Do you.....

[ThunderMTexpert]

Always.. (guilty)

 

[Mariposa]

We take DD out for 5 days. That's the maximum you can take a child out for in our school district. It always worries me, because if we have a family emergency and need to leave town, those days are considered unexcused and they can bring the Department of Children and Families in on the situation (which our principal has been known to push for). (Not that they'd find anything, it's just time consuming and obnoxious.)

I am all for looking out for the welfare of children, but 5 days for a vacation and then another 2 for a family emergency does NOT constitute irresponsible parenting.

(Sorry, can you tell I'm stressed? My DGF is very ill and now I'm having to debate cancelling our WDW trip in case he passes, because I am NOT missing his funeral... How crappy a debate is that to have to cope with, by the way? "Should I cancel WDW in case Da-Do dies?")

 

[nooneshome]

Let's see, we usually go sometime in October when the schools have teacher conferences. They don't get a lot done. They have three half days of school but I bet it is mostly goofing around. So they miss a couple full days and those half days. Then we go during Mardi Gras vacation when it isn't on Presidents week. That means taking DS out of school a couple days as he only gets Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off while DD gets off the whole week. Next year Mardi Gras is February 5!!! We have gone right after their final exams so they miss some days that really don't count. Soon I plan on taking a trip just with the wife the first week in December without the kids. I'd hate for them to miss more than a day or two of real school...

​

 

[teacher100]

I pulled my kids out until my oldest went to highschool, but I asked their teachers each year how they felt about it. If they had said they didn't agree with it I wouldn't have done it. As a teacher I know that there is a wealth of things that can be learned at Disney. I do not mind parents pulling kids out for something educational, even if it is fun at the same time. However, I do have a problem with the question "Will _____ miss anything if I take him out?" Of course he/she will miss something. I would be concerned if a teacher said "No they won't miss anything". I always like to hear "What will they miss". I will tell them and 9 times out of 10 they can do something on the trip that will relate to what is being done in class.

 

[DanMedix]

We'll be taking the kiddos out of school for a few days when we go in Oct. Of course, the school doesn't have a problem with it, as long as we notify them enough in advance.

 

[vanillarum]

We took our kids out of school when they were younger, although it was to go somewhere other than Disney. Now that they are older (15,10) we have been going in Aug. Is it hot ? Sure. But it's hot here in Ma., too. Our kids are both great students, but we feel it places them at more of a disadvantage at school if they are out for any length of time. We usually go for 9 or 10 days at a time. So, we don't take them out of school for vacations. Good luck !

 

[lynn46356]

We took our DS8 out of school this past February for 4 days. We got lucky though and NW Indiana had a snow storm that week so he ended up only missing 2 days as 2 days of school were cancelled. How lucky for him. It is frowned upon here and I believe its an unexcused absence but we did it anyway. His teacher gave him some reading to do for science and history but that was all. The reaminder he had to make up when he got back to school. Oh well, who has time for homework on vacation. I loved vacationing in February. I can't imagine the heat and crowds after going this past February. We were there 6 days prior to President's Day weekend and it was just great. In fact, so great, that I booked another vacation for next February. He'll miss 4 days unless we have another snow storm.

Lynn

 

[supersuperwendy]

We did in May and will again in April 08. I check the district calendar to see when they will have days off for teacher in-services. This coming school year they have April 22 off. So they will miss 4 days in the classroom. We will leave friday afterschool and come home the following saturday. That gives us a full vacation with them only missing 4 days of school! In our district you have to get pre-approval for a trip otherwise it's an unlawful absence. You used to have to write a formal letter to the board but they've done away with that. They main office has a form you fill out. It is left up to the principal. They look at how many absences they already have and at how they are performing at school. Our principal approved our request the same day we submitted it! For our next trip the kids will be in Kindergarten, second, and fourth grades. I'm sure it will not be so easy to do once they reach higher grades and get to the point where I won't be able to help with homework anymore!!!!!!

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

We did this year and also last year. We will also do it again this year. My DD was in first grade this year and the only days she missed all year was when we went to WDW. As long my children are doing well in school and also do not have any attendance issues, i have no problem doing it. I send a note to the teacher and also the principal. I do not expect the teachers to go out of their way to put my DD's school work together. Whatever she misses, she misses. This year the teacher kept all the work aside that the class did during the week we were gone and DD was given the work when we returned. She did it over the weekend.
The school does have a policy, however they must realize that family time is so important too. Many families don't get alot during the week due to work schedule, school and also extra curricular activities. Families need that break together. Not everyone can take the time off that they want, so taking time off during school vacation week may not be possible. I think that if my DD's were falling behind or if they had attendance issues, i could see them putting up a stink about it, but we are fortunate not to. Missing 5 days of school this year was no big deal. They learned more about the countries at EPCOT thanthey would in their classroom. I had my first grader reading signs for us. I had her adding up money and also tellign time. Everythign she would normally be doing in school, but using it in real life. I know it is a far stretch, but really missing 5 days was not going to put her out of the running for a full scholarship to Harvard. LOL. So although we had fun, it was also a learning experience too.

