Looking for a Pep Talk...(feel free to lie if necessary)

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Is early summer out also? We went in early June and actually had to wear sweatshirts a few evenings to the parks. That miserable heat hadn't set in yet.

 

[1stvisit0909]

Is early summer out also? We went in early June and actually had to wear sweatshirts a few evenings to the parks. That miserable heat hadn't set in yet.

IN JUNE???! WOW! I live in the SE and I can not recall a June night with a sweat shirt.

 

[Tbone17701]

Any fall breaks around Columbus day? I know it's busy but I think crowd level 7s vs 9s and 10s.

Nope.

Thank you.

It's usually the best students, the ones who shouldn't worry who worry the most! This is probably the case with your daughter. I've reassured so many students that vacations are just as important as a week of school. Yep, there's things more important than math!!! SOMETIMES!!! Maybe book everything as you originally planned with the understanding that you can change things if the teachers think it's a bad idea.

She is harder on herself than anyone else could ever be and would worry if she was a D student or an A student as she's a pleaser and that's just her nature. Personally, I was taken out of school for vacations right through high school because my parents also believed in the balance between education and life experience (and my father was big on academics...graduated Valedictorian of his high school class and with honors from Bucknell). However, I was always ready to go despite the work. When I explained this to my DD, she calmly replied that she is clearly more of a control freak than I am. My point is that we may or may not stick to the original plan as there are other factors to consider as well, but hearing your perspective has helped me feel like it's alright to do so without failing her as a parent.

If you want to go in the summer, consider a trip to DL! We went the last week of July and the weather was wonderful! Warm days,cool nights and low humidity!

It was pretty crowded, but we had a good plan, and made good uses of Fp and did every thing multiple times in 3 days. They were very long days- we were in the parks from 8 am- MN all 3 days!

We had always loved Wdw, but a trip to California was a real treat for us.

Someday, but I think when DD is just a couple of years older.

Is early summer out also? We went in early June and actually had to wear sweatshirts a few evenings to the parks. That miserable heat hadn't set in yet.

I know it's hard for some to understand, but summer will be our absolute last resort. I accept that it may come to that one year, but I will fight it tooth and nail. You know how there are mean drunks? I'm a mean perspirer! It's not pretty. If I could hand pick my temps while at Disney, I'd go below 70. Heat is not my friend.

 

[Planogirl]

When does she get out of school during the holiday season? Last year we went the week BEFORE Christmas week and it was great. The decorations and activities were all there but the monster crowds hadn't arrived yet.

By the way, kudos to your daughter for being so conscientious at such a young age. I bet that this will serve in well in years to come.

 

[Tbone17701]

When does she get out of school during the holiday season? Last year we went the week BEFORE Christmas week and it was great. The decorations and activities were all there but the monster crowds hadn't arrived yet.

By the way, kudos to your daughter for being so conscientious at such a young age. I bet that this will serve in well in years to come.

Our first day of Christmas break is 12/24 this year. And thank you.

 

[NashBridges]

Our first day of Christmas break is 12/24 this year. And thank you.

I think it's great your dd takes her schooling so seriously. I'm completely against removing kids from school for trips, unless it's an emergency etc so I think it's great.

When is her last day of school? The end of May/first week of June is beautiful in Florida. The humidity hasn't set in yet, and it's more than bearable. Crowd level will be lower too.

 

[wdwlver]

I know it's hard for some to understand, but summer will be our absolute last resort. I accept that it may come to that one year, but I will fight it tooth and nail. You know how there are mean drunks? I'm a mean perspirer! It's not pretty. If I could hand pick my temps while at Disney, I'd go below 70. Heat is not my friend.

That just made me LOL!! I hate the heat too!! But.....I have to endure it every summer because I cannot take my older son out of school (high school and sports make it impossible)

So we muddle through....

 

[Rosanne]

I concur with those who appreciate your consideration of your daughter's concerns. I wish I had done so this year.

