Disney Vacations During School

[AJRitz]

We did it, with no adverse consequences, with our daughter in 2nd grade. And we'll be doing it again with her in 3rd grade. Here are my suggestions:

1) Know your school and school districts policies about vacation absences. Our school district is very accomodating of family vacations, and treats such absences as excused. Other school districts have different policies. Knowing the policies will allow you to best mitigate any adverse consequences (see 2 below as well on this point).

2) Be upfront with the school. Let them know which days your child will be missing and why early on. There's nothing to be gained by avoiding telling them (and lots to lose by lying). Even if the absences will be counted as unexcused, letting them know early on can help mitigate the consequences of the missed days. (I can't stress enough, you really have nothing to gain by lying to the school, and you only teach your child to lie to authority figures by trying to do so).

3) Know your child. Make sure that you do what you can to help you child prepare ahead of time and to get caught up after the trip. Set times before the trip to do extra prep work, if possible. Make it clear to your child that s/he will be expected to complete missed assignments when you get back, and schedule time to get that work done.

4) Communicate. Send a letter to the teacher and the principal as early as possible. Follow up with the teacher again, probably about two weeks before your trip (before then, that early in the school year, the teacher might not even know what work will be covered while you're gone).

 

[amelia1]

We'll be taking another trip in September. I'll be pulling my DS(7) from school for a week. We did this last school year too. I personally don't see anything wrong with this. I feel he's only going to be young once. Going during school vacations would just be a nightmare crowd-wise.

Will someone out there tell me it's o.k. to miss a week of school for a memory making family vacation please!!!!

I think it depends on the child and their school. I know I could never take my kids out for more than 1 day. The curriculum is way too challenging for my girls to miss more than 1 day and be able to keep up. They also aren't the type to take school work with them to do either! If you are asking for validation then you obviously have some doubts. What does your gut tell you?

 

[pinktink83]

We do it. Just inform teacher ahead of time and get all makeup homework, tests done beforehand.

But I'm not sure what the point of this post is...you say you are comfy with it, so do it! You don't need permission from us. And it'll porbably just stir up a fight as its a touchy subject. Everyone has their own, strong, feelings about it.

 

[skinnietink]

We have pulled our kids out every year since they were in pre-k. The 2010-2011 school year, we pulled them out for a total of 10 school days for Disney Vacations. In the 2011-2012, we will be pulling them out for a total of 8. Six in October, 2 in February ( I broke down and scheduled most of our vacation during the break). As long as they are doing well in school, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that. This is a Disney board, so it makes sense that folks here talk about pulling kids for DISNEY vacations. That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of people (probably some of these same people) going on vacations to other places - educational or not - during the school year as well.

We have pulled our kids out of school for other destinations too, probably the most educational of the bunch being the week in Mexico seeing the Mayan ruins and Xcaret and such (and as much as I hate to do it we'll probably pull them out for DC too, now that TWO sets of summer plans fell through due to DH's work schedule), but this is the DISboards so it is the Disney trips that come up and that are listed in my sig.

My kids generally miss 4-6 days of school a year for travel, broken up into two trips around short breaks. This year they'll be missing 3 or 4 for Disney depending on the dates we settle on, and 1 (actually 2 half-days) for a trip around January's semester break if we decide to brave DC in the winter. Unfortunately family travel during the summer just isn't possible with DH's business; a lot of places - like DC - would be a lot more pleasant in warmer weather but we have to work with the demands of the job that pays for the trips!

 

[Mama Who]

These are YOUR children. I'm going to assume you're a good parent and know what is in their best interests. If you think pulling them is fine, do it. Not anyone else's place to tell you what not to do with your own kids if you aren't hurting them. Have a terrific trip!

 

[mjantz]

I've never pulled the kids out for a Disney trip but I did for an overseas trip this year. I'm glad we went but I wouldn't do it again. DS13 had a hard time making up the work & it was a stressful time.
I think when they're little it's easier. Honestly if my Jr high or HS student could miss a week to 10 days & not suffer I'd have concerns about the rigor of that school.

