Pulling Kids out Based on The Grade They're In

[TinkandAriel]

I hope I make sense here, I've done a search but nothing quite answers my question. Do you hesitate on pulling kids out of school for vacation based on the grade they are in? My personal situation: My dd is 7, and in 1st grade. She struggles a bit with reading, but is crazy amazing at math. She doesn't like her teacher, which I believe is 1/2 the battle with her reading. I'm thinking of a vacation in March or early April, and I'm wondering if it will make a huge difference in her performance by that time. I know it really depends on the individual child, but I just wonder what others input is on this. thanks!

 

[daisyduck123]

Hi!
1st grade teacher here...

I never hesitate to tell the parents to go on vacation if they have a chance.
(I have one student who has spent the past 10 days in WDW...she returns to our class tomorrow). The time of year really does not matter. In first grade, lessons are reviewed over & over again anyway. Anything of real importance is never just touched upon for 1 week & then NEVER brought up again...it's constant reviewing of skills.

BTW..I have a DD in 9th grade & a DS in 4th grade. I pull them out every May for 6 school days. I'm also pulling them out (and myself) next month..can't wait!!

 

[blessedby3]

I have kids in 12th, 7th and 3rd and we pull them out every year that we go (and have gone for the past 2 in a row, Jan will be the 3rd). We have never had a problem with getting work done and them staying on track. This will be our first year with all 3 in public school, though. The past years the younger two were in private and the older in public. I will say it was much harder getting the work ahead of time from the public school. The younger two always got their work ahead of time and had it done before we left. The older had to do some when we got back, but it is all worth it to go in the off seasons.

 

[rk5798]

I am also a former 1st grade teacher and I also agree with the other teacher that says, take them out. I remember my parents taking me out when I was in 3rd grade and then again in 9th grade(right before finals). I do think it depends a lot on your child and how they do academically and if they are going to have a hard time catching back up(I was always in all honors classes, so I had a pretty good worth ethic instilled early on-I was also pretty involved in extra-curriculars, so I had to learn to manage my time, actually from about age 6 on.). I think it is important that you take the time to enjoy family time but you also need to be willing to help your child get caught up. I know too many parents who want to leave "all" education up to the schools(which in my opinion is wrong), but if that is not you, and I am sure it isn't, then go and have fun.

 

[my3disneygirls]

I say go for it. I know some school districts are strict about this, but honestly I don't see why. All of the teachers I had ranging from Kindergarten to 8th grade felt that travel was an invaluable life experience. I requested home and schoolwork in advance. My girls were able to do everything given before the trip and anything else the teacher needed hands on with, she took on after the trip in school.

 

[I believe]

We are going Feb 6-12. Our oldest is in second grade this year. Our girls will miss 5 days of school for our vacation. I don't like to take my girls out of school but with the extra money for airfare and the higher crowd levels at this point the advantages are too great to ignore. I understand the schools are rated for attendance in our state and they really don't like parents taking their kids out of school to go on a vacation, but in the end it is our family and our kids are only little once. I wouldn't try to change their rules but I also don't see any real harm done for my family. We may reach the point where it becomes too hard for our girls to catch up at school, and we would certainly be willing to re-evaluate if that happens, but for now I am not yet at that point. I did pick the week before vacation thinking they wouldn't be tackling too many new things at school right before a break, that there could be snow days where no one was at school anyway, and we would have the real school vacation week to catch up on whatever she missed right after we return. Hopefully that helps.

 

[gianna2006]

I did pick the week before vacation thinking they wouldn't be tackling too many new things at school right before a break, that there could be snow days where no one was at school anyway, and we would have the real school vacation week to catch up on whatever she missed right after we return. Hopefully that helps.

I've done this in the past as well. My oldest is in 3rd grade this year and his teachers have always been good about giving him his work before we leave. We also have my son keep a journal of his vacation while we are away in addition to his classwork. The additional creative writing serves many purposes - he gets writing practice, it gives him something to share with his teacher and/or his classmates when he returns to school, and it gives us something to look back on as he gets older. The teachers also appreciate that we take his education seriously, even though we pull him out of school to vacation together as a family.

We plan on continuing to pull our kids out of school, reguardless of what grade they're in as long as they're good students, get good grades, and pulling them out doesn't interfere with any mandatory state testing or other important school events (by the way - my son is also AMAZING in math, but reading and writing are not his favorite subjects!).

I think you need to look at your own situation and child carefully. The things she struggles with now may not be a challenge any more by the time your vacation comes around. That being said, she may find new challenges that you need to work through. You just never know!!

 

[MSSANDRA]

I pulled my DS out all the way up to high school. Now it is just not an option as he has a school that is set up much like a college and will be taking some pretty tough classes. They can only miss 7 days of class in any subject and still get credit; excused or unexcused makes no difference. He also has asthma and sometimes ends up sick.I NEVER hesitated to take him out up till now.

First grade- no problem. While I am not of fan of doing homework at WDW, reading with her while you are gone will be great. Get some disney book s and enjoy the time together. sounds like she needs a break.

