Parents who take their kids out of school to go to WDW..

[Holly]

Nobody has the right to tell me how to parent. As long as I am not breaking any rules (ex., total days unexcused absence) then they need to mind their own business.

DS11 is in 6th grade this year. This is the first time that any teacher has commented about taking him out. Mind you they never said not to, she is just very passive aggressive & made a comment.

Schools need to promote & celebrate "family time". Particularly in this day & age when we are all always running off in opposite directions to one activity/job/etc. or another.No flames. Just my opinion.

I couldn't have said it better.

 

[chop456]

I teach first grade and realize that parents need to do family activities at a time that is right for them. All I ask is that they let me know 2 weeks prior to leaving, so I can get some work for them to do.

My problem is that I have students who are out for 20-25 days - visiting family in Mexico. My 2nd student this year is leaving next week for a 25 day absence!

 

[Tinkerbellmom33]

That's too long!

We do it! I'll be doing it again in May. We make sure there's no state testing etc. and plan around that if we need to. We've been lucky so far and the teacher's haven't complained. They're both great students and make up all of their work when we get home. Education is important but so is the time that you spend with your family!! One of the other posters said it better than I am...

 

[TomD]

We tookour 2 girls out this past December and they had no problems catching up. My oldest had to do a paper and speech about what she did. We have her project hanging up since it has all the parks maps on it....lol

 

[cyndibelle]

this is my second time this year i am taking mine out and to go to disney again !!!! they have missed 6 days already for our last trip..but no other absences...this time they will miss three..i am waiting for the nasty note...got one the last time..and our school allows 5 missed days for vacation..now the rest will be unexcused...what does that mean unexcused...how does that reflect for them ?? they dont get to make up that school work or what ??? anyone know the answer to that ??

 

[2tinkersmom]

We're taking our two daughters (6th grader and 1st grader) out in Feb. and they will miss a total of five days of school. In our district, they are allowed five days for a family vacation, any time over that is considered an unexcused absence. They did already miss three days in the fall when we took a trip over Thanksgiving to see relatives we only see once every year or two. I don't know if we will get a letter for going over the unexcused days or not but as someone else says I am not looking for permission to plan our family time.

I couldn't agree more with the other posters about the time you spend with your family being even more important than missing a few days of school. There are way too many families that are totally falling apart right now because they see each other way too little.

We do not de-emphasize the importance of school to our girls by any means. We always contact teachers in advance and they will both be doing any work the teachers require of them. They are both good students and they love school. But my feeling is in 20 years what are they going to remember more.....five days in school or a wonderful vacation of memories with their family?

 

[HappyLawyer]

there is so much going on in the world right now we have no idea nor are we certain of anything. We go to fl every other year, i take my daughter out, and i don't care what anyone says, i taught school before and while we are on vacation i make sure she does work, families need to vacation and it is not always possible to go when school is out, if my life worked out that way fine, but it does not,

 

[WeLubDeeDub]

Personally, I teach kindergarten and I really see nothing wrong with a family vacation during the school year. I also know that teachers appreciate being told ahead of time so they can prep for your child's absence. There is nothing worse than being told that the child is out of state for a funeral and then they come back and spill the beans that they were really on vacation at WDW! The only homework that I require while the child is gone is that they have a good time and keep a trip journal that they can share with the class when they return. This way the kids have a good time and are still "working" on something while they are gone. Great project for a plane flight.
Also we are taking my DD out of Kinder next October for MNSSHP and I'm taking personal days so...maybe I'm a little biased. You don't have many years to do these things as a family.
I think all of those school districts that are taking a hard line on attendance are doing it because they have experienced family vacations that were 3 months long... totally different story! I've had this happen to me a few times over the last few years.
Anyhow, bottom line--I think that you should go for it.

 

[daisyduck123]

But my feeling is in 20 years what are they going to remember more.....five days in school or a wonderful vacation of memories with their family?

 

[1of6]

I say GO, GO, GO!

We are taking our kids out in Feb. I'm not sure what our school districts policy is and frankly I don't care. My 3 kids all have perfect attendance for the year. My ds9 was mad when I told him the dates of our Disney trip. He doesn't want to miss school.

I taught before my kids were born and I never had a problem with it. I never sent work with students other than spelling words. I wanted them to enjoy their time.

