyber high school but they are staying home this trip. They've been to see so many times they just aren't interested in going this time. Saves me money. But will cost me grey hairs I'm sure.

My boyfriend and I are going to Disney as we do every other year in September 3 days after labor day and 9 days into the school year, due to pricing. this time we are going as a family ( 3 kids grades 2-5 one will be a senior in high school) just wondering if we will have a problem taking them being that they just started the year?

 

[avic77]

We homeschool too so we go when we want to. I prefer Oct for MNSSHP as we love Halloween.

 

[avic77]

Heh - I'm in another boat.... we do homeschool, but my oldest is now in 10th grade and taking classes at the community college. I'm now locked into someone else's schedule!!!! It's killing me.

My oldest will start dual enrollment next year. I didn't even think about how it would effect vacationing

 

[bumbershoot]

I was just thinking about how busy the week looks when our family is going to Disney and I was wondering, how does everyone do it? I have seen loads of families, with school age kids going the week before Thanksgiving and other weeks in Nov., early Dec. We are a homeschooling family so I try to work our vacation around other schools schedules, to hopefully go when crowds are lower. This is our first time going in Nov, we usually go in Sept. Anyway, does everyone pull their kids from school to go? Do other schools routinely give the wk before Thanksgiving off? Is it mostly visitors outside of the U.S. visiting? I'm certainly not trying to complain, I just wondered how best to schedule our vacation or if it really matters other than avoiding major holidays.

I can't work out what your question is. How do families do...what? How do they schedule at lighter times? How do they make a trip work during a busier time? How do school-school families go during a school time?

Heh - I'm in another boat.... we do homeschool, but my oldest is now in 10th grade and taking classes at the community college. I'm now locked into someone else's schedule!!!! It's killing me.

At least you got until 10th. My son dances and his studio follows the basic school schedule of the district they are in.

And worse, the Arts Director keeps scheduling things right in the middle of their breaks! I can't take a glorious 2+ week vacation to my brother's in San Diego because DS has to come back up for rehearsals for a mid-September performance. Augh!

Attendance policies exist because schools get state and federal funding based on average daily attendance (ADA). It's not like they hate family vacations.

Some schools are more gracious than others. Some districts are more gracious. Some states (Texas, from what I've read here for years) is nearly draconian about it (very much NOT gracious). So some places care about funding more than others, and some understand that life isn't school and other things do sometimes happen.

 

[momof2n2]

My oldest will start dual enrollment next year. I didn't even think about how it would effect vacationing

DH and I decided we wanted him to have the chance to start gaining college credit, but we didn't want to derail all future family vacationing. (And we have kids in grades 8, 6, 4, and K and a toddler, too.) And we will likely have kids using these opportunities for the next 100 years (OK It just feels like that.) Our compromise was that we will have them take these classes in the fall semesters, but forgo the spring semesters since we like to travel in May.

I *suppose* we could do vacations in the very end of May/early June... sigh.

 

[TinksMyGirl]

It definitely depends on the school's policy for absences and the grade the child(re) is/are in. The schoolwork load increase with the grade level. In the upper grades missing days could cause your child to fall behind. As you homeschool your children it is not an issue for you. But as you can see many people do pull their children so there will always be crowds. The best plan is to go with the mindset that it will be crowded and go with the flow. Let your self get caught up in the magic of Disney.

And from the teacher's viewpoint...... (I teach high school) not always possible to work ahead of time as I lesson plan on Sunday for the week - one needs to be flexible to teach the students the material. It also puts a burden on the student to return to school to make up all missed work while keeping up with new material. Lord help them if they need to make up tests or quizzes too.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We go in the Summer. It's crowded & hot, and it's still a blast

 

[lwc]

We had planned to pull my 1st and 3rd grader out for a week this past spring, but my third grader was so stressed about catching up (which he did just fine) after missing 3 days in the winter that we postponed the trip and are going this month.

He's a bright kid and catching up wouldn't have actually been a problem, but the stress would have been real, and it wouldn't have been fair to him.

Oh well.

