Taking 1st grader out of school for 1 week

[maddiesmom0116]

I am also pulling out my 1st grader for a trip in a month. I plan on telling the teacher next week at the BTS night. Our school district considers all vacations as unexcused absences. You can have 5 days per year unexcused and 10 excused illnesses w/o a DR's note. After those days are exhausted then they do turn you into social services unless all illnesses are given a doctors note excusing them from school. I am not sure if that actually happens or they just say that. My DD rarely gets sick (thankfully) and if she does I will just take her to the doctors office and get a note.


I always went on vacation with my family during the school year and my grades never suffered and DD is at a grade level higher.

I see no issues with it as long as you feel comfortable it will not negatively impact your child. You are the parent and you have every right to manage your childs time and activities.

 

[At World's End]

I pulled my first grader out for 6 days for our trip last January. I felt nervous about it, especially after he had missed 5 days with H1N1 in October. I told his teacher in October. He was very supportive. I think it also helped that I volunteered in the class every week, my son was one of the top students in his grade, he had no behavioral problems, and he learned things very quickly. I expressed my concern that DS would have trouble keeping up with the others, and his teacher had no worries. We didn't even have any homework assigned for that week. I did prepare a journal for DS to work on. His teacher was so impressed that he asked for copies for other students who make the trip in the future. He had DS present his journal to the class, and everybody loved it.

DS was a little wound up on his first day back, but he settled back into the routine with no problem. The trip was the focus of countless writing projects for the remainder of the year. His teacher said he wished the HE could make a trip like that during the school year.

We're pulling him out for 7 days next January for another trip. I know that I won't be able to do this for much longer, as his workload increases. But at this level, I know that there is nothing that they will be working on for that week that I can't help him keep up with or make up either before or after the trip. I'm sure that will change in the next few years.

 

[laughinplace199]

My kids are entering 6th and 4th grades. I have taken them out every year (anywhere from 3-5 days each time). They go to a private school, so although they encourage families to take vacations during school breaks, they understand that it's not always possible.

I tell the teacher about a month in advance. Then I send in a note a couple of days before our trip, simply stating that my child will be absent from this date to that date due to a family vacation.

Our school has a policy that work will not be given in advance. The kids have to make everything up when they return. My kids do well in school and their make-up work has always been done within a couple of days after their return to school.

I really wouldn't worry about missing a week of 1st grade.

 

[wanttobeinvienna]

Well-- here is my thought... although please keep in mind that I am quite possibly the worst parent in the world

We have a total of 4 kids, 2 in year round, 2 in traditional,in grades 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th, and we are pulling all 4 out for 4 days in October. We did the same thing last June. Last year- I wrote a letter, explained what we would do to make the trip educational, and basically busted my butt so the kids absenses would be marked as excused... and they weren't- they were counted as unexecused. And guess what, it made not one bit of difference in their school year!

This year- I have told the teachers that they will be out that week... and 2 of the 4 teachers recommended that we just say they were sick. Encouraging lying...yes. Terrible, wrong, horrible, etc...yes. But just goes to show that the teachers aren't really to worried about the kids missing. Family comes first, and although we are extremely committed to our children's educaiton- we are also aware that not everything falls under the school calender. Now missing a week in popwarner football season is a different story

 

[delmar411]

DD6 is in 1st this year and I already told her teacher that she'd be gone for a week in Jan. The way they run the class is almost entirely hands on so DD will miss whatever those activities are and they can't be duplicated. DD is not ahead by any means but she's right on par for her grade level. The teacher told me that she would also be gone for a few of those days so I'm hoping the kids pretty much have a do nothing week (it's the first week back after winter break).

DS5 will miss a week of K but he's already met the K milestones for the year so I don't think he'll be missing anything. DD12 will also likely miss very little. DS4 won't miss anything other than his friends for that week (I'm going to miss pre-school next year!)

I'm not looking forward to the daily phone calls x3 though. It's all automated and they'll call for each missing child and they don't take pre-arranged absence notes into consideration.

 

[judypriv]

Wow, Things have changed since I was in school! My parents always took us out of school for 2 weeks each year for vacation and no one ever cared. We got all our work when we got back makeup quizes, tests, etc.

My kids are in preschool but I dread this one day. My husband is GM in a huge chain restaurant and he CAN NOT take off holidays at all except Christmas day. He can't take off at all in the summer either and he works 6 days a week, 12 hours a day so vacations are a really important part of our family life. It's the only time we all get to be together 24/7.

 

[eyor44]

Please check your schools rules on absences.

That being said, I just send a note the week before stating that we are going out of town, list dates and that DS has to go with us. I don't give any info as to where or what we will be doing. I was once asked after the fact about Disney World and I told them, yes, we went to Florida and yes, we visited WDW while we were there.

Now that DS is in High School, we don't feel comfortable taking him out for a full week, so we go during Thanksgiving. But, in my opinion, elementary is just fine if the child is doing okay grade wise.

I did ask for any work that we could take along and the teacher sent everything she could for the week.