 

[Dina]

I think you should do it. I'm really on the fence. I used to teach high school, and I had kids that were taken out for Disney all of the time, and I never had any trouble with it-- at all. They were fine, made up the work-- no problem. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. I'm just afraid (and my oldest son is a little bit of a worrier-- like I am) that he'll worry about what he'll be missing and he won't have as good of a time as he might in the summer. Only because of his personality, I'm worried. But, you know your kids, and if you feel comfortable with it... you shoud definitely do it. Family time is so important. My other problem is my school district said absence for a vacation is an illegal absence (not even unexcused-- "illegal" is their wordking). I'm not sure if that's wording in their literature that is just meant to intimidate parents, or do you think we could really get into trouble. I would just take them out for 3 or 4 days. Well, it doesnt' sound like you have our troubles.... Do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mum4jenn]

When dd was in pre-k, kindergarten and 1st grade we took her out for a day or two only right before scheduled breaks just so we could get a head start. Last year when dd saw a couple of kids get awards for perfect attendance she decided that she wanted that award too so she has not missed any time at all this year(2nd grade). Also I work in a school and I would use those days as personal days but now that I am the manager I try not to miss.

As long as she has a goal for perfect attendance then I will help her with it.She almost took a day to go with her Dad on a trip this year but since most of her tests are on Fridays she decided not to miss the tests because they are not allowed to make up tests for unexcused absenses and she is in gifted classes and did not want any zeros on her averages.

Also our school system has lots of breaks so we just work around them. We have a fall break,thanksgiving,2 weeks at Christmas,MLK,Presidents break,spring break,easter break and school ends in May so there are lots of opportunities to go during unbusy times.

 

[camdensmom]

Playing the role of Devil's Advocate:

I have been a teacher (grades K, 1 and 2) for 8 years (though I am currently taking a yearlong maternity leave). While I value family and family time it can be very annoying when kids are pulled from school to go to Disney.

I personally put A LOT into my planning. Lessons spiral off of each other. Most lessons involve cooperative activity that involves peer interaction, classroom materials and manipulatives. To ask me to "put together a packet" of what a child will miss is both insulting and impossible. To say that "it's only a week" or that "missing a week of 1st/2nd/etc. grade won't have any effect" is not true. Sure when you look at the big picture of a child's academic career then one week in 2nd grade is not a big component, but missing a week can make for a VERY challenging marking period for that child. Anytime a child is absent it is a lot of extra work for the teacher. I will bend over backwards if a child is sick, has a death in the family or an emergency. However, if a child is pulled for a week for a vacation that could be taken at another time of the year then I simply compile the assignments that I can as we do them and the child is responsible for them when he/she returns. It's unfair to expect a teacher to conference with a parent to go over "missed work" that didn't need to be missed. It also teaches children that school is not valued as much as not having to wait in line for Space Mountain.

I had a student last year who was out for over a week for a trip to FL. The mother wrote me a note saying he would not be going to any theme parks and that the trip would be educational. He returned to school with an elaborate report on alligators that I didn't assign. While I applaud the attempt to make the trip educational this child missed a key portion of the math curriculum and his grade dropped from a B to a C that marking period because he wasn't able to catch up.

I just thought I would share a 'behind the scenes' look from the other side. FWIW, my parents pulled me out for a week each year. While I have fond memories of that family time, I would have had the same memories had we gone on a school vacation week. School is in session less than half a calendar year, if it is possible to plan accordingly it may be beneficial to do so.

 

[Pryncess'mom]

and we leave on Wednesday, Feb 15. Not only are youngest DD (2nd gr, missing 3 days) and oldest DS (freshman college, missing 2 days) coming, but I am taking 2 personal days. Family time is important, and school vacations do not always fit into DH work schedule.

Although I do agree with camdensmom, planning does take alot of time, and yes lessons are spiraled (current buzzword!! ), I give work for the parents to do with the children that will cover the same topic. Yes, I know, I only teach Kindergarten, but learning is learning. I remember my first trip to the world in 1977, sitting each night in the hotel room doing my work. I was a freshman in high school and yes, I hated missing school, but it was DISNEY for pete's sake!!

I say GO! Several years ago, our attendance officer's son was pulled out by his father for a trip to Disney. She had to document the time as unexcused. Oh well!

You are the one making the decisions for your children. Do not let the school scare you. Policies are there for the benefit and safety of the children, but you are your child's main teacher.

Have a great time!! I know we will!!

deb

 

[Amirah95]

I've done it many times. My DDs school and teachers didn't complain, told us to have a good time.

