Just read the December list...? about those missing school...

[dixieamy]

Originally posted by laceemouse
I am a heavy proponent of year round school, then we would all have more flexability of when to travel, Disney or otherwise.

Our school district is on the year-round school year, and it is awesome! It would be so hard to go back to the traditional school year. We get one week off in October, 3 weeks out in December, 2 weeks at spring break, and 8 weeks in the summer. It's awesome! That's how we are able to take our kids to Disney for a week this October.

 

[zurgswife]

Originally posted by DrTomorrow
That's a great answer, zurgswife - make sense (well, some if it; not sure if I agree that the most important thing in my son's life was spending time with me at WDW ::grin:: ).

One favor to ask: since it seems like a lot of parents here might be asked to frame their vacation request in terms of learning and education (and to satiate my curisoity ), could you please share some examples of child-relevant teaching/learning that goes on at WDW? And if you could, maybe exclude those fairly-expensive special behind.the.scenes tours that not everyone can afford. Perhaps such a list will help some parents deal with their teachers and administrations.

Thanks in advance.

A majority of the officially learning that we do has to do with a project that all the kids in our school do in 6th grade...It is a country notebook and it takes up almost 1/3 of the school year....they work on it from November through March....We started our kids early learning about the countries in Epcot....We designed a notebook The Epcot Notebook You can look at a pdf file of select pages.....by the time our kids got to 6th grade they had been immersed in my cultures....but you say....nay..it's only WDW....The notebook is a great tool to open communications...we now have a number of email pen pals from a number of countries because we took the time to listen to what they could teach us about there homeland.. And if you show them that you are interested it is amazing what you can learn.

And every year we go the kids have to add some sort of project to the notebook about something relivent to one of the countres....we have 4 kids and to this day WS is one of there favorite places.....we can't afford to go to europe with them yet...but we at least teach them about other cultures the best that we can.

For the past 3 years that has been our focus...and it has paid off more then one can imagine....we have life long friends from around the globe...

 

[janets]

Both DH and I are working parents and we have 2 boys. Our oldest is starting 1st grade on Tuesday and our youngest is only 2. We have not been to WDW since Christmas, 2001, when ds1 was not even 4 and ds2 was only about 7 or 8 weeks gestation.

We are taking him out of school this year for our trip. One of the reasons is that he is only in first grade, and as he gets older, we will choose not to pull him out of school (so many others posted compelling reasons for not missing that much work). However, no one seems to have posted another reason that we are going then and not during a holiday...work schedules.

I am a senior paralegal in a law firm and there is 1 other para in my department. Our supervisor has made it clear that we cannot both be out at the same time. We both have children (while she is several years younger than me, her kids are significantly older) and therefore are both facing the issues of having to deal with school vacations/childcare/travelling. Therefore, the obvious holidays for travel (Easter, Christmas) might not be available to me as we have to switch off year by year. Also, in the summer, I sign ds1 up for (and pay quite a bit for) full time daycamp. To me, this is his summer vacation. He spends his days playing sports, swimming, doing crafts, music, art, etc. Believe me when I say that it costs me as much as a Disney vacation, and therefore I will not take him out for a week in Florida (even if I was crazy enough to brave that heat again...once was enough!).

So for us, taking the first week of December this year is the plan. Next year, who knows? We might try to plan around other days off (in NJ, we have teachers' convention in early November). If I think that he can still handle being out, we will plan the same type of vacation again. At back to school night in a few weeks, I will make a point of speaking with his teacher and letting her know of our plans, so as we get closer, he can be prepared.

I know that everyone only wants what is best for their kids and this is a point on which we all agree. However, as is typical in all parenting duties, we all differ on the way in which we go about our every day lives. I support everyones efforts to do the best they can in combining education with family fun and relaxation.

 

[disfanRN]

To each his own, but here is my 2 cents:
I have a DD9 who we have pulled out of school for 6-8 days each year since 1st grade for WDW. She is an all A student, and we have made up the work each time. I know her teachers are not thrilled, but I have to say I can't really be worried about what they think. Our children are little for such a short span of time, and the time we spend as a family in WDW is so valuable, in so many ways.
I think as long as the work is made up, and the child works to his or her potential, it is fine to pull them out for family trips. After all, here in the state of MI, I could pull her out all together and home school! Everyone needs to make their decisions based on what is right for their child. I think vacations are important parts of life and invaluable in striking a balance.

 

[DrTomorrow]

zurgswife - thanks for the response. It seems like you have a very education - and informative - multi-year, multi-child set of projects going; and utilizing WS is a great idea!

