Shocked

[4Robins]

Last time I checked, this was the United States of America....Not early 1900's Russia. If you want to take your kids out of school for a vacation, NO ONE can stop you. The only people around my neck of the woods who have a problem with this are from Cambridge....nuff said!!! School systems and or the Government have no say in that and can not force anyone to "stay in school". If that was the case, there would be a zero drop out rate. Family time (mom, dad and the kids) is way more important than school time. And kudos to all you home schooling parents!! I will be homeschooling my kids once they reach junior high level because public schools have failed miserably!!! Teaching kids family first is the way to go!!!!

 

[sam_gordon]

Last time I checked, this was the United States of America....Not early 1900's Russia. If you want to take your kids out of school for a vacation, NO ONE can stop you. The only people around my neck of the woods who have a problem with this are from Cambridge....nuff said!!! School systems and or the Government have no say in that and can not force anyone to "stay in school". If that was the case, there would be a zero drop out rate. Family time (mom, dad and the kids) is way more important than school time. And kudos to all you home schooling parents!! I will be homeschooling my kids once they reach junior high level because public schools have failed miserably!!! Teaching kids family first is the way to go!!!!

Yes, parents can take kids out of school for whatever they want whenever they want. HOWEVER, they need to accept whatever consequences (truency letter, no homework/test makeup, held back a grade) result from that action. If you don't like your school systems consequences, don't enroll your kids there.

BTW, I went to public school... graduated college, and have worked for the same company for 20 years (with the associated promotions & raises). I don't think my public school failed.

 

[postage stamp]

If my husband were home we'd be going the last week of October. Both of my daughters are in half day school. (one in prek one in K) Well that week half day kids don't go because it's standardized testing and half days of school only. So my kids get a break. Would you know that just by looking at me? No. Would you know that my kids weren't SUPPOSED to be at school just by looking at them? No.

So what's the beef? I just don't get how other people's children are A) Any of your concern and B) Only become your concern when they are slightly inconveniencing you.

 

[4Robins]

Yes, parents can take kids out of school for whatever they want whenever they want. HOWEVER, they need to accept whatever consequences (truency letter, no homework/test makeup, held back a grade) result from that action. If you don't like your school systems consequences, don't enroll your kids there.

BTW, I went to public school... graduated college, and have worked for the same company for 20 years (with the associated promotions & raises). I don't think my public school failed.

Perhaps I should have been a little more clear about public schools. Public schools were fine when you and I were in them, over 20 years ago, but the school systems of today are nothing like they were then. Todays schools are more interested in being PC and pushing agendas to satisfy unions at the expense of nuts and bolts education. As far as truancy letters, they are given out for kids with an INEXCUSED absence. If you tell your school administrator you are taking them out and the school knows where they will be, they have no need to deal with the subject of truancy.

 

[Melanie230]

If my husband were home we'd be going the last week of October. Both of my daughters are in half day school. (one in prek one in K) Well that week half day kids don't go because it's standardized testing and half days of school only. So my kids get a break. Would you know that just by looking at me? No. Would you know that my kids weren't SUPPOSED to be at school just by looking at them? No.

So what's the beef? I just don't get how other people's children are A) Any of your concern and B) Only become your concern when they are slightly inconveniencing you.

I am not sure if you are posting to me but I can answer. Yes I could tell by looking at you. I can see the difference between a kindergarten/prek and a
4th or 5th grader. Huge difference. I wasn't insulting anyone...I was just shocked at the number of kids there. I did see a lot of kids that were from Tennessee. But I was referring to the people we met that were very open about taking their kids out of school. It wasn't just a guess.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Perhaps I should have been a little more clear about public schools. Public schools were fine when you and I were in them, over 20 years ago, but the school systems of today are nothing like they were then.

I graduated HS less than 20 years ago, and my public school education was fantastic.

Quite frankly there have been quite a few responses in this thread that make me wonder "why bother" to do everything I can to be the best teacher I can be? What's the point, when it's made so clear that so many have no respect for what I do? And yet, I continue anyways because I love the students - and that's what it's all about in the end.

But somewhere along the line the parent/teacher/community link was definitely severed, and THAT is what is affecting our current generation's education the most.

 

[HsvTeacher]

Add us into the Fall Break crowd that was there last week. That combined with Free Dining made for HUGE crowds! I think every family in our school system decided to go to Disney World.

 

[bdkane]

not sure if this was said - but, the UK "mid term" break is in late Oct, (23-30ish)

 

[SDSorority]

We were there too... but I didn't think it was PACKED. There WERE a lot of kids though.

 

[bdkane]

I will be taking my 5th grader out of school come Dec for a visit. I refuse to deal with the crowds during the regular breaks it kind of takes the fun out it - sitting for an hour in line with my 4 year old will break down the strongest of parents!. That being said she has not received a grade lower than a 90 in years- we take her out about 2 times a year as long as her grades keep up, we always let the teacher know well in advance and ask that they send home that weeks lessons in advance

 

[HappycamperGRF]

A few posters seem to have taken this a bit harsh. Everyone is entitled their opinions (hence your responses to OP are just that .. opinions just like the OP's might be in response).

Here is mine

If you are taking your kids out of school to their detriment (immediate); then that is a serious issue.

Otherwise, if there is no ill affect and you have figured the average time your child misses school a year for normal items (sickness, family emergencies, holiday travel) and the time you add to go to Disney is not putting you near getting in 'trouble' ... what is the issue?

