Pulling kids out of school?

[EpcotLover]

Aren't there any of those laws in the USA and is it legal to take children out of scool as you please and after you have informed the scool?



Depending on where you live in the US, different school districts have different laws. In my little corner of the Michigan, children can not miss ten days of school in a semesters time (approx. 4 months). Our school district has a policy that parents may request up to 5 days "approved" vacation. There are steps they need to go through to get this approval. After that, the school can either fail the students and/or file truancy charges with the county.

Families that take their children on vacation to WDW usually aren't the parents that get truancy charges filed on them.

God Bless the USA ! =)

 

[4greatboys]

Marcel it varies from state to state. Some will excuse a certain amount of days for afamily vacation and others states do not excuse any time for that.

 

[Efastpitch]

Originally posted by 4greatboys
Gee Efastpitch it must be nice to be an expert on everyones family. You cannot begin to know what is best for every child and family
I have taken my kids out of school several times for trips. Their grades were the same (all good) before and after our trip. They did rec make up work. Many teachers do not mind given the kids make up work. They dont all have you "to bad so sad" attitude.
I do not understand why people cannot express their opinions like yes we do take our kids out or no we dont without feeling the need to put down others.
At teh end of the road my kids are still getting a good education and great family vacations--not an excuse but a fact.

To the OP--sorry to get a little OT and if your kids are doing well in school then it shouldnt be a problem for them when they return. However if they have a hard time in school then I probably would wait til they had a break. Good luck with whatever you decide

My we are special. The point is that you expect the teacher and the administration to go along with you when ever you tell them to. They have alot more important responsibilities then to just take care of you because you elect to go on vacation to WDW when it is the least crowded time of the year

In our school district, if you miss more then five (5) continuous days of school, you are by law turned into DEFAC's.

Parents today are looking for the easy way out when it comes to raising their children (not all parents). They blame the teachers and the administration for their failures (not all parents).

Your kids are doing well in school because they don't miss school.

What it finally comes down to is, you are taking your kids out of school for your own selfish reasons. You want to go when the price is low and the crowds are smaller.

At least admit that to yourself. Then if you must, take your kids out of school and enjoy your vacation.

 

[EpcotLover]

Originally posted by Efastpitch
My we are special. The point is that you expect the teacher and the admistration to go along with you when ever you tell them to. They have alot more important responsibilities then to just take care of you because you elect to go on vacation to WDW when it is the least crowded time of the year


Parents today are looking for the easy way out when it comes to raising there children (not all parents). They blame the teachers and the administration for there failures (not all parents).



I don't believe that the "parents" that you are referring to are those that are subscribing to this thread. I would guess you are a disgruntled school employee? If not, where are you getting that teachers and administrators have to "take care of" parents?

Sometimes being able to go on a vacation is dictated by those outside our control (i.e. spouses vacation time, dogsitter/housesitter availability, weddings to go to, babyshowers to attend, retirement parties to throw, etc. etc. etc.)

Isn't spending time with family reason enough? Does it have to be "selfish"? If so, call me the Selfish Queen.

Rock on Parents who spend time with their kids, whether it be at WDW or not!

 

[4greatboys]

Efastpitch you seem to be looking at this as "one size fits all" and that isnt applicable. Many teacher make their plans out a week or so in advance and even if you dont pick up the kids work before you go they still have all the info about what the class did. They give you a few handouts, pages the kiddo needs to read and maybe give a make test or two. The teachers I have come in contact with told my kids go have a good time. No one was acted angry or put out.
I have taken them out of school and it hasnt been a problem for those of us that it actually concerned.
Your exactly right about our family going when the price is lower and the crowds also. I dont feel bad about it. On the other hand I dont talk down to parents who only go when the kids has a school break. Im just confused as to why you are so angry at the parents who do take their kids out

 

[bevwells]

We are taking our three kids out of school, ages 14, 15, and18, for a week in April to go to WDW. They have never lost more than a day or two in each year of school. We have never had a big family vacation and since it's our oldest daughters last year in high school we feel this is our last and only chance to do a WDW holiday (when they start university, we will never be able to afford to go). Since it's costing us $5000.00 in airfare alone, to stay a shorter time is not worth is for us. I believe this will be a great learning experience for them. They are prepared to do the extra school work on their own in exchange for the holiday.

BW

 

[DisneyBrat]

Wellllll this is a HOT topic We took our 3 boys to WDW 2 years ago around this this time of year. They were in public elementary and middleschool. I talked to the Principal and teachers to get their opinion of me taking them out for 2 full weeks. ALL teachers thought it was a WONDERFUL and get this EDUCATIONAL experience. Especially to see Epcot,and learn about the countries and new technology. I feel that 1 or 2 weeks is NOT going to make your child fail or loose SAT scores GO ENJOY and Efastpitch LIGHTEN UP life is too short to be so anal and uptight...


