Poll for DVC owners with school age kids----How many days do they miss per year?

[musical2]

We usually don't take our girls out of school. But this year during MLK holiday week, the school system here had teacher in-service training on Thursday and Friday and since they already had Monday off for MLK day, we took them out for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) and went to WDW for the week. Moreover, those two days were only half days due to high school testing. Our girls aren't in high school yet, but due to bus scheduling the whole system gets off half day.

 

[lanand3]

Last spring my 2 youngest were in preschool but my oldest was 4th grade.She missed 5 days of school and she had pretty easy time makng up work. This spring thy will miss one 5 days also.We will go over the weekend and the day we will leave they have a half day so i'm hoping we can get a late afternoon flight so they don't have to miss that morning too.

I am a nurse at a hospital and time off during the xmas/new year time is not allowed. We are very limited to time off allowed during "prime time" vacation from Memorial day through Labor day,and we are not notified until May 1st which week we were approved for. So unfortunately we are limited mostly to the school year.I would LOVE to spend a xmas a wdw and not have to take the kids out of school,but that will not happen unless I quit my job,but then there would not be money for wdw at all

Edited to add my kids do very well at school and have no problem making up the work.Also,they very rarely miss school due to illness.My dd actually had perfect attendance for 3 years in a row until we took her out for vacation.If they were struggling or felt it would be too difficult or had already missed too many days due to illness then we would have to change our plans.

 

[cckovach]

Our kids are 9 and 12. We took them out for 5 days in October last year. The 9 year old's teacher didn't give us any work to complete on the trip. The 12 year old's teacher gave us work which he did on the flight home.
This year we are taking them out for 5 days in October again. I think that the 9 year old will have no problem. I think the 12 year old will have catch-up problems if he doesn't complete the work each day of the trip. Depending on how the 12 year old does this trip will determine if we go during the school year in 2010 which they are 11 and 14.

Prior to the October trips, we would take them out of school for one day on a long weekend trip.

 

[simzac]

We don't take our boys out of school for vacations. They may miss a day due to a school function though.

 

[Laneychris]

2 days at the most, I don't like them to miss too much.

 

[SLK1]

Vacations are very important to our family, but school comes first. When they are in middle and high school, missing school, more than a day or two, really takes a toll on them - playing "catch up" is really tough. Plus you have to think about how many sick days they might have in addition to missing days because of vacations.

 

[jenna]

Right now our kids are in elementary school and preschool so I have been taking them out for 5 days per school year. Last year it was September, this year it will be May when we go with our friends. We have also gone over the summer and probably after next year, that's when our vacations will be limited to. Unfortunately, summer is my husband's busiest time for work so it can create a major . We may have to go during Christmas vacation instead. Oh what a problem to have!

 

[edk35]

Our kids are now almost 18, almost 15 and 9. Our kids have never missed more than 2 full days of school for any Disney trip (well our first Nov. trip they missed 3 days but my dd was in 6th, ds 3rd and my little guy was 3). Had we started going a lot back when they were little ....I would probably have taken them out 3-4 DAYS MAX PER YEAR. Now my older two don't like to miss more than 1 day. It is a different ball game once they get into the upper elementary, middle and high school. At least where we live.....if you miss a couple of days....YOU HAVE LOTS TO MAKE UP even in 3rd grade. Not only are they making up homework, classwork, but they are not receiving instruction that is maybe necessary for completion of classwork. A lot of lessons are group activities, small group and one on one......so for us.....not too many missed days any more for our trips. Sure I would love to go in off peak times....but we have been able to enjoy going at more crowded times and had wonderful trips. Matter of fact we have gone the past two summers and we are starting to really enjoy them. Sure it is hot but the parks are open later, pools are open later and it is so much more relaxed on the summer trips. We don't do the commando park style of touring anymore either....in the summers. So back on topic......our kids are missing 1 day in Nov. for our trip and about 1 hour of another day. I now know to let my high school aged kids decide this for us. ....because it affects them the most.

 

[dallasdisneymommy]

I have a 1st grader, a last-year-of-preschooler, and a yet-to-start-schooler, and since school has become a more serious thing for my oldest, we decided we needed to start taking summer trips. So we went in early June this year, and it was so hot and crowded that we quickly changed our minds back to taking them out of school for a week. I'm sure we'll have to evaluate this on a yearly basis, but for now, we are going to continue to enjoy the cooler weather and the lower crowds when we visit, even if it means missing a little bit of school.

 

[vicki_c]

We only started dealing with this this year (2008) since both kids are in school now.

So we went over MLK day which entailed the kids missing 1 full day and 2 early dismissal days, I think. (our school was closed Monday, had early dismissal Tues-Weds and were off Thurs-Fri for teacher in-service - is that not dumb?). We left the Friday before and stayed a week.

We're going again at Christmas and Christmas Eve is the first day off in our school district. So my kids will be missing 3 days for that - a Friday before, and then Monday-Tuesday). I tried to consider what I think the kids will be doing during the 3 days prior to Christmas break -- I think not much.

I guess that falls in the 5-ish day range, and I'm okay with that at this point (ok a little guilty), but I'm sure that will change as they get out of elementary school.

 

[HayGan]

Last year my boys were in 1st grade and Kindergarten. I took them out for a week in late Sept. to go to WDW. Through that experience we found that taking DS#1 out of school for that length of time is just too tough for him. He is autistic and having to do that much work on vacation was just too much for him and really took away from his enjoyment of being in WDW. The little one does just fine (he so far ahead of other kids his age that he should probably be in 2nd grade this year instead of first.) Anyway, we have decided that for the next few years we will do our big family vacations as soon as the kids get out of school (and I do mean right after they get out as in they leave school at 2pm and we leave for WDW at 7pm.)

