Has anyone taken their high schooler out for disney

[minnieandmickey]

We have to delay our trip another year and that means our son will be a freshman in HS. Summer is out due to the fact my DH can not get the time off during that time ( not to mention the heat), and it sounds like that Christmas vacation is not only crazy but even more expensive,so the alternative is Thanksgiving. We are thinking about taking him out the 2-3 days before thanksgiving and maybe 2-3 days after. Has anyone done this, and how did things go? Any positive and negative comments are welcome.

 

[HunnyPots]

As much as I would love to go during a relatively slow time, our school says missing school for trips other than school sponsored field trips result in unexcused absences. Which means no make-up work will be allowed. Five unexcused absences and the student will be retained or must attend summer school. Maybe your district has a less strict attendance policy but check before you plan too far. Good luck!

 

[flynnmnstr]

My parents took us out of school for 5 days every year the week before our Christmas vacation. We went about 11 years in a row and it started when I was in the 3rd grade through college. My freshman year of college, I convinced all of my professors to give me my finals early so that I could still go on my vacation. The week before Christmas is one of the least crowded times down there and it was so worth it. Every night we had to put in an hour of "homework" so that when we got home we were all caught up. I'll admit it took about a week or so to really get caught up on everything when we got back, but neither mine nor my sister's grades suffered. Our school had the standard attendence policy in NJ; no more than 18 absences.

When my children are school aged I will do the same thing with them. My most memorable childhood memories are at Disney with my family. I would not give them up for anything. And to be honest, for us the stress of crowds and lines would have taken something away from that. Neither myself nor my father can deal with lines or heat (if we had to go in the summer).

I hope this helps.

 

[SueM in MN]

Once our oldest DD hit high school, we didn't take her out for vacation.
A lot would depend on your child's classes and the school's policy for abscences. For some classes, it would be easy to know what to study. For others, so much content is given by lecture in class that it would be hard to get the information without being in class. We also found we would need to take along a whole small suitcase of heavy schoolbooks to study from. One way around that would be to photocopy or scan and print the pages you need. We did that the last years that we took her out of school to go.
This year, she was in her first year of college (studying art). She did miss one day of classes before spring break began (with her teacher's blessings). She did find it hard to be gone over her spring break since she had several large projects that were due right after Spring break. Since they involved research and work with metal and wood, she couldn't do them in WDW.

 

[wdwnutze]

Have always taken my kids out of school for our trips to WDW. I took my son out for the first week of Dec. in his sophmore yr of hs. He was able to bring his work with us and make up any tests after we returned. This is the 1st time we are traveling during the summer because the other families we are traveling with could not take their kids out of school for vaca. They have strict rules that are enforced at their schools. If your school will allow it, I would say take your ds out of school for a trip to WDW. As long as he is a good student I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[Kermit]

Your son will probably have a better idea about if he'll be able to swing it once school starts. Some teachers teach from the book; others teach almost entirely from lectures. Also, you will have to check with the school. I know my school wouldn't have allowed it.

While a Disney vacation is educational to a person of any age, once a child gets into the upper grades, he could probably learn more taking notes in biology one day than spending the day at MK. When does school start after Christmas? The first week of January isn't bad as far as attendance is concerned.

 

[fostrmom2mny]

I have to post on this one!! I'm taking my girls out during the time that you are considering. The DIS Con 2001 is during that time and I know their teachers will allow them to do this. They are both good students and have perfect attendance every year. They will be doing and extra report/reports while we are there on something educational. I'm so excited cause I just found out the there will be a space launch on Nov 29th. Guess you don't have to guess what the subject of the Science report will be about. That in itself is a once in a lifetime event for MOST people.
You could possibly go that route with asking for permission to go the trip. Good luck
Gerri

 

[MommaluvsDis]

We have something in our school system call educational travel days. You can take the student out and it will be excused as long as the school board gives prior approval. The student must write a 1 page report on something that they learned on their trip.

