Any experience taking kids out of kindergarten?

[CdnCarrie]

The threads you see in the Family Section are American. I do believe many of their school boards are funded per child's attendance. As in if their child's butt is not in the seat that day they do not get funding. That is what one poster explained before. Therefore the school policies are much stricter about absences then our school system.

Canadian schools are based on enrollment for the year. Not daily absences.

That's why we don't have crazy heated "taking your kids out of school" threads on the Canadian forum.

 

[noelk]

I'm all for the value of taking kids out of school for short periods to gain new experiences! And, have certainly done so.

Like others here, I would also have some pause for those weeks at the end of September. Here in Ottawa, kindergarden doesn't actually begin until mid-September, in which case, your child may be missing week 2 or 3...not a big deal as far as education, more a question of settling in and adapting to a new routine. The fact they're already in daycare should ease that transition...

 

[casper_jj11]

DD starts JK in Ottawa this September and we just got back from Disney. I've taken DS7 out several times for WDW and other trips without any problems. I really think its important for the kids to experience other places and cultures. That said, the one time I won't pull them is September. That time of year has so much bonding going on between the children in class. I don't want to interfere with that or do something that may cause problems for the kids or stress them out when they return and others have already formed friendships. I realize that they would get over it over time but with 11 other months available, I just avoid September. For what its worth, DD's first day of school is Sept 14th on her gradual entry day and her next day, the first day with teh full class, is Sept 20th. If I was to take her out at the end of Sept, she would miss the first introduction to her teacher and classmates.

 

[dsneygirl]

DS is starting JK and will be out for one week in Dec and one week in March. He goes all day/every other day so it's really only like 2 days I plan to tell the teacher well in advance but other than that it doesn't faze me.

 

[torontodisneyfan]

My daughter and I vacation in early May every year. I let the teacher/school know a long time in advance and some teachers have asked my daughter to work ahead while others have asked her to create a special project based on her trip. She has always had to complete any missed work but it has never been as issue

 

[jasmom]

We are taking the kids out of school for a week in sept for the third year. They will be grade 5,3 and 1. It has not been a problem. The second week works for us as they meet the teacher but are mainly missing review. We are from Kingston
Crazyfordisney2000 I just noticed that we are going on the same date and are both from kingston. Too funny

 

[snickerboo]

The "horror" stories are from US schools. In Canada, her teacher will say, "have a great trip!" My only concern would be her adjustment as she'll just have gotten into school routine when you pull her out for a week. But you know your dd and whether she'll adapt. My dd, at that age, would have been fine.

As far as them missing a week of K, both of mine missed a week of K to go to Disney. It didn't hurt them in any way. They both kept a "journal" of the trip where they drew a picture of each day and (in JK) I helped write a sentence to go with it. When we got home, we added actual pictures to their pictrues and they presented them to the class. I have kept their vacation journals as our Disney momentos. I love the picture dd drew in K of Splash Mountain.