DVC'ers - do you take your kids out of school?

[imchatti]

My children are not in "school", yet, but we will take them out for disney vacations. I am a teacher and we will go during our teacher convention in november or during another longish break (like president's weekend) where we will only miss 3-4 days of school max. disney in the summer is okay, but just too daggone hot.

 

[Lost in Neverland]

OK, so I have trip planned for mid-May to celebrate my graduation from Nursing School. It has been a long road and my family has sacrificed and put up with a lot for me to get my RN degree. A trip to Disney seems the perfect celebration.

However, as the time is drawing near, I am having second thoughts about taking my kids out of school. They are both excellent students - 4th and 6th grades.

Here's my question - have you ever pulled your kids out of school for a week? I would love to hear from those who have kids similar to mine in age. I am looking forward to our first trip as DVC Members and have almost everything planned but I am so overwhelmed with guilt. Ugh - I don't know what to do.

Thanks!

We take our kids out of school every year for a week to go to WDW. We just got back this past Sunday.My kids are are 11 and 12. We always sign them up for some sort of educational tour at least once during the week. Disney has a program called YES. It is geared toward home schooled kids that need educational experiences for their program but when these do not fill up they are opened up to the public. If you would like more info about these PM me and I will send the info to you. They are fun and last about 3 hours. Regardless we have never had any issues taking them out of school and use that as an incentive for good grades. If they are having issues and not doing their best then they can not afford to miss school. This has worked like a charm for the past 6 years.You can make it to where they get an experience they can not get at school to offset missing as well as a fun family vacation.

 

[robertdangelo]

My dd is 21 months... we live in a small town & I'm hopeful that if we decide to take her out of school, they will be reasonable. I have heard form other DVC'er that some teachers will accept an EPCOT passport that has been stamped by each country for some school credit.

 

[justloveit]

Congratulations on graduating from nursing school! We took a family vacation to WDW when I graduated from nursing school also. You and your family deserve a fun trip to celebrate. It took alot of support from your family to get to this point! You all deserve this. We always took our children out of school to go to WDW, but there were alot of Disney fans in our school district, especially among teachers and administration,and it was only for long weekends as they got into high school. And I always asked the kids if they felt comfortable having to make up work they would miss. It was never a problem, but it does really depend on the attendance policy of the school district. We always went during teachers convention week in November to minimize the number of days missed from school too.

 

[KiminChicago]

When DS and DD were both in grade school, we'd take them out for a week in the fall and it wasn't a problem. Now that DS is in middle school (7th grade), it has gotten harder but not impossible. We actually went down to WDW Columbus Day weekend (arrived the Wed. before and left the Tues. after) last year.

The kids missed 3 days of school since our flight didn't leave until Wed. evening. When I made the reservation, the kids were only supposed to miss Tuesday, but then the school district moved parent-teacher conferences to Thanksgiving week and there was no way I was going to try and change all our flights and our DVC reservation to one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. I explained all this to the principal at DS's school and they were very good about working with us. DS actually received 90% of his homework the weekend before we left, and he buckled down and finished it that same weekend so he wouldn't have to do it on our trip.

Fortunately, the district has gotten smarter and now sets up the schedule two years in advance. They've also gone to a schedule that starts in mid-August and finishes in early May, so we'll probably start going down for the Flower and Garden festival instead of the Food & Wine Festival. It's not as great points-wise, but it does mean the kids won't miss school and we'll miss the hottest times of the year. We are also very fortunate that both of our kids are A students, that's made it so much easier -- if they weren't, we would probably limit ourselves to vacationing in the summer.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

We took them until high school and have NO REGRETS

 

[quirty30]

I will take my kids out for a day or two a couple of times a year, which allows us some nice long weekends. Anything more than that is really frowned on by our district. It's also too hard for the kids to make up all the work.

 

[kristenrice]

I guess I will speak for, what seems to be the minority.

