How do you Plan around School Calendar?

[JennSaint]

I am glad to read this because our oldest DD starts K in the fall (actually the first week of Aug) and we are taking her out for a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don't know how the school will respond but heck K isn't even mandatory. I don't think I will do it every year and in the future I will try to coincide it with scheduled days off at least until HS but it is good to know that others do it as well.

I see alot of people saying they will keep pulling their kids out until High School. I don't think people realize the big jump from elementary to middle school. Personally I wouldn't consider pulling them for a whole week now (they are both in Middle school). And they are A students. Just too much work to make up which lead to some very stressfull evenings after vacation.

 

[KiminChicago]

Our school district traditionally had parent-teacher conferences at the end of the first week in October. This worked out great for us as the kids would have a half-day on Wed., no school on Thurs. and Fri. and Columbus Day would be the following Monday. We would grab the earliest conference times on Wed., then head straight to the airport and a little over four days of fun.

Thinking that this would continue to be the pattern, I made our arrangements for October 2009 back in December. We used airline miles so got 4 round-trip tickets for $120, and we're using points I banked from 2008. Anyway, the school district was a little slow in approving the calendar for 2009-2010 and they didn't publish it until the end of January. Wouldn't you know, they decided to move parent-teacher conferences to Thanksgiving week. I'm sure they looked at attendance for that week and decided it was more cost effective since a lot of people travel that week anyway, but there's no way I'm rescheduling our trip for that week.

Fortunately, my kids are both A students, but this will be the first time we're pulling our son out of middle school for a vacation. If the calendar hadn't changed, he would have missed one day of school, now he'll be missing 3 days. I'll probably write a note to all his teachers early in the year, explaining that ordinarily we wouldn't have pulled him out for that many days, but this was beyond my control. It still makes me mad -- how many people do they think are actually going to show up for conferences that week?

 

[4 DZNY NUTZ]

I see alot of people saying they will keep pulling their kids out until High School. I don't think people realize the big jump from elementary to middle school. Personally I wouldn't consider pulling them for a whole week now (they are both in Middle school). And they are A students. Just too much work to make up which lead to some very stressfull evenings after vacation.

We have done this every year for the last 4 years and I wouldnt change it for the world. My oldest starts high school next year & we have already been told of the "difficulty" of having him miss any high school classes. My boys are both A students & neither one had any issues with making anything up. My philosophy is that they are this young age once & I would regret myself for not ever doing.....enjoy it while it lasts

 

[kapeman]

I don't want to comment on the pros or cons of pulling the kids out of school, but I would like to answer the OPs question.

We have recently started facing this dilemma as well, trying to balance a very rigid school calendar with the weather and crowd levels at the parks.

We have a trip scheduled for the week of Columbus Day and our next trip will most likely be in January, the week of MLK day.

After that I have considered a late May trip, hopefully before too many school systems get out, and/or a late August trip before school starts.

For me Spring Break is completely out, especially after hearing some of the reported crowd levels from this year.

Those are pretty much it and it does not leave a lot of choices.

And I never thought I would miss private day care!!!

 

[Crystal_27]

We are pulling our DD out of Kindergarten for 6 days in September so we can go on a cruise. I have a casual friend who is a teacher at DD's school and she told me that I will be getting a letter from the school about the absence. Apparently our county only allows 10 missed days per school year and then they get DFACS involved. I'm not worried about dealing with DFACS on this issue, but likely we will stop pulling her out of school after next year and just schedule vacations in the early or late summer or schedule them around the teacher work days.

 

[Brian Noble]

How do/did you plan your vacations?

We choose to restrict ourselves to times when the kids are out of school. Our general philosophy is that we don't pull them out except for very unique circumstances or things that cannot be done any other time. For better or worse, a trip to WDW doesn't quite rise to that level for us.

