Debate...Thanksgiving or take the kids out of school??

[dbprimeaux]

I have Nov. 21-29, 2008 booked at SSR (home resort ) 2 bedroom dedicated, but I am now second guessing myself...due to the crowds ?? We have 3 kids and I don't know if I should take them out of school -again this year for vacation?? It was really hard on our 14 yr old DS last year.... Please advise

 

[nuts]

Take them out. We did when our kids were younger. Think of it this way: Which will they remember more? The week they spent with the family, or the week of what they learn in school.

when they hit high school (Jr, Sr year) and college, then its a different story.

My 23 year old son is graduating with a double degree in Mechanical Engineering, and Aerospace Engineering. Doesn't look like he missed too much from the weeks we took him out...but boy does he have fantastic memories!

 

[MdmMim]

We took ours out of school when they were in the lower grades. When they got into Jr High, it was a no-go for them (their choice). They felt that they would miss too much, and it would be very difficult to catch up.

It was tough on your DS last time, and IMHO, it will be even more so, as he is in a higher grade with more work and responsiblities.

 

[kmermaid]

I would keep what you have and do the parks in the early part of the vacation and keep lower key stuff for the Wed - Fri part of the vacation when it is crowded.

 

[Starr W.]

I have Nov. 21-29, 2008 booked at SSR (home resort ) 2 bedroom dedicated, but I am now second guessing myself...due to the crowds ?? We have 3 kids and I don't know if I should take them out of school -again this year for vacation?? It was really hard on our 14 yr old DS last year.... Please advise

How many days do you miss Thanksgiving week?

We only have school Monday and Tuesday.

We met some people from La at SSR last Thanksgiving and their district gets the whole week off.

 

[Starr W.]

I would keep what you have and do the parks in the early part of the vacation and keep lower key stuff for the Wed - Fri part of the vacation when it is crowded.

SHHHH! That's the big secret of going down the weekend before.

 

[dbprimeaux]

We have to whole week of Thanksgiving off...Our kids get out early on the Friday before Thanksgivng. Our plans are to leave as soon as the kids get out of school and drive to Tallahassee (and spend the night with friends), then drive to WDW/SSR on Sat. morning. Thanks All!!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I haven't taken out my son (DS11) from school since Kindergarten. In 3rd Ggrade he was ill and missed several days, and the make up work was just brutal and too hard on him. My personal preference is to work within the school schedule, I find that we are both happier that way.

 

[Starr W.]

I haven't taken out my son (DS11) from school since Kindergarten. In 3rd Ggrade he was ill and missed several days, and the make up work was just brutal and too hard on him. My personal preference is to work within the school schedule, I find that we are both happier that way.

I take my kids out the 2 days before our Thanksgiving break starts. The eldest barely has anything to make up. He was sick one day in January and had more work to make up for that one day than the 2 days in November.

Personally I wouldn't pull them for a full week and they certainly both would want to miss school for a week.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I take my kids out the 2 days before our Thanksgiving break starts. The eldest barely has anything to make up. He was sick one day in January and had more work to make up for that one day than the 2 days in November.

Personally I wouldn't pull them for a full week and they certainly both would want to miss school for a week.

Truth be told, it seems the kids do very little work around almost any holiday! So that makes a lot of sense!

 

[Starr W.]

Truth be told, it seems the kids do very little work around almost any holiday! So that makes a lot of sense!

The last day before Xmas is always a hoot, helped with various class parties over the years and the room mom is always honked that people have the nerve to pull their kids that day after all the work she has put into the party.

 

[starbox]

We have 3 kids and I don't know if I should take them out of school -again this year for vacation?? It was really hard on our 14 yr old DS last year.... Please advise

As a ninth grade honors-level teacher and department chair - realize that if last year was difficult - this year will be 10X as difficult. I'm guessing he's 8th or 9th grade? If it's 8th grade you have the high stakes tests that determine if you pass or fail. Ninth grade is a whole new ball game - adjusting to rigors of high school when every grade counts towards your college options. Please don't take your 14/15 year old out of school unless you have no other choice. I've seen my brightest kids struggle after missing a week & I know the stuff I go over on a daily basis is not information they could just study and get on their own. It is really hard for them to catch up with a week's worth of six courses in high school - and now with attendance policies and high-stakes testing, it can also cause trouble getting work permits and a driver's license.

Enjoy the week you have off at Thanksgiving - the crowds are bad, but the parks will be lovely.