We took our DD's to WDW for the first time in January 2008. At that time, our oldest was in preschool, 3 mornings a week. It was no big deal for her to miss a "week" of school. Then, in October 2008, I took both of the kids (ages 3 and 5 at the time) for a week while DH was out of state for 2 weeks. DD5 missed a full week of kindergarten (half-days, though) and DD3 missed 2 days of preschool (also half days). That was the last time that we plan to have them miss school for vacation.

As of now, oldest is in 1st grade and youngest is in pre-K. They are not exactly the best students (yet) and although I am hoping it is just a phase, I fear that they both may find school to be very challenging. I think that they will be adversely effected by any extended absence as they go through school so I have no intention of planning to pull them out for a WDW trip.

Even though we only own 100 points, we plan on banking and borrowing and travelling either over spring break or early in the summer. No, it is not the time we would prefer to travel, but I think it would be detrimental to *our* kids to miss school for vacation. This is simply our personal situation and I am not judging anybody else's choice.

I'd love to travel in February and/or October, but that is not what is in the best interest of our children at this point in their education. So, for now, we will limit our travel to the kids' vacations.

 

[Petraman]

Most of this will be a rehash, but simply add our experience to the stack

... Yes, we have taken our kids out of school to go to DL and WDW. We minimize any other days away from school to focus on this one event.
... We are limited in our ability to vacation at regular off times ( we COULD do it but would be somewhat problematic)
... So far, our school systems have been very helpful and even though they were a little caught off guard on our last trip, they worked with us. DD15 has been a straight A, A+ student her entire life, and DD9 is strong as well. We are extremely confident that their absences from school will not limit them from scholarship opportunities.

...We noticed this last time with oldest in HS that it was more of a challenge and may become too much of a chore to make up her work effectively which may change our approach in the next few years. So make sure it will be a viable thing to do with your child's schools BEFORE yo uplan to do it.

Just one last thing, I know folks always mention they felt taking their child out of school sends the wrong message. While I do respect your opinions and the importance of you making the very best decision you can for your child, I would like to say that in our hearts, we feel taking our child and making those times as a family the priority is sending our child the rright message. I wholeheartedly agree if they were struggling in school or it would be too difficult to make up then don't take them out, but if it can work, don't be afraid to make these family moments more important than a couple of school days.

And in the end, may all our kids turn out smarter, wiser and better looking than us!

 

[jodifla]

Yes, we do. I look for weeks where there are already a day or two off, and just add to that. We often have a January week with a Monday and Friday off, so he only misses 3 days.

But if we have a February winter break week, we do that week instead. We didn't have a midwinter break this year.

In 2011, our spring break isn't during Easter time, so we'll probably go then instead of missing school.

 

[Starr W.]

I don't take the kids out for a week, but we do pull them out for the 2 days before Thanksgiving break.

Missing a day or 2 before scheduled breaks in our district seems to be the norm. I've worked Xmas parties and seen about 1/4 of the class already gone. The district likes to start Easter break, if possible with Good Friday, as we usually have a bunch of kids out of school on Thursdays to catch cheaper flights(only miss 1 day instead of 2).

I think with even an honor roll student in grade school, missing a full week is hard for them to make up work. And it gets tougher when they start State Testing(as I know my eldest use to have "review" homework due once a week, above his regular homework in 4th and 5th grade).

Both my kids(7th and 2nd grade) like school and would be if I even suggested missing more than 2 days.

We do our other WDW trip MLK weekend, as it's the end of the 1st semester and the kids get a 4 day weekend.

 

[TunaJr]

We always took our kids out of school for week in October. It was never an issue up through middle school. We informed the teachers ahead of time and stayed on top of things. We went in October 2008 when both kids started High School. They struggled to keep pace in certain subjects (both are excellent students) after we returned home. My DD took about 2 months to catch up in Architechure Drawing. This past year both kids said 'Dad, please do not take us out of school this year (October 2009) for Disney. I was shocked at the statement and we went over Christmas for the first time on their winter break. We had a blast over Christmas, so until the kids graduate no more October's for us.

