Has anyone ever taken their kids out of school for vacation?

[MissRoseDarrensAngel]

My mother is taking my sister's teenage kids who will be in 10 th and 12 th grades in the fall but she is doing it after school is out. She will not take them out of school as they are involved in the school marching & concert band that has some mandatory performance days during the school (if they don't show up, they get a bad grade for no show unless they have proof of illness or other extenuating circumstances)

 

[Corbinator]

We're taking our kids (one will be in 4 yo preschool so it doesn't matter for grades, one will be 3rd grade so he will miss a full 5 day week) in October and I'm not concerned at all. My older child is an excellent student and we do homework all summer long anyway so he's used to getting it done in between playtime. Also, his own teacher this year took 3 days to go to Disney for a wedding so I am fairly certain the admins don't mind as long as you get the work done. We live in an affluent community; it's common. I was a teacher in a poor district once and I wished one of my kids could take a trip like this. Also, my husband works at a job that dictates when he can take vacation time so all of the spring vacation weeks are out. My kids spending time with their father takes priority. And we're getting it over with now before tests and sports take hold of our schedule even more. Every family is different.

 

[sdoll]

I think we have every year. This year we took our boys out in September for a week. I would NEVER pull them out in September again. I would want to wait till later in the year and decide once i see how many days they have missed through out the school year. My son rarely gets sick and last year missed 2 days of school other than our vacation. This year he has caught every bug that has gone through our school. He has been legitimately sick 12 days on top of the 5 days we took him out early in the year. That is a total of 17 days!!! I feel horrible. I am a stickler about no fever/vomit for 24 hours but the last time he was sick i almost sent him knowing they would send him home later. I didn't but it would have eased my guilt a little more. So for us we have decided we will wait and see. It works out ok for us we get our bonuses from work in March. We have decided we will wing it and plan last minute either spring break trip (non Disney) or pull them out in April/May if they haven't missed too much school.

 

[Tink584]

Taking my daughter out for our October trip, she'll be in first grade and will miss 6 days I believe. Now that I know her spring break is on a different schedule than most we'll probably do Disney then going forward.

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

Our kids missed a week of school for our WDW trip this past January. We have one in private school and one in public school, and the differences between the two were incredible! The private school simply requested two weeks notice for elementary students. Absences are not recorded as excused or unexcused. The teacher put together ALL the work our child would miss during vacation and HELPED our child work on the make up work before our trip. These sessions were worked into the regular school day as time allowed. Our child received full credit for the work, and was done before our trip.

Public school. I notified the school at the same time I notified the private school. The registrar sent a very strongly worded email discouraging us from taking our 4th grader out for a week. I contacted the teachers, they acknowledged the message, but that was all. AFTER our trip, I received a certified letter from the school district informing me that if our child accumulated any more absences we could be ordered to appear in court and face possible fines and/or jail time for truancy. (Our child had perfect attendance before our trip. Did not miss a day.) The teachers did not send make up work home. I had to email all three of them several times to follow-up on assignments. They would only allow grades up to 70% on make-up work. Our child was kept inside during recess to complete the make-up work, which was stressful and hurtful for her to feel punished and segregated.

I was so frustrated with the public school! So, yes absolutely, find out what the school will do for you and TO you if your child is absent for a family vacation.

Another option, I have heard that some schools will award partial credit to students that participate in Disney YES programs. It takes some planning to work these into your travel itinerary, but some of them sound really amazing! There is an option for individual enrollment, small groups like scout troops, as well as larger groups. Check out the link:

http://www.disneyyouth.com/our-prog...-enrollment/#categories-individual-enrollment

 

[Phdmama06]

My son is in 3rd grade, and his school (private school) is fairly laid back about vacation time. He generally does very well in his classes.

And yes - we have pulled him out for vacations before, though I don't think I would feel comfortable pulling him out of school for longer than a week. He is doing well in his classes, and his teachers will send worksheets and things for him to work on during his time off. He adapts to being back in school without any issues. I also always make sure I'm checking the school calendar to make sure we're not missing any standardized testing or big school events. And I probably wouldn't do it in September, since I like him to have a good chunk of uninterrupted time at the beginning of the school year to get acclimated. We've never had a problem. As he advances through school, though, I will continue to re-evaluate, since (especially in high school) a few days off can be more of a setback.

 

[prettyprincess624]

We are taking our older 2 out. Oldest is in 3rd grade and will just be done with state testing so it will be a welcomed break and our middle is in pre K so not that big of a deal to us.

 

[Naomi Collison]

I used to take my boys out when they were little. Now the school district has really tightened down on missed day. My youngest starts kindergarten next year and can't miss more than 15 total days in a school year without losing her space in the charter school she is enrolled in. My boys in Middle and High school have to have a Dr.'s note for more than 3 days. The school wont give them make up work. If they have an excused absence (Dr's note) they get not graded for those items due. If they don't, they get 0's. While they are typically great students anyway, it's not worth the stress to them, so school breaks it will be for us.