 

[randbmom]

I'm a middle school teacher and have had many students take days off, going to Disney or even other vacation spots (as hard as that is for most of us to imagine ) during the school year. Many can handle it and make up the work no problem, but I do have to admit that for some students a week away can have a profound negative effect on that term's grade. If a new concept is being introduced and built upon, sometimes students who tend to struggle anyway can just never catch up on that topic. I can think of two or three examples in just the last two school years where the student's final term grade was probably 5-7 points lower than it would have been had they been in class the whole time. It is often the difference between a B- and a C.

I think once you hit 7th grade or so, it's harder and harder to make up the work for students. Of course, the brightest ones will always be able to do this right through high school, but I think parents have to be really careful about missing five consecutive school days for older students who may not be straight A students.

Please don't flame a nice science teacher for voicing an opinion!

 

[JenetixK]

I agree with you randbmom! I teach middle school as well.

 

[bytheblood]

I always said I thought it was a bad idea and I was very against it but wouldn't you know it......

This year my daughter will miss 6 days of school. She is in Elementary. I spoke to the school this past school year and they told me that their feelings on it can change depending on the student. My daughter makes straight As, has been on A honor roll since her first day of school, she is always well over 100% in Accellerated Reading, blah blah blah (shameless plug on how smart my kid is ) therefore it would be no problem to let them know at the beginning of the week and take her out.

They said if she was a C student who was out a lot, then they would be very against it and might even hold her back for missing 6 days of school.

Our neighboring city will fail a child if they miss 4 or more days of school for family vacation. And that is Elementary also.

 

[bytheblood]

I'm a middle school teacher and have had many students take days off, going to Disney or even other vacation spots (as hard as that is for most of us to imagine ) during the school year. Many can handle it and make up the work no problem, but I do have to admit that for some students a week away can have a profound negative effect on that term's grade. If a new concept is being introduced and built upon, sometimes students who tend to struggle anyway can just never catch up on that topic. I can think of two or three examples in just the last two school years where the student's final term grade was probably 5-7 points lower than it would have been had they been in class the whole time. It is often the difference between a B- and a C.

I think once you hit 7th grade or so, it's harder and harder to make up the work for students. Of course, the brightest ones will always be able to do this right through high school, but I think parents have to be really careful about missing five consecutive school days for older students who may not be straight A students.

Please don't flame a nice science teacher for voicing an opinion!

I don't think anybody will flame you. What you say is very true........and comes from the heart. While my daughter makes the grades she does and she is in Elementary I am not too worried. The day she starts Jr High, she will only miss school for being sick.

 

[MinnieCandi]

Yes, we did last year and we will again this year. Both DD's are in elementary school and we let their teachers know before hand and have them keep a journal of each days activities (which ends up being a great keepsake).

This year we are going on a suprise trip. When they wake up on the morning we leave I will pretend they are getting ready for school, then suprise them by taking them to DW instead!

 

[ortholablady]

My son is going into the 10th grade and yes I do take him out of school. We have annual passes and prefer to go during off times and times when we can find low airfare. I try not to let him miss more than 3 days at a time. Between sick days and vacation days he missed 14 days total last year and still managed to make high honor roll all 4 quarters of the year. If he wasn't such a good student I wouldn't do it. Too much pressure for him. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to this. Next year he has a full schedule, he even decided not to take a lunch period to fit in all the classes he wanted to take (okay I'm bragging a little) and lots of honors courses so it will be a challenging year. We took 4 trips during the school year last year. And, okay, I admit I may have called him in sick for a couple of them so we didn't have the dreaded unexcused absences. No flames people, you know you've all called in sick to work on occasion when you weren't sick.

 

[luvmy2sams]

We've taken DD8 out of school twice and will do so again this fall. For this year's trip and our 2004 trip we did schedule our vacation over Fall Break, so DD only missed three days of school. However, she missed seven days for our 2006 trip.

As long as our kids (DS is only 3 so it isn't an issue yet) are doing well in school and their absence doesn't impact their schooling significantly, I don't see the problem in pulling them out during a cooler/more inexpensive time of the year. Having said all that, I'll be going back to school next year, and our vacations will change so that I don't miss any classtime. I don't think my old brain could handle it!

 

[bennythepug]

only once when my oldest was in kindergarten. Now she is in middle school, and two other kids........plus I am a teacher so it just makes more sense for us to go in the summer. Although that one time we went in November the weather sure was *sweet*

 

[luvmy2sams]

Yes, we did last year and we will again this year. Both DD's are in elementary school and we let their teachers know before hand and have them keep a journal of each days activities (which ends up being a great keepsake).

This year we are going on a suprise trip. When they wake up on the morning we leave I will pretend they are getting ready for school, then suprise them by taking them to DW instead!

We've done the journals on the last two trips, too. They're wonderful to look back on!

Have fun with the surprise trip! We did the same for our trip last year, surprising DD for her 7th birthday. The teacher was in on it, and I think that blew her mind more than anything. What fun!

 

[kimluvswdw]

My Kids Are Home Schooled So No Problem For Us. Disneyworld Can Be Very Great For Learning.

 

[momocay]

Same as previous. My dd is a very strong student, so i will take her out of school for a trip. With that said, I do have a friend who took her dd out who was also straight A, honors classes etc... The week before christmas. One teacher did not like it and gave her a zero on an exam they missed, and would not allow it to be made up, lowering her grade to a B for the quarter. It will depend on your child as a student as well as the teacher or teachers. I let my daughters teacher know as soon as I could that in 4 mos. dd will miss xyz days. So far, no problem.