 

[supersuperwendy]

We typically do take our kids out of school. I try to plan trips around scheduled days off of school. For example..this May we have no school on May 18th. Plus there is early dismissal on the 14th! So we are leaving on the 14th and coming back on the 21st!!

 

[photobob]

I can see doing this when kids are very young, but not when they get to middle school age and beyond. Our schools require for any school work or test to be made up they must be excused absences and if they aren't they get a zero for the tests or assignments missed. Unfortunately WDW isn't on their list of excused absences!

 

[toniosmom]

My son will be starting Kindergarten next September. I plan to take him out twice (a week each time) in that school year 2010-11. However, starting with 1st grade, I will do my best to stick as close to the school schedule as possible. Having said that, we will likely be doing annual "Jersey Week" November trips in order to maximize our points. Sometimes our district has the entire week off, sometimes just 2 to 2 1/2 days off. I figure at the worst, he will miss 2 1/2 days that week. Anything beyond that, I will have to gauge based on how good a student he is.

 

[Kathi OD]

We did, without any problems. BUT, you need to discuss the idea with your children's school to find out what the ramifications will be for them if they miss school. Some schools are easy to work with, and some not.

The one thing I wouldn't do is lie and pretend the kids are sick (if the school gives you a hard time about taking them out). It will eventually get out that they were really on vacation and that could become an issue.

 

[Brian Noble]

Our philosophy is that we would only take our kids out of school for once-in-a-lifetime trips that can't be done at any other time. Yet Another Disney Trip doesn't quite rise to that level, for us.

 

[lumpydj]

At this point, we do take DD10 out of school for Disney trips. We HATE FL in the summer and can't stand crowds during school vacations (can't really afford the airfare either). However, if it ever becomes an issue (hard to make up school work or teachers not cooperate), we would work around that. DD actually missed 5 days of school in December because of H1N1 - but had no problem catching up. I see no difference in missing 5 days for vacation - especially when we incorporate EPCOT. There are many things there that re-inforce what they are learning in school now.

 

[joandegennaro]

WOW! Reading all these post makes me realize its much easier to pull your kids out in Canada than in the US. While our schools "frown upon" pulling them out there really isn't much they can do about it. I've pulled my DD out for the last month of the school year in both grade 6 & 7 and sent her away to England to visit my sister's family.

I believe she learned more History in the first trip than she has in her high school history class. All because she went to some very interesting tourist places. Not to mention that because it was a fun and incredable experince for a 12 year old to travel accross the ocean by herself. She missed hole units in science, religion, english and social studies. They just graded her on what she was present for.

I pull my kids out all the time for family time. When they were younger we would pull them out for a few days during the week to go to Niagara Falls. Money and school shouldn't dictate when you can spend some quality time together as a family.

Many posters have said that due to their work schedules they can't always travel during school posted holidays...school should take this into consideration. While I agree that it gets much harder for the kids to catch up in the higher grades( we made the mistake of pulling DD16 out for two weeks at the end of a semester, this year we are doing it near the begining instead) I don't believe that a middle school student getting a 0 because they missed a test while away is going to wreck their chances of getting into a good college. Again I don't know how it works in the States so I might be wrong.

 

[Tinks Girls]

We have taken our kids out for other vacations and will be pulling them out in mid-september this year. We try to make sure that it is not around mid-terms/heaving testing times. We always give a lot of notice to the teachers. Some have given homework prior to going while others have the kids do the catch-up once they are back. I try to do some fun activities with the kids that incorporates what they are learning in school. Maybe this is just my way of easing the guilt but it works and we always have a great time. Especially with the divorce from our first spouses - our vacation time is more limited to when the kids will be with us.

It really is a personal decision that needs to be based on your childs school requirements and what you are comfortable doing.