Need to Vent and Whine...

[Tigger&Belle]

I'd finally figured out when to go to WDW this fall/winter. One trip was going to be with just me with my 4yo (we have APs) and another with my 10yo. I was going to bring my 4yo the very end of September since he has a day off from preschool (he will be going to preschool MWF next yrear) and we could then go to MNSSHP. My 10yo had a long weekend scheduled the end of Jan (2 days off of school combined with the weekend= a 4 day weekend) so I was going to bring him then.

Well, our school district just modified our calendar... They took away the day off in early October and one of the January days. It's not a big deal if my 4yo misses an extra day of preschool, but we're planning on meeting my 81yo mother and my sister in Orlando in December and he'll be missing a whole week of school then. I know, it's only preschool...

A bigger issue is my 10yo. He'll be in middle school next year and they really frown on the students missing days of school for vacations.

I know that I will figure it all out again, but I'm frustrated because I thought I had it all figured out so that the kids would miss little if any school.

I could bring my 4yo the middle of October when he does have a Friday off of school. Or I could bring my 10yo in early November since they added an inservice day Nov 1 and they have Nov 2 off for election day, but I don't want to do both of those trips since I want to space it out more for me--those trips would be less than 2 weeks apart.

Any ideas? Sympathy? A kick in the butt telling me not to whine since I will figure it out and am lucky to go this many times in a year?

T&B

 

[sk!mom]

All you'll get from me is a kick in the butt and a qwitchyerwhinin'!

Seriously, you ARE very lucky to have the time and resources to vacation so often. Not to mention how lucky you are to be able to schedule "Mom and Me" time with each child at WDW no less. Many Moms are lucky to be able to spend an afternoon at the movies with each child individually.

So "get a grip" and remember - Half the fun is in the planning!

 

[georgina]

Once my daughter went to middle school, I resisted taking her out, but we did tack two days onto Thanksgiving break one year. She's graduating from 8th grade this spring, and those were the only two days she missed in her 3 years there! Well, she is missing a half day June 4 because they added a day for snow make-up, but we're not counting that. My feelings are that she can afford to miss a few days, but I wouldn't take her out for a week. Preschool, I wouldn't worry about missing at all.

 

[DVC Jen]

OK... this is coming directly from a preschool teachers mouth.

Don't worry about preschool. Work around your older childs schedule.

You may even be able to get your preschool teacher to gather a few things together "homework" type things. Kiddos that age LOVE that. It makes them feel so grown up. If ya get to it great.. if you don't..no sweat.

Once our kids start "real" school it is sooo hard to take them out..especially when they are older. Mine own kids are 11 (middle school) and 15 (high school) it is like pulling teeth getting them out without creating huge problems.

Don't sweat preschool.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Something else you might also want to keep in mind (not to stress you out more) is snow make up days. I live in Maryland too, and I don't know which part you're in, but in Harford County they close school if there is one flake of snow on the ground So make sure you're careful once it gets to be March because they may be making up days. Just one more thing to think about Good Luck!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I knew I'd get a kick in the butt here. LOL

The reason why I'm able to take these trips this year (besides "I wanna" ) is that we'd planned a family trip in January, but decided against it since our older two kids don't really want to go, especially our 16yo. I'd already bought APs for my 4yo and myself, so will spend the time and $ on "small family" trips. My 10yo knows nothing about this possible trip, but really wants to go to WDW since it's been several years since he's been there. Also, we're not taking a trip this summer like we usually do and our daughter will be going to college in 1 1/2 years so then I know we won't have the extra $...

We have pulled our kids out of school in the past. Never for very long and not often, but I don't have a problem with a day here and there. My 10yo takes school very seriously, though, and I know would prefer not to miss. He's one of those very driven, high achieving, straight A kind of students (didn't get this from me and his siblings are not this way ), but I think he could really use some mom time.

Maybe I'll go ahead and stick with January for my 10yo and just pull him out of a day or two of school (would then be 4-5 days in Orlando). For my 4yo I'll either go the very end of September like I'd first planned or mid month when he has a day off of school.

SRUAlmn, we're in Montgomery County. Any snow days over the ones they build into the calendar are added on to the end of the year. Last yeat they added a day on to spring break, but we'd already planned a trip and it ended up being an excused absence since it was last minute that they added the snow day.

OK, enough whining for now.



T&B

 

[sk!mom]

O.K. I gave you a kick in the butt, but I actually am a teacher and would agree that I wouldn't worry at all about pre-school.

I would pull my pre-schooler out whenever it is convienent without worrying. IMO a pre-school child benefits a great deal from varied experiences and we can all agree that WDW can provide a wealth of those.

As for the middle-schooler, I would try to limit the timed missed for him by working around his school schedule. A day or two tacked on to a long week-end is a great idea.

 

[travelitis]

I'm not going to give you a kick in the rear (I don't let my kids say the "B" word, so I can't either.). I understand it's annoying to have a good plan screwed up.

I agree that the preschooler missing school is no big deal. I'd have no qualms about taking my kindergartener out of school for vacation. My 4th grader doesn't know what it's like to make a "B", so I'd pull him out, too. Of course, he's the kid who wouldn't be willing to miss a week of school for Disney. We pulled him out 1 day for a WDW trip, and he complained and asked us to go 1 day later, which we couldn't as we were going over a long weekend. Then there's my 6th grader who needs every minute in school. He makes good grades, but a week would significantly impact his GPA in a negative way.

The moral of my story: It depends more on the kid than their age. If the kid has school squared away, and the teacher is cooperative, then even older kids will be O.K. missing a little school.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

My 10yo sounds like your 4th grader and my 13yo sounds like your 6th grader. And then there's my 16yo daughter who doesn't want to vacation with the family any more. It really does depend on the child--some can miss without any problem and some have a hard time making up the work. It also depends on whether or not the trip is educational. We pulled our kids out of school a day before their spring break started this April so we could go to Kennedy Space Center (before going to Universal Orlando for a few days). I figured that they would be learning more on that day than they would in school and we informed the school instead of asking. I have no idea if they counted it as an excused absence, but I wasn't going to worry about it one way or another.

As far as my upcoming trips, I guess I was frustrated because I really was trying to work around the school schedule, but then the school went and changed it on me. lol How dare them. Of course it's only because I'm such a long range planner that it even matters. We are talking about a trips that are over 4 and 8 months away, afterall.

T&B

 

[seashoreCM]

It is wise to make an educated guess as to where snow days may be made up, and not schedule a trip for right after the last scheduled day of school in June.

But if a school day is tacked on in an unexpected place after I made my Disney plans, I would feel free to have the kids be absent that day so I don't have to pay change fees to the airlines and hotels. It is a case of telling the teacher, not asking the teacher.

(By the way I would not call it "pulling the kids from school" in the preceding case.)

Also it is necessary that the kids not have unexcused absences here and there elsewhere in the school year. Should there be one, you the parent should get to the very bottom of it, find out exactly why, and figure out how to prevent recurrences.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Our school district now decides when the calendar is first made for the year when any snow days will be made up. It was a couple of years ago when they had the kids go on "Easter Monday", a day that had been part of spring break. I agree that it really wasn't pulling the kids out of school. The county got a lot of complaints about scheduling that particular day and also deciding so close to spring break.

T&B