Have you taken your kids out of school for vacation?

[WendyLovesPeter]

I have 5 kids from college on down to toddler. I have NEVER taken kids out of school for vacation but may do it this year. Our summer trip was cut short due to the wind storms that went thru 10 days ago. My home town was in a state of emergency and we returned home on the first full day of our vacation.....yes we were basically gone overnight then scrambling for a way to get home and FAST. We had livestock, 100 degree temperatures and no power for 10 days. We had considerable damages to our farms and mild damages to some personal property. To say this whole experience was a disappointment is a grave understatement. Anyway....got off topic.

We are going to try to have a late vacation after all. There are 2 college students in the mix and the only time I can get a compatible time for all families involved is to take some children out of school. I am having a HARD time with this idea. I just wondered others experience ....if the schools frown upon it (I know my inlaws will-lol). And was it hard for your child to get their work done then get caught up? Did you regret taking your kids out of school?

 

[supersuperwendy]

We used to always take our kids out for WDW. When they were younger the elementary teachers were wonderful and would make travel journels for them. Our school district is very accomodating even for teens. They can't get the work ahead of time, but are given ample time to complete it once we get home. This was the first year we visited during the summer. Our oldest has such hard classes I just don't feel comfortable with her missing so many days anymore. But if we had no other choice than to visit during the school year, I'd do it!

 

[allie1078]

I took my kids out last october for a trip to disney. everyone faired pretty well except for the high schooler. She had a couple of teachers that wouldn't work with her on getting caught up. And they only really missed 2 full days and 2 half days that week because of confernces. I did miss parent/teacher conferences but with the communication going back and forth with the younger three teachers about vacation and makeup days. the teachers we had issues with are known teachers to be problems when making up missed work. Would I do it again, maybe. It is harder for a high schooler to make up missed work anyways let alone a weeks worth. It totally depends on your teachers and your relationships you have with them.

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

I've taken my son out of school every year except last year (I was pregnant)to go to Disney without a problem. My son goes to Catholic school so I don't have a problem getting work for him to make up. The Catholic school smiles upon family time

On the other hand my sister can not take her kids out for vacation, they go to public.

We thought about moving my son from Catholic to public this year but when I talked to the Board of Education about missing school for vacation I got a crazy reply. I would be charged $100.00 for every day he misses and if he misses more than 10 days he will have unroll from school then reregister when he comes back. That means he would lose any credits he made before vacation. Needless to say, he's still in private

I would check with your school system before debating on what to do.

 

[2disneyboys]

1. Check with your school system re the rules. Some districts are much much stricter than others regarding absences.

2. Are any of you kids "struggling?". If so I would avoid them missing any more than they have to. It's just not very fair to them.

3. Yes we have, and yes we will continue to. Our school district can be tough on absences. The only time my kids are out of school is if they are on vacation with us, or are sick. Those are they only days I or my dh miss work and we do consider their school their job. Because our school district is tough on absences, this weighed into our decision to put our children Into private school and the particular curriculum they are enrolled in. Dh and i can't vacation during your typical school breaks, so we had to keep that in mind when our kids became school age.

4. Be as accommodating as possible to the teachers... It IS extra workload on the teachers to help your child "make up" the missed time either before or after. Also respect the teachers enough not to pass off the trip as eductional. Don't get me wrong, we spend a lot of time @ WDW learning stuff and there's tons of opportunities to "teach" but the same could be said for the local museum, or grocery store, and when's the last time you Took your kids out of school to go grocery shopping. Not trying to be mean, but , IMHO I think it's silly to try and pass off WDW as an educational trip, it's a family trip with lots of educational opportunities yes, but ultimately, it's a family trip, lol. ..again...IMHO, YMMV!

Have fun!

 

[VeeHam]

I agree with all the PP. Talk with your school and see about missing the days of school. We took DD out of school for 1 week when she was in 1st grade and they were great. We took her work with us in the car and she did it on the way there. Of course, that was first grade, easy peasy work. If you have a child who is struggling, missing a few days can make it even more difficult for them.
If you feel that all kids could miss a few days/week and still keep up with their studies, then I say go for it. I would also talk "in depth" to the school about any and all damage from the storm and how the kids last Disney vacation was cut short and they were devastated about the trip shortage and damage to their home, etc. Sometimes people are a bit nicer when they have the full story.
Good luck!