 

[bzzymom]

I took DS out of school in K, 1, 2 and 3. We had no problems at all missing school for the trip. He kept a journal, and every day he wrote down what his favorite ride or activity of the day. He is so proud of those, he has illustrated them as well and we still have them.

 

[mdoc]

I personally wouldn't worry about pulling a 1st grader out of class, even for a full week. I would make sure to work on reading with her while you were there, though. My kids are a bit older - 2nd grade, 6th grade and 8th grade. I wouldn't pull them out for a week, because the older ones would fall behind and it would be a big inconvenience for the teacher to try to give them packets of work and the like, but I will pull them out for a couple days. For example, the way our teacher conferences work, I can pull them out for a day and a half the week of Thanksgiving and get a 9 day vacation. Because of this we end up going to Disney only at busy times (Thanksgiving week and spring break). I'm not sure what I'll do next year when my oldest is in high school.

 

[Darcy03231]

Just make sure you check your school district's policy before you leave. Some of them have gotten very strict about unexcused absences (I know ours has). You wouldn't want your daughter to have to repeat the grade if she misses too many days.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

I hope I make sense here, I've done a search but nothing quite answers my question. Do you hesitate on pulling kids out of school for vacation based on the grade they are in? My personal situation: My dd is 7, and in 1st grade. She struggles a bit with reading, but is crazy amazing at math. She doesn't like her teacher, which I believe is 1/2 the battle with her reading. I'm thinking of a vacation in March or early April, and I'm wondering if it will make a huge difference in her performance by that time. I know it really depends on the individual child, but I just wonder what others input is on this. thanks!

This sounds like us last year. DS was in first grade, had a hard time with reading but loved math. We took him out for 7 days and I have to say he was no further behind when he got back then when he left. His teacher made copies of some little books for him to read on the trip and I made a journal for him to write in about his trip, but other than that there wasn't any catching up that he had to do. Academically, it was like he never left.

 

[disneymomtofour]

This is the first year we haven't taken the kids out for our trip to WDW. We have in the past and they were able to catch up just fine. We didn't do it this year because my oldest is in high school and it seemed like a lot to make her catch up on a weeks worth of work.

My only question is why March or April? That is a busy time at WDW. If you are going to take her out of school, I would try to go during the off -season. We really enjoyed our September and February trips because of the low crowds and less expensive hotel and air prices. If you are going during a busy time anyway, you won't be able to take advantage of any of these benefits.

 

[TinkandAriel]

hmm, I guess I wasn't thinking it would be busy in March (I must not've been thinking clearly, lol) and, the first year we went was in April and it was very quiet. I think of Feb being busy, only bc that seems to be when everyone up here goes to Florida

 

[Skatermom23]

In elementary school I would not hesitate to pull the kids out for a vacation. Middle school depends on the child and how they are doing. My kids are now in HS and there is no way I could pull them out for even a quick vacation. Enjoy the early years and take advantage!

 

[Darcy03231]

Winter/Spring break runs from the 2nd week in February through the end of April. Any time you go to WDW during this time it can be very busy. I've found mid-September into October to be the slowest time, and even that isn't really slow anymore.

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

January- mid February is a wonderful, EMPTY time to go! Late Feb. gets busy, as do March and April (to a crazy degree!). It also gets pretty hot then.

If you were thinking of March, I'd say maybe shoot for February

 

[Gillian]

April seems to vary quite a bit with when Easter is. Also I think New York City (and other parts of the state?) have break at the end of April.

Early May is nice.

 

[bxtx]

I just had a parent-teacher conference with my son's first grade teacher. Now admittedly, he is an "A" student and is doing well reading and math but I would have pulled him anyway. His teacher didn't bat an eyelid, and when I suggested he do some homework or project whilst we're gone, she just looked at me and "Let him have the week off, he'll have the time of his life!" How cool?! Our district has a policy of no more than 10 days unexcused in 6 months so so long as I adhere to that, we should be good.

We're going the 1st week of March so should avoid Spring Breakers and the Easter crowd. Had no problems getting reservations nor ADR either.

BX

 

[minnierocks]

We leave on Friday...our kids have gone somewhere almost every school year. My son is in 9th grade this year and my daughter in 7th, and I have to say that we have had no trouble at all. I was a little worried this year about it being approved, but the principal signed it right away and his teachers told him to have a good time.
Both of my kids are very good students and don't usually miss school, so that does factor into our decision to pull them out. As they have gotten older, I have tried to minimize the days that they miss. We are going for a week, but with the Thanksgiving holiday, they are only missing three days. Also, I look at the grading period and schedule our vacation in the middle of it. The beginning of the grading period is when they introduce new material and at the end, there are usually big tests and projects due...
I do NOT regret doing it at all!!! Time moves too quickly and my kids will be grown and on their own. With our busy schedules (sports, school, and work), we have to create time and the way that we do that is to go on vacation! What better place to make memories than at WDW!!!
Don't worry, go and have a great time!