Taking a kindergardner out of school

[lokin4deer]

I am looking for opnions from everyone. We are planning a trip to WDW sometime this year. My DD will start KG in Aug/Sept this year. I kinda planned going in early Aug my wife thinks it will be to hot to enjoy ourselves. She says we can take our DD out of school in Sept/Oct and go. I dont feel like we should take her out of school for vacation. She says that DD will be fine. She is extrremly bright ahead in her preschool class her teachers tell us all the time how bright she is. So I dont think it will be a question of being left behind in her studies. To me its more about just being in school its the way I was raised I didnt miss school I dont miss work. I guess to me its more of a prinipal thing but I wanna make sure I am not off base on this. We had a discussion about this last night that ended with nothing being resolved. I want to find out what others think or if they have done this. Thanks

 

[Rapunzel]

Our son is in pre-K right now, and he'll be in Kinder when we go to WDW in October.

We decided to go during Columbus day so we leave on Weds the 3rd, come home on the 10th. Friday the 5th the school is off and the 8th is columbus day. So he'll be missing 2 less days then if we went during a "regular" school week.

I called his school to see if it would be an issue, and the secretary said that they have kids go to mexico for weeks at a time so it won't be a problem for him to miss 4 days of class. If there is homework we'll take it with us, and while his little sister naps in the afternoon we'll work on his homework, or do it on the airplane.

 

[2forMe]

No problem here .. we are going to do that too. IMO taking a child out of the lower grades is not a problem. A family vacation is worth more than a week of school any day for me.

 

[MinMouse]

When my DDs missed school in the younger grades they were almost always given a "journal assignment" to complete. It was fun to have them write about their Disney adventures each day. I have to admit they have missed some school almost every year for our Disney trips. We try to pick weeks that they already have a few days off to lessen the number of days they are absent. My girls are good students, are not absent a lot (other than for our trips and my husband has difficulty getting summer vacations off from his work). I would check with your child's teacher or school principal to see if there is any policy for absences at the school.

 

[Gillian]

I would also check your school calendar to see if there is a good week for your child to miss. Looking back on my son's calendars for K & 1st, there were a lot of times we could have taken a trip and not missed much or any school.

We took DS out of kindergarten 2 weeks. One was the second week of December, and while he didn't miss much of anything at school, it was really chaotic for me to be away right before the holidays. Then the week he came back was mostly parties!

The second time we took him out was a 1 week extension of his April break for Easter. That worked pretty well for everyone, and I don't think much was going on that week at school.

 

[auntie]

We are talking about kindergarden...do it now while she's still young. You mention that's she's bright and it won't be a hardship, or put her at a disadvantage. I would say if she were older and missing a few days would have her fall behind..that would be another issue. I think there are really two different issues when it comes to taking a child out of school for a vacation. One being if they are able to keep up with their studies..and the other seems to be what you are refering to ..If it's the "right" thing to do. I don't think you have a concern regarding her school work...only you can decide if you think it's a right or wrong to remove her. Personally..I wouldn't make too much of it at this point. She won't become a juvenile delinquent because she missed a few days of kindergarden. Relax and enjoy the time with your daughter.
I will also mention that by the time she is older..it probably will be more of an issue. My son is in high school. School policy is that students can't miss more than four consecutive days without returning with a Dr.'s note. We will be looking for a time period when they have a Monday holiday so as get that week away. So..do it while it's not an issue, you'll be glad you did.

 

[natenapril]

MY DD will be in K this Dec when we go and I have no problem taking her out for a week. It is K so I can teach her anything she may miss while we are at WDW.

 

[daisyduck123]

Hi! 1st grade teacher here...

I say, "Just go." I wouldn't give it a second thought.