 

[dzorn]

I have 5 kids from college on down to toddler. I have NEVER taken kids out of school for vacation but may do it this year. Our summer trip was cut short due to the wind storms that went thru 10 days ago. My home town was in a state of emergency and we returned home on the first full day of our vacation.....yes we were basically gone overnight then scrambling for a way to get home and FAST. We had livestock, 100 degree temperatures and no power for 10 days. We had considerable damages to our farms and mild damages to some personal property. To say this whole experience was a disappointment is a grave understatement. Anyway....got off topic.

We are going to try to have a late vacation after all. There are 2 college students in the mix and the only time I can get a compatible time for all families involved is to take some children out of school. I am having a HARD time with this idea. I just wondered others experience ....if the schools frown upon it (I know my inlaws will-lol). And was it hard for your child to get their work done then get caught up? Did you regret taking your kids out of school?

Check with your school system some will not allow any make up work and it can drasiticly change grades. Now that DD are in 6 & 8th grade they would miss to much even though they are allow to make it up.

Denise in MI

 

[jensen]

We've always taken our kids out of their private, Catholic school for family vacations and never had any problems... until last year. I'm still not sure if it was because of the teachers were unorganized (he had two of them) or my child (DS 11).

I told his teachers and his principal about a month before we left that we would be gone. I said that they could send the assignments before and we'd do them while we were gone. Or they could save them up and we'd do them after we returned. Either way, we understood/understand that it's our responsibility to assure he completes all of the missed assignments and learns the missed materials.

Let me note here that for all of our past trips, the teachers put a packet together before we left and we completed it on our vacation, so that he was completely caught up when he returned.

I went to school to pick him up the day we left and "Teacher A" gave me "all" of the assignments. "Teacher B" said the only thing she wanted him to do was write a report about his vacation. We made our son do all of his schoolwork while we were on the airplane, so that he was all done when he went back to school. DH and I double-checked all of the work to make sure everything was complete and correct. He turned it all in on the day he went back.

That day he came home with a huge pile of homework (again from "Teacher A") that he had missed while he was gone. So, he sat down that night and did all of it - turning it in the next day.

For several days/even weeks after, he would come home with assignments (from both teachers) that he said were ones he missed while we were gone. And I'd ask his teachers about grades missing from his online report card (that I check weekly) and they'd say it was missing work from when we were on vacation. They'd say, "oh, I need to do that orally with him" or "I just haven't put the grade in, yet" or some odd excuse like that.

Overall it was a frustrating experience because I never felt comfortable that he got all of the missed work made up.

 

[mommy4]

We've taken our kids out for the past 4 years and are doing it again this year. We will have a middle schooler this year, so I'm a little more concerned, but he's a good student. I will say that all of my kids are good students and we always go the week before they are off a week for conferences. When we get back from vacation I go to conferences and they have a full week to complete any work that their teachers give to me. It works really well for us. We can go when it's not so hot (one with heat related asthma) and it's not as crowded. If your kids are doing well in school I say go for it!

 

[phins_jazy]

This is the first year I will be pulling my kids out for our vacation. I have one in K, one in 2nd and one in 8th. BUT, it's only a half day AND the day before christmas break so I don't feel like they will be missing anything anyways. If it was more than that, I'd really have to reconsider. Especially for my 8th grader.

 

[theworldneedscolor]

I'm going to be a junior in high school, and I have to miss a day and a half of school for our Disneyland trip. We planned it around a four day weekend, otherwise I would be missing three and a half days. I personally don't think missing school is a problem, especially in middle school and elementary school. Most teachers I have had have been very accommodating, and gave work before we left or gave me time to finish when we got back. High school can be more tricky, but if you let your teachers know well ahead of time it is usually fine.

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

We've always taken our kids out of their private, Catholic school for family vacations and never had any problems... until last year. I'm still not sure if it was because of the teachers were unorganized (he had two of them) or my child (DS 11).
Overall it was a frustrating experience because I never felt comfortable that he got all of the missed work made up.

