booked and forgot about start of school

[osprey]

We just figured out that our kids will miss the first week of school while on the August 17th Wonder. The debate were having is whether to cancel to make sure they do not miss that first week or to just go anyway.

What do think?

 

[ebaynut31]

My own personal opinion is change your vacation if you don't lose money. You didn't say what grades they are in. I took my dd9 out for a week this past october and she was in 3rd grade. I will never, never take her out of school for a week again. We have been going down since 1998 during off season during the school year and now it is too hard to make up. This is going to be a tough decision for you. I'll send lots of pixie dust so you can make the right decision. Good luck!! I live in mass and we don't start school until the wednesday after laborday.

 

[CindyandBrice]

GO GO GO GO
You are already within the 60 days and would lose your deposit plus.

How old are the kids??? What do they think??? Are they starting a new school???

Besides... that is very early to go back to school.

 

[Katesdad]

I guess it depends on the age of the kids. Once mine got to fourth grade, we stopped pulling them out for any reason. The first week seems important to me (get books covered, get routines settled in, re-establish freindships, etc.). IMHO if they were past the third grade, I'd either rebook for the week before or look to next year. However, there has been a thread on this subject before where many of the DIS parents disagree with me in this matter and feel that taking their children with them on a vacation during school time is more important and better for the child's development. I guess it's all in how you were raised and how you want to raise yours.

 

[Mjasp]

The first week of school is tough, as they are making their "clicks" so to speak, after that I would have no problem taking them out of school for vacation. If she wouldn't miss the first day, I say go for it. My 10 yr old DD takes a 7th grade honors math class. The teacher her gave her the work before we left. That was the only work she had. The work from her regular 5th grade class, the teacher said "go have fun". My 1st graders teachers response to me when I asked her if she wanted to give us any work was "I thought you said you were going on vacation" what do you want work for. The only thing she gave us was a booklet called "My Vacation Journal" Which turned out to be a lesson for the 1st grade class when DD brought in Pesos.

We went in May, when basically all the work for the year is already taught. We are going back this May also. DD will have the math regents this year, but its not till after we get back.

So Go and enjoy. Only you know if it is the right thing to do for your children. If they are old enough, why don't you ask them how they feel, if they would feel funny missing school that early in the year.


Joanna

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Do <i><b>not</b></i> pull them out of the first week of school. It's incredibly important. Many of the reasons why have already been mentioned.

 

[winnyis]

Just my opinion but I say go on the cruise - I pulled my kids out of school last year on the first week for the Magic cruise and am doing it again this year. My husbands vacation schedule is limited due to seniority. I merely wrote a note to each teacher in advance and explained the situation. When we got back she had saved all the work and forms they had missed and they were caught up within a week.

Again,just my opinion.

Ginny

 

[llachance]

I have never! pulled my daughter out of school to take a vacation. That said, her dad pulled her out for a day before Thanksgiving a couple of years ago because they were going to his sister's wedding. He thought long and hard about asking me. She is in high school now and she would probably not like me much if I took her from friends. That said we are lucky because she has a week in February, a week in April and two weeks at Christmas that we can play with. Next summer she will be in summer school all summer so our cruise will be at Christmas.

 

[prymsu]

normally we take our son out of school when we travel, but I would really have second thoughts about the very first week of school. For one thing the teacher has not had a chance to work with your child, and you have not discussed with the teacher your intentions.

Normally the first week of school is when i contact the teacher and talk to her about any trips we have scheduled that will occur during the school year, and get their blessing. Just my thoughts...

 

[DiSnEyGrL13]

I say go! Take it from me (even though I don't know how old your kids are) I am 13, and even thought it is the first week, a Disney Cruise is a Disney Cruise! I mean If my parents were gonna take me on another DC, I wouldn't care when it was or what I'd miss back home. You can always catch up on things, but you can never go back and change things. If you cancel the cruise, I think that on the day that you were suppossed to embark, you'll be thinking you made a big mistake.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Some schools consider no shows for the 1st day of school as you don't want to enroll. I'd make sure you have the blessing of the school first if possible. Personally, I wouldn't take my kid out of school for the 1st week. Other weeks I'd probably wouldn't have a problem. But before you make your decision I would find out what it will cost you in changing flights, etc... It might not be worth the money to change the cruise to another week. Just a thought. Good luck with your decision!

