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

[LuLusApple]

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.

We tried the independent study program for our DD12 and were told they had to have a valid reason. That vacation wasn't valid. Phewey LOL
I personaly don't have a problem taking her out because she is very responsible and in all honors classes. She (my DD12) has the problem LOL she hates the attitude she gets, so we fudge and say she's sick for a day
Here and there they get their money and I keep my sanity everyone is happy!
Pardon my typos my iPhone has a mind of it's own, hate the spellcheck! I. Ihappy!

 

[Belle Ella]

My parenst never would have gone for taking me or my sister out of school to go to Disney. Then again, they weren't ever keen on us missing school for any reason, even if we were sick. I don't really see a problem if their work is getting done. I'm missing a class of my own for my next trip, but I already know it's one that I can miss.

 

[jenpace]

I'd have to say that we pull our two DD's (10 and 6) out of school for DL trips about 3X per year, for 3 days at a time. My husband's work is such that "normal" vacation times are when he's busiest so we don't have the luxury of taking family vacations during holidays or summer.

We also have three grown sons in their 20's who will frequently join us on our DL trips...at their own expense.

For my DH and me our kids' education is very important but even more important is having a close family and building wonderful memories together.

Everyone has to strike a balance for what they think is best for their children. Do we get disapproving comments from the teachers? Sometimes...but we know what works best for us.

 

[tripletlyblessed]

As often as possible!

(we homeschool)

I was going to reply that that is one of the great things about homeschooling! LOL

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Thankfully I have healthy kids ~ so far this school year neither of them has had a sick day. They missed 4 days this past Dec. for DLR and they'll miss 3 days next week, it would've been 4 again but Thurs. & Fri. are no school days for some reason (I didn't know this till after I'd booked (airfare) our trip) when we mentioned our trip next week to DS's teacher he said ~ "You picked a good week to miss school". Last year DS (2nd grade) (DD's in K this year) missed 6 days for DLR (2 separate trips) ~ 1st grade he missed 0 days for DLR and in K he missed 3 or 4 days for DLR. I'm sure as they get older I won't have them miss as many days for DLR (other vacations) but while they're younger as long as they're doing well in school I don't worry about it.

 

[mariezp]

We homeschool year round too which works out really well for us because we are able to pretty much plan our school year around our Disneyland vacation in the fall. Our principal and teacher are always more than happy to let us go!

 

[Teki]

I never did as a kid because we always went in the summer, but in highschool I missed a couple times for DL. My sister misses everytime we go this trip shell be missing two days.

 

[dismom73]

We tried the independent study program for our DD12 and were told they had to have a valid reason. That vacation wasn't valid. Phewey LOL
I personaly don't have a problem taking her out because she is very responsible and in all honors classes. She (my DD12) has the problem LOL she hates the attitude she gets, so we fudge and say she's sick for a day
Here and there they get their money and I keep my sanity everyone is happy!
Pardon my typos my iPhone has a mind of it's own, hate the spellcheck! I. Ihappy!

Nope, they told you wrong. If for any reason your child is going to miss between 5 and 20 days of school they can do independant study, even for vacation. We've done it every year (except one, we went on the cruise during the week of Thanksgiving) for the last 9 years. I'm assuming you live in CA, other state laws are different.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I am leaning towards keeping my son out of school the day before we leave for Disneyland.

We are overnighting at a hotel near the airport, and if we wait until he is out of school to drive to the hotel, we will hit Vancouver/Portland rush hour traffic.

Plus, if we keep him out, he can help pack and we can leave earlier (we had talked about pulling him out of school at noon, so that is probably when we will leave anyway). And he can sleep in!!

We have never kept him out of school for vacations though.

 

[carj]

We don't take our kids out for Disney or other vacations. I am a teacher so I am off all summer. My husband works in a different district and it is easier for him to take off in the summer even though he works year-round.

I don't think that it is any of my business if other people do take their kids out of school but it is something that we would not do because it just seems pointless to use my limited days off when I am off all summer!

We don't really like to take trips duing the short breaks either. We need those breaks to rest from the day to day stress.

I love going on vacation but I would feel stressed by having to squeeze it all into a break. It wouldn't seem like much of a vacation if the kids were having to work on homework. That is just me though!

I say do what works for your family!

 

[DizNee Luver]

We usually try to schedule around school, but this trip got changed & so my son is going to miss the week prior to the 2 week spring break....OOPS!

Originally the trip was set up for hubby & I only (25th Anniversary) with us home for their spring break, but 2 weeks before going, our older boys got the money to purchase their own package & were going to go with us.....couldn't leave the 7 & 3 yr old at home....so now they're going. We leave in 6 days!!!!!!!!!

So now, I'm trying to figure out how to tell the school, he's going to miss the entire week before spring break vacation.... My guess is they won't be too happy about it.
But I'm over it!!!