My daughter (in 7th grade) had to be out for one day the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to have her tonsils out this year. It was tricky catching up but we didn't have any real trouble. However... we had many snow days this year and in April they were having a makeup day on a Saturday and I made the "parent executive" decision to still have her go to to her dad's for his time with her (he lives about 4 hours away). I had told the teachers and most were fine with it. Unfortunately, one of her teachers gave an online assignment that day and my daughter was not aware of it until midterms were given. She received a "B" on that midterm and all other grades in every class (including that one) had been A's). She asked the teacher what she was missing, was given the assignment, completed the assignment, told the teacher, the teacher acknowledged but she was not given any credit for it and there were no other grades earned after midterms in that class. I think that alone is pretty crazy.

So... the moral of my story is due to my daughter missing that one Saturday snow make-up day, she had straight A's for the year except one B from Language Arts due to the missed assignment (no credit for late completion).

I will never have her miss school again unless it is 100% unavoidable. I feel awful because she couldn't be eligible for the A honor roll and if she had been there she would have known about the assignment.

Yes, the teacher could have handled it differently and I actually will try to go to the school next week to see if it could have been some sort of error.


We have been at Christmas, Spring Break and Summer and if I had to choose I would choose Spring Break.

 

[Barzeski]

She is harder on herself than anyone else could ever be and would worry if she was a D student or an A student as she's a pleaser and that's just her nature. Personally, I was taken out of school for vacations right through high school because my parents also believed in the balance between education and life experience (and my father was big on academics...graduated Valedictorian of his high school class and with honors from Bucknell). However, I was always ready to go despite the work. When I explained this to my DD, she calmly replied that she is clearly more of a control freak than I am. My point is that we may or may not stick to the original plan as there are other factors to consider as well, but hearing your perspective has helped me feel like it's alright to do so without failing her as a parent.

I totally understand. Mine insisted upon going to school during state testing sick (this was dh's decision as I was already at school for the day) and puked DURING the test twice, after calmly excusing herself. Her teacher had no idea! This was all because they really emphasized not missing any days of testing. Even after my reassurance that vomiting was a good excuse!

When I emailed her teacher (I'm in the same district) about my hyper-dedicated, crazy kid, she was horrified and successfully reassured dd that missing a day of state testing is OK if sick. AND, she listened to her teacher. Haha! I know nothing.

I really think that the teacher trick is the key to getting a vacation on your terms! And you're a good mom, that's why this is an agonizing decision! You're trying to vacation with her when she'll enjoy it most without negatively impacting her education.

Most 5th graders (my daughter included) think that middle school is WAY different from elementary. I've told dd that it's not THAT different - she doesn't believe me, but she'll find out on her own that I'M RIGHT! Not that she'll admit it!

 

[Planogirl]

Our first day of Christmas break is 12/24 this year. And thank you.

Ouch that is late. Christmas week would be gorgeous but crowded.

By the way, I meant "serve her well". I don't know what "serve in well" means.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

IN JUNE???! WOW! I live in the SE and I can not recall a June night with a sweat shirt.

Yes. The temps dropped well into the 60's the first several nights of the month.

 

[wrighter]

Oh, how I feel your pain!

The last time we took kids out of school for a Disney vaca, they were in 1st and 3rd grades. And although we had a fabulous time, upon our return both kids proclaimed that they would not like to miss that much school (one week - of half days - it was conference week) ever again. I had done everything possible to make the impact as small as possible: told their teachers early on, tried to get any homework ahead of time, etc. But the bottom line is, every child, every school, every teacher is different. For my older child, missing instructional time is clearly an impediment for him. For my younger child, she simply doesn't like feeling like she missed out on things and hates to play catch up. So after that trip we said that while we would consider taking them out for a day or two, maybe, that we'd never take them out for a full week again. And it's interesting, here we are almost three years later, and both kids still talk about how they didn't like missing school.

