Pulling kids from school for vacation?

[Our2Girls&Disney]

We have never pulled our kids from school for a family vacation, but I am considering it. I would love to go to Disney in October or November because the crowds are so much lower. Has anyone had a bad experience when pulling a child from school for vacation?

 

[TEWINOHIO]

I do not do it as a rule, but I have pulled my daughter out ocasionally for a week to go to Florida to visit my mom. I think every school district and child is different. I just make sure that the time is not the last week of the grading period, etc. Going to take my duaghter out of school the week before spring break in April 2007 becuase we will be going to Florida to vist mom and also go to WDW for 5 days! In order to do mom and WDW..need more than a week. Besides, I tell my daughter if she does not keep her grades up..no trip ( yeah right!)

BTW...my sister is a teacher...and believe me she has a very different opinion on this subject than me!

 

[Panna]

It really does depend on the child. If they are learning well and keeping up with their school work, once in a while may not hurt. Most teachers will assign work to them with perhaps some extra (report on the trip) to help ensure that they are on the same track as the rest of the class.

I am pulling my daughter out a week before her session ends (year round school) because they don't have test scheduled at that time, and their work load is minimal.

 

[dmthoma76]

Check the laws in your state about missing school days, also read the school handbook. I was very nervous about taking my son out for a week but I typed out a nice letter to the school about the educational value of the trip and the principal excused my seven year old for five days!

In the state of Georgia they are allowed five unexcused days. Mine will be excused though. This also has alot to do with his age. I was advised that if he were in a higher grade they would not be excused and count against his grades.


~Donna

 

[TEWINOHIO]

Very good point about the school handbook, and what the schools guidelines are.

I always start the note with "Please excuse......"

Then I tell the school that my daughter is traveling with her father to visit her elderly grandparents ( which is true except they have more energy than me!) And I will leave the part about the side trip to WDW out.

But I thnk it is really comes down to,as a parent, can your child miss the school, without a major impact on their learning. If you can honestly say yes..I do not see an issue with it as long as it is the exception, not the rule.

 

[Nanu57v]

My mom took me out of school the fall of my senior year on purpose. I would kill myself going to school when I was ill just to get perfect attendance. With WDW ruining my perfection anyway, I stayed home with a 102 fever.

 

[candykisses]

Our school district allows one family vacation a year. DS had to get the signature of each of his teachers before the office would sign off on it.

Going durning the off season was wonderful until DS went to middle school. Even though the assignments were given ahead of time, some the subject material was harder to do, such as labs and foreign languages.

So, we decided as a family to switch to the summer months.

Oh, I forgot to add, while in elementary school the homework that he completed on vacation always put him ahead of what the class did while we were gone.

 

[blessedby3]

We always pull the kids out of school for Disney vacations, but nothing else. It is so worth it to our family to go in the off season. We have 2 in private Christian school and one in public high school. No problems with either school (especially the private school- family time is important time). We did have a problem with one particular teacher for oldest DD (she was in 10th grade) and it was her Honors English Teacher who thought no one should miss even one day of school for ANYTHING. I nicely pointed out to her that our family had not been anywhere for 2 years together and we needed this time and it worked out best for us to go the week after Thanksgiving. She took another tune with me and wished us a nice time. DD had no problems with doing her work and was actually ahead in some subjects when she returned. We will be pulling the kids out again this Dec. although it wont be a whole week. Youngest 2 will only miss 1 1/2 days and oldest DD will miss 2 1/2 days. This should be a piece of cake this year!!

 

[daisyduck123]

We've never had a bad experience & we pull DD12 & DS8 out (they miss 5 or 6 school days) each May. This past year, we also went to WDW in Jan. & then they missed another 5 school days. We just became DVC members this week, so I see many more trips in our future!!

BTW, I am a teacher & I pull myself out of school as well .

 

[DiGi]

I would pull my children from school. Can you remember learning anything specific during any week in 2nd grade? Family time and vacations are learning experiences themselves and are more valuable than any specific elementary school lesson.

 

[flortlebap]

I personally don't see a problem with it. My niece will be missing 11 school days, but she's a bright kid, I know she'll be able to catch up. It's worth it as it costs less to go off season, you could do the Dining Plan if you want to which would save you even more money, and the crowd levels are much lower.

If you're only missing a week or so, it's a drop in the water, I doubt your kids would miss out. But speak to them, see if they're comfortable missing school. And find out your school's policy, too.

 

[SGB13]

Mine will be missing 4 days for our trip this year. But I try to limit the days to as few as possible. The school may excuse one day, but the others will all count as unexcussed absenceses. Our school system is hard on you for missing days. I will probably get a letter from the school system letting me know that my kids have X amount of absenceses and if they get X more they will be at risk for being held back. And this is for a 3rd grader and a Kindergarder. (And my 3rd grader is already reading at 5th grade level.) Oh well, the things we do for Disney. But I really feel family time is just as important as school time.

 

[fakereadhed]

This topic really ticks me off. Public schools should concentrate on parents that are not making their kids go to school, not families trying to take a one week vacation together who have their children make up the work.

I plan on telling the school at least 3-4 weeks in advance. If they do not excuse them, I will pull them from the school and re-enroll them when we get back. If that's a problem I will take my tax dollars to another school district. I am not kidding.

 

[DaisyD]

We always take our kids out of school for vacations when they are in elementary school. Not so much in middle and not at all in high school. If your child is doing well in school then I see no reason not to. My DD will be missing 5 school days next week and another 5 days in February.

 

[Feelslikeadream]

I came across this link on the Mouse Savers site. I felt guilty using it but, I really could not of done that. The wording is great. All you have to do is fill in the blanks and change the he/she.

We are taking our kids out for 7 days. This is their first time. And our first major family vaca. Their ages are 9,9,5,3.


http://mouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SchoolExcuse/SE1.shtml

 

[SGB13]

Feelslikeadream- Thanks for the link for the letter! I might be able to get more days excused with that.

 

[mom*to*2*princesses]

I think it depends on your child and on the school district, but I can tell you how we approached it. I talked to the principal about a year before we were planning to go, just to see what the school's policy is. I didn't want to start planning and then find out that it was going to be a big hassle. She gave us the go-ahead, thankfully. Since we're not going until next April, I also spoke to my DD's teacher ahead of time and she confirmed that there is no testing scheduled for our time frame.

I think it's extremely beneficial to not approach it adversarially--us vs. them. Of course, there are districts where they do not want parents to take kids out for vacations, and that's just the way it is. You don't know what the situation is until you ask.

 

[horseshowmom]

Both my husband and I have been involved in public school education for many years. We would both support the family in this situation. Now if the child was out of school on a frequent basis or if the child was notorious for not getting work turned in, we might have more concerns. However, this isn't the situation here. For an average child, there is no reason they can't miss a week of school for something like this.

BTW, the letter on that link was great!

 

[almburr]

We pulled our 2 DDs out of school for the first 2 days of school. all the had to do for homework was to give an indepth report on everything. This year we will be taking our next 2 DS and DD in Nov. Will have to pull our DS out but he is in K. PLUS our school does not have school on Fridays so K. goes on T-W-R all day. So he will only miss one day. Will only have 1 days worth of home work. Yes our K has homework.

 

[ragamuffinkim]

How would you like this? My son is a public school in the preschoolers with a disability. I have had nothing but grief from the school about this and that. I informed the school that we would be gone for two weeks and they said they were going to remove him from the roster if he misses more than 5 consecutive days. THIS IS FOR PRESCHOOL! Because of Disability acts they must provide services to my son. Only after I threatned legal action did they become so suddenly accomidating understanding of the situation.