 

[FINFAN]

Hi all....OP here!


WOW! I have never had a thread re-open like this before!
Since I first posted, my kids have had 6 days of school. Go for 2...a weekend.....go for 4, now a 4 day weekend....go for 4 more. This kinda bugs me....would have been nice to just start this Tues.
Anyway...DD, now a freshman has stated that several of her teachers would most likely not given her much grief about missing 1 or 2 days (12/16,17) but that others would def give her a hard time. She has a huge amount of homework already and it's only been 6 days. She knows how swamped she would be and frankly, does not care to have that hanging over her head during our upcoming Christmas trip.
She is the one who will pay the price at school, not me, so I am glad we are not leaving until the 18 for her sake....HOWEVER....
I sure wish that there was a bit more cooperation from our SD as we were told on the first day of school that the kids will have the Friday before Labor day off....not a lot of time for working folks to make arrangements...I felt like saying,"I'm sorry, that will be counted as an unexcused day off and you must send in an approved excuse to me for your reason and it will reflect on your overall career grade"

Y'know, the travel industry makes me nuts...as they are the reason many of us try to during "off" season...if rates were uniform throughout the year for airfare/hotel/rental cars etc., it would be mush easier financially to travel during the approved school breaks.
As far as for crowds...hey, it's OUR choice to go to WDW during Xmas and be with wall-to-wall people(not the schools)...if we were going ice fishing in Alaska I don't think we'd be running into a crowd issue.
If it ever came down to school preventing us from haveing a family trip...yeah, we still go and that's that...I have flexibility for now however...yes it would have been nice to leave earlier for less crowds, cheaper airfare, but DD would have had to pack that burden of 2 missed days with her, and that would have been lousy. Now, do I think they will be doing anything REMOTELY academic on that Friday 12/17? No way...'cause it's finals week...but with my luck DD will be sick one day that week and will need that day to make up a final...
I hopw we can all enjoy our trips/schools and families....can't wait to go!

PAM

 

[SamanthaL]

We are doing it this year and next. DD is in K right now and 1st grade next year. They frown on it so I am not sure if we will do it again after next year. I just let the teacher know at the start of school.

 

[manning]

Our Bd of Educ is a real stickler when it comes to absences. They will not excuse an absence for vacation and I will not lie and say the kids were ill. Directly from the handbook: "Lawful absences include death in the immediate family, illness of the child, court summons, suspensions, state emergencies and extenuating circumstances or emergencies declared by the superintendent as sufficient cause for an absence."

In Illinois and other states schools get state funding based on daily attendance. This seems to be the driving force for enforcing attendance.

Some teachers (some posting here in the past) don't have the problem the school boards have on this. Some boards will reduce grades based on attendance. IMHO the student should receive the grade he/she earns based on testing, not attendance.

I know of one student in my class years ago who missed over a month of school because of illness. School work was sent home for her to do. She had better grades than anyone else in class.

I remember talking to someone who taught in college. He said the student had to meet only two requirements to pass. Pay the tuition and pass all the tests. They could care less if the student attended class. (in other words the school didn't force them to.)

 

[Melora]

Ive got 5 kids... The oldest is in the Air Force now and the youngest is in preschool.

I have taken the kids out of school every year for a weeks vacation.

In our district, if you take your child out for more than 5 days in a row you must tell them a head of time and they consider you "home schooled" for those 6+ days and do not mark you as unexcused.

The teachers are required to give you work for that period. Even though the elementary school kids never get work (even though I ask), the high schoolers always bring their books and work in the evenings while we are at Disney. They have never had a problem and are all honor roll kids.

I wouldnt miss the experience of taking them and enjoying a more relaxing time of year.

 

[TINK61]

I've always been opposed to my kids missing school unless they were sick, which they rarely are (knock on wood). Simply because they are the type of kids who would probably suffer by not being in class as they will miss some crucial instruction and be loss for the remainder of the 9 weeks (that's my fear anyway). They do not attend public school, and I've known of others to do it and there is no problem with the school allowing it.

Anyway - unbeknownst to me at the time - I've planned a Christmas trip to Universal and WDW for Dec. 18th thru the 22nd, and did not realize that the kids are still in school unil the 22nd. HA! They will only be missing 2 days and I doubt they will be covering anything important 2 days before the Christmas/New Years holidays. I won the hotel rooms off of Sky Auction and Priceline and cannot change or cancel. Not that I want to.