Livid - Missing School Vent

[3mickeys&me]

Hi I am new to this board.

I would discuss the situation with the teacher. I would also go on your trip with your family. Life is too short and sometimes schedules don't allow people to travel when schools are closed. Its only two days.

Our family, 18 of us are going on a WDW and Disney Cruise in May 2005 and our kids will be missing 7 days of school. I have already discussed our trip with their teachers at Parent Teachers Confrence and they had no problems at all with it. My kids do well in school, if they weren't doing so well I doubt I would pull them out. We try not to make a habit of it. This to me is a trip of a life time to travel with this many family members.

Like I said, life is too short!!
Enjoy your trip!!

 

[tardin1964]

I think the teacher is out of line to put pressure on your daughter. The teacher should have called you to discuss the situation.

That being said it could just be that the teacher is worried that a pattern is being developed. You took the kids out of school in Sept. You're doing it again in Dec. The teacher may be thinking......is this pattern going to continue all school year? Are the parents going to pull this student out of school again in the winter and then in the spring too for additional vacations?

 

[DiznEeyore]

In most cases it is NOT the schools that are making the rules. We can thank NCLB for that! I am a teacher that will be looking toward retirement sooner than later due to all the new "rules". Right now I am home recovering from surgery and stressing on how I am going to get my students back on track next week!

pinnie

I apologize for my mis-statement. I meant the NCLB of course -- the schools are just being forced to administer it.

 

[laceemouse]

So far, not one person in all of these 5 pages has answered the question "What is wrong with taking kids on vacation when they are NOT in school?" Also, as the mother of an 11 year old girl myself, we are not talking about a little kid here. Mine is a very mature, responsible, hard-working junior high student. I just think that this is a lot of grief to put on anybody just to go to Disney when it is less crowded. If you don't want the schools telling you anything about your kids you should homeschool.

 

[Buttercup26]

For many of us, we are not taking our kids out of school to go when it's less crowded, we are taking our kids out of school because that's the only time we can go. Summer is my busiest time at work, I average 75 hours a week. The only time I can take a vacation from my job is in the fall. Not Summer, Not Spring Break, Not Christmas, those are NOT options with my job. So we go in Oct/Nov and miss school.

I understand that it makes it hard on the teachter, but frankly until kids are in High School I don't think it's the end of the world to miss a week of school. I want my child to be well rounded, if that means we get B's one trimester instead of A's so be it.

 

[Becky2005]

So far, not one person in all of these 5 pages has answered the question "What is wrong with taking kids on vacation when they are NOT in school?" Also, as the mother of an 11 year old girl myself, we are not talking about a little kid here. Mine is a very mature, responsible, hard-working junior high student. I just think that this is a lot of grief to put on anybody just to go to Disney when it is less crowded. If you don't want the schools telling you anything about your kids you should homeschool.

I don't think that was the point of the original post. It was the fact that the teacher was implying the 11 year old had a CHOICE to stay home instead of going on an already planned family vacation. I know I certainly wouldn't consider leaving my 11 year old home when we go on a family vacation no matter how mature or hard-working. It would not be an option period.

I won't take my children out of school for a family vacation either, we are going in July but that wasn't what the original poster was upset about. I have 1 child that goes to summer school and if the timing falls the same as it did last year, he will be missing the last 2 weeks of it. If they sat him down and said "Let's think about this, let's make a list of pros/cons of you staying home and going to school or going on your family vacation" I would be livid.

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

So far, not one person in all of these 5 pages has answered the question "What is wrong with taking kids on vacation when they are NOT in school?" Also, as the mother of an 11 year old girl myself, we are not talking about a little kid here. Mine is a very mature, responsible, hard-working junior high student. I just think that this is a lot of grief to put on anybody just to go to Disney when it is less crowded. If you don't want the schools telling you anything about your kids you should homeschool.

Oh boy . . . everyone thinks their child is the most mature, responsible blah blah blah! Well, I think my four DD's are the best!! Hee!! Hee!!

Seriously, they have missed a week of school for vacation in the past, it's not a problem. My girls are in 2nd, 4th, 8th and OH MY 10th Grade. They will be missing one week of school in the beginning of May 2005.

This is why I don't go to WDW when school is out of session:

Personally I would NEVER EVER go to WDW in the summer (MUCH TOO HOT), on spring break or ANY peak season (MUCH TOO CROWDED)! My DH and I work very hard for our money and we will not spend extra (for peak season) on hotels and flights to go WDW where we may get to see a couple of attractions a day! NOT happening! It costs way too much to wait in lines all day!

I have been to WDW for Pop Warner cheer competitions (there are also football games going on). There are THOUSANDS of kids there ages 8 to 14, since it takes place in the beginning of December, they are all taken out of school for a week.

3 Mickeys&Me, I agree with you . . . life is TOO SHORT!! Enjoy it while you can!

 

[kpossible]

Family time is so important. School is just one part of a child's life. Travel lets kids see the world outside the four walls of their school. That teacher sounds so rigid. I hope it works out and the teacher does not bully your child.