 

[Good Deeds]

We are taking are girls (7&11) out for a week. Luckily one of the days is a teacher in service day. Both the Elementary and Middle school teachers have been very supportive and have given me work ahead to complete with my girls. They just asked that we go over the lessons with the girls and help them if they need it.

This is a new school and I was very nervous about asking, but they have been very supportive and wished us a wonderful time.

I think it has a lot to do with the relationship one has with the school...I'm "in there" all the time!!!

 

[Margie]

Boy, do I understand how you feel!! This is the first time for us going to DW as a family. We have DS 15 and DD 11. My DH can't take off work from April untill late November as he is a project manager for construction. Up north, companies have to take advantage of the "construction season". We were going to do this last year, then fretted too much about taking them out of school. I felt horrible about doing it...BAD MOM and so on. This year we decided to pull the plug and just GO! It will be right after finals for DS, and DD has already done the standardized testing. DD is getting her advance homework done during recess at school. The school did send me a letter about absense/truancy and so on. It made me a little angry. DD was out of school the three days before Christmas because she DISLOCATED her kneecap!
To heck with it...JUST GO AND HAVE FUN.
Margie

 

[cheerbop]

We took our 2nd grade son out for a week and the teacher was fine with it...she also has been teaching for over 30 years.

My hubby doesn't get vacations when school is off, EVER...so,
it is eiter take him out eery now and then or NEVER take a vacation.

Have a great trip

 

[cheerbop]

Playing the role of Devil's Advocate:

I have been a teacher (grades K, 1 and 2) for 8 years (though I am currently taking a yearlong maternity leave). While I value family and family time it can be very annoying when kids are pulled from school to go to Disney.

I personally put A LOT into my planning. Lessons spiral off of each other. Most lessons involve cooperative activity that involves peer interaction, classroom materials and manipulatives. To ask me to "put together a packet" of what a child will miss is both insulting and impossible. To say that "it's only a week" or that "missing a week of 1st/2nd/etc. grade won't have any effect" is not true. Sure when you look at the big picture of a child's academic career then one week in 2nd grade is not a big component, but missing a week can make for a VERY challenging marking period for that child. Anytime a child is absent it is a lot of extra work for the teacher. I will bend over backwards if a child is sick, has a death in the family or an emergency. However, if a child is pulled for a week for a vacation that could be taken at another time of the year then I simply compile the assignments that I can as we do them and the child is responsible for them when he/she returns. It's unfair to expect a teacher to conference with a parent to go over "missed work" that didn't need to be missed. It also teaches children that school is not valued as much as not having to wait in line for Space Mountain.

I had a student last year who was out for over a week for a trip to FL. The mother wrote me a note saying he would not be going to any theme parks and that the trip would be educational. He returned to school with an elaborate report on alligators that I didn't assign. While I applaud the attempt to make the trip educational this child missed a key portion of the math curriculum and his grade dropped from a B to a C that marking period because he wasn't able to catch up.

I just thought I would share a 'behind the scenes' look from the other side. FWIW, my parents pulled me out for a week each year. While I have fond memories of that family time, I would have had the same memories had we gone on a school vacation week. School is in session less than half a calendar year, if it is possible to plan accordingly it may be beneficial to do so.

I totally see your point and if we had a choice as to going when school is out, we WOULD go then, but my husband never gets off then, so we have to go during school or never.

I also just wanted to tell you I love your child's name
My DS who is amost 2 is named Camden....

 

[Dina]

Camdensmom, I do see your point. When I taught (9th and 12th grade social studies) I did alot of cooperative projects, and yeah the absence for the vacations is tough. But, I have to say, the kids were ok. It made my life harder more than anything, but I didn't have any kids that really significantly had a hard time catching up because they missed 3 or 4 days. And, I also had a hard time just pulling together material for kids to make up. But, some families really can't get away in the summer. My neighbor's husband owns his own landscaping business, and she won't pull her kids out of school. He can't go on vacation in the summer, so, he doesn't go on vacation with them. I think that stinks. They can't go anywhere that's a distance-- they can only go to the shore so, at least, now and then he can spend a day and then come home (we live an hour and a half from the Jersey shore-- I understand why she does it, but that kind of stinks) My husband is in construction-- summer is his busy time, its harder for him to get away in the summer-- we can do it, and we do, but he loses double the money in the summer if he goes away then he would in the winter because of all of the overtime he gets during the summer. Winter is our slow season.. Lots of families just can't get away during school breaks.