And so we battle the crowds or the heat! We've gone the last week of August, Easter week (one year it was the week before Easter and one year it was the week after) and the week between Christmas and New Years. Of all of those times, my strong preference is for either of the Easter Weeks. While the low crowds the last week of August were wonderful, the heat was a killer. I literally felt faint by the afternoon. We loved seeing the parks all decked out for the holidays, but felt the Christmas/New Years crowds were much crazier than the Easter crowds. (And we felt a big impact on the night crowds - maybe because everyone wanted to see all the holiday lights/fireworks/shows? I don't know - but man, was it kuckoo!) And over Christmas our pool time was not nearly as enjoyable. While the Easter crowds are definitely higher than off-season, we felt they were manageable. (And this is really saying something, considering the fact that the only reason I ever agreed to go over Easter in the first place was to prove to my husband that the crowds would be so horrible that we'd never have to return that week ever again!) I must admit, both of our Easter trips were quite fun. Of course you have to work around the crowds. But if you've gone before and know what works for your family, it's workable. Plus the temperatures are usually just right for pool time, at any time of the day.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[drinkme]

My dd also had a hard time making up the work when she was around your dd's age. Here's my advice: look at the school calendar & plan your trip around a small Fall school holiday like Veteran's Day or even just a teacher institute day. Make sure this day falls AFTER the quarter ends. We found that when it's the beginning of a new quarter, then the kids aren't scrambling to get their makeup work handed in as quickly.

So, pick a week when your child has a Friday off, or a Monday off. Even better, a week where they have a Friday & a Monday off. Then make your trip from Wed to Tuesday. Since your family does better at nights then rope drop, get your flight for late Wed night. Leave for the airport as soon as your dd gets out of school on Wed. You'll get in late on Wed, but maybe you could do an EMH park that night. Or just get something to eat and hang out at the pool for an hour before bed. Then fly home very late on Tuesday. Your dd will just have to be tired for school on Wed.

Your child will only miss 2 days of school if she has already has the Fri/Mon off of school.

We've done this method many, many times and it always works for us. Sometimes we won't fly out until vey late Thursday night and the trip is only 5 days in the parks but we are fine with that. It's kinda fun to do a trip this way. We always do rope drop the first full day, then sleep in the rest of the trip, except for the last day. On our last day, we get up early and pack, then check our bags in, then head to usually AK for a half day at the park before we have to catch the DME bus back to the airport. We usually choose the 6pm or 8pm flight going home. We get back home late, but my kids know they have to get up for school the next day.

HTH!

 

[SA mom]

We went Thanksgiving week a few years ago and it was wonderful. Yes, crowded, but not really until Thanksgiving Day. Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving Day was a madhouse, but soooo much fun. All the decorations were up and the Osborn Lights were amazing.


The main problem we had that week was the cost of rooms. There were no discounts. That's when we discovered the Starwood American Express and the Starwood Preferred Guest program. We were able to book and then switch out to paying with points as we accumulated with them. We ended up with 6 free nights. I love free, deluxe accommodations.

 

[dsneprincess]

We are having a similar discussion here regarding 2015, except my DS is starting high school. We have gone Tues(after President's Day) until Wednesday of following week for 5 of the last 6 years. This year (8th grade) he only missed Mon & Tues, which were the only days he missed all year. There were MANY 8th graders out Mon, Tues & Wed that week. We had a very long, hard, cold, snowy winter & a lot of folks were just done! He wasn't given any work ahead of time, some teachers were better at putting homework online than others, but everything was done and caught up by Thursday night with no grade repercussions.

You don't say how old/what grade your daughter is: here middle school starts in 5th grade. I had NO reservations through 6th, 7th missing 3 days was tough, so we went to 2 in 8th. My friends took their DD, in 9th, last year out for the same 2 days as DS. She missed a ton, so we are still evaluating 2015 and freshman year.

It definitely can be done, but YMMV.

 

[klmall]

After several wonderful trips the last full week before Thanksgiving we too had to stop taking DS out of school as he got older. And as parents and teachers in our school system we felt we couldn't let him miss work after grade 8.

At the time our state monitored every school system's attendance, especially before and after holidays so staff truly frowned on these absences. We felt that the only time we could really go was at Easter and I was horrified at the thought of the crowds.

Well, both times we went at Easter were fine at least after I once got over the whole idea of moderate crowds. The weather was fantastic and rope drop crowds were moderate to nothing. The first trip was a bit of a shock but I did adjust and we all loved the second Easter trip.

I would definitely go back then if we had a school-age child!

 

[Crl1817]

I'm with your daughter. And I think it's great that you are taking her concerns seriously.