 

[MinnieGi]

We also have the whole week of Thanksgiving off and went last year at this time and will be going again this year. I also like to work mostly within the school schedule. If you go early to the parks you really stay ahead of the crowds. We were amazed at how much we were able to do last year despite the high crowds!

 

[missy2217]

Take Them Out!

 

[hockey_chauffeur]

We have been at the parks for Thanksgiving week and it was one of our best trips. The parks were very reasonable through Wednesday. We booked special dinners and events on Thanksgiving and Friday (a fishing trip, mini-golf, sit down meals, Fantasmic dinner package, Christmas lights, etc). At the end of a busy week I think everyone was glad to sleep in one day too.

I'd never take my 14 year old out of middle or high school -- he would freak out about all the work he missed and be miserable for weeks making it up. I agree, with the teacher who posted, a lot of the work can't just be read out of the book. Plus, he has a test or quiz almost every day in one subject or another and just trying to schedule makeup times for those would be a mess. Even my 11 year old in middle school 6th grade would have a hard time making up a week's worth of work - at least in our district where they get several hours of homework a night and the teachers are not required to give out homework ahead of time just to accomodate vacations. We also have attendance policies about the maximum number of unexcused absences allowed before the kid risks losing credits, and a week off plus almost any other type of absence could put the kid into a difficult situation. And then god forbid the kid got sick later in the winter and missed even more time.

You can have a great time at WDW over Thanksgiving week if you load up on your favorite rides early in the week and then take advantage of reserved events and the rest of the world on the super busy days. Have fun

 

[dbprimeaux]

Thanks for all the input!! I think we are going to keep our Thanksgiving week planned as is....

 

[Buckeye Fan]

FWIW, we went down this past spring break (March 21 - 28 - Easter week). Everyone kept telling us it would be the worst time in the world to go. Parks would be packed, resorts would be packed, dining waits a nightmare, etc.

I honestly have to admit that I didn't feel it was much different than our summer stays. Maybe it was because we were expecting the worse, it was surprisingly better! Our longest wait for a ride was 1 hour (Peter Pan) and though SSR was sold out, the only time we knew it was sold out was when we went to the main pool. Main pool was packed, but quiet pools were wonderful!

DTD was a little more crowded than normal, but with a little planning (make your dinner reservations so you don't have to fight the lines), it was a wonderful trip! I wouldn't hesitate to go down during a "peak" time again. Worst part...number of points I had to use for a 2-BR!!!

 

[jamstew]

As a ninth grade honors-level teacher and department chair - realize that if last year was difficult - this year will be 10X as difficult. I'm guessing he's 8th or 9th grade? If it's 8th grade you have the high stakes tests that determine if you pass or fail. Ninth grade is a whole new ball game - adjusting to rigors of high school when every grade counts towards your college options. Please don't take your 14/15 year old out of school unless you have no other choice. I've seen my brightest kids struggle after missing a week & I know the stuff I go over on a daily basis is not information they could just study and get on their own. It is really hard for them to catch up with a week's worth of six courses in high school - and now with attendance policies and high-stakes testing, it can also cause trouble getting work permits and a driver's license.

Thanks so much for posting this. I won't criticize other people's decisions, but, personally, I would never have taken my children out of school for more than a couple of days once they were out of elementary school (and I honestly don't remember even doing that). They were both honor students, received college scholarships, and now have advanced degrees. I can't help but believe that being in class during the school year helped. Once they hit junior high, they wouldn't have been able to get away anyway because of extra-curricular activities, nor would they have wanted to. I'm sure there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to show that it's okay for some kids, but it certainly can't hurt for them to be in class when they're supposed to. Just my two cents

 

[Brian Noble]

Personally, I don't pull my kids out of school unless it is a once-in-a-lifetime event (funeral, etc.) or a professional appointment that must be during business hours (physician, orthodontist, etc.) If that means I deal with more people in the parks, I consider that a (small) price to pay for having kids.

 

[Arthur27]

I teach high school science here in the Orlando area. Generally I don’t recommend taking kids out of school unless it’s something you just have to do. With that said, Thanksgiving week “can” be an exception. We have Thursday and Friday off, and if we didn’t use one of our Hurricane days we get Wednesday off as well leaving only Monday and Tuesday. When this happens I can tell half the staff goes in to slack mode because about a third or more of our classes won’t be there. So Thanksgiving “may” not be such a bad time to pull the kids out. It just depends. What I would do is check with each teacher and get any work that can be done a head of time which would hopefully avoid coming home to a lot of make up work.