 

[4 love of disney]

I think it is great. I used to try and incorporate some school work in our trip but lets be honest you are just too tired.

Just remember that a classical education included a "Grand Tour" or world travel. Disney is a condensed version of this and really traveling to the places you learn about is just as important as reading about them. My kids have create several great social science projects from their Disney experience and received excellent marks.

Enjoy your trip your kids will thank you!

 

[BLAZEY]

I did not know that this would be ever be an issue to deal with. Is it an American thing? Schools could actual penalize you for taking your kids out of school for family/ vacation time? Where we live vacation policies are more strict for the teachers, but not for students. They are set by the provincial Ministry of Education. My daughter is not yet in school, so I hope they don't change the current policy. My parents took us out for vacation during school. I missed 1 week of 1st grade,2.5 weeks of 6th grade and 3 weeks in grade 12 to go Disneyland and overseas to Australia/ New Zealand and to Japan respectively. Teachers did give homework for the 6th and 12th grade trips, and I was in honours classes in highschool.

 

[mom2aredhead]

I am a teacher, and I value education. Of course, anything you do can be educational, but children in our society need to be on an organized educational plan, such as schools provide.

I would buy into this, if the "organized" educational plan that the public schools provided did not also include days off for
Columbus Day
Election Day
Veterans Day
MLK Day
Presidents Day
Teachers Convention
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippour
Snow of the most miniscule amount
Teacher workshop days
Not to mention the random 1/2 days for conferences and testing ON TOP OF a week + for spring break
a week+ for Christmas break
a random week in February for mid-winter recess.

September to December barely a week goes by that they're not off for one thing or another. So yes, I stand by my statement that a few extra days off will not hurt anyone.

 

[CoffeeCup]

I don't know where you live, but in my state we don't have but about half of the days off that you listed. When we miss a day for snow or icy roads, we make up the day on a scheduled teacher workday, holiday or sometimes even a Saturday. If you have so many days out of school, it should be easy to arrange a vacation without missing very many school days. We have just added 5 additional days for students to attend school, making our school year 185 days.

 

[Disneyelf10]

We're taking my 6yo niece in Nov and she is missing 3 days. She is going to be in the 1st grade this fall. What can they really miss? It's also the week before Thanksgiving. I would have taken her for the week, but sister in law only wanted her to miss 1 day but I got 3 days from school, 5 total!!

Last year she missed a week in Dec... I also think in the lower grades K- 6th are ok and kids usually can catch up and some schools don't frown upon it as much.

Good luck to all!

 

[DisneySarah80]

My oldest DD will be in 1st grade next year, and we are pulling her out for a full week in October. I'm fine with it, so I hope no one else has a problem! On the bright side - Our next store neighbor is a 1st grade teacher in her school. If she gets her (fingers crossed) I've already informed her, and shes happy about it. Besides this, we want her as her teacher because DD really adores her, and shes a great teacher.

 

[KristenFNJ]

I can understand why you started this thread! Even though I know it's the right thing to do for my family, as a responsible parent you still have this nagging feeling that it's naughty to miss school LOL, and it's reassuring to know that we're not alone in our view and our plans!

I'm taking my boys out of 4th and 2nd grade in October, and we can't wait. We drive from NJ, so they'll miss Friday plus a week-6 days total. When DS1 was in 1st we took him out for a week as well, it was no problem at all. I agree that it can depend on your children's temperment and academics, for us we've fortunate it's not a problem and our school is very supportive. This is probably the last time, as once DS1 starts middle school I know from friends that it's much harder to miss the curriculum.

I have to disagree that making the best memories can happen any time or any place for any person/family. Memories are SO personal, and depend on a million variables. For my family, waiting 2 hours for rides in sweltering heat produces happy memories, but also a whole bunch of crummy ones I would much prefer to minimize (as experienced in 2003 when we went in June with my 56yo mom and 1.5yo DS1). Aside from DH &I and our older DS's, it will make a big difference for my now 64yo mom and nearly 2yo DS3... being more comfortable, and safer... yes, that matters. For our family, our memories are absolutely impacted by choosing a slightly cooler time of year with less crowds.

