Kids missing school...how long is too long?

[deedeew80]

Hi everyone! We are planning a trip to WDW for next year, the week after Thanksgiving. We are driving, so there will be extra days due to that. We wanted to check into our resort on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and check out a week later, on a Tuesday. This would mean my two kids would miss basically two weeks of school! I feel that is just way too much and that the school wouldn't like that at all. Due to that I am now looking at checking in on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the week and checking out the following Saturday. So the kids would probably miss about 6 days. My kids will be in 1st grade and 3rd grade at that time. Two weeks of missing school is too long right? Should I just stick with checking in on a Saturday?

 

[Elle23]

One week is my max. Vacations are considered unexcused absences where we are, and that already takes a big chunk out of how many they are allowed per year.

Have you considered flying instead to save some days?

 

[loves to dive]

I think you should check with your school, the schools around here only allow a certain amount of days absence and those normally have to have a doctor's excuse.

 

[Fosteringaprincess]

Where we live my kiddos can only have 5 unexcused absences in the school year and then the parents will have to report to court for truancy. Vacation is always unexcused here. We get 3 days in a school year for a parent excuses meaning sick. After that all excuses must be a doctor's excuse. So here that's not an option. The most my kids would miss is 2 to 3 days max.... But it is very strict here. Many schools are not like this! So I would find out what the policy is.

 

[deedeew80]

One week is my max. Vacations are considered unexcused absences where we are, and that already takes a big chunk out of how many they are allowed per year.

Have you considered flying instead to save some days?

I'm hoping to fly!! Hubby hates flying and wants to drive! I have over a year to convince him!! Lol! Yeah I think just the 5 or 6 days is enough! When we went in April/May 2015 my daughter, Kindergarten at the time, missed about 7 days and they were fine with it.

I think you should check with your school, the schools around here only allow a certain amount of days absence and those normally have to have a doctor's excuse.

Yeah I think it's about the same here. In 2015 my daughter missed 7 days since we were in Disney and they were fine with it. Hopefully I can convince hubby to fly and just do the 5 or 6 absences!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Nearly every year we would routinely miss 7-8 days for WDW.
We drove from WNY.
We'd go the week before and the week of Thanksgiving.
Always had our work prior to leaving and always had it done when we went back.
Our school district did not have a problem with it.
With all that said I do think a solid 10 days is a bit much especially when I'm sure they already had a couple days off for Thanksgiving.
If you could do that Saturday then I would.

 

[magicmountainmama]

1 week is probably the most I'd want my kids to miss for a vacay, but your kids are still young & they won't be missing too much I bet! I used to worry a lot about missing school (and sports practices) for family vacations but worry about it less now. My kids are 13, 9, & 3.

 

[Fintastic]

My kids are in 8th and 3rd and we'll be gone for a week (five school days). I think the older they are, the harder it is to miss. At DD's age I wouldn't want her to be out for more than a week.

 

[Lvsdisney]

When I was in 3rd grade (some time ago...) my mother took me to Norway to visit family. I was out of school two weeks. My mother made arrangements for me to take school work with me. My teacher was awesome and actually put together a really cool packet for me and I had to answer questions about the trip (for ex: How many miles did you fly? What elevation did you reach? What locations did you visit?)

If you're going to take them out that long, I would get permission from the school prior to the vacation. I would also touch base with the teachers and ask them what lessons will be covered and what homework. Then on down time at the hotel, or during travel days, the kids can stay on track with the rest of the class!

 

[srwarden1928]

1. Different school systems have different rules. Some consequences could be too much to deal with. However, that can ONLY be determined with a conversation with an authority in YOUR school system. The rules for other systems in other parts of the country are totally irrelevant to your decision.

2. If you are concerned with the missed learning, I can tell you from personal experience that I missed two full weeks (ten days of school) for vacation through sixth grade. I was valedictorian of my high school class and attended a competitive university with an academic scholarship. Obviously anything I missed I was able to pick up.

3. Number 2 above does NOT apply to high school. As a former high school teacher, including AP courses and block schedule, I can say from experience that students missing even one week of school frequently never recovered academically.

