Don't care if it makes me a bad parent!

[smorkovsky]

I'm taking my 3rd and 5th graders out of school for an entire week for a WDW trip! And while the school district may frown upon this, and take me to truancy court (because I will NOT lie about why I'm taking them out of school) some things are more important than school. And this will likely be a trip of a lifetime for my kids, so truancy court be damned! We can't afford peak season, and even if we could, there's no way massive crowds will make a trip anything but hell for us. We HATE crowds. HATE.THEM.

Flame away.

 

[joxer1014]

Last year was the first time we didn't take our DD out of school. We decided since she worked so hard to get accepted to the high school of her choice we would wait. Well that's enough of a wait ! WDW here we come end of September and yes she will miss six days but we have no worries!

Throw in some educational stuff which there is plenty and see if the teachers want them to do any reports.

Enjoy the time when they are young!

 

[LadyBeBop]

Flame away.

None from me.

You can learn a lot more outside the classroom than inside it. And with a lifetime worth of family memories.

Have a question though. Isn't Texas one of the most punitive states for unexcused absences from school?

 

[kaismommie]

My kids will be missing a week in November! We had plans to do it thanksgiving week, but saving close to $1000, yeah I switched!

 

[alimbrogno]

Both my son and niece will be missing a week in September for our trip. I figure, if we prepare their teachers ahead of time, they can provide us with whatever they will be doing while gone, and we can keep them up to date. I can't afford peak season either so whatever, we're going!!!

 

[catra121]

I think it's great that you are taking them out. My parents took me out every year in October and those memories are not something I would trade for anything. I was still able to graduate a year early from high school with a perfect 5.0 GPA so it obviously didn't kill me or destroy my educational career. Have a great time and who cares what anyone else thinks? Enjoy the time with your kids when they are kids! If I ever have kids I will definitely be taking them out of school for family vacations.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

No flames from me. When I went in September 2008, I took my niece with me and she was taken out of school. It *was* the very beginning of the school year so maybe the school was more understanding than they normally would have been.

 

[DisGirl819]

I won't flame. I'm a teacher and if I could I'd take time off during the school year to go too! Take the kids out, have fun. Missing a week of school won't hurt them, they're still young. Have a blast and be sure to take as much homework with as you can so in downtime the kids can try to work on something.

 

[DebbieB]

I'm taking my 3rd and 5th graders out of school for an entire week for a WDW trip! And while the school district may frown upon this, and take me to truancy court (because I will NOT lie about why I'm taking them out of school) some things are more important than school. And this will likely be a trip of a lifetime for my kids, so truancy court be damned! We can't afford peak season, and even if we could, there's no way massive crowds will make a trip anything but hell for us. We HATE crowds. HATE.THEM.

Flame away.

Are they threatening to take you to truancy court?

When I took my then 9 year old niece out of school, her parents wrote a letter saying it was an educational trip and she was excused. She had to do assignments, keep a journal and do a project. The project she did was the Epcot World Showcase passport. So it was educational. She's 23 now and that was the only time she's been on a plane or been far from home as far as I know. My mom was with us and she has since passed away, so the memories are invaluable.

 

[SEA333]

Ha! LOL We are taking ours out (8th, 4th, and 2nd) in November for 3 school days total (5 day trip over a weekend). I would take them out for M-F 5-day trip, and honestly would rather so I don't have to fight weekend crowds, but it was ME that didn't have the time to take since it was not originally in the vacation plans for this year and we already had taken two smaller trips in March and June.

Two years ago, we took them out for a full week. I notified their teachersahead of time. DS1 was in 6th grade, and I never heard a word from any of his teachers or principal. DD was in 2nd, and her teacher emailed back "Have a wonderful time! I wish it were me going!!" DS2's teacher said "Thanks for letting me know! I took my 3 kids a few years ago, and it was the best time of their lives! I will have a homework packet sent home so he can work on it during the trip".

I would take my kids out of school for an "experience" any time! Learning doesn't only happen in a classroom, and I have an honest belief that parents are not only the #1 teacher in a child's life, but it is also our responsibility to partner with the school and teachers to provide our children with a well-rounded academic AND social education. We take the time wherever we are to stop and use something as a learning opportunity, and amazingly, there are hundreds of learning opportunities at Disney World!

 

[smorkovsky]

None from me.

You can learn a lot more outside the classroom than inside it. And with a lifetime worth of family memories.

Have a question though. Isn't Texas one of the most punitive states for unexcused absences from school?

I don't about that, but maybe it's true. I've always only ever lived here. I do know they will likely take me to truancy court for 5 unexcused for both kids, though. Maybe not, if I plan ahead, and the school knows what is going on, etc. It typically depends on the district. I know our last district would have been fine if I planned ahead and notified all the teachers, etc. (which, of course, I will do), but the place we are now, is VERY strict about it, so I know it is going to be HIGHLY frowned upon. I don't care. The memories we will make will be worth whatever the school wants to dish out on me, and I'm sure their teachers will be understanding....I have smart kiddos, anyway, so a week of elementary school isn't going to do some lasting damage.

 

[luvmy3]

I took my kids out of school once, but I wont do it again now that they are older. They just have too much to make up and I'd be worried about them missing important lessons (my oldest is in HS and my middle ds is in 8th). When they are young I think its fine to take them out.

 

[tinkerbella16]

No flaming here! Enjoy yourselves! My parents took us out of school multiple times to WDW and it did not hurt our education at all. We did homework on the plane if they gave us any. We are going Jersey Week this year, and since we going Wednesday-Tuesday, my niece will end up missing 2 school days but we are not worried about it at all.

Have fun!

 

[Hayliesmom]

I would just let them know ahead of time. I took my daughter out for a week last year (first grade) and although it was an unexcused absence of had the principal's permission so she was given work to do on vacation and allowed to make up what she missed. She'll be missing one day in march next year for our trip and I plan on doing the same thing.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

oh NO don't do it!!!!!

you see the times when kids are in school are "our" times to go as Homeschoolers so we really really want everyone to stay in school (and keep the crowds really low for us)

On another note - go forth and have a great time

 

[ronandannette]

We've taken DS out many times over the years; never had any qualms about doing so. They (the school district) even makes it easy as they schedule so darned many in-service and professional days every year we never have to have him miss a whole week at a time. We've never made any secret of what we're doing and have never been challenged on it in any way. It might be because we also never ask for any special accommodation from the teachers (catching up is 100% on him) and he almost never takes sick days or other absences.

 

[ArwenMarie]

No flames here, have a great time

Why would you get pulled into truancy court?

 

[disney is my life]

This must only be a states thing. We have never had problems taking our kids out of school. we took dd15 out of school for 3 weeks in grade 2 and 6 and then for 2 weeks in grade 9 and a week and a half in grade 10 and she'll be out for another week in grade 11. All we've ever had to do was write a note to her teacher (elementary school) or fill out an extended absence form (high school). There's never been any problems with us doing so. Good for you for doing it! I agree with the other poster your kids will remember this more than they'll remember what they learned at school that week. I hope you guys have an amazing trip!

 

[luvmy3]

No flames here, have a great time

Why would you get pulled into truancy court?

Some districts only allow a certain number of unexcused absences so if the OP exceeds them she may have issues. I dont know if they would go as far as going to court, but I'm not sure how tough her district is on that kind of thing. We are allowed 5 in one year, so if we went to WDW for 10 days we'd exceed that.

 

[nhtinkerbell]

Congrats on combatting the school. I'm taking my DS out of school of 5 days in October.
My thing is who r they to tell us when its ok and when it's not ok to go on vacation. They take vacation when they want too. Most of us can't go durning the summer months.