Taking Child out of school for Vacation? Ok?

[kimberlyp02]

My dd will be starting K in August and we have a trip planned for September. I really dont want to go in August because of the heat and crowds. Also, we will have our ds too who will be 22mo old. We went in Sept last year and it was nice.

Anyway, we are wanting to go for 7-8days which would require us removing her from school for a week.

I have never had a child in school so can anyone give me advice as to how this is looked at or if it's a big deal? My concerns would be:

1. It's at the beginning of the year so I'm hoping she doesn't have too many sicknesses or anything that will require her to miss more days? I'm not sure how many they can miss total.

2. Is it better to miss an entire week or 1/2 of one week 1/2 of another. Let's say taking her out from Wed to Wed instead of Mon-Fri?

Any advice on how to do this? I am not looking in any way for anyone's flaming or arguments, just advice. I'm just clueless on this and wanting to know what the best steps to take are. Thanks!

 

[mericletwins]

My dd will be starting K in August and we have a trip planned for September. I really dont want to go in August because of the heat and crowds. Also, we will have our ds too who will be 22mo old. We went in Sept last year and it was nice.

Anyway, we are wanting to go for 7-8days which would require us removing her from school for a week.

I have never had a child in school so can anyone give me advice as to how this is looked at or if it's a big deal? My concerns would be:

1. It's at the beginning of the year so I'm hoping she doesn't have too many sicknesses or anything that will require her to miss more days? I'm not sure how many they can miss total.

2. Is it better to miss an entire week or 1/2 of one week 1/2 of another. Let's say taking her out from Wed to Wed instead of Mon-Fri?

Any advice on how to do this? I am not looking in any way for anyone's flaming or arguments, just advice. I'm just clueless on this and wanting to know what the best steps to take are. Thanks!

As a former K teacher (now 8th grade) I am not against taking kids out for vacation, but I would avoid taking them out the first month or so of school. There is so much being taught in terms of school/class routines and such. There is also a lot of bonding being done with school mates, teachers, etc. I would go, but try to push it to the first week of October.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I am also not against taking kids out of school for WDW, but I agree that waiting until October is better. When a child is starting a new school, especially K, that first full month is so important with having your dd learn the routines, getting into making new friends, adjusting to a new teacher(s), and getting used to her whole new school schedule. By October, she should have much of those adjustments under her belt and missing school just a little later in the year is probably easier than missing it earlier in the year. When your vacation is over, it'll be easier for her to jump back into K if she's been there long enough to be used to all of the routines and has made some good friends already.

About whether to miss a full week or to break it up.......If you're flying, sometimes mid-week fares might be cheaper than weekend fares. I'd go with when I could find a good airfare. If you want to attend MNSSHP, make sure that your dates will include one of those evenings.

 

[powellrj]

you also need to check your schools attendance policies. While many schools don't have a problem with it, thats not true in all cases. Our school has a strict policy and vacations are unexcused. I would mention it to the teacher and go from there.

 

[mom*to*2*princesses]

For peace of mind the first thing I did when I was in your position was just ask the principal of the school. I didn't want to go too far down the planning road before knowing if it was going to be a huge hassle or not. My DD is in kg this year and I asked her at the registration last year! I didn't really plan, and certainly nothing concrete, until I got the "go ahead". We leave in 22 days and her vacation absence request form is all signed, copied, and filed with no problems whatsoever.

That said, I think this will be the only year we are taking her out. Even in 3rd grade it's really hard for them to miss too much work. As for the logistics of missing days, we planned a Saturday-Saturday vacation so that she would only miss 5 days in the same week and would have a recovery day before going back to school. Using two weekends means she misses less days than spreading the vacation across two school weeks.

Good luck!

 

[maciec]

My dd is in K right now. We took her out in mid October for 4 days. I based our trip around a week where she had one day off so that it would be one less day that she missed. Her teacher was excited for her that she got to go. She said for us to take them out while they are this young in their school careers because it will get more and more difficult when they get older. I also would not recommend taking your dd out during the first month. However, you said that she starts in August, is it beginning, middle, or end? If it's the beginning I would say that September would be fine. Just give her a full month so that she can get aclamated (sp?) to everything that is new in school for her. Don't forget about MNSSHP in October also.