 

[Tigpooh]

I can't work out what your question is. How do families do...what? How do they schedule at lighter times? How do they make a trip work during a busier time? How do school-school families go during a school time?

I was wondering how other families schedule during school days. I didn't realize so many families pulled their children for Disney time, I guess I thought everyone went during school breaks to keep their kids from missing. Now I know! Makes total sense and I am happy families are deciding what works best for THEM!

 

[kathy884]

My brother and his girlfriend are taking her two oldest grandkids down over Thanksgiving, as they have the entire week of Thanksgiving off in their school district. It's a relatively low crowds time, though till Wednesday when most people are off. All my brother's kids (ages 21 - 30) are coming too plus my parents. My 19 year old is going to join them, but not flying out till Wednesday morning, so as not to miss college classes. And he's flying back Saturday night as airfares on Sunday are prohibitive. If you go that week something like a Friday to Friday trip might help you avoid the majority of the crowds. Maybe look at the easy wdw website if you want to see crowd predictions for various weeks and make an informed choice.

We never took our out of school. We paid higher rates and went at more crowded times going Christmas, Spring Break, etc. We often rented offsite condos to mitigate costs, and did rope drop and used touringplans.com plans to deal with crowds.

 

[anniemae]

Lots of families pull kids out for vaca. Last year, I think half of dd's class were pulled out at one time or another to go to Disney or some other destination! Our school is good about it, they just don't allow you to get the homework ahead of time, you have to wait until you get back to get the make up work. Otherwise, they wish you a great trip.

 

[andiraye]

Last year I pulled my kids out for part of a week. Officially, my kids' school district school frowns on it, but the school is very progressive and unofficially supports diverse life experiences, especially in the lower grades. This year we are going the week before labor day -- their school doesn't start until after Labor Day. Not sure what we will do in the future. From about 3rd grade on, attendance "counts" toward middle school applications, so pulling them out of school will no longer be a real option. :-(

 

[allybabba98]

My slow time at work is September so getting time off is encouraged. However, I do feel bad as the date that worked for my DH and myself was when the boys are just back to school, in fact 4 days back.
I am not worried about the youngest two as we know the teachers as my oldest had them. My oldest..I don't know this teacher and don't want to go in expecting the worst but from what I have heard...
I am worried but at the same time we are going to Disney World!!!
It is interesting to hear how some schools in different states deal with missed time, I can't imagine a teacher saying no to giving a student work that they missed. A very interesting topic.

 

[afinnteach]

We have gone the first week of June after school is out and also the week of Thanksgiving. I'm a teacher, so I can only take 2-3 days off during the school year and we wouldn't want to miss Christmas with our extended family. I liked June, but DH thought it was too hot and we both agreed that Thanksgiving is our favorite time. The kids missed 3 days of school and I missed 2 (different schools) - but being right before Thanksgiving, there is a lot of extra activities and "fun" learning going on that, while great, I didn't think the kids would really miss out if they missed. Another perk for the kids and I was we all have the Monday AFTER Thanksgiving off (for hunting season), which gave us a day to recover from vacation!

I didn't think the Thanksgiving crowds were that much worse than summer crowds and the first few days of our vacation (the weekend before Thanksgiving) the crowds were blissfully light.

 

[tabrizia]

We homeschool so we can go when we want, especially since we aren't at the stage of college classes yet. That being said between afterschool activities and homeschool activities I do feel a bit bad pulling them for a week or two so we can go, I totally will, but I do feel a bit guilty about it.

 

[midnightlouise]

My 6th and 10th grade sons go to Metro Nashville Virtual School, so as long as the boys are on track in the course and they're turning in their lessons, the school couldn't care less where we are. So we work ahead and just let the teachers know we'll be MIA for a week. Even with dual enrollment at the community college they aren't worried about it as long as DS15 is being responsible about getting his work done. Although MNVS is technically a public school, attendance is based on progress, so it really makes it easy for us to vacation whenever it's convenient for DH to take off. I am a doctoral student and I teach Pre-K part-time at a private school, so I also work ahead, and my school is very accommodating. We tend to go toward the end of the year because we love going during the Christmas season. We're definitely lucky to have the options we do.