Taking kids out of school?

[NHBelle]

I am considering a trip in September, but it would mean two weeks out of school for the kids right at the start of school. I am not sure if it is such a good idea, I was wondering how many people do it and what they think about it. ( FYI -DD will be in 5th grade and DS will be in Kindergarten)

 

[cymomtx]

Two weeks is a long time, especially for a 5th grader. We will be going to WDW for Thanksgiving and the kids will miss 2 days of school. That is about all I'm willing to let mine miss.

 

[bdcp]

We let ours miss 5 days to go to WDW when they were in 7th and 9th and it didn't cause any problems, but I wouldn't do 2 weeks. That's the only time we ever took them out of school for a vacation and they're in college now. Check your school district's policies. In a lot of places they dont' have to let them make up missed tests, etc for a vacation. In others they limit how long they can be gone and still make it up. Why not do just one week?

 

[Melissa]

I think it depends on how your 5th grader is as a student. We are doing this next May and if my DD wasn't at the top of her class we wouldn't consider it. Also you need to look at the school and their policies. I think we probably won't take dd out of school again b/c as they get in the higher grades it is harder. She is in 3rd grade now. Good luck I hate not to go in the off season so I feel your pain!!

 

[tlbwriter]

I'll be taking my 1st grader out for a few days, but it's in December (not much going on, lots of other kids gone). Personally, I would not take a 5th grader out for 2 weeks... that a *huge* chunk of time to miss.

 

[THE RAT]

The school system in my town does not like when you take the kids out of school. We are taking my DD out the last two days of school to go down they have extra days this year because of snow days they used.

 

[Just2554]

I thought I'd give my opinion as a student...

My parents have taken me out of school for a week to go to Disney or on a cruise almost every year since the 4th grade and I have never had a problem with it (and I'm a senior now). I always ask for my work before I leave and I complete it all and then I make up any tests/quizzes when I return. My school has a paper that the parents must fill out about an extended absence and where we're going on our trip, but otherwise, they don't have any problems with students going on vacation.

The only thing I would say is that it might be hard for the kids to miss the very beginning of school. It may be hard for them to get into the groove of things once they return. Is it possible to wait a few more weeks until they're settled into their schedule?

 

[DZNYMGCFAM]

I used to take my oldest out of school for a week and a half every May, but once she hit third grade we decided it would be a very bad idea with SOL testing during that month. Plus I think the older they get the harder it is to make up when you get back. She is very smart (makes A's and B's), but I just do not want the added pressure on her...so now we go in June.

We are going back in October this year, but the girls will only miss three days of school.

 

[JeffreyY]

As both a teacher and a parent I'd like to give you my $.02. We take our kids(DS 7th grade & DD 3rd grade) out of school every year at Thanksgiving for two days to go to WDW. So, I am not against taking kids out of school for a few days. But taking kids out of school for two weeks at the beining of school is probably not a good idea. As a teacher the start of the school year is when I set up all the routines for the year. This time of year would be a difficult time to miss especially for your Kindergartener who will be just getting used to school.
That said, if this is the only time you can go the kids would get caught up and I'm sure would be fine.

 

[seashoreCM]

I would say that taking kids out of school is a no-no. I would expect kids to have zero unexcused absences other than emergencies. Except I would take kids out of makeup days (because of strikes or snowstorms or schoolwide bereavement) scheduled to conflict with an already scheduled vacation.

I would not schedule a vacation in the two weeks after the close of school in the spring to allow time for makeup days.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Marseeya]

I am considering a trip in September, but it would mean two weeks out of school for the kids right at the start of school. I am not sure if it is such a good idea, I was wondering how many people do it and what they think about it. ( FYI -DD will be in 5th grade and DS will be in Kindergarten)

I think two weeks is a long time for them at the beginning of the year, especially for the fifth grader. I wouldn't do it.

That said, though, maybe you could talk to the teacher ahead of time and find out what he/she's planning for the first few weeks and maybe you can go over that stuff yourself at home over the summer. Maybe you could pay the teacher to tutor the material over the summer (I know lots of teachers who do this).

 

[rt2dz]

I was always pulled out of school as a child--every year from 2nd grade through senior year and have no problem pulling out my own kids. School isn't the end all of everything--there are many other learning experiences/ more important things in life. However, I would not pull them out for two weeks straight or at all in the beginning of the year. Just my opinion.

 

[Daxx]

Daxx's Wife here. I'm a Kindergarten teacher and a mom of an 8 yo DS. So, what I have to say comes to you as a parent and an educator.

I am pulling DS out for 2 days of school later this week for a WDW vaca. I know that 2 days is not unreasonable esp. at this point in the school year. Things are winding down, starting to wrap up loose ends and I don't expect him to miss a lot w/being out for 2 days. As you can tell, I am all for taking students out of school for vacations.