Some people will flame me, but face it...."it's just Kindergarten".
Anything material taught while she is gone, will be covered again in the future.
That is one thing about the primary grades...we do a LOT of reviewing.
If you're absent, no worry -- the material will be covered again.
Heck, every week, I review stuff taught as far back as last fall (fractions, addition, subtraction, telling time to the hour & 1/2 hour, contractions, main idea, etc.)
That's how younger children learn & retain info....by repetition.

I take my DD12 & DS9 out every year in May & they miss 6 school days.
Last year, we went to WDW twice, so they missed 11 school days.

BTW, I can almost guarantee you that her Kindergarten teacher in the fall will say, "Go & have a good time!".

**One of my own students is there right now...I'm sooo jealous!!!

 

[Elmo888]

We took DD out of school, first grade, for 5 days, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

One thing to consider about taking a kindergartener...Even though DD went to preschool, she was out sick for 12 days in kindergarten, either with a fever or strep. She's only been out for one day this year. I know that this doesn't happen to all kids and there could be a number of other factors, like she may be more prone than others, last year may have just been a bad year for viruses, etc., but it is just something to consider.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Take her out, but not until later in October (IMHO). Let her bond with her classmates for a while before the disruption.

When DS was in elementary school I thought nothing of taking him out of school for a week. I loved it. One year, I think second grade, he was out for a week in the fall and a week in the spring. No biggie.

You know your daughter. If she's a good student she'll miss nothing.

My DS is in 7th grade now and really can't miss school anymore. His classes are hard and a week out of Algebra or Spanish would be a week too much. I miss the days of traveling off season, but I figure he'll be in college in 5 years and DH and I can resume the old pattern.

 

[loopner67]

Well, I've taken my oldest son out of school twice already to go to WDW (he's in 3rd grade) and I'm taking him out again in April.

What helps is to talk to the teacher ahead of time and get the work he/she could miss. Maybe incorporate in whatever they are working on in school into the trip. Last March, my son was doing all kinds of 3D shapes in school so we searched for them during our time in the parks and he wrote about them. Lights, Motors, Actions was a great place to find cylinders since there were barrels everywhere and the big Sorcerer's hat is a cone!

This year, he's doing social studies this marking period and he's learning about other countries. Could it be any more perfect? We'll be exploring the countries in Epcot and then he'll write about what he saw/learned.

I have been lucky and have had very understanding teachers who've helped us get the work together and haven't given us grief about taking our child out. This year, both of my boys are coming out since my youngest started Kindergarten. His tasks will include reading and maybe even writing in the journal pages that I printed off of The Mouse for less... http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kidsdownloads.shtml

Good luck with your decision. Go with your gut and what you are comfortable with.

 

[dfarner]

We took DD out of school, first grade, for 5 days, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

One thing to consider about taking a kindergartener...Even though DD went to preschool, she was out sick for 12 days in kindergarten, either with a fever or strep. She's only been out for one day this year. I know that this doesn't happen to all kids and there could be a number of other factors, like she may be more prone than others, last year may have just been a bad year for viruses, etc., but it is just something to consider.

Our situation sounds similar to Elmo's. We took DD5 out for 5 days this past August to go to Disney and had absolutely no problem with school administration on this. But this past winter, DD has been sick w/ strep, viruses, even the Peter Pan salmonella thing in the last couple of weeks, and has missed even more school. That's really the only bad thing about taking them out-you can't predict what the rest of the year will bring (sickness, family emergencies, etc...). However, we have taken DD to the doctor, got the doctor's notes, and the school hasn't said anything.
As far as her age and missing school, I think that it is fine. You mentioned your work ethic, and I entirely agree with you on that, but she'll just be in Kindergarten, so I would take advantage while I could.

 

[Ilovefozzie]

We are taking our DKids out for the week before Easter and going to Disney. They are actually only missing 3 days out of a 9 day trip. We worked it around time off the school was already giving them.

DD is in Kindergarten and DS is in 5th grade. In both cases the teachers have told us to go and have a great time. We realize that this might be the last year we can do this since DS is going to be in middle school next year. But honestly, both of DD's teachers have expressed how jealous they are, and can they get packed into our suitcases?

