Am I wrong to do this?

[oceanmarina]

Dizprincess,

I am a middle school teacher in your neighboring state, NY. My opinion is that there is nothing wrong with that. It sounds like this is not a regular occurrance for your child, so please don't feel guilty. They are not in college & will not be missing anything they can't catch up with. What I would do is ask the teacher what they will be working on, if it's a book, have them read it a little during the vacation.

 

[mickey minder]

As a homeschooling mother my take may be a bit different, but I just wanted to add it into the mix. While the other students were studying about submarines and undersea life, my DD went down in a sub and saw the world most people only see on television. She gained a real appreciation for the sea and the creatures in it. While other students were studying Mexican ruins, she was able to touch replicas from several civilizations. While other kids were studying marine mammals, she swam with a dolpin. Her former classmates studied Spanish, she spoke it to a native and got to ask all the questions she wanted. She visited two foreign counties. She enjoyed food from many cultures and was exposed to people from all over the world, not just our hometown. Best of all, she got to see her parents, who work full-time, take the time to enjoy life, beauty and family. I hope that she will develop a love of exploration and learning and always remember that family is what connects it all. All this and Mickey Mouse too. Don't feel guilty. You are your child's most influential teacher. You decide what lessons you want them to learn.

 

[april riddle]

I also plead guilty to this - 10 days this November - do it every year for a vacation. I think family time at this age DS - 10 and DS -8 will have great family memories. They both do very well in school and I do plan ahead with teachers and let them know we will be gone and when. I love going to Disney in January - we never have crowds and the kids don't get overtired because mostly everything closes at 7pm so we can have a good dinner and rest well for the next day. I never have had a problem taking my kids out of school. When you are paying so much for a holiday it you want to enjoy everything (especially no waiting in line for rides)

 

[aprilgail2]

I have talked to the school and told them I am pulling her out for a week every year and all they asked was that I not do it in May when they have the standardized testing.

 

[kennancat]

I have no children, so I can only give you my opinion based on how my parents raised me. They also took me out of school for family vacations - I remember calling a friend at home every night for the assignments and doing the homework while I was on vacation.

I still managed to make the top 10% of my class, National Merit Scholar, and got a full ride to the University of Florida, so I think it worked out in the end

 

[Lizardbeth61]

. . . and feel that it's a terrific education. And you know what? Not one of our children's teacher's have criticized or given us a hard time. They've even encouraged it . . . feeling family time and the experiences are well worth it. They've even made the assignments fit in with the vacation. I've been told now that our DD is going to middle school things might change, but we'll see. We're winter travelers and I think we'll find a way to keep making that work. We hate the crowds!

Go for it.

 

[christinou]

We did it last year for a week, and will again next year. My girls are 7 and 9, the teachers were great and gave us their work in advance, they got all of their work done ahead of time.....
Go for it, they will remember that vacation, but will never remember that week that they spent in class..

 

[callahanjulie10]

We usually take our DD- who will soon be 13- out of school at least once a year for about a week BUT I do have to say that when she gets in high school, there will be no way we can do this. I work at the high school she will be attending and the AP/DE classes are extremely tough and missing even 1 day is like missing 1 week in a regular class. You also need to look at the district calendar and make sure that they will not be missing exam days. I know that our state exams (FCAT) are scheduled by the state and have to be taken when scheduled, and finals (both December and May) can not be taken in advance and have to be made up within 5 days. They are very strict and do not make accomdations for vacations. We also have an attendance policy for missing no more than 20 excused days per year total. You have to go in front of the school board under these circumstances and could be retained!
We do take her out for a couple of times to go to WDW but it is usually a day before some holiday time (ie Labor Day or Columbus Day) and then always take a cruise (usually Sept, Oct, March, or May).

 

[dizprincess27]

Can you all say WHEW!!! I had my dd's school calendar for next year and did I bother to check it NO!!! Well I ran downstairs and sure enough they have MAP testing in May. I called both her school and the Board of Education and both reassured me that MAP testing is not a secure test and only 3 hours so it will be fine to let her take the test before we go I'm very relieved since I didn't bother to check about that before booking. Thanks again to everybody for their positive responses. I feel fine about taking her and now all I have to do is make sure she buckles down when we return

 

[txtara]

For those that live in the state of Texas you are going to want to check with your school. The state changed the laws on vacations during the school year a couple of years ago. We used to get a free week for vacation if it was needed....I believe now they consider vacations unexcused absences and you are not supposed to be able to make up the work....that was the last I heard...my daughters school is a little more flexible on it though...

 

[Stimpy]

Originally posted by txtara
For those that live in the state of Texas you are going to want to check with your school. The state changed the laws on vacations during the school year a couple of years ago. We used to get a free week for vacation if it was needed....I believe now they consider vacations unexcused absences and you are not supposed to be able to make up the work....that was the last I heard...my daughters school is a little more flexible on it though...

Our kid's school also considers vacations unexcused absences, which stinks! The teachers are also not "allowed" to give out any work before a vacation. (I have heard that some teachers "sneak" the work to the parents) We are dreading taking our DS out of school in December. Even if it is "just" kindergarten, he is still expected to do alot of schoolwork and homework.

When I was growing up, every year we would go to Disney at Thanksgiving and miss 3 days of school. The school and teachers were really helpful and made sure we had work to do. We did all our work the first day or two and were able to spend quality time with our family. I really wish our son's school could be as acommodating and encourage families to spend time together!

 

[crissyp]

Wow! Here in Long Island, New York, it's considered an illegal absence. Unless you come up with a really great story you might get away with it, but they don't want to hear anything about vacations and great experiences. Would it stop me? Not when my kids were in elementary but now that they are in high school we'd have to put some serious thought into it.
Just my opinion!