My children will be missing school this year and next year. I have teachers in my family that have NO issue with this (their aunts and uncles) because:

(not in order of importance)

A: We are VERY involved in school activities
B: I am lucky and have two very bright children in AP classes, which involve MORE work than the average student but causes them little issues in catching up
C: That is the time that works for us as a whole, for true family time
D: Who doesn't want to avoid crowds (OP's original reasoning)

Teaching is hard and thankless, especially in todays society it seems. There are always exceptions to every rule and the above is my situation and might not reflect others. I beleive in making a blanket statement, that shows a narrow view. Have I been accused of a narrow view? Oh yeah, and most likely do in some areas, heck who doesn't.

I don't think anyone is wrong here unless they are forcing their OPINION on others. This is to all posters who feel the need to 'fight' for their opinion rather than simply state it. I don't agree with the OP if they think ALL kids should ALWAYS be in school regardless, but that is their opinion. I also do NOT agree with other people who say 'school isn't as important as it used to be' because that shows me your child might not become a contributing member to our society (that is MY narrow view and MY opinion). I could continue but you get the gist



Last note: I do feel for the OP who obviously wanted to plan a crowd free (as much as possible) vacation, and understand the frustration that might have prompted the original post. Just because opinions may differ, doesn't mean everyone and everything else is wrong or right.

 

[bdkane]

I will be taking my 5th grader out of school come Dec for a visit. I refuse to deal with the crowds during the regular breaks it kind of takes the fun out it - sitting for an hour in line with my 4 year old will break down the strongest of parents!. That being said she has not received a grade lower than a 90 in years- we take her out about 2 times a year as long as her grades keep up, we always let the teacher know well in advance and ask that they send home that weeks lessons in advance

I didnt mention my daughter - 5th grader - other than vacations has only missed about 3 days of school, if she were out alot - I would not allow the extra trips, hey - if she can keep up the A+ grades -this works for me

 

[ccgirl]

Perhaps I should have been a little more clear about public schools. Public schools were fine when you and I were in them, over 20 years ago, but the school systems of today are nothing like they were then. Todays schools are more interested in being PC and pushing agendas to satisfy unions at the expense of nuts and bolts education. As far as truancy letters, they are given out for kids with an INEXCUSED absence. If you tell your school administrator you are taking them out and the school knows where they will be, they have no need to deal with the subject of truancy.

Just curious if you have children in the school system? I ask because you say if you tell the school administrator you are taking them out they are not truant. That is incorrect. Each district is different. I can tell you a lot of districts in MA, which is where you seem to be from since you mention Cambridge, consider vacation unexcused at all times. Each parent needs to read their school handbook and make sure they are adhering to the policy laid forth and agreed upon (when you chose to send your child there). If you are not breaking any school policy, I do not see what business is it of anyone's whether or not a child is missing school.

 

[rbenn81]

We were there last week (Oct 2-9). Our kids attend a year round school and my wife also teaches at a year round school. Last week and this week is their two week break. I do not think that last week was any more crowded than when we went in 2008. Sun-Wed last week was very nice. Thur and Fri I did notice that the crowds did pick up a bit. But that was probably due to the Columbus day weekend approaching. We were at most of the parks for rope drop or arriving just after that and hit all the rides we wanted to multiple times.
THE only exception was TSM. We got fast passes at 9:30 (10-07) and was planning on doing the standby line but the line was well down the walkway with a posted standby wait of 45 minutes. So we just did it the one time. Went back on Friday last week to catch Lights Motor Action Show and stopped by afterwards at TSM to see what the wait was. It was posted 150 minutes. We didn't stick around. We enjoyed our trip and will be back in 2012 the same week. We love this time of year versus the summer heat and crowds!!!

 

[bobbiekins]

Never Mind. I had a bad day and there is no reason to take it out on the boards just because I am offended.

 

[Danibelle]

First week of Oct and the park is Packed. I can't believe the number of kids here. What happened to school?

I think a lot more kids are taken out these days. I guess school is not as important. At least that's what it looks like. Of course, some districts may be on fall break and there are the homeschoolers. I rarely had my kids out (over 1 day) when they were in public school. And the teachers did give us homework assigments even for a first grader.

 

[bits-n-pieces]

No actually my children are in year round school and are on their 3 week break. School is a priority in our family. Disney is great but we plan our trips around their school schedule not the other way around.

A much easier thing to do when you have year round school.

 

[itchin2go]

I did see a lot of kids that were from Tennessee.

Yep - we had fall break for 3 days (W, Th & F) of last week. In my daughter's class of 15, 4 families went to Disney World (and not together). Even the two days they had school last week seemed like "throwaway" days. On Tuesday morning, there were only 8 kids in the class and by Tuesday afternoon, there were only 4!

 

[Tammy296]

I've always wondered the same thing everytime we went. For some reason it always seemed hard to believe that other parents would do what we did and take their kids out for a week. Usually we try to pick a time when our kid is only missing 2 or 3 days out of the 7 total used toward vacation. I'm always like "THIS MANY KIDS?!?!"

 

[HsvTeacher]

Just wanted to add:

I have been to WDW in March (Spring Break), May (Memorial Day weekend), June, July, September, and October. I have NEVER seen it as crowded as it was on October 4 at Magic Kingdom.

We got there a little before 10:00pm to take advantage of EMH until 1:00am. It was so packed, that you couldn't walk down Main Street. They had to open up the walkway that runs backstage behind Main Street to Tomorrowland. It was shoulder-to-shoulder people.