 

[irish dancer]

I'll be another to vote for going in Sept/Oct. I agree with a previous poster though to go later in October. We have taken our kids out of school every year except last year with no problems and the eldest is in 4th grade. It took her less than a week to complete the missed work when she returned. The only thing her teacher asked was if it was a "fun" vacation, since it was Disney she didn't send the work with us just told her she could do it when she got back! We did go in August 2005 and it was so H-O-T that we vowed that summer was the dead last resort for a trip. Our ds6 is on the autism spectrum so going during less busy times are a necessity.

If you are worried about her missing work try to work it around some days off to minimize the days missed.

Have a fun trip!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I'm going to agree with what everyone else has said. Take her out and have a good time! I have two kids - kindergarten & 5th grade - and we took them out of school to go last October. We picked a week when they were already out of school 3 days (parent/teacher conference & fall break) so they only missed two days of school. We also spoke with their teachers in advance to be sure that missing the days wouldn't hurt them, ie nothing important was going on those two days, both teachers said the boys were doing well in school and to go and have fun.

 

[Lauralee131]

We took our DS, who is in kindergarten, out for a week in December and his teacher was fine with it - she had lots of advance notice, but didn't give us any work early, we made it up when we got back, a little each night for about a week following vacation...

We'll be taking him out again next year...I think it's totally worth the memories of a fun, family vacation, as long as we make sure he makes up any lost work so he doesn't get too far behind...

 

[mericletwins]

Take her out, but not until later in October (IMHO). Let her bond with her classmates for a while before the disruption.

I agree with this. I would not take her out in September because there is so much being developed and learned as far as social skills, school and classroom routines, bonding etc. I would go, but pick a different month then September, which, is also very hot.

 

[Kellyscrapbooks]

I am looking for opnions from everyone. We are planning a trip to WDW sometime this year. My DD will start KG in Aug/Sept this year. I kinda planned going in early Aug my wife thinks it will be to hot to enjoy ourselves. She says we can take our DD out of school in Sept/Oct and go. I dont feel like we should take her out of school for vacation. She says that DD will be fine. She is extrremly bright ahead in her preschool class her teachers tell us all the time how bright she is. So I dont think it will be a question of being left behind in her studies. To me its more about just being in school its the way I was raised I didnt miss school I dont miss work. I guess to me its more of a prinipal thing but I wanna make sure I am not off base on this. We had a discussion about this last night that ended with nothing being resolved. I want to find out what others think or if they have done this. Thanks

I absolutely would take your daughter out. I'm taking my son out of 1st grade in Sept/Oct and my daughter out of 5th.

Last year my son was in preschool so I didn't worry about it at all and my daughter was in 3rd. Her teachers told us to go with their blessing.
To me, when the only time you CAN go is during the school year (due to dh's vacation schedule) family time is far more important than 5 days of classes, at least at these ages, I may change my mind in the future as they get older and have more difficult schedules, but for now, they are only young once and my husband doesn't get the option of more than 1-3 days of vacation in the summer, ever, and he's on call during that time. Fall or spring are our only options. I wish you good luck in whatever choice you make.

 

[mom*to*2*princesses]

We're taking our kindergartener out for a week at the end of April. At registration last February I asked the principal about the school's policy--didn't want to make plans if it was going to be a real problem. It turned out to be fine so we went ahead and booked. I've already talked to her teacher about it too. We would not have planned to take her out if the school had frowned upon it.

I would wait until a little bit into the school year rather than first thing after it starts, just to get into the routine.

 

[lokin4deer]

Thanks for all the replies I really appreciate them. It seems that I may be off base on my thinking here. Imagine that I might have been wrong about something and my DW may have actually been right . Thats probably the first (OK maybe second) time thats happened since we have been together Again thanks to everyone makes my decision a lot easier.
So hows the weather in Oct?