 

[liznboys]

We don't plan to have ours miss school because we're content with going when they have time off...summers mostly. I guess we're lucky that we enjoy WDW in the summer! lol

 

[cj9200]

Since elementary school, my daughter is in International Baccalaureate program schools and they more than frown on kids missing days. We have dealt with the spring break, summer and long holiday weekends for years. Now she is a freshman in high school and her schedule is three classes a day but each is two hours long. She refuses to miss a day even when she is not feeling well because it is “too much of a hassle” to catch up.

When we go, it is crowded but there are fewer off times at WDW anyway. With planning and getting the parks early we cope. We now do a lot of non park stuff during our stay including the pool, resort hopping and some nice TS dining.

The big question will come up next year when we leave in January for the half marathon. I will probably pull her out early on Friday so we can drive up (4 hours) to pick up our registration materials, eat and get to bed early. Feeling guilty already.

 

[lisareniff]

With my DD now in middle school I'm finding we can really only miss a day before she starts having to make up tests, etc. I usually tell my friends with kids in the younger elementary grades to take them out while you can because soon enough you won't be able to. Go when the flights are cheaper and the parks are less crowded.

 

[Purrrrfecta]

We are pulling our DD out of Kindergarten for 6 days in September so we can go on a cruise. I have a casual friend who is a teacher at DD's school and she told me that I will be getting a letter from the school about the absence. Apparently our county only allows 10 missed days per school year and then they get DFACS involved. I'm not worried about dealing with DFACS on this issue, but likely we will stop pulling her out of school after next year and just schedule vacations in the early or late summer or schedule them around the teacher work days.

Does your school district recognize missing school for an educational enhancement opportunity? In our state students are allowed to do this for up to 10 calender days per year. They are counted as present although they will be out of the classroom. As a parent you have to say how they will be following the core content while they are away etc. etc.
As a teacher I do not mind if the student misses school as long as they are going to be able to keep up when they return. I think for the older grades, however, it becomes a bit more difficult.

 

[Sammie]

We choose to restrict ourselves to times when the kids are out of school. Our general philosophy is that we don't pull them out except for very unique circumstances or things that cannot be done any other time. For better or worse, a trip to WDW doesn't quite rise to that level for us.

This was our plan also.

 

[DVC-Don]

We took our kids to WDW every third week of January till the oldest got into middle school. It just got too complicated dealing with 5 or 6 teachers then versus 1 in elementary.

 

[Teachckg]

I am a teacher in Middle School. Therefore I have to work around the schedule also. We have done Christmas, will be doing summer, and then next January I will be taking off a week!!! I am a little hesitant but the Monday is Martin Luther King, Tuesday and Wednesday are teacher insevice days (no kids), then I will only miss Thursday and Friday with students. I feel like you need to find weeks like this to work with occasionally but also be open to summer and spring break.....

Speaking as a middle school teacher (math teacher), it is extremely difficult for students to miss an entire week of school. From my experience I have seen students really struggle. Espcecially with math-- they need that direct instruction. When they return, it often takes weeks to get caught up because unfortunately math builds on itself so they truly need to understand what we did while they were away. From experience I would say two days tops out of school.

 

[dressthechild]

I am a teacher (kindergarten) and have pulled myself and my girls out of school for 3 days when they were 5 and 7. They are now 10 and I will no longer be taking them out of school for trips. There are important tests given starting in grade 3 that they prepare for all year. It can be hard for kids to catch up when a new skill/concept is being introduced and they miss the first few lessons. I do not teach at my daughter's school. We have a policy that states that if our students miss school due to a vacation, we are under no obligation to give them work ahead of time, homework during the trip, or to catch them up on our own time when they return. I personally do not mind if my students miss school for a vacation. Teachers in upper grades feel very differently.

 

[anna08]

I'm sure the requirements are different now, but my favorite memories of childhood include the ones where my parents pulled us out of school for a week. My dad worked so hard, it really was the only time we had good concentrated family time together. They did it about once per year and I never had less than a 3.9 GPA and got into a great college & med school. I loved seeing my dad act like a kid at WDW!!