I'm taking both Dss out next October 2,2002 (WED)for the one day since they will be out the following 2 days(Thur and Fri) for in service and our parish fair. Since they will only miss the one day, I probably will just let them skip ( they don't do a whole lot that Wed anyway). They only miss school when they are sick. So this will be a one day treat for them. Of course, since I'm not doing the ed travel days just for the one day, it'll be unexcused. I guess I could always say they were sick...... SICK OF SCHOOL!

 

[JennyLuvsPooh]

my parents always took me out for vacations. One year they did it three times. I always got my homework done, and or stayed after school with my instructors prior to the trip to discuss subject, ect. I had no problems what so ever.
Infact in many cases I had my homework halfway done on the plane ride!

 

[LisaRay]

My DD is currently in the 5th grade and we have always taken her out for about 5 days per year. We plan it over a long weekend and are gone for 8 or 9days. However, I am thinking that the older she get the harder it will be.

It's not that it is against the policy but just will be more difficult to make up. There is no way I can go without my Disney fix. And there is no way I will go in the summer. So I am thinking that as she gets older we may have to either plan it around New Years and be there the 1st week of Jan. For example they usually go back on the 4th but this year that is on a Fri. so they won't be back till Mon. the 7th. So we may work around that in years to come. She may miss 2 days some years but that is better than 5.

The other thing that I have thought about for future trips is taking 2 smaller trips. Plan a trip in the fall over a long weekend and let her miss 1 or 2 days along with the long weekend. Then in the spring go the same. They may end up missing 4 days total for trips but only 2 each semester. That would be alot easier to make up.

Our other child DS just turned 2 this week and we can't just put the Disney trips on hold as our DD gets older. We want our little one to experience it at every age the same way she did.

My other plan is to hope for year round school so she can have time off other than those hot summer months! I know it won't happen here though.

 

[jsmith]

If your son wants to play HS basketball do not even plan on this- practice will start early to mid November and if he misses that much practice he rides the bench the whole season.
I would evaluate the rest of it based on class load and school policy. Heavy load of pre-AP classes, AP classes or an International Baccalarueate program and I would not plan it-to much catch up in those will be tough-beyond that if he can catch up and the school district will allow that may absences go for it.

 

[kendeann]

As you see by the posts you will have to work with the school...
But my philosphy is they are my children and they need a break in the winter months, etc
As much as adults do in their line of work.
My parents took me out when I was a freshmen and now I do the same wether it be for vacations or take a day with MOM>>>>
As I did and have my children do.. Talked to all the teachers = let them understand I would like 90% of the work done before they leave - NO HOMEWORK ALLOWED ON OUR VACATION>>>I don't bring my business work with me so why should the kids... Treat them like 'young adults" you will be amazed what you get out of them.

I am there to help with homework like 2 weeks before the trip - do not plan anything else for those evenings and same when we get back for a week after.

My oldest = soon to be 15 went this past January.. She struggles academically in school and the school sorta frowned on the idea of her being out for a week but we made it and she passed all her classes this year to head to high school...

I do try to plan it around teacher conferences or when they have a long weekend or a day off during the week for teacher workshops or whatever --- or even early outs then they don't miss a whole WEEK .......

Good luck - I know it has to be a school/teacher/parent decision but go for it... they will have a ball......

 

[Antonia]

I took my 10th grader out last year. I had previously taken him out once in elementary and once in middle school. I thought it would be the same, but I discovered that high school is a whole different story. He did okay catching up, but it was stressful and I would not do it again. I also would not allow homework, school work during a vacation so he did some work prior to and some after the vacation, but still I would not advise it. Also, our district also has an attendance policy that caused him to incur 5 absences and those hung over our heads the rest of the year. We had to be very cautious with attendance after racking up those 5 days. As much as I love to go at odd times during the school year, we won't do it again.

 

[villainwdw]

my daughter is gonna be a senior this year..I have taken her out every year since 2nd grade!! we have never had a problem..I would just make sure there was no tests going on!

