Your thoughts on kids missing school to go to Disney

[maxiesmom]

Pull your kids out for vacation, as long as you and they are able to accept any consequences they may have to face.

 

[PrincesCJM]

I did not read all the posts but I wanted to give my two cents. I'm a high school math teacher. At the high school level, I do not suggest pulling your child out for 4+ days of vacation. I have no problem with 1-3 days - it doesn't seem to hurt them too significantly. Any more and I have found that even strong students academically suffer. I have left for Disney 1 or 2 days before vacation officially starts and have done so with the full support of my principal.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DH and I firmly believe that a child can learn more from travel than they ever will in school. Now, perhaps Disney is not the most educational of vacations, but that's only if you're thinking about traditional school subjects. In Disney, my kid will learn, by default, patience (waiting in line), cost/benefit analysis (is waiting in this line for this ride worth it more than the shorter wait for that ride?), bargaining (we'll go on the ride you guys want next), navigation (okay, what is the fastest way to get from Pop Century to the Grand Floridian?), spatial relations (packing), math (you have only your allowance to spend and all of World of Disney to buy), that other families are not like ours (humanities in action), how to deal with conflict (FP+ isn't working!!), and a host of other life skills. Not to mention it's a heck of a lot more physically challenging to spend a day at Disney than it is to go through a hour long gym class.

We do not intend to base our travel time decisions on the school calendar. I plan (and gosh I hope I can manage to get the money I need in order to do so) to take my daughter out of school for a year and travel the world.

Of course all those things your child is "learning" at Disney can also be "taught" during school breaks. In fact, if we want to call that "education", wouldn't Christmas break be kind of an advanced lesson?

 

[sam_gordon]

I also don't really know why this is always such a big "fight" topic.

I think it's because those who pull their kids feel they are "attacked" or "judged" by those who think it shouldn't happen, and those who say "no way" feel they are "judged" (as PP said) because they don't value family time, put too much weight on school work, or don't have a good work/school/life/family balance.

DH and I firmly believe that a child can learn more from travel than they ever will in school. Now, perhaps Disney is not the most educational of vacations, but that's only if you're thinking about traditional school subjects. In Disney, my kid will learn, by default, patience (waiting in line), cost/benefit analysis (is waiting in this line for this ride worth it more than the shorter wait for that ride?), bargaining (we'll go on the ride you guys want next), navigation (okay, what is the fastest way to get from Pop Century to the Grand Floridian?), spatial relations (packing), math (you have only your allowance to spend and all of World of Disney to buy), that other families are not like ours (humanities in action), how to deal with conflict (FP+ isn't working!!), and a host of other life skills. Not to mention it's a heck of a lot more physically challenging to spend a day at Disney than it is to go through a hour long gym class.

Can kids learn stuff at Disney? Absolutely. Would they not learn the same stuff in the middle of June that they'd learn in the middle of January? That's why, IMO, using the excuse "Disney is educational" as a reason to take kids out of school doesn't fly.
By the same token, taking kids to the grocery store can be educational also. Patience (waiting in line), cost/benefit analysis (is the brand name product worth 50 cents more than the generic), navigation (we're in produce, we need to find diary), spatial relations (putting items in bags and in trunks), math (how much is everything in the cart), etc. Would you (general you, so nobody thinks I'm attacking the person I'm quoting) take your child out of school for a trip to the grocery store?

Pull your kids out for vacation, as long as you and they are able to accept any consequences they may have to face.

And this is the bottom line. In addition to the POSSIBLE "school imposed" consequences, I guess we should add "being judged on an anonymous Disney message board".

 

[Magpie]

Would you (general you, so nobody thinks I'm attacking the person I'm quoting) take your child out of school for a trip to the grocery store?

(edited for length)

And this is the bottom line. In addition to the POSSIBLE "school imposed" consequences, I guess we should add "being judged on an anonymous Disney message board".

Yep, I would and did. Not for every grocery trip, obviously, but my boy went through a period where he was so stressed in kindergarten (as in, four years old and saying, "My brain is bad. I wish I was dead!"), that by January I was only sending him to school two or three days a week and doing therapy/homeschooling with him the rest of the time. That was actually per his teacher's suggestion, and with the blessing of the principal.

He learned a lot at the grocery store! And also at our local library, museums, his dad's office, down by the river, etc. I would get him to dictate reports that he'd read to his class on the days he went to school, along the lines of, "My trip to the grocery store!"

And I couldn't agree more with your last line. Being judged (and finding yourself judging others) is always a risk on these boards. I, for one, try to embrace it with as much good humour as I can muster.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Didn't read any of this thread, just piping in with my 2 cents.

From a teacher's standpoint, I'm not a fan of kids going during on vacation during school. I teach 4th and 5th graders to play string instruments (orchestra). I teach in groups of anywhere from 5-8 kids at a time. This year, one girl missed the first two weeks of beginning instruction because "they don't do much in those first two weeks of class of importance". She comes back to school, all the other kids in her group have learned the basic care of the instrument, beginning skills, how to play a song, including how to read music. There she is having not a clue as to what we are doing. So, do I take the time out of the lesson to catch her up while the other kids who are ready to move on just wait? So now it's MY job to help her get caught up? When? During my lunch? During my plan time? Before or after school? It doesn't really seem right that I am inconvenienced by her parent's choice to go on vacation during school.

Of course, in the end, I did the right thing and had her come in before school and helped her catch up. I would never fault the child for the parents mistake. I'm glad I did because she is a sweet girl and is doing well at this point in the school year.

