For those who take kids out of school...

[wisconsinmom]

1st grade teacher here

I vote for the trip in later September.

**BTW, I pull my own kids out (and myself) for WDW every year.
Next month, we're each missing 6 school days for our May trip.
Last year, we each missed 11.
My kids are in 8th grade & 3rd.

Wow your district must be very generous with time off! I'm a 2nd grade teacher and we get 1 personal day a year.

 

[daisyduck123]

What is MNSSHP? I see it everywhere and I have no clue about all of these abbreviations. Thanks.

"Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party".

 

[MousekaMaddi]

we were there sept 3-10 last year and never saw a luvbug! Yeah, we will be back again for free food! (taking DD4 out of kinderg for it too)

 

[mickey2000]

1st grade teacher here

I vote for the trip in later September.

**BTW, I pull my own kids out (and myself) for WDW every year.
Next month, we're each missing 6 school days for our May trip.
Last year, we each missed 11.
My kids are in 8th grade & 3rd.

Wow ! My wife would be in trouble with her district !!!
IMO I can't imagine the kids with a sub for that many days
In my wifes district I know that they would hold her salery step at the end of the year if they found out. She does get 3 personal days.... however she can't use them before or after any holiday, they are very strict !
Guess things are differnt in other states and schools?

 

[daisyduck123]

Wow ! My wife would be in trouble with her district !!!
IMO I can't imagine the kids with a sub for that many days
In my wifes district I know that they would hold her salery step at the end of the year if they found out. She does get 3 personal days.... however she can't use them before or after any holiday, they are very strict !
Guess things are differnt in other states and schools?

I have 4 personal days saved (we can save up to 5). I'm missing 6 days so I'll either be "sick" for the other 2, or if I have to, I'll take "leave without pay", which I've never had to do yet, but nothing is stopping me from taking this vacation. (and btw, I'm not going before or after a holiday).

BTW, we have teachers who are often out for a week at a time, either due to their own illness or a sick child, etc. We had one teacher who missed 3 weeks to go out of town to take care of her sick father just last month.

 

[lustergirl]

I say "two each his own". I have taken my kids out of school for our yearly september trips for so long that I can't tell you how many times. Our school district has a 28 day abscence policy so they are good to go anyways. During the school they never miss that much time.

 

[kldmom2000]

I say, if the teacher is ok with it, go in Sept!!! We took our girls in Sept/Oct last year for free dining and the MNSSHP. We had the most magical family vacation ever BUT I did get grief for taking my 1st grader out for 4 days The school district's policy is SOOOO strict that you are allowed no more than 10 absences for the entire year or else it's an automatic repetition of the grade level..... after only 4 absences in 1 semester, you get a date to report to truancy court

So.... sadly, we will not be able to partake of the free dining or MNSSHP or Food & Wine festival this year since we have to do our first AUGUST trip to prevent missing school......

Please go in Sept. if you can and enjoy it for those of us who can't!!!!

 

[neonurse]

We are checking in on 9/27 to coincide with my kids fall break. DD will be in 2nd grade and DS will be in Kindergarten. I am considering possibly moving the trip a week earlier because to take advantage of free dining, but I am leery. I have never taken DD out of school for vacation. When she was in K, she got sick 3 times for a total time out of 9 days. In each instance I followed the school policy by supplying doctors notes, which would make the absences excused, so I thought. They still called me in and bascially threatened me, even though they said I was doing everything right with the notes. They mentioned the words, neglect, court, truancy officer, yada yada yada. They even suggested it would have probably been ok to send DD to school with 101 degree temp. I was HORRIFIED, and blasted them, and I wrote a letter to the school district. I was told that the state of Georgia's attendance policy is just a guideline and schools can interpret them how they want. Sorry this was so long, BUT they would only miss 4 days and I am still considering it.

Denise

I can't believe this. WHO do they think they are??? Isn't it your tax dollars that pay their salaries. Come off it, when your kids are sick the last thing they should want is for you to send them in to pass it around to everyone (both student and teachers). This is terrible way to treat parents and THEIR KIDS!!! I hope you gave them a blast. Go girl!!!

 

[Rustysmom]

As long as your ds teacher is ok then you should be fine. My autistic son couldn't handle starting school for two days then missing 6 right in the beginning. It would throw off his routine too much, but that is my son. You know your child best.

My DS is the same way (he has PDD). It would definitely mess up his routine. I'm lucky that here in NYC school doesn't start until after Labor Day so we can go the last week in August.

My DS is going to have to miss a couple of days later in the year because we won another trip to Disney for 4 days and I'm trying to decide the best time to pull him out. I was thinking election day so if we go on Saturday, he'll only miss Monday and be off on Tuesday, when we come home.

It was so easy before we had kids and we used to take our vacations in November with no problems. LOL

 

[Colleen27]

Can someone clarify lovebugs? Are these ladybugs? We were planning on going during the Princess Party and were going to go during the 2nd or 3rd week of August, but now with Free Dining we will most likely go 9/1-9/7. She would have school 3 days and then with the Labor Day holiday only miss 4 days. The big problem: She starts Kindergarten. How bad would this be? Have either of you taken your kids out at the kindergarten level? TIA!

We've taken the kids out of school for travel every year. DH is in a business that booms during warm months and dries up during the winter, so we have to travel according to his schedule. So far we haven't had any problems with taking them out for a week or two each year for family trips, but so much depends upon the teacher and school system. I hear horror stories from friends who live in districts where family travel during the school year is extremely discouraged and where grades or even promotion hinge on meeting certain attendance standards. If your school system is agreeable to allowing family travel, I think she'd be just fine with missing, especially in kindergarten where making up work and such isn't as much of an issue as it will be in later grades.

 

[daisyduck123]

My DS is going to have to miss a couple of days later in the year because we won another trip to Disney for 4 days and I'm trying to decide the best time to pull him out.

Sorry to go OT, but WOW!!
You won a trip!
How did you do that?
Way to go!!

 

[Caitlin'sMommy]

Thanks you all for the advice. I will be calling in about 25 min to book 9/1-7. The only downfall now is that we really wanted my parents to join us, but they have a trip booked to VA Beach the 6th-8th. Maybe another time, you just can't pass up free dining. I register DD for kindergarten on the 17th so I will be sure to ask about attendence and such. I remember back in the day when I was in school "Educational Trips" were taken to the beach! LOL

Thanks everyone.

 

[DebIreland]

Caitlin'sMommy,
Good luck and fingers crossed that you get the resort you want. I wouldn't hesitate to take a child out of pre-school (or even in the OPs case, it sounds like her son is quite young so no worries). At her age it will have minimal impact. On both our trips (June and Oct/Nov) we pulled our boys out of school - they missed a week each time. Now that my eldest is starting secondary school that's no longer an option as he'll have a heavy workload and will need time to adjust and settle in to school so I'm glad we took them out of school for trips while we still could - no regrets at all.

 

[thunderbird1]

I'd vote for September over August (obviously, because we did). We were hoping for earlier in August, so as not to miss any school, but when that plan went awry, we decided on late September/early October instead of late August/early September.

My dd would actually miss less school if we did the earlier trip, but it would be during the first two weeks of school, and would put us at WDW over Labor Day weekend. Personally, I think it will be easier to make up/catch up/do work ahead once she's been in class for a few weeks than to start off behind. In your son's case, it sounds like it might be easier for him to have a few weeks to get comfortable in his routine before going away for a few days than to go to school for two days then take off for a week.

I did go in this morning and talk to my dd's school about her being gone, and they told me that as long as we've made arrangements ahead of time, there won't be any problem. Hope it all works out for all of you as well!