Lew

 

[Efastpitch]

This is a great topic. The responses were not what I expected,but they have provided a tremendous amount of information for my report. I was really interested in the responses. The largest number of people were more than willing to remove their child from school to go on vacation. This went against what I thought would happen. The anger was unexpected and will add a completely different aspect to my report.

People became very defensive when how they raise their family is questioned. Very interesting.

I hope all of you have a wounderful vacation and enjoy the remainder of your school year.

 

[Minnie Mare]

I have been going through some tough times (not health reasons) for the past 5 months or so. I've decided to go to WDW and have some fun for my birthday. I'll be taking my DS12 in MS, out of school for the week and I have been worried about this. My DD14 in HS is not joining us because she wishes not to miss any school. My DH is staying home as well, so it will be just me and my DS. I have never done this before. I have not contacted the school as yet. For those of you who have done it, who should I contact first? Do I call his homeroom teacher and follow up with all his teachers? Do I call the Vice Principal or Guidance? I have debated the "missing school" issue for years and I've never done it, but this year I decided to do it and we are very much looking forward to it. I just hope it all works out with his school and that it doesn't cause any problems for him. I have no objection to him doing each day while there and keeping up on what is going on at school, if they will be kind enough to give me the work.

 

[perpetualplanner]

In my experience I let the teacher know at LEAST a month ahead of time and ask her opinion. If she says my child is struggling or will miss important work then the trip can be moved or cancelled but that's never happened. I'm lucky and my children do not struggle in school and their teachers always say exactly that. For my kids they encourage us to go and spend that great quality time. I then let the front office know how many days and which ones we will miss.

This all being said - my oldest is only in 2nd grade and is ahead of the game schoolwise.

 

[anewvance]

My daughter started pre-k this year. So far my daughter has missed 5 days of school, 2 were from long Disney weekends and 3 because she was sick. She's going to miss a day next Monday due to us being out of town & again at the end of Feb for another long Disney weekend. I know that 5-7 days are easily what a family takes for a vacation but I feel so guilty of her missing so many days. And this is in pre-k!!!! LoL. We are lucky enough to live in South Florida so long weekends at Disney work for us. As for missed work, they have everything sent home at the end of the week and if she missed a day, they just send the worksheet home and she does it and brings it back. But the teachers always seem annoyed even when she's just missed ONE day. So I don't know...

 

[perpetualplanner]

anewvance - if it makes you feel any better think about the kids who miss numerous days due to illness. 5 days is NOTHING in Pre-K. Any child with a chronic illness (strep, chronic ear infections, asthma, etc) misses a lot more than that.

 

[dennisnlisab96]

We have 6 kids (12,10,6,4,2,10mo) and we take them out of school every year for a family vacation. The ones that are in school (12,10,6) are all doing very well. If they were not I don't think I would pull the out of school.

We feel family time ALL together is really important. The only way for us to afford Disney is to go at off times. Summer is too hot (4 year old daughter is adopted and has medical problems and does not sweat well) there for summer is not and option.

I do not expect my kids teachers to give us the work ahead of time...if they do that's great. My kids know that they have to make ALL work missed. Last time they worked on the stuff on the plane and also a little everynight so that when we returned they had all the work done. I already mentioned to their teachers that we would be going away...all of them said they wished they could go!!

My 12 DS is in middle school and he is going to be writing a report on France and Canada for his french class. As for the other 2, thier teachers said they would be happy to put together a packet of work for them.

Some of my best memories from when I was a kid were family vacations in Disney...I want my kids to be able to have the same great memories!!

 

[HHMcG]

I know I shouldn't respond here because it is controversial, but I will....

This is my opinion from my life experience. I'm just trying to show another point of view, of why I feel I would never take my children out of school for a vacation. You may not agree with me but I hope you will at least consider the different perspective.