However, regardless of how well DS performs in school, I would not consider pulling him out for 2 weeks esp. in the beginning of the school year. Regardless of what grade he's going into. The first month of school is an important time when routines are being established, new concepts are being introduced and teachers are gearing students up for the "long haul" -- esp. in 5th grade. In my school, Kindergarteners are working hard the first month of school. It's not a slow adaptation and fun and games ... it is when we begin a lot of core learning and when I determine how to group my students based on their skills. You have to remember that Kdg. isn't all just cut, paste, color and play anymore. To miss two weeks in the first month is missing a lot.

While you can do the work at home, you will miss out on materials learned w/in the classroom. Things taught that don't show up on homework. And, yes ... in my Kindergarten, my students get homework every night -- whether it relates to printing, reading, phonics or math.

I'd rethink the two weeks in Sept. and move it out closer to the holidays (ie: Christmas) when things in school tend to become a bit less intense b/c teachers don't want to introduce new concepts until kids are back from winter break.

Food for thought ... you need to know your school's absence policy and their take on missed time due to illegal absences (non-illness).

 

[Mom to Jordan]

We have taken DS out most years k-5 for one week. Our plans were to stop at 6th grade but his principal says weeks to WDW are fine and we are going once more next year. However, I think 2weeks is too much in 5th grade. In NC that is a gateway year with heavy testing. I would not worry about academics for the K child but social wise 2 weeks early in the year would be hard. Maybe look for a fall break and work it out so they only miss a week of school and still have some extra days or cut the trip back to 10 days!!!

Jordan's mom

 

[Nini]

Travelling in October w/Extended family including 7 children age ranging from 3yrs (mine and in pre-school), 1-5yrs, 2-7yrs and 1-10 yrs. We are travelling to arrive on Monday and depart on Friday. We all agreed on October because of the older children will be taking their tests sometime in the weeks prior to our going to WDW and their moms (sil's) did not want them to be out prior to the testing...we all agreed.

I would think that if you were to ask for their assignments ahead and set aside some "study time" that it would be most beneficial if you do plan on taking two weeks.

 

[4greatboys]

We do yearly pull our kids out of school for vacation but its usually around a weekend and 3-4 days. I dont think I would do it for 2 weeks, thats seems like a huge chunk of time to miss school.

 

[Pinnie]

Another teacher here chiming in that 2 weeks is a lot of time to miss anytime in the year. The district that I teach in has a "literacy based" kindergarten curriculum and it moves very quickly. It's not cut, color and paste anymore. Our kindergarteners are benchmarked 4 times per year and expected to take a 10 word dictation by January.

In addition, social groupings formulate at the beginning of the year. If your child is NOT there, it is difficult for him/her to get back into the group setting again. The child that may have been your child's "buddy" before you leave, may have moved to another group. Also, because our district is in line with NCLB standards and our state has a December 1 cut off date, many kids who are borderline by November, are recommeded to go to a "Young 5s" program for a year to "grow and develop" for another year.

Kindergarten isn't what is used to be!

pinnie

 

[skiwee1]

I am taking DD who will be in first grade out of school for 3 WDW trips. Our October trip she will miss 6 days. Our December trip she will miss 6 days. Our newly planned May trip she will miss 8 days. So just in WDW alone she will miss 20 days. That doesn't count the 5 days she will miss when we go skiing in February. I warned the principal the other day about our plans and her words were Lucky you! I've always taken my kids out for vacation. At least in elementary school. I found that middle and high school was much harder to miss that many days so we did cut back then.

 

[tjmw2727]

I am not against pulling kids from school - just came back from a week in DC and my girls missed 4 days! However missing more than 5 days for my 4th grader would be a big issue as far as making up for the class instruction time.

Even if I would consider missing more than 3-5 days I would not do it in September for most of the reasons others have pointed out. Even in K and definately in the upper elementary this is when the year is set. The kids and the teacher learn about each other, the routines and schedules are set and so much gets done.

Our district is fairly lenient and we are lucky with excused absenses and it is up to the teacher if they want to prepare the missed work ahead of time or simply put it aside as they teach it for the child to do when they return. I don't expect any teacher to do extra work, but when they did it was much better. This last trip we were lucky as the teachers had mapped out the week and were able to give the work in advance.

Earlier in the year is more diffictult for the teacher to give advance work, IME. We did one trip in October when the teachers hadn't really gotten into the "groove" yet as far as how quickly the class will move through the work. Our October trip coincided with Columbus day and two teacher training days so we got a nice long trip with only missing 2 days of school. It was still more difficult to make up the work after the trip ~

So - Obviously its your decision and you will get more of a "feeling" from the teachers, hopefully you will get to meet them this year!

TJ

 

[ckoncurat]

My school district will excuse 5 days per year for personal reasons. We went the day after thanksgiving to stetch this out, and had a wonderful time.