High schoolers missing school for trip

[mslclark]

We've got one week until our trip, and I'm getting a little nervous about taking our high schoolers out of school for 3 days. My oldest is a senior and this will probably be our last vacation together. We've taken them out of school before, so I'm not sure why I'm nervous about it. Maybe just pre-trip jitters! One of the days is a half-day, so I guess they are actually missing 2 1/2 days.

Any experiences on taking high schoolers out of school for a WDW trip? Maybe I'm just needing a little reassurance. They do well in school, so I don't think they will have a problem, probably will have a lot of make up work to do.

Thanks for letting me vent here!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

the last time my parents took me out of school for a vacation i was in 5th grade (dad is VERY agaisnt missing school for vacation) and since my parents were able to take off work for summer vacations we just did that but I can tell you some advice, if the school allows you so many days afterwards to make up the work, dont bring it with you. When I went on spring break w/my one college friend she brought all these books and work to do down there (poolside) and never did any of it and then her bags were overweight going home lol. Take the time and enjoy the vacation they will have plenty of time to make the work up and it is no different when u miss the same amount for illness (this is just more fun!)

enjoy your trip..and never said its the "last vacation" all of my college friends seem to still vacation w/their families, i think it can end when they are 25ish lol

 

[cymomtx]

My DS can only miss 3 days to exempt finals, so we are on a wait and see if he will be going on our trip at Thanksgiving. If he has not missed any days when we leave he will go with us and then we will hold our breath that he will stay healthy the next three weeks before finals. If he has any absenses before we leave he will have to stay home with his best friends family.

 

[nowellsl]

I think it depends on how your kids feel about it. My DD didn't want to miss over 1 day, so we spent a few long weekends during the year or went when there was a teacher workday on a Friday. Now that she's a senior in college it's almost impossible - she just doesn't want to miss. We may end up coming home a day early in Sept. because with her new schedule this semester she has 4 classes on the Monday we're coming home. It's no big deal for us because we live close. We've even driven back early in the morning so she could make her first class. I wouldn't do it if it were going to stress them out!

 

[inloveindisney]

You only live once, right?! I say go and don't worry about it. It will work itself out. I'm a teacher and we deal with things like this all the time. See if they can make up some of the work before they go. That will make it easier on them when they return. I would assume their teachers would be planned up that far in advance so doing prework shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Dina]

I wouldn't worry about it---- I used to teach high school, kids missed much more than just 3 days for Disney---- we used to joke in the dept. office about all of the kids in Disney (sometimes it felt like every week a kid was going to Disney)--- 3 days shouldn't be a problem. As long as I knew ahead of time, I never cared. I just gave them work to make up when they returned.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

DD just got it a bit for going to Vero for a few days and School hasn't even started yet .

It starts tomorrow but her AD was not happy as we left right after soccer tryouts and she missed the first few practises (well one as the other was called because of rain).

We took her out a few days last year in Middle school but not feeling it at all in HS with Sports and stuff to concider.

 

[blessedby3]

We take our kids out of school every trip we go on to Disney. I also have a senior and one in 7th and one in 3rd. We have always gotten their work ahead of time and they do what they can before we leave. Actually my younger two were in private Christian school and always finished ALL their work before we even left. My oldest has been in public school for the past 3 years and they are not as easy to work with as far as getting work ahead of time. We get what we can from them and DD does it then gets the rest when we return. We usually pull them out for a whole week and have had no problems. This year they have 3 days in a row off in Jan, so we will be pulling them out another 3 for our trip. Go and enjoy yourselves!! 2 1/2 days isnt much at all to miss. They could miss more than that if they came down with the flu!! My oldest DD missed a whole week of school in 9th grade because of the flu and I told her teachers this would be a good gauge of how she would handle things when she missed another week for our Disney trip. Both weeks went fine and she finished out with all A's!!

 

[dyna]

I wish I could take DD out for disney but there is NO WAY she's a Junior in all weighted honors classes and plays 3 different sports. In fact her schedule so busy with the sports that the only time she had more than 2 days off all summer was 4th of July week an no way we was goin anywhere then much less disney.

If you can get away with it go for it!!!!!!

 

[Schmeck]

Check with your school system before taking your child out for vacation, as the No Child Left Behind mandate has made it possible for schools to penalize children for too many absences. In some states, it counts against the amount of funding the school gets as well.

