Missing School for Disney Two Years in a Row?

[jana616]

We have been planning a trip to WDW for September 2013, which will coincide with our youngest almost turning 3 (so still free). I managed to talk my DH into a budget trip for this June because we were offered free QS dining and the kids will be out of school. We are currently booked for ASSports from 6/3-6/9 with free QS dining. Total cost $1900.

Now that the FD offer is out, I priced things out and realized that if we went this September instead of June, we could get free TS dining, move up to a moderate resort, and our total would be $2200. Other pluses are that our youngest will be 23 months instead of 20, which I think will help a little, it will be less crowded, and we can hopefully fly using our new SW card points (plus have a little time to earn more-we just signed up for the cards, so I am thinking we won't have time to use the points before the June trip). It's hard to know that we could have a "nicer" trip for just $300 more if we waited.

However, my ODS will be in 2nd grade next year, and we already know we are planning to pull him for the 2013 trip in 3rd grade. He's a great student, well ahead of the average, but we don't want to set a precedent that school is unimportant or that you can miss whenever you want by doing this two years in a row.

My DH is leaning toward sticking with June this year and Sept. next year and not second-guessing ourselves. But I thought I'd ask to see if others miss school often and how you feel about it. Thanks!

 

[Monkeyfeet]

You just need to do what you need to do Only you know how your child will do with missing school. However, if you do a search on here looking for similar posts you will see that most are against taking your child out of school.

 

[laughinplace199]

We took our kids out every year from preschool through 6th grade. It was never a problem. The school would not give work in advance, so the kids had to make up all of their work when they returned. The kids knew that and were fine with it, so it worked for us.

This year, my DD12 is in 7th grade and is in a different school than my DS10 & DS5 are. We took her out for 1 day this year (the boys missed 2 days) and went over Thanksgiving break.

DD's workload is very demanding now, so I don't see her missing school for vacations anymore. We'll have to go in the summer from now on.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our school doesn't care as long as the child isn't behind. However, I don't take my kids out once they get to junior high, because it's much harder to make up the work. I wish now that I had taken my kids out every year when they were younger!

 

[snoopy5386]

We took DD out for a week this year (she is in kindy) and I plan on doing so every year until at least middle school, perhaps high school depending on how she does.

 

[stace1214]

As a public school teacher, I have students who are taken out of school all the time for vacations and family events. As long as they are not missing mandated state testing and your school doesn't have extremely strict rules about absences, it should be okay. I like to get work to the families ahead of time, but not every will do that. As long as your son is prepared to have a heap of work to make up (3rd grade is very demanding, at least in my state) I wouldn't hesitate to take the trips.

 

[brockash]

We've been taking my ds out of school for the first week in Sept. since he started school. He'll be starting 5th grade next year and we'll be doing it again. It's really up to you and your family. We plan ahead, and I let the school/teacher know as soon as school starts and then remind the teacher the week before we leave. We complete any work that is sent home before we leave if possible, and make-up the rest when we get back. I won't lie, as he's gotten older, it is a busy week or two of making up work (although he also plays 2 diff. sports during that time, so life is already busy for us,) but it's always fine and he gets completely caught up within a week or so of us being back. We plan to keep doing this as long as we can. If it ever becomes too much for our kids than we'll have to find a new time, but for us it works, and it's def. worth it for the cheaper prices and low crowds.

 

[daisyduck123]

I pulled my kids out for 10 days vacations in January & May a half-dozen times and it never hurt any of them. In fact, my oldest is a 17yo Sophomore away at college out of state....she's doing great. No ill side effects due to our WDW vacations.

I say, "Go for it!"

BTW, I'm a 1st grade teacher & have pulled myself out as well.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I personally wouldn't just for the fact that (a) Disney is open year round and (b) my wife works for the school & already has Summers off. So even if the kids could get off, she could not

OTOH, I wouldn't have an issue taking my kids out of school for a vacation that was time sensitive (like hunting season, for example) and HAD to take place at a certain time of year.

Anyhoo, that's just me & I don't have any harsh judgements for anyone who would take their kids out of school for a family trip. I do somewhat question the PP with a May trip though. That is awful close to the end of the school year, and unless the children are very little, that could create some issues.

 

[daisyduck123]

Anyhoo, that's just me & I don't have any harsh judgements for anyone who would take their kids out of school for a family trip. I do somewhat question the PP with a May trip though. That is awful close to the end of the school year, and unless the children are very little, that could create some issues.

Our May trips were usually the first ten days in May. The weather is gorgeous (and what a great way to spend Mother's Day) and no schools have closed for summer break yet! Our schools don't close until June 15th or so, thus, was not at the end of the year. No problems!

 

[spacemountainmom]

I've taken mine out four years in a row and really haven't had any issues. My dd was in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grades when we took her out. My ds was in grades 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grades.

We did not go this year with my dd being a junior and that is a very important year in school. My dh's business did not have the greatest year either so putting both of those together, we opted to skip out on Disney this year.

