(How often) do you pull your kids out of school to go to DL?

[Sherwin]

Growing up, my parents could never fathom the idea of missing school for vacation. But c'mon, this is DISNEYLAND we're talking about!

 

[Grumpy'sWife4Ever]

I am guilty, I have to admit. For the first time EVER I am taking my two oldest out of school for four days to visit Disneyland. (My daughter is not is school yet so no worries there.) I already have it all worked out with their teachers and we are bringing back gifts for their classes, so hopefully their education won't suffer TOO much....

 

[SeansMom]

Guilty as charged. BTW, some teachers were none too happy and felt we should wait until an official school holiday to go. Eh. It worked out as his grades were actually better as he had one-on-one help expaining and answering questions about assignments. One note: Recently our school district has voted that the ONLY excused absence is for medical/dental reasons or a death/serious illness in the family.

 

[DangerMouse]

As often as possible!

(we homeschool)

 

[WannaseePooh]

I've pulled my two boys out for 4 days to go. My oldest childs teacher said that life experience is every bit as important as school experience. She also told me she has pulled her own kids out to go to disneyland

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

I really don't feel comfortable taking my daughter out of school for a vacation to Disneyland or anywhere else. However, having said that I am doing just that this March. My husband won this trip through his company and he is expected to go so we are all going. Even if he wasn't expected to go we'd still be going I mean come on a free trip to Disney? I'm being very strict with her on her grades and making sure she keeps them up so missing this week doesn't hurt her too badly.

Recently our school district has voted that the ONLY excused absence is for medical/dental reasons or a death/serious illness in the family.

This is how it is at my daughter's school. It's not considered an excused absence but thankfully they are still letting her make up the work she's missing. They just checked her grades first.

 

[disney-super-mom]

Heck, we do it every year, and our school and teachers have always been perfectly fine with it. Most of them want to go with us!

 

[Leofoenget]

Growing up, my parents could never fathom the idea of missing school for vacation. But c'mon, this is DISNEYLAND we're talking about!

Of course I have done it. You have to. Not just for Disneyland but for other vacations too. I will say I am pretty good about trying to schedule it around school days off so he is out as few days as possible. They are always having "staff learning days" so I try to take him out say Wed at recess, out all day Thursday and day off on Friday. So he only misses day and half with that frist day he is counted at present. You get the idea. Sometimes you just have to. It's not as important in grade school but as they get into the upper grades I may not be able to.

 

[Sherwin]

It's not as important in grade school but as they get into the upper grades I may not be able to.

I was about to say the same thing. For those with DDs and DSs still under the age of 10, you better make the best of it while you can!

 

[firefly87]

I have to admit we also pull our kids out as well, not just for Disney but other big vacations as well. Although as the kids get older, it will be harder for them to make up all the work they miss (at least that is what my nephew in high schools says). And this year for the first time, I got a little bit of flack in the school office about it.......comments like 'why dont you take them during the week off in Feb'. And my response was "because my birthday is in March and that is when we are going!'.

Part of the reason I can justify pulling them out during school is that if we didn't do it then, we wouldn't get to take a family vacation at all. My DH works in the agriculture industry and so that means his busy time is all summer long when the kids are out of school. Winters are his down-time so we take advantage of that.

 

[momto2nenas]

We are taking our 1st grader out for a week in May... I haven't talked w/ the teacher about it just yet but hope there's no problem.

I plan to bring her weekly homework packet w/ us and have her do it on the plane.

 

[pmama]

Well, my oldest daughter is in 2nd grade and will miss a total of 12 days of school for Disney this year. I know, sounds awful doesn't it? I am even a licensed elementary teacher who currently stays at home and substitute's about one day a week.

We missed 7 days in September for our "free dining" trip to WDW and it was totally worth it. However, I'll probably never pull her early in the school year again. It was toward the beginning of the year so it was basically review but a lot of teachers have not loosened up yet at the beginning of the year. She was given a male "high school buddy" that nobody else wanted since she was gone and has been stuck with him for the entire year. She was also placed in the lowest reading group because she was not there to test.

I haven't told her teacher yet that she will be missing the very last week of school for Disneyland. I don't expect much of an issue with this as even teachers are fully aware that NO learning goes on the last week. Since we will also be visiting w/ one or two family members and friends I may not specify the "Disney" part of it and just specify the "visiting family/friends" part. For some reason the word "Disney" puts an extra sting in teacher's ears.

Aside from her absence in the Fall she has not missed one day for illness or otherwise. We take schooling very seriously and will not pull the kids out once they are in middle school. However, you can't beat the price savings as well as smaller crowds.

 

[Husker Mickey]

We have pulled our kids out for a few days here and there. We too try to schedule it when there is a few days break. Our school system doesn't have any week long breaks. Now that we have one in college, we were able to work on it out in October for our son to come home for fall break and fly with us to DL and then fly back to school. Our daughter is in high school and is able to make up the work every time so far. She is a good student and gets the work completed ahead of time.

 

[WannaBeAPrincess]

We're guilty of this too. I do try to only do it once during the year, but hey, if it's more, I honestly don't feel too bad. I also try to schedule it so that there isn't anything major going on at school. I definitely wouldn't do this if my boys were struggling academically, but thankfully they are great students. My dd is only 3, so no worries with her yet.

Now, my oldest ds will be going into jr. high next year and I do anticipate that it will be more difficult to just whisk him away for a few days. Our trips will probably only be during school breaks

 

[Rivergallery]

No problem for us either here, we homeschool year round, so the time off I just schedule in as a vacation.

 

[Dizneydaz]

My DD9 is in year round school and is off Jan, May, and Sept. which makes it easy to go to WDW during free DDP. That being said I have had her miss a day every once in awhile to go to DLR for the day. Or, I take her out of school early (esp. on min. day) to go. If school gets out at 12:15 I take her out about 11:45, before lunch. Believe me I'm not the only one doing it. Luckily she gets about one min. day a month except in Oct. when we get a whole week.

Also, luckily for me her teachers have been understanding (she's in 4th grade) and she just got her 2nd trimester report card-all A+ except for one A-. Don't you think she deserves to go to DLR? Next min. day, March 11th. DLR here we come!

 

[Krissy Marissy]

My parents took us out 2 days ahead of spring break when I was in 4th grade for my first trip to WDW. Then I didn't get taken out of school until my senior year of high school. We just went every year in june the week after school got out

I dont think I will be as picky but who knows. My kids aren't in school yet

 

[dismom73]

We take our kids out once a year for a Disney vacation. In the state of CA it is state law that if you are going to miss 5 or more school days you can apply for independant study. Then they aren't even marked absent. This year they were only going to miss 4 days, but I'm pulling them out for 5 so we can do I.S. and they don't get marked absent and it doesn't go on their record. The reason the schools sometimes give you grief is because they get paid per student per day. So if they have kids missing school and its unexcused they are loosing money.

 

[Mike_M]

We wait until age 5 before the kids get to go to DLR but we go all out on that 1st trip and make it a birthday trip. My DDs birthday is the 1st week of June next year so we'll have to pull both kids out of school for that one. That will be the only time that we'll miss school for a DLR trip. We'll plan around school for future trips (As a matter of fact, our upcomming trip was planned arround our DS's spring break).

 

[charmama4]

As often as possible!

(we homeschool)

Ditto!!