When my son was in 4th grade I had a teacher tell me that she didn't give work while the kids were on vacations, because she didn't want them to lose the books. What really happened was she forgot we were going on vacation and didn't get anything prepared. Mind you, I told her every week. She was the most unorganized teacher he ever had. His class was 9 sets of spelling words behind the other 4th grade class because she kept forgetting to give them spelling tests.

I give him the decision to try to get all his homework before we leave or do it during vacation. He comes home from school and sits there until it's done. He doesn't mind sitting there as long as it doesn't interfer with his vacation.

This year, his 6th grade teachers (3 of them) are going to HATE me. We are going to Florida from September 23rd to October 8th. He will miss a total of 10days. He usually missed only 6 or 7. Missing 10 days was by accident I booked the wrong flights, I didn't notice it until it was too late but if I change the flights I'll lose $1,600.00.


The good news is we leave on a Sunday so he basically has a couple days to do as much work he can. We are also going to my aunts from the 23rd to the 28th and if he has anything he missed he can do it at night there. We plan on going to Seaworld & Legoland twice each; they close at 5 so that's still good.

 

[Missy13d69]

We took our son out for a week last winter, then he got sick and ended up missing a TON of school in the early spring. It was a nightmare. For this reason, we will only pull him out late spring, and only if he hasn't missed a bunch already.

 

[mom2val]

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[NikkiBerry]

This is pretty cool...

 

[sbobbio]

I have taken my kids out near a vacation and it seemed to work better that way. Just be cautious if the time you select will be near the end of a marking period. I have found teachers are not as accommodating if you put them into hurry mode.

 

[pumpkinpatchquilter]

I am going to pull out my two children for five days this September and I have NEVER pulled them out before so I'm a little nervous. It will be three weeks into the school year so I'm hoping that maybe it will be early enough it won't effect their work too much. I will have a 1st grader and a 5th grader. *fingers crossed* Generally my kids don't miss school unless they have the flu or a high temp...I might allow one hookey day if they haven't missed any school all year usually in May. Lol* I think this uses up all of their days for the year too...I'm not totally sure how that works yet.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I pulled my then-first grader out in 2009 for six days. We had no issues. We brought his journal with us, and he wrote in it each day. This year my children will be in first and fourth grades. Our school division has changed their policy stating that a child may have no more than five unexcused absences, or the parents will be called before the school board for a truancy hearing! For this reason, my children will be attending school a half-day on our departure day, and we are taking a late afternoon flight. I am not worried about my first grader missing school, but I do anticipate getting some grief from the fourth grade teachers. I hope I am wrong about that, but we will see! I will ask for make-up work. My husband & I did struggle with planning this trip, but it's been in the works for three years, so we're just gonna hang on tight and take what the school gives us. Hopefully since as work as a sub there, the teachers and administrators know that I will make sure that my kids will work on what they missed.

 

[usd2bmd]

I am going to pull out my two children for five days this September and I have NEVER pulled them out before so I'm a little nervous. It will be three weeks into the school year so I'm hoping that maybe it will be early enough it won't effect their work too much. I will have a 1st grader and a 5th grader. *fingers crossed* Generally my kids don't miss school unless they have the flu or a high temp...I might allow one hookey day if they haven't missed any school all year usually in May. Lol* I think this uses up all of their days for the year too...I'm not totally sure how that works yet.

This was when we pulled our daughter out. We let the teachers know in advance and they were very accomodating giving her work that she would miss while we were gone. My daughter said that was probably her least favorite Disney trip ever. It didn't feel so much like vacation because she had school work to do every day.

My advice is like PPs, check with the school district, but also talk to the older kids and ask them their opinion. Will they want to do homework while on vacation? ( keep in mind it may be a lot of work).

We won't ever pull her out of school for a vacation again. If we can't go when she isn't in school, we just won't go.

 

[luvmikids]

yes, I have and will be pulling my kids out of school for Disney. I have a 5th grader and 7th grader. I am a little nervous about the middle schooler, but the trip is paid for and airline tickets bought so nothing we can do about it now. I will be informing their teachers very early with no expectations that they will give me the work early but I hope they do. I am not concerned about my 5th grader. The school has always been support of family time. just not sure of the middle school. they will be missing 7 full days. I can only hope for the best. Oh and we are going during MEAP standardized testing time. I hate these tests. It seems the schools are always prepping kids for the test and reviewing so hopefully she wont miss much of anything new.