The most difficulty we ever encountered was the first year and my ds's 3rd grade teacher. She gave us work ahead of time and there was TONS of it. I mistakenly thought we'd actually take time to work on stuff. He did a little bit while we were gone and the rest was completed when we got home.

My dd has never had an issue. In fact, most times she was able to complete most of her assignments before we ever left home.

I found that the middle school and high school teachers have been very accomodating.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Our May trips were usually the first ten days in May. The weather is gorgeous (and what a great way to spend Mother's Day) and no schools have closed for summer break yet! Our schools don't close until June 15th or so, thus, was not at the end of the year. No problems!

Ah, school here is sometimes done as early as May 20th, so even the 1st week of May would be iffy for kids to get caught up. If you're going until Mid June, that's another story

 

[disneymomjcs]

Go while your children are young! We took our daughter out every year from kindergarten until eighth grade to go on vacation to Walt Disney. Also a few days to lenghten a holiday weekend. Our daughter is a very good student and works hard and always made up the work.

Once she did miss a day or two of mandated testing and was pulled during homeroom to take the tests. We didn't know when we planned the vacation.

Now that she is in ninth grade we don't take her out for a few reasons ...one being that the pace is quicker and missing a week is huge and so much to make up. So for now vacations in the summer or holiday weekends.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I never hesitated to take ds19 out until high school and it was never an issue. It's a year apart so no way would two trips have any negative effect on your child. The only way I would consider not was if the school would give you a really hard time about it and in reality, I would most likely do it anyway.

 

[LilyWDW]

1) Try not to do it during testing.

2) Know the rules about taking your kids out and understand the consequences.

Then go from there. I have no issue with taking kids out of school for trips in general, just be sure to do YOUR homework as a parent so you can make an informed decision.

 

[leitadisneyfan]

We took our children out this year in Sept. and it was no problem DD 2nd grade, DS 5th grade and DS Jr. HS. We told teachers the 1st week of school and all three were fine they only missed 3 days we went during the Jewish holiday. You and your family will have a magical time whenever you choose to go.

 

[sully7]

If the children are younger (5th grade or below) in my opinion missing a week of school won't hurt them at all. They will probably get more out of a trip to Disney! You can't help but learn new things there!!

For older kids (6th grade and up) my feeling is that if the kids realize that they will have to make up work and still want to do it then do it! We are going in Sept. My kids are 15, 13, 11 and 9. They are all willing to work hard (before and after) in order to have a great vacation!!

We don't like to go in the summer: it is too crowded. We like to go when everyone else is at school!!

But like everyone else says, you have to do what is best for your family!! (Remember the school is looking out for the school. You have to look out for your kids!)

 

[jennyjinx3]

I agree with the PP, they do learn alot at WDW! This will be our third year taking them out of school...gasp!! We have not had any issues!

 

[ccgirl]

We have been planning a trip to WDW for September 2013, which will coincide with our youngest almost turning 3 (so still free). I managed to talk my DH into a budget trip for this June because we were offered free QS dining and the kids will be out of school. We are currently booked for ASSports from 6/3-6/9 with free QS dining. Total cost $1900.

Now that the FD offer is out, I priced things out and realized that if we went this September instead of June, we could get free TS dining, move up to a moderate resort, and our total would be $2200. Other pluses are that our youngest will be 23 months instead of 20, which I think will help a little, it will be less crowded, and we can hopefully fly using our new SW card points (plus have a little time to earn more-we just signed up for the cards, so I am thinking we won't have time to use the points before the June trip). It's hard to know that we could have a "nicer" trip for just $300 more if we waited.

However, my ODS will be in 2nd grade next year, and we already know we are planning to pull him for the 2013 trip in 3rd grade. He's a great student, well ahead of the average, but we don't want to set a precedent that school is unimportant or that you can miss whenever you want by doing this two years in a row.

My DH is leaning toward sticking with June this year and Sept. next year and not second-guessing ourselves. But I thought I'd ask to see if others miss school often and how you feel about it. Thanks!

I would hardly characterize missing one week of school due to vacation as often.

I do pull my DD, now 3rd grade out and have no issues with it. However, there is no "penalty" if my DD misses x number of days as long as her grades stay up. She makes up homework upon her return. I pulled her for 9 days in 2nd grade and will be pulling her from 7 days in May. I don't subscribe to the it's okay, it's a learning experience thing because it is just as much a learning experience in the summer and school breaks. I go when I go because it works well with both my DH and my work schedule. It is a bit difficult to coordinate vacation weeks. Plus, I like to go when it's less crowded and more economical.

If my DD was having difficulty in school, I would not pull her but that's not the case.

 

[gemini2727]

We have taken our three kids out numerous times, with no problem, though we've always tried to choose a week that already had a day or two off in it, so they would really be missing only three days. Now that my dd is starting high school, we're opting for going in late Aug. instead (we start school in Sept). Their teachers were always great about it, and we have never regretted taking them out.