My opinion, for what it is worth: I would take elementary school students who do well out for as long as two weeks without hesitation, as long as there were no consequences from the school system that I found unacceptable. I would NOT take high school students out at all. Middle school falls somewhere in between.

 

[Shanti]

Hi everyone! We are planning a trip to WDW for next year, the week after Thanksgiving. We are driving, so there will be extra days due to that. We wanted to check into our resort on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and check out a week later, on a Tuesday. This would mean my two kids would miss basically two weeks of school! I feel that is just way too much and that the school wouldn't like that at all. Due to that I am now looking at checking in on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the week and checking out the following Saturday. So the kids would probably miss about 6 days. My kids will be in 1st grade and 3rd grade at that time. Two weeks of missing school is too long right? Should I just stick with checking in on a Saturday?

Whatever you decide, please be considerate and don't request the child's teacher create an advance packet of work for your child to take with him or her. It is a lot of extra work to create those out of sync with the rest of the class's instruction (and multiply that by all of the families taking kids out of school for trips...)

 

[bobbyseal]

We try to do our best not to miss testing dates. Plus, we always discuss with the school's principal prior. I think a week off is reasonable. 2 weeks is pushing it.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

School rules aside, as a former teacher I noticed students (even very smart ones) would struggle if they had to miss a week or more. Plenty struggled a bit after 3. Also heaven forbid, your kids came back with a cold or got sick over winter break and had to miss even more in that same term.

I'm not a parent yet, but when my husband I have discussed our thoughts on issues and with what I've seen with his niece and nephew and in teaching in most cases I'd say try to limit it to two or three days out. Exception being if you were going at the end of the school year and just took them out a week early after testing or something.

 

[Thing 1]

We did a week many many time between kindergarten and eighth grade. five days is my maximum. More than that is just too hard to catch up and it's hard for the kids to acclimate back into the classroom. Just an FWI but third grade was the hardest year to miss for us. I would still absolutely do it again but OMG it was hard catching back up with one of mine that year.

 

[Arielfan98]

My parents took me out for 1 week when I was young around your children's age. My teachers put together a homework packet for me when I went away. This way, the teachers could fairly prepare for my absence. I suggest asking your teachers before leaving.

 

[TulipMom]

I would agree that 5 school days is the limit that feels right for us.

 

[tinkb]

I'm only doing this for this first time now. I was never taken out of school for vacations, my father would have never agreed to that. That said, I feel ok with a week or less in elementary school.

 

[mjkacmom]

And please understand if t

My parents took me out for 1 week when I was young around your children's age. My teachers put together a homework packet for me when I went away. This way, the teachers could fairly prepare for my absence. I suggest asking your teachers before leaving.

But please understand if they choose not to give themselves extra work for your vacation, and just set aside work during the week for them to do when you get back.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

My parents took me out for 1 week when I was young around your children's age. My teachers put together a homework packet for me when I went away. This way, the teachers could fairly prepare for my absence. I suggest asking your teachers before leaving.

This is a HUGE amount of work to ask a teacher to do for one student. It essentially requires him or her to gather all the materials the class will be using 2-3 weeks in advance just for one child.

 

[AZMermaid]

Elementary teacher.... I agree a week is fine, more gets iffy. For my own kids.... 3 days is my personal limit for Disney, and we've actually only ever taken 2. I'd go longer if it was like Rome or Greece or something amazing. Last year my son missed 3 days of kindergarten... two for a birthday Legoland trip and one to go a Dbacks practice day. With two kids... they've only been out sick one day each in the last three years, so I feel okay letting them miss a little for fun reasons.

In my district, if you miss ten school days in a row.... you get dropped (doctors note required for extended sickness). You have to reenroll which is a pain.... immunization, proof of residence, birth certificate etc. There is no guarantee you will get the same teacher (although in practice, I've never seen that happen).

I also agree... the packet is a lot more work than it appears. I usually tell my families to keep a journal and have a great time. I might tear the pages out of the math workbook for anything over 3 days. We do a ton on whiteboards and with manipulative and orally.... so the worksheet is a small fraction of the day and I often only copy it the day or two before. I am happy to save one for makeup work afterwards if the parents request it.