 

[brandip22]

I will hopefully begin teaching in the Fall. So, while I have typically gone during the school year, no more for me. Our plan for next year is to go as soon as I'm done at school. the last day for students is about May 22nd. So, I'm thinking about a week more for teachers, if that much. We are planning on going about Memorial Day and the week after- probably 8 or 9 days. More points, more crowds, but it'll be OK. A little longer stay and we'll take it easy with longer days in the parks with breaks, of course!

 

[TXdeVille]

I'm glad I saw this thread. Even though as a child, I would miss school, mostly at elementary level, to attend horse shows across the country, I was a strong student and it wasn't such a big deal. Made great memories though. I had the pleasure of going to the same school that most of the gymnastic Olympic team through Karolyi's Gym attended. They missed school all the time.

However, my kids are older (middle school and high school) and I have a problem taking them out for longer than a day or two as well. We typically travel during the allotted vacation breaks in the school schedule but I also have to consider the small number of employees that work on my team and we have to share and staff accordingly.

Now, for 2011, I am trying to plan a reunion with my sister and her family that we get to see once every few years. I'm gonna shoot for a Grand Villa and if the kids are out an extra day or so, who cares. It's a family reunion. Besides DD will be a senior. Consider it a senior skip day! Those are the times when it's worth it IMHO. I wouldn't do Spring Break either....

 

[kikiq]

When my DDs were younger, we went during the summer. We took them out of school once for a DCL cruise in December. My oldest was in 10th grade and told us that she would not miss anymore school until she finished college. It was just too hard to make up AP/IB/college level classes.

When they were younger, we worked with their teachers if we missed any days. But as they got into high school, between sports and classes, they had no interest in missing school or their sports. BUT we live only 30 minutes from DLR so they get their dose on a regular basis.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

DH and I are having this discussion right now, as part of our should-we-buy-DVC-or-not talks. Currently our kids (and myself) are on a year round schedule, which is fantastic. We've been able to go at a wonderful time, low crowds, no humidity! BUT- the school district is probably only staying on this schedule for 09-10, then going to "modified traditional". DD would only have another year after next before HS anyway, so eventually we have to deal with the HS schedule. Do we really want to go in the summer? (I hate humidity and get very cranky.) What are the crowds like the first week of June? That *might* be doable for me. DH says NO to spring break week... which leaves the first week of January available, since this new schedule has a 3 week break at Christmas, the regular 2 weeks and a full third week in January. That might be a good time for us. Long weekends are really out for us, because airfare is so expensive for us West Coasters. I want a whole week there to be able to relax and not have to race around!

As a teacher, I generally don't have a problem with kids missing school, as long as they already do well. But I do teach elementary school, and it's easier to give them the one-on-one to catch up than it is for HS or MS teachers. I know the days my DD has missed of MS this year just when she was sick... boy, it was hard to get all the make up work from all her teachers. I can't imagine trying to do that with AP classes in HS.

So I guess we are stuck with whatever time the school lets us have!

 

[AnnaS]

OK - We have so far been able to plan our vacations whenever we want, and still have a few years left, but in the very near future we are going to have to take school into consideration.

We only went when the kids were off from school. Ours were a bit older when we bought. I would not even consider taking them out at that age.

But we will soon be the ones who can start planning and going whenever we want since my youngest is 16. Once she starts driving and I am confident and comfortable, my dh and I can plan our vacations alone, lol. I doubt my sons (in their 20s and working F/T) will be coming anywhere with us anymore for a while (unless they have a few friends come along or a family reunion). My dd will still vacation with us for a few more years (bringing a friend along of course) - if and when that happens - it will be planned according to her schedule.

Some people take their kids out and some don't. We usually have the year's calendar (public and private) before school starts. If they have any half days, three/four days off - you can always add a day or two to pull them out and get a week out of it.

It does get tough because no only do you need to worry about school but if they get involved in any kind of sports, there is a commitment there too and when they are a bit older might not be able to take off either.

Good luck with whatever you decide and enjoy all the planning.