Disney Vacations During School

[StarTunnel]

It's totally fine. I got pulled out from k thru 7th with no problems. The teachers were pretty lax with me because I'm a straight a student, but I mean, at only 7 years old, it's totally fine.

 

[mjantz]

never mind.

 

[crystaldawn]

We take our kids out of school because it's difficult for us to get vacation from work during the "peak" times... in our departments at work there are those who have spouses that are teachers so they can very rarely take vacations during the school year (there is a waiting list for vacations around xmas break, spring break and summer break). Also when we do go to florida a big part of our trip is so that the kids see their grandparents (they winter there), obviously if we went during the summer months we wouldn't be able to see them.

Our oldest is just going into 8th grade so it hasn't been a huge deal. I'm not sure what we'll do once he gets to highschool. Our school district has been VERY flexible about vacations, homework etc. Last time we went they sent an auto generated letter that said "Your child has missed ____ days" and then spelled out the policy. The attendance counselor hand wrote a message on the bottom that said "we know you were on vacation and we hope you had a great time."

That said if our kids were struggling in school I would likely reconsider and put us on the wait list for vacations during the "off" times.

I have a close friend that lives in California, they left town for a funeral on the east coast last year, her daughter missed a friday and a monday (she's a 2nd grader) The school asked her to send $30 for every unexcused day because a "funeral excuse" only covered ONE day, even though they had to travel several thousand miles to get there. They also got a letter from the school outlining their policy etc. She posted her concerns on fb and it was sparked a HUGE debate.

 

[jelly2406]

I did it my whole life growing up. We always went away for a week or 2 every year. Even when i was in highschool and i managed just fine. In highschool my teachers gave me all my assignments to take and they even gave me less because they knew i was going away. My schools never gave my parents a hard time and even if they did it wouldnt have mattered. You only live once. So do what is right for your family.

 

[supersuperwendy]

We have our last visit coming up during the school year. I'm a little nervous about it now. Our oldest will be in 8th grade and she's in advanced classes, gets a lot of homework etc. I'm hoping it doesn't make her too far behind. When she was little it was cute when she'd miss school for WDW. Her elementary teachers were sweet and made little travel journals for her. After this December we will be visiting WDW with the masses I guess. We just booked next June right after the school year ends. The following year we are going for Spring Break. I'm happy that we are WDW experts at this point so the crowds don't scare me too bad!

 

[bwilcox]

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!!!!

Whether or not it's fine depends on your school district's attendance policies, not the opinions of strangers on a public forum.

 

[Akitajade]

My oldest will have just started 1st grade next September and we plan to pull her out for 10 days. I don't think it's a big deal when they are small, the smaller crowds are worth it. If she was in middle or high school I might have to reconsider.

 

[krowe333]

did you tell a little white lie and send a note saying your child was sick for the week? Or when and how did you let who know about your vacation.
Thanks,
Kimberley
And would feb be a good time to go? or first part of march, before spring break?

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

did you tell a little white lie and send a note saying your child was sick for the week? Or when and how did you let who know about your vacation.
Thanks,
Kimberley
And would feb be a good time to go? or first part of march, before spring break?

I don't think lying is a good idea, it's not worth it. Find out what your school district's attendance policies are and discuss your plans ahead of time with teachers so that provisions can be made on both ends. If this isn't something that can be done then maybe doing a trip during school isn't the best option for your family. Lying about it will only have a snowball effect, especially since children "spill the beans" very easily and will be excited to tell someone in school something about going to Disney World.

 

[Jaime4004]

did you tell a little white lie and send a note saying your child was sick for the week? Or when and how did you let who know about your vacation.
Thanks,
Kimberley
And would feb be a good time to go? or first part of march, before spring break?

I just send in a note about a month before stating the facts. We are leaving on this day for FL, will be back this day. No excuses or apologies... Then I remind them that week, since they have a lot of kids to keep track of. Sometimes the teachers send work home, sometimes they don't. We have been going in Oct for the past 3 years and had a GREAT time. Sadly going over Dec break this year, only because friends we are going with are both teachers. I will do it once, this year, but I think we'll go back to Oct or spring.

 

[AJRitz]

If you're interested, the dads with The Dis Dads Podcast just released a podcast episode on this topic about a week ago. You can find it here: http://disdads.com/archives/1697