 

[WAHMto5]

We have one starting K this fall as well. The past few trips to WDW we have taken our kids out of school to go and it has been o.k. for all of them. I am a firm believer that it really depends on the child. I would not take my child out if they were struggling with school, but believe that every parents knows their child. We are also waiting until October, so it gives her a bit of time to get used to the class before we take her out for the week. I really don't think it matters either way if it is a full week or 2 1/2 weeks, you might want to check with her teacher. I always try to give the teachers at least 2~3 weeks notice that they are going also.

 

[kimberlyp02]

Ok, her schools starts Aug. 27th. Last year was the 10th! They passed something though where it has to start later this year. We are wanting to take our trip around 3wks later in Sept.

Reason being is the Free dining plan...IF it comes out. So we'd HAVE to be within those dates. AND...we went to disney last year and ended up with an airfare credit that we have to take this year by that time. So we decided to go back.

If the dining plan doesn't come out then October would be great and will probably be when we go.

As for her missing anything in education, she's been reading for months now. She can do addition/subtraction/etc too. She has always been extremely advanced for her age. So educationally I don't think she'll miss anything. My concern was also just getting acclimated to the class and how the teacher would feel about it.

I am planning on talking to the principal at registration this year, so it's nice to hear that worked out for you too.

If it werent' for the dining plan and our airfare credit, I'd be planning a trip toward the end of the school year April/May. It's just convenient for now.

 

[maciec]

Sounds like you have already made up your mind. go and have fun! The only thing that I would be concerned about is your schools atendance policy. We only get 10 days. I take only took dd out for 4 days because I am/was petrified that she would get sick, go over her 10 days, and end of getting held back because she missed the allotted time.

 

[TheMorgans]

I have 4 kids and we ALWAYS plan our vacations during the school year. The crowds are so much better and it just works better with our work schedules. The schools have never had a problem with it, but one of my oldest son's teachers did when he was in high school. His comment was "If I cannot get out of school to go to Spring Training, I am not going to excuse a student to go on vacation." The way we got around this was his physician wrote him a note that said - Tyler is a patient under my care and will not be in school the week of Feb xxx - xxxx. The teacher could not keep him from taking his work with him or making up the missed work. The MD did not lie in his note. Tyler had always been his patient and he would not be in school. No further explaination was needed.

I don't like to bully people around to get my way, but sometimes you have to let the teachers know that these are your children and you are the one that decides what they do. If I feel my child will not suffer any harm by taking them out of school for a week, then as their parent that is my choice.

This year we are taking them out of school about 2 weeks before the end of the school year. During this time there is actually very little learning that takes place. They have end of year parties, track and field days, field trips, movie days etc....

 

[kimberlyp02]

We do have our mind made up to go. But if there were huge problems, then we wouldn't or would go in August instead. I just REALLY want to avoid the crowds/heat of Aug if at all possible.

I also am concerned with the absences taken being that she was sick quite a bit this year due to it being her 1st year out of the house and in a preschool setting. I've heard their first 2yrs of school are the worst. So I don't want to leave it to where we are pushing close to her limit.

Oh, isnt' a doctor's excuse just saying they were out for a reason? I mean, isn't it still counted as an absence? Just an excused one?

I'm on the phone with the school now seeing how many days she will have and the details on their opinion of vacation at that time of school year. We'll see...I'll update.

 

[Georgia]

Hi!

The take your kids out posts seem to get really heated. I am a school teacher so take this with a grain of salt

I think it is wrong to take a child out of school for a vacation. Not because of the amount of work they will miss or days they may or may not miss later but because it sends the wrong message.

The message must be--school is the the most important thing in our life 8 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday from August through the end of May.

I know people will say--family is the most important but family time can occur other places than WDW.

Exceptions--elementary school not as bad as taking an older kid out. Also, if it is the only time you or spouse can get time off. I heard some of the nurses that took care of my boys saying that they had to work for years before they could get a summer vacation.

 

[Bibbidi]

My oldest will be starting K this year too. I didn't want to take a vacation in the fall mainly because it's her first year in "real" school and bonding is an issue that concerns me. She is very shy and has a little more trouble making friends because of it. I felt like I'd be doing her a disservice to remove her from the classroom so quickly after the start of school. We are traveling this May just before her pre-K ends and then again next May. I feel like missing a couple days at the end of the year isn't as big of a deal as it might be for her in the fall. Good luck with whatever you decide. Remember, that you can book your vacation to start on the last day that free dining is offered, and it will cover you for your entire vacation--so if the last day of free dining was say, Sept 27th, then you would be covered the for the 7 or 8 days that followed if you booked your trip to start on 9/27 (and didn't change resorts).