As the daughter of two educators I was raised in a home were education was a strong focus. The only time I can remember being taken out of school when I was not ill was my grandfather's funeral and to visit colleges and even those felt 'wrong'. Many of you have good 'reasons' for choosing to pull your child out of school but just remember it is your choice.
You can say "hey, my kid could miss a week of school being sick, so what is the difference?" You can pull your kid out of school for a week for a vacation and they can still miss another week being sick! "A family vacation is just as meaningful / important / memorable as their education" As a child my family vacation were always so special and meaningful and always in the summer. "Spending time with my kids is good for them" Absolutely!! but do you only spend time with them on vacations? Don't you spend quality time with them every day. And isn't there enough time to plan special things around school schedules. "My child will make up all the work they miss." It takes a lot of work for a teacher to pull together a weeks worth of work for a student to make up. Give make up tests and grade late homework takes time. What if every parent pulled there child out of school for a week. Teachers would spend all there time making up work with these students.
My mother (father is now retired) is a very dedicated teacher who spends 7:30am - 5pm every day in school, grading test, preparing for the next day etc.. Most nights she spends a few hours at home preparing, also. She works much harder than I do at my professional desk job. I know it is a burden on her to have to arrange work for students who miss school. She will always pull the work together for the student because that is the type of person she is. She does everything she can to help her students succeed, even if it does take up a lot of time and take her away from her own family. You may be asking more of your child's teachers than you realize.
I also feel this is setting a precedent that it is ok to miss school. Once a child is older and something else fun comes along they may not think it is a big deal to skip a day of school to go to that cool concert or whatever.
I could never pull my children out of school for a vacation. I just feel it would be too selfish of me to do that.

 

[4greatboys]

HHMcG--I dont think your going to be flamed for having an opposing POV. I think everyone here has the right to do what they feel is best for their family. I get angry when others feel the need to act superior or treat other posters as though they are horrible parents because they dont all view things the same way.

 

[bevwells]

Well Spoken, 4greatboys

BW

 

[Chris0517]

Dear Epcotlover:

Thanks for your kind words and support!!

I'm sure all will be fine and we will have a memorable time!

We took the kids skiing last year for only two days and they are still talking about it!

Thanks again
Christine (Chris0517)

 

[CarolDel]

thought I would write from a UK (Scottish) perspective. We have 10 days per year that we can take the children out of school for. any more is listed as unauthorised absence.

We are told that the school will not prepare any work, "so please do not request this".

We thought long and hard about taking our lads ( 12,11 & 10) out of school for a holiday, and tried to weigh up the pro's & cons:

I should maybe explain that eldest has Aspergers, as this was another important factor.

Pro's -
March/April time is better heatwise for eldest ( and us all, lol) to cope with
taking them out of school a week before the Easter holidays (2 weeks) started would have less impact than going after and missing the first week of a new term.
It is beneficial and educational for the lads to experience a "familiar but different" culture.
They will still have a week of Easter holiday after getting back home to unwind rather than arriving back home jetlagged and have to go to school straight away

Cons
Even going just before the April holidays really started is still very expensive
they will have to catch up when they get back to school.

So for us, these reasons helped us make the decision.
when we get back home the school will still be on holiday so it is a much longer holiday and therefore a longer break from formal education.

So it's not always due to cost or convenience - my lads are well aware that this is a one off - this is the first time we have taken them out of school, but for us the benefits make it worth it.

As for their work they are missing, their classmates will let them see their jotters and I will bring them up to speed over the easter week and they will all be doing journals to talk to the
class(es) when they get back.

 

[EpcotLover]

Chris0517 ~

My pleasure...trust me, I've seen whacky parents who see no value in education, never mind asking for homework before taking their children out of school!

I read and respond to these threads to give support but to also get it, as well. Parenting is hard. My husband asks all the time if we are doing a good job, and I reply, "ask me in 20 years.

have great fun!

And to CarolDel and the Scot brigade! Have a swell time on your first trip out. I have two young men on my caseload this year with Asperger's. God bless you!

Nicole from Michigan

 

[AmazingGrace]

In the summer of 2002, our family went to the World, and had an amazing vacation. Our family was together, healthy and happy, and we felt that nothing bad could touch us.

We came back from vacation, the kids started school, Rick went back to work, life was "normal".

Fast forward to the early winter of '03. My seven year old son started having these "episodes" These episodes turned out to be seizures, and the seizures turned out to be caused by a brain tumor. The pictures Benji wanted in his hospital room were the ones we had taken at Disney. The last few minutes before surgery, he wanted to talk about Disney. It was a very special vacation for benji. Remembering it made him smile through a terrifying time.

We thought we'd never see "normal " again.

We were grateful that we had our trip to Disney to remember as one of the all time greats for our family. It was truly special.
For us, it wouldn't have made it any less special taking the kids out of school or not.

I guess my point is, if you have a chance to do something really special, DO IT!!!! Don't worry about school. Work can be made up!! Make those special moments, because you just never know.

We're all getting to go back to Disney this summer, but it's bitter-sweet. Benji's chose Disney for his "wish". The only reason we're not going before this summer is because of my husband's deploying this spring!

God bless!