 

[Charleston Zurg]

We use to do it all of the time. At least twice a year. Now, however, kids are 16, 13, and 10 so it is harder and harder to do because of the amount of make up work and it seems like teachers are not willing to work with us as they have been in the past when the kids were in lower grades. Now if we take them out it is for only three days max. Usually a Friday, Monday and Tuesday.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I think the problem here is that OP said she fine with the choice but then said " tell me it's ok".

You have to be firm in your decisions and if you are seeking outside reassurance than maybe you aren't as firm as you think you are. ALSO asking a board of Disney fans filled with parents who have taken their children out of school isn't necessarily going to give you an unbiased response.

The Op has to do what is right for her, if shes doing it to save money or just because it's the "only" time they go then that fine just stand strong in YOUR choice.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I think the problem here is that OP said she fine with the choice but then said " tell me it's ok".

You have to be firm in your decisions and if you are seeking outside reassurance than maybe you aren't as firm as you think you are. ALSO asking a board of Disney fans filled with parents who have taken their children out of school isn't necessarily going to give you an unbiased response.
The Op has to do what is right for her, if shes doing it to save money or just because it's the "only" time they go then that fine just stand strong in YOUR choice.

I agree. The original post is a bit of a contradiction. To say that you don't see anything wrong with pulling your kid out of school for a week then to ask people to tell you it's ok to pull your child out of school for a week for a "memory" making vacation is a bit of a contradiction. If you are going to do it and said you think it is ok then you don't need validation, but since this is a Disney fan forum I guess the OP felt she would get the extra reassurance here. As I said before to each their own. I have friends who pull their kids out of school every year for 1-2 weeks to go to Disney and it works for them. Every family has their own preferences and circumstances that go along with making a decision like this, but be honest about why you are really doing it.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I agree. The original post is a bit of a contradiction. To say that you don't see anything wrong with pulling your kid out of school for a week then to ask people to tell you it's ok to pull your child out of school for a week for a "memory" making vacation is a bit of a contradiction. If you are going to do it and said you think it is ok then you don't need validation, but since this is a Disney fan forum I guess the OP felt she would get the extra reassurance here. As I said before to each their own. I have friends who pull their kids out of school every year for 1-2 weeks to go to Disney and it works for them. Every family has their own preferences and circumstances that go along with making a decision like this, but be honest about why you are really doing it.

EXACTLY! I mean we all know Disney is expensive during the summer and Florida is HOT AND HUMID so let's be honest. You go during the school year to save money, avoid crowds and heat. I just wish people would be honest with themselves and others.

 

[mom2aredhead]

I don't know where you live, but in my state we don't have but about half of the days off that you listed. When we miss a day for snow or icy roads, we make up the day on a scheduled teacher workday, holiday or sometimes even a Saturday. If you have so many days out of school, it should be easy to arrange a vacation without missing very many school days. We have just added 5 additional days for students to attend school, making our school year 185 days.

New York. School starts the Thurs after labor day and goes unti June 28th. And yes, with that schedule it is easy to add 2 or 3 days when the school is closed already for 2 or 3 days, which is exactly what I'm doing this year.
My point was that its silly to say that missing a few days is disruptive when the schedule itself is already disruptive to begin with. If the school can arbitrarily open a day later (as they are this year) or close a random day in June for a workshop, then as a parent, I should be able to allow my child to miss 2 days if I feel he's doing well.

 

[momof1princess]

we took DD13 (going into 8th grade next month) out of school for 4-5 days for 3 out of the 5 years she was in elementary school to go to wdw, and we never had an issue. last school year, in 7th grade, we got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to vacation with DSIL & DBIL (whom we only see once every 3-5 years, at best) and the principal would not excuse DD for the week. we managed to compromise on 3 days and still went on the trip. DD is an honor student, in beta club and pre-ap classes, and has NEVER had an issue with making up work, and this was no exception. she did everything her teachers asked of her. the principal was new last year, and flexing her muscle. it ticked me off to no end, but she makes the rules.

OP, if your school has no problem with it, i say go for it. once kids hit middle school, it can be a lot harder for them to get excused.