In the future, we may consideer taking them out for a day or two around Thanksgiving for a trip. For now, no more taking them out for more than 2 days at a time works best for us & them.

 

[NDM#1]

We homeschool, so we don't miss any school for our trips. I must confess that our DVC membership helps me stay more motivated as a homeschool mom. It definitely has occured to me that if I put my kids in the school system it would interfere with our DVC plans. I just can't go there . . . Disney is too important!

 

[kid-at-heart]

DD will miss nine days this fall and probably nine again in the spring. My daughter attends a private Montessori school. The Montessori format allows for each child to learn at their own level (no worries about missing lectures as students are taught individually or in small groups). Our child travels with us several times a year; she attends conferences with us (sits in on the seminars), goes to Disney and visits relatives - all during the school year. Our trips add to her education (yes, even when visiting Disney she adds to her knowledge base and when we visit relatives we always stop by local historical places, geological foundations, etc.). She is entering the 5th grade and is testing at 9th grade level - not because she is brilliant (of course I think she is brilliant ) but because of the type of education she is receiving. Most of the children in her school are testing above their grade level. I would say that we are lucky in being able to afford to send DD to a Montessori school but in reality we manage our lifestyle so she can attend a private school. We drive old cars, tend not to buy new clothes, grow a lot of our own food, etc in order to pay DD’s schooling. I wish all children had the opportunity to experience a Montessori education.

 

[loribell]

I didn't vote in the poll because we don't normally take the kids out of school for our trips. However we have gone once over our fall break and took them out of school for 3 extra days, once for a convention I had to attend in September for 4 days, once for a Christmas trip for one day but only because they rescheduled a make up day at the last minute and our airfare was already purchased, and then this year we will be taking them out an extra 4 days for an after Christmas trip so that we can stay for the low crowds.

I would love to be able to go at lower crowd times but I also like to go for a minimum of 2 weeks and I can not do that and take the kids out of school.

 

[edk35]

We only started dealing with this this year (2008) since both kids are in school now.

So we went over MLK day which entailed the kids missing 1 full day and 2 early dismissal days, I think. (our school was closed Monday, had early dismissal Tues-Weds and were off Thurs-Fri for teacher in-service - is that not dumb?). We left the Friday before and stayed a week.

We're going again at Christmas and Christmas Eve is the first day off in our school district. So my kids will be missing 3 days for that - a Friday before, and then Monday-Tuesday). I tried to consider what I think the kids will be doing during the 3 days prior to Christmas break -- I think not much.

I guess that falls in the 5-ish day range, and I'm okay with that at this point (ok a little guilty), but I'm sure that will change as they get out of elementary school.

Sounds good plus those days leading up to the Christmas break......are lost days especially at the elementary level. When I saw our calendar for this year...I knew right away.. tons of kids would not be in school that Monday and Tuesday. I don't blame you one bit.

 

[Starr W.]

Sounds good plus those days leading up to the Christmas break......are lost days especially at the elementary level. When I saw our calendar for this year...I knew right away.. tons of kids would not be in school that Monday and Tuesday. I don't blame you one bit.

I figured we would go this year Mon/Tues, but our district gets off on Friday for Xmas. This is truly a first for our district, I thought there was some rule someone made up that we had to go until at least 12/21! I think 2 years ago we went Mon-Tues and the secretaries were shaking their heads at all the vacation forms that came through.

Our new super. seems to have brought some common sense to our schedule. We had way too many 3 day weeks that the teachers absolutely hated(you can't get much done in any of the grades).

 

[TheDISneyFamily]

My kids are going to miss a total of 6 days this year - 3 in Oct. and 3 in Dec. Our DVC trips have never been a problem, even with them being in high school.

 

[CTPinkPrincess]

DD missed 5 days last year (first grade) and shhh..will miss 5 days again this year (second grade). Now, both times are/will be in late May, so one of those days is Field Day...

 

[kristenrice]

We have DD5 who just started Kindergarten and DD3 who is doing preschool 2 days a week. They go to a private, Christian school and we are planning on traveling over the dreaded spring break time! We just bought into DVC and our points will allow us to go Su-Th, 2 out of 3 years and stay in a 1BR SV at AKV. The Su-Th works perfect since we're planning on driving. We can leave Fri after the girls get out of school and arrive mid-morning on Sunday. Then, we can depart the following Fri morning and arrive home Saturday evening. This way, the kids shouldn't HAVE to miss any school. The 4 trips we took when I was a kid were all over Spring Break and we didn't think anything of it. We didn't want to buy into DVC and PLAN on taking the kids out of school. If it turns out that they are excellent students and can handle missing a few days, then we might vacation in February or November. I think the most I am willing to consider is missing 3 days and going the week of Thanksgiving. We'd have to travel home the day after Thanksgiving so I think that will price us right out of flying. I love the flexibility of DVC and cannot wait to close on our contract!

 

[janni518]

This was tough. We took the kids out this past year for Disney but that was unusual and we tried to make sure their attendance was great the rest of the year.

Unfortunately my son has a chronic lung condition that causes him to sometime be hospitalized when he gets a simple cold and so he often misses school because of that.He actually came home from our last Disney trip with raging pneumonia and a huge lung abscess poor kid. It's just wrong to be sick in the happiest place on earth.

We will be going during easter week this year so that atendance won't be an issue.