 

[Sanderd2]

I think pulling kids out of school for vacation is okay. Just make sure and spread some of the missed homework out over the week. Most kids do a lot of the homework on tablets anymore. That makes making the missed work up that much easier. Unless the child has already missed a lot of days. I had to take my kids out for 3 days last fall break. The school hadn't posted the calendar yet and I had to bid vacation days at work. So I guessed the wrong combination of weeks for their break. The 3 days missed only counted for 1 unexcused absence though.

 

[Kimberly9701]

I used to take my boys out when they were little. Now the school district has really tightened down on missed day. My youngest starts kindergarten next year and can't miss more than 15 total days in a school year without losing her space in the charter school she is enrolled in. My boys in Middle and High school have to have a Dr.'s note for more than 3 days. The school wont give them make up work. If they have an excused absence (Dr's note) they get not graded for those items due. If they don't, they get 0's. While they are typically great students anyway, it's not worth the stress to them, so school breaks it will be for us.

I'm so confused by all of these posts!!

I had no idea that these kind of rules existed. I can't imagine a child ever missing 15 days though...I don't see how that would come up. But how can a school have any input on if/when a family chooses to vacation?! I don't understand.

I didn't ask our school. I told them. And I will be doing the same in 2016. Many parents within the school also take their children out for vacations.

 

[LilyWDW]

I'm so confused by all of these posts!!

I had no idea that these kind of rules existed. I can't imagine a child ever missing 15 days though...I don't see how that would come up. But how can a school have any input on if/when a family chooses to vacation?! I don't understand.

I didn't ask our school. I told them. And I will be doing the same in 2016. Many parents within the school also take their children out for vacations.

They have always existed. I graduated high school in 2000 and I can say these rules existed through the whole of my childhood.

And there may be a day where you do have to deal with it. That or take your kids out of that school and find (and pay) for a school more to your liking or homeschool.

 

[Kimberly9701]

They have always existed. I graduated high school in 2000 and I can say these rules existed through the whole of my childhood.

And there may be a day where you do have to deal with it. That or take your kids out of that school and find (and pay) for a school more to your liking or homeschool.

I graduated in 1995, my sister in 2001, and those rules did not exist at our school, we went on vacation every winter. We went to private schools, my son goes to private school, and there is no way I would accept if they told me we couldn't take him out. I honestly had no idea, before reading this thread, that such things actually happened.
It's crazy.

 

[Naomi Collison]

I'm so confused by all of these posts!!

I had no idea that these kind of rules existed. I can't imagine a child ever missing 15 days though...I don't see how that would come up. But how can a school have any input on if/when a family chooses to vacation?! I don't understand.

I didn't ask our school. I told them. And I will be doing the same in 2016. Many parents within the school also take their children out for vacations.

Here at least I know it is a push for No Kid Left Behind and it is written in the law that kids grades K–3: 740 hours; grades 4–12: 900 hours of schooling. The parent can be penalized for not enforcing that with everything from a fine to jail time. (By the way, Ohio's law is 910 hours a year for kids between the age of 6 and 18 so even if the school doesn't enforce it, you legally can be penalized, not that most states do except in extreme situations.)

Also it can be very easy to miss 15 days of school 1 vacation for 2 weeks (we live in Alaska, the cost to fly alone makes anything less than a week unreasonable) leaves you with only 5 days for a child to be sick or for there to be other issues. Typically my kids don't miss that much time, but I can see how it happens. Especially since my youngest son has Crohn's disease and one flare can leave him sick at home for weeks at a time or hospitalized.

 

[Kimberly9701]

Here at least I know it is a push for No Kid Left Behind and it is written in the law that kids grades K–3: 740 hours; grades 4–12: 900 hours of schooling. The parent can be penalized for not enforcing that with everything from a fine to jail time. (By the way, Ohio's law is 910 hours a year for kids between the age of 6 and 18 so even if the school doesn't enforce it, you legally can be penalized, not that most states do except in extreme situations.)

Also it can be very easy to miss 15 days of school 1 vacation for 2 weeks (we live in Alaska, the cost to fly alone makes anything less than a week unreasonable) leaves you with only 5 days for a child to be sick or for there to be other issues. Typically my kids don't miss that much time, but I can see how it happens. Especially since my youngest son has Crohn's disease and one flare can leave him sick at home for weeks at a time or hospitalized.

My son missed 9 days this year- kindergarten, for our vacation. Will miss 8 days in first grade.
He hasn't missed any school time for being sick, so I've been lucky there.