 

[LuLusApple]

Nope, they told you wrong. If for any reason your child is going to miss between 5 and 20 days of school they can do independant study, even for vacation. We've done it every year (except one, we went on the cruise during the week of Thanksgiving) for the last 9 years. I'm assuming you live in CA, other state laws are different.

~~~~~
Hi there
We do live in ca, actually we used to live vacaville LOL my kids went to jean callison elementary and vaca pena middle school. LOL
I'll have to talk to our school here they have always said you have to apply for IS and it is based on a need. Just this last week our friends left for DLR (they are there now for cheer competition) 7 days and couldn't get their 2kids on IS
I think it's ridiculous. But maybe I'll go the administrators
Office......
thanks

 

[CrAzY4DL]

We've done it several times, the last time was in October when we took both girls out for the week. At our school (a charter school), if you know ahead of time and need kid out for more than 2 days, they call it "independent study", give you all the work beforehand and call it good. We've done this a few times. For the kinder, it was super easy. For the 4th grader, she had a TON of homework but luckily her teacher is SOOOO awesome she said she didn't care when she got it because the school didn't require it back until like, 30 days after the absences. And, they don't even count as absences!!! Doing it for kinder again in May for her birthday trip. Woot woot!

 

[pixiewings71]

We've done it, but not much. A day here and there is what we do, for instance next Monday (the 9th) we are having "family ditch day" where we are all taking Monday off and going to DL. Actually we are leaving this Friday and coming home on Monday. I'm not worried if it's a day or two, my girls are very good in school so it's not a big deal. Actually, my oldest daughter (she's 21 and lives in Idaho) just had a baby a week ago today (my first grandbaby) so when she was admitted to the hospital Saturday (her water broke) we hit the road and drove the 10 hrs to see them, we were there a few more days keeping the kids out of school for 3 days total. I really don't care if it's "unexcused" or not, I'm not worried about them being held back for absences because it doesn't happen that much.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We are another homeschooling family, so it's not a problem for us. We live by our schedule, and not a schools. It's awesome.

But when my son did go to public school, we did pull him out for DL a few times. Only for like 2 days though (making a long weekend, or the last day of school one time when snow days pushed the year longer).

I don't see it as a problem as long as the child can make up the work, and can handle missing the days. Here they've really tried to make it hard on parents with that though. At one point they could fail you for taking sick days, if they felt it was too many (had to be there 90%).

 

[jakoky]

hi there, well, we are guilty of pulling and our kids out of school for quality family time... My kids are older, and in may, we are heading to DL for 10 nights, and they will miss 6 days of school each ( grades 12, 10, and 8)...this will be our 4 trip in 4 1/2 years, and they always catch up and do well...As a mother of a daughter that is graduating in june, please know life goes way too fast, and all too soon, they are growing up...i dont regret for 1 second the time they missed in school....we got to have an amazing vacations together...and all their teachers have always given us the ...Oh, my kids have always know they would have to work extremely hard before and after the vacation, and because they were willing, it worked out great!!!.good luck
sharon

 

[bonofreak]

When we lived in California I did it every year! Sorry, but it was so much nicer to go during the times when Disneyland was not crowded! We used to go about five times a year or so, but only not every one of those days were school days, but yes, I did do it about (okay possibly twice!!!) a year on school days...and my kids turned out fine! No worse for me doing such a no-no! (Dare I admit that I was a teacher myself during a couple of those times?!!!) I'm sure all of us Mouse lovers will understand.

 

[jolynda]

Schools don't like to see kids absent because they don't get funding for the days the kids are not there. To compensate, I 'donate' $$ to my kids' school when I pull them out for a DL trip. They say I don't have to, but it makes me feel better in these tough times for schools.

OH - to answer the question, I pull my kids out once or twice a year, usually for only a day or two in combo with a weekend, and always during a time period when their absense won't matter (e.g. they are not doing state testing).

To the parent who posted that her school district passed a rule about excused absenses being only for medical or a death, they passed that rule to scare parents into making sure kids attend because they don't want to lose the funding. But what are they going to do if you DO pull your child out for a trip? Kick your child out? I think not. It's a rule with no teeth, I am thinking.

 

[dparksfan]

Nope, they told you wrong. If for any reason your child is going to miss between 5 and 20 days of school they can do independant study, even for vacation. We've done it every year (except one, we went on the cruise during the week of Thanksgiving) for the last 9 years. I'm assuming you live in CA, other state laws are different.

Our district here in the bay area has decided that it is OPTIONAL for the principal of each school to decide whether or not they will approve Independent Study. We missed 5 days in Nov around a holiday (WDW/DCL) and it was NOT approved, so my ds received an unexcused absence for those days. I was not happy about it, we tried really hard to make up that work!

 

[princessnicchia]

We pulled our kids out for the first time this year. I only have one school ager, and I imagine it will be harder as the kids get older, but otherwise, my kids can't handle the summer heat, and I can't handle the crowds. The school frowns on it, but honestly, I don't get vacation time in the summer, and I would like to take a vacation with my family. The other choice is spring break....also crowded and what we've done in the past.

It was well worth it to go at a time when we were all comfortable!