Now when I think of classroom teachers trying to help kids catch up, my head spins. I can't imagine how hard that must be when dealing with usually over 20 and sometimes close to 30 kids.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[Tinijocaro]

I am a parent and a teacher. I am pulling my DDs out for two days in May. My oldest DD has had a rough year medical-wise and I want to do something special for her birthday. I want to celebrate her life and that she is here with us.

I am falling into the everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't I? Her teacher took a week to go to Hawaii. A teacher I work with took a week to go to Jamaica. Kids in her class have taken a month to go back to their home country. So, I figure what is two days. I don't think that I will do it once they are in middle school (starting next year).

Oh, and I just purchased a contract and found that it had a surprise 78 points that needed to be used by May 31st and they couldn't be banked. So, I made the above excuses. I probably wouldn't have booked the trip, if it weren't for these points. I had planned on going in June.

As a teacher, I hate hearing of other teachers taking vacations when school is in session. One teacher I know took a Disney vacation during school and called in sick. Another took two weeks unpaid leave to get married and go on a honeymoon. I disagree with both since it is a major interruption to student learning.

 

[Tinijocaro]

We took our kids out of school but not past middle school.

Our 2 oldest graduated with honors from high school and are both are doing well in college. It obviously didn't harm them too much to miss school a few days.

Not much mention on this thread of how pulling kids out for vacation affects the teacher. Of course kids will bounce back and make up the work but at what expense to the teacher?

 

[Tinijocaro]

This will probably get fun it's a heated topic, but here is my 2 cents.


My little support for the teachers, also don't expect the teacher to go out of their way to put together your kids' work ahead of time so they stay on track, and don't expect them to spend extra time after you get back helping your kids catch up. If they need it.

This!

 

[Planogirl]

Yep, I would and did. Not for every grocery trip, obviously, but my boy went through a period where he was so stressed in kindergarten (as in, four years old and saying, "My brain is bad. I wish I was dead!"), that by January I was only sending him to school two or three days a week and doing therapy/homeschooling with him the rest of the time. That was actually per his teacher's suggestion, and with the blessing of the principal.

He learned a lot at the grocery store! And also at our local library, museums, his dad's office, down by the river, etc. I would get him to dictate reports that he'd read to his class on the days he went to school, along the lines of, "My trip to the grocery store!"

And I couldn't agree more with your last line. Being judged (and finding yourself judging others) is always a risk on these boards. I, for one, try to embrace it with as much good humour as I can muster.

How did you quote me? I didn't say anything about a grocery store. Did I?

 

[Magpie]

How did you quote me? I didn't say anything about a grocery store. Did I?

No, you didn't, and I have no idea how that happened! I've gone and fixed it now.

 

[Planogirl]

No, you didn't, and I have no idea how that happened! I've gone and fixed it now.

LOL! I thought that I was losing it.

 

[Chocolate Cake]

Not much mention on this thread of how pulling kids out for vacation affects the teacher. Of course kids will bounce back and make up the work but at what expense to the teacher?

I don't think the teacher should do any extra work, other than tell the student what they will miss or what they did miss. Most of the time that information is on the teacher's website. Kids miss school every day for illness, or death in the family, or school enrichment trips. Teachers know how to handle absent students.

But if your child is struggling to begin with, has issues in school or with learning, or (in my opinion) is not a strong A student, I think it would be an issue to pull them out for a week long vacation.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

My kids are grown now, but I never hesitated to pull them from school for a family vacation. We would always try to incorporate some type of learning into each park. We would do homework sheets on the plane both ways. I think May is the most beautiful time to go because of weather and lower crowds. I would avoid high traffic times at the parks.

 

[bethy]

Not much mention on this thread of how pulling kids out for vacation affects the teacher. Of course kids will bounce back and make up the work but at what expense to the teacher?

There has been a ton Of discussion in this thread about the burden on teachers.

 

[bethy]

But if your child is struggling to begin with, has issues in school or with learning, or (in my opinion) is not a strong A student, I think it would be an issue to pull them out for a week long vacation.

When my oldest was in public school she was a straight A student the whole time. But the more time she spent there the more miserable she was and the less she learned.

More time in school does not always automatically = more learning or better education.

 

[Chocolate Cake]

When my oldest was in public school she was a straight A student the whole time. But the more time she spent there the more miserable she was and the less she learned.

More time in school does not always automatically = more learning or better education.

I agree. Every child is different.

 

[Tinijocaro]

There has been a ton Of discussion in this thread about the burden on teachers.

Some discussion, but not a ton. Most of that discussion was by teachers. Parents justifying taking their kids out continually point out how little the trip will affect their children, with little thought as to how this will impact the teacher.

 

[bsblady01]

There has been a ton Of discussion in this thread about the burden on teachers.

why should I have to put in extra time away from my kids to put together a work packet for your child. where I teach we are not allowed to give makeup work for vacations since they are unexcused. We have had parent's lie about a death in the family or the child being sick so they could get makeup work but when your child comes back to school nice and tan and with a new Disney world t-shirt on it will not fly.

 

[bethy]

why should I have to put in extra time away from my kids to put together a work packet for your child. where I teach we are not allowed to give makeup work for vacations since they are unexcused. We have had parent's lie about a death in the family or the child being sick so they could get makeup work but when your child comes back to school nice and tan and with a new Disney world t-shirt on it will not fly.

You are preaching to the choir. I respect your boundaries for sure.

Also it sounds like your school is a good fit for you in this policy area.