 

[kimberlyp02]

Thanks! I didnt' want the post to get heated, but knew it might. I've heard some strong opinions even from friends.

I appreciate your post, that's why I posted, I wanted to hear everyone's viewpoint. As for sending the wrong message, I can see how that would occur at an older age more. You can also see that I'm taking this seriously, not just who cares, I'll pull her out. We probably wouldn't be considering this at any other grade level.

I just got off the phone with the school and they were VERY friendly and helpful. She said that they can miss anywhere from 17-18 days of school whether excused or unexcused and that I can write a letter to the principal explaining our situation and he may excuse it for us. She said that the current principal is retiring, so she has no idea who will be next year's or how they will handle it, but the current principal always excused vacations. We'll see.

She did say that for K students it's not a big deal since they aren't involved in any of the testing that the other students go through.

The only thing is that I won't know who my dd's teacher is until Aug . I was planning on discussing it with them to get a good date for it. So I'll have to make a decision after talking with the principal, but I have NO idea when the new principal will be there either?

 

[DawnM]

Is this the local elem. school that she is designated to go to?

Why not just enroll her when you get back instead of beforehand?

Lots of kids enroll after school begins because of moves, etc....

Is K even manditory in your area? it isn't here.

Dawn

 

[kimberlyp02]

Yes, this is a local public school. I'm sure it is required here? Never heard of it not being required...

And I had no idea you could register late. Don't think I'd want to do that anyway. That'd put her missing an entire month of school instead of going 3wks then missing one. I think the latter would be better, no?

 

[Georgia]

Here is something else to consider...

I teach "big" kids so I have no experience with this...my kids know what is going on BUT my mom worked as an aide in a Kindergarten class after she retired from a utility company. At the end of OCTOBER she was helping students get their jackets and backpacks on and handing them their empty lunch boxes...same end of day routine since August. One little girl looked at my mom and said "where are we going now?"

Really, if Kindergarteners are still that confused by October a week a WDW won't hurt anything.

 

[leighe]

Hi!

The take your kids out posts seem to get really heated. I am a school teacher so take this with a grain of salt

I think it is wrong to take a child out of school for a vacation. Not because of the amount of work they will miss or days they may or may not miss later but because it sends the wrong message.

The message must be--school is the the most important thing in our life 8 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday from August through the end of May.

I know people will say--family is the most important but family time can occur other places than WDW.

Exceptions--elementary school not as bad as taking an older kid out. Also, if it is the only time you or spouse can get time off. I heard some of the nurses that took care of my boys saying that they had to work for years before they could get a summer vacation.

ITA. (But keep in mind I'm a teacher as well.) I would never take my kids out of school for a vacation just to avoid heat, crowds, peak rates, whatever. I would take them out if there wasn't another time when we could travel together as a family.

 

[knovak]

We are planning to go the last week of Sept. into the 1st week of Oct. We hoped to go in May but my husbands work schedule won't allow it. I wanted to wait until my DD's have 5 - 6 weeks of school behind them before we go. My youngest will be starting K and my oldest will be in 2nd grade. We will also be in a new state by then (God willing - that our house will sell this spring/summer) so I want them to get used to the new school friends thing. They both adapt fairly well - but I think it will be better to wait until they have a routine established in school. As far as SICK days out - we have to call our children in on a recording and leave their name, dates out and reason. They don't need a note to come back and there aren't a certain number of days that they can only miss. There are many families that attend our school that are from India, etc and will take their children out for 1 - 3 months of the year to go back to India. I think it all depends on the child. You know what's best for you and your family! Have a magical trip!

 

[feedindy]

I haven't read all the replies yet, so I apologize if this is duplicated. I do agree with a PP that mentioned it sends the wrong message. It sets the tone right from the start that it's okay to skip school if there is something we really, really want to do instead.

I have even had problems taking my DD out for out of town weddings. It has happened twice and will happen again this September-all unexcused absences. It will also set her apart right away from the other kids as one who gets to do something better than them. You may be creating some resentment with her peers before she has a chance to really make friends.

Another thing that may be a factor is a school's status. I don't know if this is state or federal, but 4-star status is dependent on attendance as well as performance. The better the school's rating, the more grants they will receive so if a lot of parents did this a school would literally lose money because kids weren't there.