 

[hydster]

but not the first week of school. I have taken my kids out the first week of school (last year we were in Disneyland on 9-11 and that was the 1st week of school) but we had something called SEP's with our kids and teachers about 2 weeks before school started so we warned them we would be gone and they were fine with it. My kids are going into 3rd and 2nd grade and I think the education they will get on the cruise will FAR surpass anything they get in school as far as showing them different places and such. My daughter had to do a report on what we did and things she saw that were different for her and she did it in front of the class and they all loved it. She brought pictures with her of her and the characters and I think she learned quite a bit on the trip. I dont know how old your kids are but I dont think I would cancel my trip because of it. Kids are very resilient and they can catch back up. My kids teachers already know about the November cruise we are going on this year and they have assured me that they will send homework or an assignment with them while we are gone. Our school teachers realize it is unrealistic to expect that all vacations will fall during the summer months and for us to go in December when school was out was almost 10,000.00 and going a month earlier was only 4,000.00. Pure economics (which I am going to teach my kids about as a result of this trip) sometimes tells you when you can and cannot take a vacation as well as work!
I would definitely check with your child's teacher at the least and the teacher and the school at the most to see what to do about it all. I know here in Utah if your child has X number of unexcused absences (meaning not sick or attending a funeral or something) they CAN throw the book at the parents! I would make sure all is well before you go if you can! If not I always say it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission! LOL


Heidi

 

[AliPom]

I was going to take my nephew with me and then we realized that he would have to miss the first week of grade 6 at his existing school.
If the decision would have been to let him go, I was going to contact his principal and request a meeting with his teacher, and request week 1's work assignments and books to work with him during the summer on his lessons.
But after tossing it around for 2 weeks, and although he is a gifted student at the top of his class with established friendships, his dad felt that the first week was too important for him to miss. It is a difficult decision; even when the child is a good student and has a network of friends.

Take into consideration:
1) your child's learning abilities;
2) study habits; and
3) confidence level in joining classmates 1 week late (I think that if I were a shy child I would not want to miss the first week).

If you do opt to go, maybe you can get lessons/books in advance.

I don't know if you will be penalized $ if you reschedule your cruise to another sailing date, although the rescheduled cruise rates may be different than the rates under your current booking. If you haven't done so already, maybe it would be worth your while to make a telephone call and inquire about that.

Good Luck, I know how tough this decision is!

 

[osprey]

First of all, thanks for all the answers and advice.

I have two daughters age 13 and 11. They are both strait 'A' students, national athletic champs, and honor roll students. But, one of them is changing schools this year. School registration/orientation will take place just before the cruise so we will have the opportunity to talk with the teachers. We are under the 60 day window so everything including the airline tickets have been paid for. To complicate the issues, we're all going out of country for the next three weeks so the decision to make changes or cancel the trip would have to made this week. The jury is still out on that one ..... the kids voted and no doubt you know how that went.

 

[mcnuss]

I, too, take my DD8 out of school for vacations and will do so again this year for 2 days for our cruise in November. But I don't think I could bring myself to do it for the first week. I think there is too much routine and expectation setting done during that time, and they will suffer. Last year, we took DD out for one week at the end of Sept. to go to France and I regretted it. The teacher was wonderful about it and all agreed that she got more from the trip than she would have in school, but it was clear when we returned that she got kind of discombobulated and out of the routines and had a hard time re-adjusting.

 

[motherhen17404]

We are taking our DS10 out of school for our Sept. cruise. He will have been in school for 2 weeks at the time of our cruise. We went to his school and talked to the Dean of Students and she said that he would learn more being with his parents on the cruise then he would ever learn in school. My feeling is that our trip is our family time. I know school is very important, but so is our family. I never want my son to look back on his childhood and regret not being able to spend time with his family. Just my 2 cents worth!

 

[padisneyfan]

I'm sure glad that I don't have to make the decision and that my DS's are in college so I can go away without them. Good Luck with whatever you decide.



motherhen17404 I see that you are also from York. You are the only other person I have seen post from York.

 

[jwolfe]

Hi, just a little added advice on my end . You have to do what is right for your family. However, being a teacher, I can say that it is usually difficult on children to miss that amount of time. The first week is an important week to miss with the general "feel" of the class coming together. That being said, I would much rather one of my student's miss the first week than farther into the year. In my opinion the first week is more social than academic. Especially with the ages of your children. Just talk to your children's teachers explain the situation and all will be well. They will probably give you a packet of work, etc to do while you are gone. The world won't stop with one missed week. Have a good trip!

 

[goofyfamily41]

I'd say go on your trip. Being an elementary principal and my wife a kindergarten teacher we both feel that quality family time is important. Let the school know what dates your child will be gone and if any registration/updates need to be completed, do that before you leave. Be prepared to make up any work upon return and accept that they might be marked down for some work missed that can't be made up.
Parents are the first and most important teacher of their children - enjoy your trip but take time out for the educational aspects you can bring to your child during this time.

 

[trishy]

Funny you should ask that. My dd9 was to start 5th grade on July 8, but we were on the 7/6 cruise. When we got back (late Saturday night), she was having a hard time sleeping. All day Sunday her stomach gave her problems. She had a nightmare Sunday night. Turns out she was really nervous about walking into class after all of the kids had already been in for a week. She got over it really quick. She did make a mountain out of a mole hill, but it was sad to see her anxiety over what I considered to be a small issue. She missed very little work since school had only just begun anyway. Most of it was passing out classroom policies, books, schedules, expectations, etc. The real work started the second week. I think you're doing the right thing by letting them vote. Get a feel for how they'll handle starting later than their friends - whether they care or not. The $$ issue is a big consideration - whether or not you even have the option of changing the date. Family vacations are such an important part of learning, too. Kids rebound pretty quickly.