I had no clue that parents could be punished. Yes, of course if a child is skipping school then the parent should be held accountable. But for family vacations when the school is informed it just seems crazy. Almost everyone I know takes their kids out at some point during the year for a vacation. Twins in his class were just in Hawaii for 2 weeks. I know they didn't give those parents a hard time.
Our absences are not marked as "excused" or "unexcused", his report card just simply states "days missed-9" but it doesn't impact it one way or the other.

I'm sorry to hear about your son's Crohns, we were tested for that last year. Turns out my son just has IBS, and a weird type of psoriasis that only flares up on his feet.

 

[Naomi Collison]

My son missed 9 days this year- kindergarten, for our vacation. Will miss 8 days in first grade.
He hasn't missed any school time for being sick, so I've been lucky there.

I had no clue that parents could be punished. Yes, of course if a child is skipping school then the parent should be held accountable. But for family vacations when the school is informed it just seems crazy. Almost everyone I know takes their kids out at some point during the year for a vacation. Twins in his class were just in Hawaii for 2 weeks. I know they didn't give those parents a hard time.
Our absences our not mark as "excused" or "unexcused", his report card just simply states "days missed-9" but it doesn't impact it one way or the other.

I'm sorry to hear about your son's Crohns, we were tested for that last year. Turns out my son just has IBS, and a weird type of psoriasis that only flares up on his feet.

I am glad your son doesn't have to deal with Crohn't but sorry about the IBS, that's no fun! Yeah some states are harder on this than others and I know my state has a lot of kids missing school for various reasons, so they are one of the strictest.

 

[ml sumner]

I'm so confused by all of these posts!!

I had no idea that these kind of rules existed. I can't imagine a child ever missing 15 days though...I don't see how that would come up. But how can a school have any input on if/when a family chooses to vacation?! I don't understand.

I didn't ask our school. I told them. And I will be doing the same in 2016. Many parents within the school also take their children out for vacations.

Our school district is very strict roo. They are not allowed to miss more than 5 days unless it is a legitimate excuse such as illness or a death in the family. We have to sign forms acknowledging this and are threatened with fines! Since my son is starting Kindergarten this year we are only pulling him out 1 day before fall break. Gone are our days of going in September

 

[LuvOrlando]

I have done so and would again but teachers are human and some were just downright spiteful. My kids had good grades so they caught up BUT the teachers refused to give my kids work ahead of time or even guesstimate a range of chapters for them to read & refused to communicate at all so when they got back it was an avalanche. I dealt with it by keeping them home for a sick/ catch up day mid week of our return. Didn't see another way around it. If one week of school can't make an F student an A student I don't see how missing a week could reasonably have the opposite effect. My son got into Penn State & NYU so I don't think it hurt him - proof is in the pudding is in the eating

I always avoided state testing times & followed the rules with submissions for permission & all

 

[Kimberly9701]

Our school district is very strict roo. They are not allowed to miss more than 5 days unless it is a legitimate excuse such as illness or a death in the family. We have to sign forms acknowledging this and are threatened with fines! Since my son is starting Kindergarten this year we are only pulling him out 1 day before fall break. Gone are our days of going in September

Wow. It's just unbelievable to me. Learned something new while goofing off on the Dis!lol

 

[BLAZEY]

I have no issues taking our DD out for vacation. All absences are just that on excused or unexcused. I let her teacher know we were going at the beginning of the school year. Last year in Kindergarten there was a girl who missed 4 weeks to visit family in Mexico. We live in Canada, and truancy is only used when CPS is involved.

 

[Hrhpd]

I'm so confused by all of these posts!!

I had no idea that these kind of rules existed. I can't imagine a child ever missing 15 days though...I don't see how that would come up. But how can a school have any input on if/when a family chooses to vacation?! I don't understand.

I didn't ask our school. I told them. And I will be doing the same in 2016. Many parents within the school also take their children out for vacations.

Our school district follows the state truancy laws for absences, so as long as you are within the law, the school does not forbid you to take your child on vacation.

However, the school does have every right to decide how much extra work their teachers have to do. Teachers in our district are not allowed to put together work packets for unexcused absences. Also, they will not grade anything that was missed during the vacation. There is absolutely no makeups of any kind allowed. Any homework, tests, projects that were due or taken during the absence will receive a 0. They are not allowed to spend extra time before or after school to catch a child up for an unexcused absence. So, you are free to go on vacation, but don't expect the teachers to bend over backwards reteaching your child the material that was taught during a voluntary absence. Not really an issue in elementary school, but a big hit to a Middle Schooler or High Schooler's GPA when they all of a sudden get a week of 0s. And the teachers are notorious for scheduling big tests the day before long vacations to discourage parents from leaving early.

I have no problem with the policy.