 

[invaderzim]

WOW, they are brutal in New York. Here in New Jersey, my DD was allowed 16 unexcused absences a year -- 8 each semester. They didn't care what you did with them, as long as you didn't go over them at the end. We always wrote notes to the principal and each teacher all the way up through last year (her Junior year in HS). They just gave her the make-up work and told her to have a good time!

I guess we were lucky.

 

[Dreamer04]

Originally posted by disneyjunkie
We don't have that option. We have to travel during school break or not go at all. If my son missed two weeks of school, he'd fail every class. He's going into the 8th grade. They'll have to take 2 regents exams next June(earth science and 9th grade math)plus 4 state exams during the year( Ela, 8th grade math, science and social studies).

I say go and have a great time.

Same here. We could manage with DD 6 but not DS 14. He's about to enter grade 10. Made it though 8th grade-not easily.

Even just a week would be too much. IMHO, high school is stressful enough without adding on extra work!

That said, I would not let a school dictate when my family takes vacation.

 

[crisi]

We plan on removing our kids from school for three days each year to travel. We only need three because we plan our vacations over a break for them anyway.

To me, ten seems a little extreme, but you are the parent and you know your child. As has been stated, try and work with the school and teachers, respect their time and effort in preassigning work and watch your state laws and district policies. While its unlikely the truant officer would come after you if your family has been fine in all other respects, I'd hate for a DISer to be chosen to "make an example of for all those parents who think its ok to pull their kids from school for vacations."

Another thing to be aware of - in Minnesota schools are funded off of a formula that factors the average number of students in class in a day - not the number enrolled. Here, heavy levels of absenteeism result in less money for the school. So parents participating in encouraging absenteeism are sometimes met with somewhat less than wholehearted cooperation on the part of the district, as every day your student is out of their seat means less money.

 

[cepmom]

We took our kids our for a week in 2002 for a family trip to WDW (kindergarten and 7th grade) but unfortunately, we ran into problems with the 7th graders school. Apparently, vacations are an "unexcused"absence and they only allow 5 unexcused absences per term. Over 5 unexcused absences, they give them an "attendance failure" She had 6 absences that term (5 from vacation and 1 sick day). I was told that if I did not produce a doctor's note for the sick day, it would not be excused! What? You're kidding right? My 13 year old is home sick throwing up and I should take her to the doctor for this? Since when can't a mother excuse her child from school because she has a stomach virus? Beleive me, I fought with them tooth and nail about that one and they finally relented and excused the sick day , but not the vacation days.

So, when we were planning our next trip, I told my DD that we could try and take her out of school again by trying to work it around some holiday where school would be closed for a day (Veteren' Day or Columbus Day) and keep her under the limit, but she said it was too stressful last time and a little stressful trying to make up all the missed assignments and tests. Since we can't really justify spending so much money to go on summer break or school vacation weeks, we ended up booking for the last week in August (much cheaper than the rest of the summer months). We don't start school here until after Labor Day, so the timing works out great! I only did this to satisfy my DD; I was ready to fight the school again about this vacation abscenses!

Schools shouldn't dictate when you can go on vacation. Your time with your family is far to important to miss out on. GO FOR IT!!!

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by crissyp
Wow! Here in Long Island, New York, it's considered an illegal absence. Unless you come up with a really great story you might get away with it, but they don't want to hear anything about vacations and great experiences. Would it stop me? Not when my kids were in elementary but now that they are in high school we'd have to put some serious thought into it.
Just my opinion!

I live on Long Island and this past May we took my god daughter (14) out of 9th grade for a week and a day for the cruise ( she hated the cruise but thats another whole story) and didn't have any trouble with the school and she still made the honor roll. I have already spoken to my daughters school and they don't have a problem with her being out of school but they did tell me that if she is out more than 30 days in the school year they have the option of leaving her back. They just don't want it to be in May and I have no trouble working around that request once she gets into 1st grade...we already have a May cruise booked for this coming May but its only kindergarten and she is already testing at over a 7 year old level so I don't think it will be any trouble.

 

[dizprincess27]

Well truth be told I still do feel a bit guilty about it but my daughter is usually out of school less than a week due to sickness for the whole school year so I'm trying to justify doing this. I didn't realize it would be for 2 total weeks but this will probably be the only time I do this until after she graduates high school. From now on, we'll do our vacations over some sort of break. This is just a special trip since we have never cruised and it will also be 3 years since visiting WDW last

 

[graygables]

As a former public school teacher, child traveller, and homeschooler, this *is* my soapbox...you've been warned! That said, take your children out of school whenever and wherever you see fit and tell the school to read the Constitution and the Supreme Court rulings about exactly who has the "care, custody, and control" of YOUR child. I never worried about standardized tests or school funding. They are MY children and I am the one who has the authority over them. The state does *not*. My now HS junior's last year in public school included a broken arm (3 days "unexcused"), a flu (4 days "unexcused"), and a Walt Disney World vacation (5 days "unexcused") that they tried to deny her course credit for (honors classes, 3.8GPA) and you can guess how far they got with that one. Just about to the school district's attorney's door. I can "excuse" my child anytime, any where, for any reason and you can, too (*and* you're a great parent for taking the time to adventure with them!)

Stepping off my soapbox (and, as always, donning my fireproof suit!)

 

[callahanjulie10]

I feel the same way as you do- my child is mine and I should have the right to take her on a family vacation without being harrassed BUT I can tell you from working in the school system that the reason for these laws is not because of you taking you child on vacation. It is for the parents who are not such great parents- the ones who don't want to wake up, feed their child, cloth them properly, etc. It is so Family Services can a legit reason to visit families of children who might otherwise disappear and never been seen or heard from again. It is horrible to think of these things while we live our nice comfortable lives.