My child will miss 3 days for our upcoming trip to WDW. What to say in letter?

[WDWSuperFan]

We will be going to WDW over Thanksgiving, but my child will miss 3 days in addition to the vacation days from school. I have to write a letter stating that we will be out of town. I do not anticipate any problems. Her grades are great and she has not missed any days, so far.

Anyone have to do this, was it a problem with the school?

Thanks for any info!

 

[Questlove]

I recently submitted a letter for our upcoming trip. I simply wrote:
Please be advised that XXXXXX will be out of school XXXXXX through XXXXXXX due to a last minute family trip that could not be scheduled at any other date. I ask that her absence be excused. Thank you.
Simple but to the point. I hope this helps.

 

[WDWSuperFan]

thanks for your reply. I really do not think that it will be a problem, I just wanted to hear other's experiences with this.

Last year she was in preschool so it did not matter how many days she missed.

 

[leslieh]

after many short trips to disney during school years, we were going to be sick when we got home, but dd ended up with strep while on the trip, had to go to drs in orlando Other times i wrote a letter stating how much they would learn on a family trip. All worked fine never missed a chance to go WDW! DDs now 24 & 21

 

[Annette_VA]

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SE.shtml

 

[WDWSuperFan]

thanks lislieh, I would not want to miss a trip to WDW. I feel the time we spend together as a family are just as important as the 3 school days. The teacher said it would be fine, I just had to write a letter so it would be considered excused.

thanks annette va, I might get a few pointers from the letter. Your children are so precious!

 

[bethann1970]

I work at a school, and I know that teacher's actually appreciate a phone call to personally talk about the work the child will miss and how they can make it up so their grades don't drop. You'll still need to send a letter to the school so the absence is excused, but I know the teacher will be more accepting of the trip if you take the time to talk to him/her.

 

[daisyduck123]

My DD12 & DS8 missed 11 school days last year due to 2 WDW trips. No problems at our schools. This year they will only miss 5.5 days. I would just make the letter short, & to the point.

 

[joey's mom]

I've been taking my son out of school for vacation since he was in 1st grade. (And he was in a very hard core parocial school!) On about 9/15/01, as soon as the planes were back up, I booked a great deal at WDW. Flight from Connecticut was $118 round trip, hotel at All Star Sports was $48. Anyway, I just told the head nun I felt the need to take my kid to a happy place (the happiest place on earth) and off we went. About a month later, he had the sniffles. She called me and yelled at me for sending him to school. I explained that I know the importance of not missing school and I thought he was ok. She then replied, "Mrs. P_____, you certainly had no problem taking him to WDW for a week, blah, blah, blah..." I've taken him out of school every year since. I tell the teacher during the parent-teacher conference, and just send a letter similar to the previous post. This year we're doing Universal, SeaWorld, etc., and he's going to miss five days. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do! Enjoy!

 

[WDWSuperFan]

Thanks for the replies! I talked with my child's teacher early in the school year and asked if it would be a problem. I wanted to know early enough, so I could cancel, reschedule, etc. She said there would be no problems and she wished she could go, but I would need to write a note so the absences would be excused. I will also make sure that she will get any work done ahead of time or make sure it is completed when we return.

I appreciate the help with this. I knew I can't be the only parent pulling my child out of school to go to WDW! I can't wait. We are leaving in 6 days!

 

[Kayakmom]

Wow, at our schools now an absense of more than 4 or 5 days (I forget) in any one month for a reason other than illness is considered truancy! They actually send you a nastygram. Most parents lie and call in saying that the kids are sick. I'm going to tell the truth and oh well. Call them truant for going to see their grandma for Thanksgiving and spend some time at the happiest place on Earth! I used to miss anywhere from two weeks to a month of school every winter going to stay with my grandparents. I really don't think it has an effect on the longterm performance of the child in school!

 

[MSSANDRA]

We have taken DS our in K- 1,3, 5 but this is our first time in middle school. We are going Jan 20-27 with the 22nd being a workday. Letter will go to school the first day after Christmas vacation. A copy for each teacher and the office staff. In lower grades I always talked to the teacher at the conference but they do not have those this year. I am at the school a lot so a 1:1 talk might also take place.


To: CGMS staff and adminitration

I want to inform you that XXXXX will be absent from Jan.23-26. Our family will be traveling out of state. Please know that we choose this shortened week to minimize the days he would miss. We also took into consideration that Jordan has a 4.0 GPA and has only missed two days of school this year. As parents, please be assured that we will make sure that all missed work will be made up in a timely fashion . We are very wiling to bring him early or pick him up late to accomidate your schedual for making up labs or test. While we feel all travel is educational, we are quite willing to fill any extra requirment that may be necessary to have these travel days considered excused. Please send any forms that are necessay for this condsideration home with Jordan or fax them to me at my office at XXXXXXXX.
Thank-you for working with our family to make this trip possible.

name etc.

Just be sure not to ask for permission. State what you are doing, what you need and what you will be doing to make it work!

 

[Kayakmom]

Kids are so lucky. I have a 20 page paper and a SWOT anaylsis, as well as a final exam due the week I return. I think it's going to be unavoidable for me to have to do some homework while I'm there.

When I was little the teachers would always give me several weeks worth of work and I'd get it all done on the plane or at least by the first day in Florida. Not the case for me any more!

 

[MommaluvsDis]

We have exemption for EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL in our school system which usually only requires that the child write and read to the class a one page report of something they learned on the trip.

 

[LauraAnn630]

They made a big deal about it at our school. I just dont care. Its the 4th grade! We will write the nice letter and make up the work. Im going to see if we can get the work the week before. I dont think the teacher is going to do that tho. I bet she wont give it to us till we get back. My son will be missing 4 days of school.

 

[shaws2003]

I agree with the OP, I don't really care what they think to be quite honest. It is a FAMILY trip, our DD9 is in the 4th grade and her grades are excellent. We will tell the teacher next week at parent teacher conferences so she will be able to get her homework together and we will have her write a journal about her experiences on our trip. It's not like we take her out of school every other week for vacations.