 

[Brian Noble]

The DIS: where all the children are above average.
(with apologies to Lake Wobegon)

There are three kinds of parents in the World:

1) parents who don't take their kids out of school.
2) parents who do because it is more convenient (cheaper, less crowded, what-have-you) to go when school is in session.
3) parents who do because it is completely impossible to go any other time.

It is my belief, though I can't of course prove it, that the number of parents who are truly in set #3 is small. If you aren't in set #3, then you get to decide whether or not you want to be in #1 or #2, and you have to accept the consequences (crowded parks, expensive hotels, or disapproving educators) of your decision as they come.

I happen to be in set #1, though temptation is strong, brothers and sisters. Temptation is strong!

 

[Baloo]

Oh why oh why does this subject always have to turn into a spitting match?!?!? arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!


To each his own whether it's to vacation at WDW during school breaks or not,let's lay off the good parent/bad parent thing, folks.

GEEZ! When this "debate" begins I always feel like the mean,ole Mother Superior (Catholic School survivor here! ) coming in to thwap everyone with her bundle of rulers! Let's see that happen this day and age!



Sounds like cbbi has everything worked out...so let's BEHAVE!!!

 

[HappyLawyer]

Oh why oh why does this subject always have to turn into a spitting match?!?!? arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!


To each his own whether it's to vacation at WDW during school breaks or not,let's lay off the good parent/bad parent thing, folks.

GEEZ! When this "debate" begins I always feel like the mean,ole Mother Superior (Catholic School survivor here! ) coming in to thwap everyone with her bundle of rulers! Let's see that happen this day and age!



Sounds like cbbi has everything worked out...so let's BEHAVE!!!

i agree, it seems like people like to argue this subject because it is always brought up--who care's what other people think, we are the parents, not your kids, their schools or teachers, decide and keep it to your self and stop being conserned with the thoughts of others

 

[justKim]

So far, not one person in all of these 5 pages has answered the question "What is wrong with taking kids on vacation when they are NOT in school?" Also, as the mother of an 11 year old girl myself, we are not talking about a little kid here. Mine is a very mature, responsible, hard-working junior high student. I just think that this is a lot of grief to put on anybody just to go to Disney when it is less crowded. If you don't want the schools telling you anything about your kids you should homeschool.

Since that was not the opening poster's question, I was trying to support her and respond to her particular situation without getting into a debate.

I have found in my brief time her at the DIS a few subjects that people seem to get very fired up about -- taking kids out of school for a trip (I'm against), using child harnesses/leashes (for), breastfeeding in public (for), and refillable mugs (can't we all just drink more water?)

I do wonder if cbbi did speak to the teacher. I personally would have gotten very upset about the situation and then quietly wimped out and never talked to the teacher.

 

[JLH]

NCLB is not the culprit - we had these rules in our school district way before, it started with Goals 2000 during the 90's. and for sickly children there is a buffer in place - concurrent home hospital teaching can be in place with a doctors note and it allows for the children to be out as needed, with a home/hosp teacher to fill in the gaps, and they are counted present when they are out for their illnesses. The schools ratings in proportation to attendance and tied to funding is not recent (NCLB), but was in affect from around the mid 1990's. I know it is popular to trash NCLB, but it is not to blame for all the school problems.

 

[Drizzo67]

AS BRIAN NOBLE STATED:

There are three kinds of parents in the World:

1) parents who don't take their kids out of school.
2) parents who do because it is more convenient (cheaper, less crowded, what-have-you) to go when school is in session.
3) parents who do because it is completely impossible to go any other time.

I am one of the unlucky ones who fall under #3. My DH is a landscaper so traveling May to December is out of the questions. I work for accountants so I grab a week in February (after year end payroll taxes are due, before Corporate returns need filing) and we vacation. I have wished to be able to go on school vacations but that is usually when my bosses travel with their kids. Some one has to keep an eye on the shop......

There are times when our friends have traveled during school vacations and have asked us to join them.....my kids get upset because we can't. We are not all so lucky to travel around the school schedule.

Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!!!

 

[laceemouse]

Well said Brian Noble. And no, I do not think my 11 year old is perfect. I do know that she is very concerned about keeping her grades up, much like the OPs daughter, and that she would actually weigh the pros and cons herself, whether or not a teacher brought it up. I think that the majority of the people who so strongly believe missing school is okay have younger kids, not all mind you, but the majority. Junior High and High School are a whole different ball game, at most schools anyway. The workload is much greater than when most of us where in school. I graduated from a very small high school. What my girls do now in Junior High is mind boggling to me. I graduated from college and I have a hard time helping them LOL. Also, just getting accepted in college is much harder in most instances. Again, a once in a lifetime trip is no big deal. But repeatedly missing school for vacation could be in the older grades.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

cbbi,

I know it was a different time back when I was in middle and high school 15-20 years ago, but I never had a teacher do that to me. There were times when my parents took me on vacations during the school and I did the work before I left. I am sure that if the teacher would have said something different like enjoy, but remember you will have some work to make up when you return, your DD probably wouldn't have felt the way she does.