We went over Thanksgiving 2010 and ds missed two days of first grade, which was fine. The teacher was out one of those days anyway and the other they watched a movie. And we had a blast. Maybe we just don't know any better, but the crowds were fine with us. We did rope drop and took afternoons off at the resort pool for the most part.

We are planning our surprise Christmas trip now. Lots of people here have reported loving their Christmas trips.

If her school vacation doesn't start until the 24th, I'm wondering if it extends past the first and whether that would get you slightly lower crowd levels?

(Our state considers kids truant if they have more than three unexcused tardies or absences. And parents may not "excuse" vacation related absences. Standard policy in our schools has been to not give any work in advance, only on return. So going right before scheduled school vacation would not leave time to get the work to make up before the school let out for vacation.)

 

[Tbone17701]

So, pick a week when your child has a Friday off, or a Monday off. Even better, a week where they have a Friday & a Monday off. Then make your trip from Wed to Tuesday. Since your family does better at nights then rope drop, get your flight for late Wed night. Leave for the airport as soon as your dd gets out of school on Wed. You'll get in late on Wed, but maybe you could do an EMH park that night. Or just get something to eat and hang out at the pool for an hour before bed. Then fly home very late on Tuesday. Your dd will just have to be tired for school on Wed.

Your child will only miss 2 days of school if she has already has the Fri/Mon off of school.
HTH!

I'm starting to think our school calender is pretty tight. We do not have any multi-day breaks (even a Friday and Monday) other than Easter (which is our spring break), Thanksgiving and Christmas. All other single days are the usual federal holidays, but are also snow make up days.

You don't say how old/what grade your daughter is: here middle school starts in 5th grade. I had NO reservations through 6th, 7th missing 3 days was tough, so we went to 2 in 8th. My friends took their DD, in 9th, last year out for the same 2 days as DS. She missed a ton, so we are still evaluating 2015 and freshman year.

It definitely can be done, but YMMV.

My DD10 is starting 5th grade as our middle school is 5-8. She goes to my SIL's house after school with her cousins that are 2 and 3 years ahead of her and has seen what they bring home for work. They are also constantly telling her how much harder the middle school is and I'm told by other parents that that is indeed the case. I think she is just worked up by the hype as she does well in school, but she knows that she does have to work for it.

If her school vacation doesn't start until the 24th, I'm wondering if it extends past the first and whether that would get you slightly lower crowd levels?

(Our state considers kids truant if they have more than three unexcused tardies or absences. And parents may not "excuse" vacation related absences. Standard policy in our schools has been to not give any work in advance, only on return. So going right before scheduled school vacation would not leave time to get the work to make up before the school let out for vacation.)

We go back 1/5 after Christmas break this year, so no extra time there without fighting the usual crowds.

I'm now really grateful that our district allows 2 weeks of family vacation per year! We just can't be out (other than an excused illness) during state testing (which falls the 3 weeks after Easter break this year for DD and actually means returning to no homework during that time). Her elementary teachers were all great about giving work before hand and while they gave in varying amounts (would you believe that kindergarten was one of the heaviest years and 4th the least), she always managed to get it done by the time she went back. I think she is thinking that without any cushion on either end of the Feb dates, that she'll be working for hours a day while on vacation to get the work done. I showed her pics of Easter crowds yesterday and wait times and she just shrugged and said that at least she wouldn't have to do work everyday!

 

[larryz]

So...my DD10 starts middle school next year and has voiced that she is not looking as forward to the Feb 2015 trip we are planning for my 40th b-day due to missing school and the resulting work load.

Don't you have a good family friend or close relative you could park her with while you're gone?

That way, she'll get to stay current in school, and you'll still get your Disney fix in a decent off-season way...

 

[sbrost13]

I'm just going to put in my 2 cents... I teach 8th grade and have a lot of students miss school for vacations. As a teacher, I really appreciate advanced notice so I can gather work. However, many times we're doing in-class activities and discussions that can't be replicated. This puts the student at a great disadvantage when it comes to the unit assessment. Just so parents know, most teachers don't just show videos or do fluff activities before a break. In my class we're doing things that are pertinent to the unit we're studying (except for the last day of school because grades are already in!). I probably didn't help you in any way, but just thought I'd share my perspective.