 

[LadyShea]

When I was in high school, my teachers let me get the assignments ahead of time to work on while I was gone (went with Dad on a biz trip to Orlando). I just did my homework after the parks and stuff at the hotel.

 

[enjkp]

We are going to be taking our children out of school for six days mind you they are NOT high school children I have one in the fourth one in the second and one in Kindergarten but I am starting to get nervous the closer we get to it. The principal told me that it is not a problem because they are good kids and make good grades but it still worries me we are leaving in 27 days so they have only been in school for a month by the time we go so maybe that will help some
We plan on getting the homework before hand and doing it before we leave so they don't have to worry about doing it all when we get back

 

[MichelleVW]

My oldest missed a week of her freshman year when we went on a Disney Land/Sea vacation and she did fine with it. Now, she is an honor student and very good about making up work, or we wouldn't have gone.

Since it's only 2 1/2 school days I wouldn't worry too much...heck, they could miss that for a bad cold!!!

 

[jakoky]

We leave in 21 days and my kids will be in grades 11, 9 and 7 and they will each miss 6 school days for a 11 night trip...We spoke to our kids counsellers in june and they placed my oldest in classes that would be best for her to miss...All of my kids get A's and B's in all subjucts except math for my oldest daughter, she gets b's and c+s so they put in her math second semester...the semester is the worst for missing school, my older 2 will have 510 minutes per class to catch up on, but they will walk in on the 4th and ask each day for all they can get so hopefully most of it will be done before we go...this is the third year in the last 4 we have pulled them out, as they get older i have the opinion that life goes way to fast and if the kids are willing to work extra hard to catch up, we are going for it...btw, we have been so lucky and have never had a problem with any teachers or any of the schools for any of the trips-they have backed us 100%....I say go for it and have so much fun you hardly remember they are missing school...
sharon
me, dh, dd-16-, ds- 14-, dd-turning 12 in 11 days and we leave for DL 9 days later-
WDW-Dec 04-first disney experience for my DH, DD, DS, DD and first time at WDW for us all
DL-MAY 06-first time at DL for DH and kids , and my 9th(but the first 8 were all by the time i was about 13) so it was all new to me
COUNTDOWN IS ON....WE ARE GOING BACK TO DL SEPT 15-25!!!!!-21more sleeps til we leave

 

[Tammysue5]

I was concerned about this also! We have never had a family vacation and due to my husbands work and mine we had little choice in when we were going. I have been worrying for weeks about what the schools would say! I had written up notes for all three and gave them our dates. I wrote that we would assure the assignments were completed, and would do it how ever the teachers asked. (Before, during or after) - (Kindergarten, 3rd, 11th) The oldest was who I really worried about! He has 4 AP classes ,,, he is an A student so I wasn't so concerned that he would not get his work done just how the school would take it..... (wrestling does not start for a while)

Well, that was just today that I approached all the schools, everyone was wonderful about !!! Thank goodness as I did struggle with taking them out. Our deciding factor was when a friend and co-worker got killed in an accident and left her two sons and husband. They were saving up for a family vacation. We figured life is so short and we have never done it before!!! So we are going!


DH 45 Me 38 DS16 DD8 DD5

 

[Teyedoubleguhrrrr]

I know the school I teach at has a policy that family vacations are unexcused, and the teachers are under no obligation to give credit for the work. Most of us do, however. I do know though, that if I have a science lab that is very complicated I won't let it be made up sometimes just because it is a pain in the neck to set up/take down a week or so later just for one student. In those cases, I "excuse" them from the lab or give them an alternate to do.

I did once work at a district, though, where I wasn't allowed to do this because the department had a policy where the only option was to give a zero for that work. I thought that was a bit harsh.

I would make sure there isn't anything in the student/parent handbook just in case. Some teachers change their mind. Personally, I know I wish I was "allowed" to go to Disney, but a lot of people think that we are "privileged" enough with summers "off", "only" a six hour workday (tell that to my stacks of papers that I grade, etc.). On second thought, I'll quit my job and just be a Disney bum!

Have fun!

 

[mslclark]

Thank you all for your support! My kids said that their teachers were all ok with them missing school. I'm not worried about them falling behind because they are all good students. I guess I was just worried for nothing. Thanks again!

 

[Doc CW]

I take off school all the time and I never have any problems and your kids shouldnt either unless your kids teacher is jealous your going to WDW, just kidding.