I am sure the teacher was doing what he/she thought was and wasn't trying to make you daughter upset on purpose. I say take your daughter with you and enjoy. It is only for a couple of days not 2 weeks.

 

[bexareaglecheryl]

There are some subjects like this that do create a firestorm. If and when the search feature here on the DIS comes back up again, I would suggest that if you're going to post on a somewhat common subject, use the SEARCH feature to see what other threads have been discussed on this same subject matter. People love to cut other people to threads nowadays here on our 'family and fun' oriented DIS boards and it's not just the subject matter that gets analyzed - it's YOU personally.

I felt a tiny bit guilty about taking my DS(13) out of school for Nov 17 and 18 for a week's trip to WDW. I let everyone know during the second week of school that this would be happening and that they should feel free to give him homework in advance, after we returned or whatever they saw fit. When he returned to school last week he had NO make up work from any teacher.

My daughter is 17 and a jr. in private school and I did the same thing - informed her teachers in August. She had a few things to do when she returned and her English teacher gave her a hard time ( I think this woman lives for giving anyone a hard time!).

I can tell you for sure that our trips to WDW (3 so far) have all involved the kids being out of school for from 2 to 5 days. Truthfully, these trips have helped our children grow and mature in ways I couldn't have previously imagined. This last trip was an extended family trip with little cousins. Each night DD would go to the other rooms, help give them baths, put them to bed, etc. During some of the days she would go to the parks with them and ride with them or simply sit at the kids table while we ate to talk to them and keep them company. I would never have thought she would do this. Plus, she also became so much more independent. She is still somewhat immature and won't drive (although she has had driver's ed and driven, she is deathly afraid to drive. We live in a very busy area of a very busy large city.) This trip helped her gain a bit more independence and self reliance as we let her come and go on the WDW buses to and from the hotel and between parks as she needed to and didn't harness her to us the entire trip. Plus, she made friends and hung out with them at times too. It really was a big trip for her. She really grew from it.

Our son is always so sweet and mature that having him along at WDW is like taking a friend along. He always benefits from it. I know these are strange things to say, but all our WDW trips have helped our children grow,learn new things about themselves and really solidified our family bonds. we make our family our #1 priority and I'm a stay at home mom but these trips to WDW are simply like no other trips we take (and funny we never bicker on WDW trips like we might on other 'car' trips, i.e. to Colorado a couple of years ago haha!)I would not have changed a thing about taking them out of school for those days.

Anyway, my 13 year old son seems to be one of those children who is constantly ill (usually with a throat infection -despite a tonsillectomy, good hygience and supplements/vitamins and as good a diet as I can get down him -he is a 13 year old boy!).

Last year he missed 23 days of school. Wow! This year he has probably totaled up to 13-14 days so far. It's gotten to the point now where his illness can get pretty predictable so at the beginning of this year I sent a letter to his teachers and told them that he has a propensity for this kind of infection but will always have a doc's note providing verification. He has a few teachers who give him and us a hard time about all the days he misses despite the fact that 95% of all those days have a doctor's excused note. He really rarely comes down with a 1 day bug or just feels bad for a day, we're so lucky that he really tanks up on those germs and goes full blast into an illness requiring doc's visits, multiple meds and days at home with a fever or feeling awful.

Sometimes no matter what you do there are some teachers who just seem to want to be the parent. I have been chastised by one teacher this year to the point where I had to ask him if he would like me to send him to school with a fever and a communicable illness so that he might pass it on to him or other students so that even more children can be ill (which I'm certain is how a lot of germs are spread needlessly - by parents who don't want to or can't keep the kids out of school for an illness). He finally quit trying to guilt me. When you have a sick child - you have sick child. Period. Like sick kids like doing make up work(post WDW trip kids don't mind at all - they've had their reward!. Oh, this is the same teacher that would never simply inform my son if he had make up work or just give it to him. We finally learned his game: we had to specifically stay after school or come in early to inquire about the homework, he wasn't going to volunteer any information. Strange!

I have gone way around the subject, but the bottom line: they're your kids, do whatever you think YOUR particular situation warrants, don't second guess yourself, have fun, do the makeup work happily, and bring the teacher back a gift!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DiznEeyore]

bexareaglecheryl, I could've written your post, esp. with the sickly ds (mine is almost 12 and in the same situation; dr. just broached the tonsillectomy issue with us). As responsible parents, we just have to do the best we can, and make sure our kids learn to be responsible, too.

Great post!

 

[MrsPete]

I'm going to bring up a point that I don't believe has been mentioned yet:

The original poster said that THIS SEMESTER she's already taken her daugther out of school for TWO OTHER family trips. I assume they begin school in August like we do, and it's December now. So this family is taking the kids out of school EVERY OTHER MONTH. I wouldn't quibble over a day here or there, but I think THREE TRIPS in one semester is excessive.

Kids attend school 180 days. That leaves 185 days for family travel, and not all those days are high-priced summer days. Yes, family time is important, but so is school.

 

[bexareaglecheryl]

I do believe the OP clarified it and said that those 2 trips were actually 2 locations in 1 trip totalling only 1 week (5 days) of school.