 

[tink85]

my parents have been taking me out of school for years to go to disney. It did get harder when I hit high school but my teachers have always been great about giving me work to do on the plane ride and giving me time when I got home to hand in everything and make up any tests and quizzes i missed. My mom has always sent notes to every teacher about 2 weeks in advance so they know what's coming and every teacher has always been great about dealing with it. Just make sure the teachers know what is going on and most of the time, they'll go out of their way to help, at least that's always been my experience.
**in fact, last year, they did exactly what you want to do. It actually isn't missing that much school and right after the break, you don't do much and any tests he may miss before the break, see if he can't take early, before you leave. It's what i did and it worked out fine.

 

[tbstein]

We have always taken my son out for the week just before Christmas and have informed the teachers well enough in advance. We have a small school system, and they have always worked with us. It sure helps that he is a pretty good student. This year my daughter starts school and we are planning on going at the same time again. As all the others have mentioned, with a bit of work, it can work.

tbstein

 

[georgiapeach60]

We have never done it before but are planning to do it this Feb. One son will be a Junior in HS and the other a 2nd grader. This is kind of a pregraduation gift to our son. He is well aware of the possible consequences from missing a week of school. If he had any reservations about being able to make it up we would not do it. As he seems very comfortable with the idea and has always been a good kid and good student we will see how it goes. I am not even going to bother checking out what the school district may say about it since I don't really care. If I have to when we get back I can be a real pain in the backside if they want to get ugly about it. I do plan on sending a note to all of thier teachers requesting if possible work to do while we are gone and then it will be up to them how much they are willing to cooperate with us.

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

We took my 13 year old dd out for 2 days in December of 99 for a short trip to WDW. Although she had fun, she has now said that she does not want to be taken out of school again for vacation. She said it would just be too stressful now that she is in high school. I think if your school and teachers are willing to work with you and your child is fine with it then it is a great idea.

For Georgiapeach, as much as I can relate to your feelings of dealing with the school system later, I would highly suggest getting as much information as possible before taking your trip. There was a guy from TX who took his family on a Disney cruise last fall and he and his family were put through the ringer when they returned. They had to meet with the state attorney's office and they faced fines of to $1000/day for both child and parent. This is due to the attendance rules set in place when Ross Perot was involved with education reform here. It dictates that no student have 5 days of unexcused absences without facing the possibility of these fines and even lawsuits. Obviously these rules were meant to ward off chronic truancy and not to interfere with family vacations but they can still be applied in this situation.

The gentleman whose family got in trouble fought long and hard and still had a very hard time getting through this experience (he wrote up several long posts on the old cruise board about his arduous experience). It is apparently up to the individual school to determine if these absences are reported to the state level - one of his kids' schools reported it although the other did not. So, I would suggest meeting not only with your son's teachers but with the administration so that you know how these absences will be handled before leaving on vacation.

I think it is rather unfortunate that the vast majority of schools in this country to do make specific allowances for family vacations. It is not always possible for families to vacation during school breaks and some cooperation should be provided.

 

[minnieandmickey]

Thanks everyone for your advice, and I agree with you akasleeping the schoold districts shouldn't be so stringent on policies like these. Our problem is that my husband is a Deputy Sheriff and the policy on vacation is bidding by seniority. Well more than half the dept. has been on for over 20 years, my husband has been on for 11 and still has yet to get any summer months or holiday weeks off due to his seniority. We are trying to plan for the Christmas Break of that year, but highly doubt he will get it off. So the other alternative is the week after Thanksgiving which he takes every year, and we go to DL due to year round schooling in out district. So right now we can just keep our fingers crossed. Thanks again!!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Originally posted by akasleepingbeauty
They had to meet with the state attorney's office and they faced fines of to $1000/day for both child and parent. This is due to the attendance rules set in place when Ross Perot was involved with education reform here.

That's sick. Right up there with the zero tolerance BS.

My oldest is going into 8th grade, and this will be the 4th year that we'll be taking her and our other two children out of school for a week. They are excellent students and nice, respectful kids, so they have that going for them, but the town has a policy of NOT giving the work ahead of time, although they have two weeks to make it up. We'll play things by ear, but we book our trips 11 months in advance. One plus is that the middle school posts the homework on the school's website daily (in theory), so we could check it from WDW and have less to make up when we get home. I've even thought of "assigning" certain classmates to e-mail our kids with the homework, or if we don't bring the laptop, we'll call them!