Taking Children Out Of School For Disney Trip

[starusc]

I will be taking my nice and nephew to Disney at end of January. They will have to miss 3 days of school. In order to get it approved, we have to fill out a form stating what educational information they can obtain while at Disney and not a school. Can anyone give me any ideas what to put on the form?

 

[*EWooWDW*]

Well my parents had to do this for me. They put other things than just Disney that were around the Flordia area such as the Space Center. They put things about the Living Seas, Land, and all of the countries in EPCOT. They also put history of Walt Disney. For AK they added some things about awarness of the enviornment and zoology.
Hope that helps a little. Missing school wasn't too bad. It was worth it.

 

[bags6490]

Last year we had to make a book with pictures and information on a few animals from AK. PLuse we got all of DD's homework that we took with us.

Other than that in the note we just said that it was family trip and the talked to her teachers about where we were going. Seemed to work for us.

We are going in Jan and we will do the same thing this year with the note and everything.

 

[Marthasor]

I would include the KidCot activities at EPCOT - there are all sorts of things the kids can do in World Showcase to learn about the different cultures, languages and countries directly from the CM's and entertainers from those countries! Definitely, primary source material they cannot get in their classrooms! Other rides, pavilions and exhibits in EPCOT FW are also incredibly educational including Spaceship Earth, Universe of Energy, the Land, Living Seas - even Test Track explains how a car is tested for safety before it hits the market. I think EPCOT, in general, is like a huge, really exciting, interactive classroom!

 

[krissyh]

I am a teacher and have never heard of needing to get absences "approved". Is this private school? Or will they not allow them to make up work if they are not out for an excused absence? And honestly, depending on the state, in a public school, that might not even be legal.
Not that I like kids being pulled for vacation, but three days, if you get their work ahead of time, is not a big deal.

 

[*EWooWDW*]

I am a teacher and have never heard of needing to get absences "approved". Is this private school? Or will they not allow them to make up work if they are not out for an excused absence? And honestly, depending on the state, in a public school, that might not even be legal.
Not that I like kids being pulled for vacation, but three days, if you get their work ahead of time, is not a big deal.

Well for the absenses to be excused they had to be approved. I got to a private school in PA and that's what we have to do. If 3 days or more are missed we need an excuse from a doctor or we have to fill out one of these forms. That's how it is for us. I'm not sure about other schools.

 

[slp87]

I'm a teacher in TX and it's the same for us in my district. For my DD to get an excused absence I had to fill out a form and get prior approval. (Not that there's any punishment yet for unexcused absences.)

Be sure to take your niece & nephew over to Rafiki's Planet Watch at AK. My DD always finds it really interesting and there's lots of information about the animals and how they're cared for.

 

[Hanover]

A while back, someone posted a great link with a sample letter about what children could be learning on a trip to WDW. You may want to do a search for it. I think it was possibly from another Disney website, I can't remember for sure.
We are also from PA (Hanover!) and although my oldest is in 3rd grade in a public school, we have to submit an excuse form 2 weeks in advance of our trip. This also gives his teacher enough time to get his work together he will need to do. We make sure that we always inform his teacher well before the 2 weeks required. We are going next week and have gone at least twice a year since he was in kindergarten and have never gotten an unexcused absence. He will miss 2 days of school next week (He's off MLK Day and the day after) and will miss a week for a surprise Disney Cruise in May. Our May trip is over his 9th birthday and he thinks we are only going to the parks over the weekend. We told his teacher about the trips during parent conferences the first marking period and she thinks it is great. I asked in the school office how many days that they could take off maximum per year and still have excused and they told me as long as he's not truant or getting bad grades, there wasn't a maximum. We used to try and go only when he was on school breaks, but we found that it was very difficult for my husband to get those days off (he's a police officer). The two times my dh did get off during a school break, my son's school ended up having to make up 2 snow days (over Easter break!) and another snow day was made up over President's Day last year when we were on a Disney land and sea trip. I asked if they'd be making up any over MLK this year and they told me no, they'd do it over President's Day if they needed to do so.

 

[MBW]

Although, the ones I've heard of have withheld "approval" for some trips longer than a couple of days. I think that if mine did, I'd probably say, okay, I'll withdraw my kids from school the day they leave, and re-enroll them when we come back. The issue is generally that in some states, school district funding is based upon attendence, not just enrollment, so schools lose money if kids are out.

I did ask when I enrolled my kids a few weeks back in their new school if there's a off-schedule vacation policy, and was told no. Very glad to hear it, as we tend to travel a lot throughout the year.

 

[Tammi67]

That link referred to above I think was on mouseforless.com. I will try to find it.

 

[Tammi67]

Here it is:

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SE.shtml

DATE:

TO: [school official]

FROM:

RE: [students name and vacation dates]

Please be advised that [student] will be out of school during the week of [date]. We ask that his absences be excused.

The reason for [student]'s absence is that our family will be out of the state during this week. While we are gone, we will be visiting Walt Disney World. We believe that [student] will be learning many things during this trip and that his education will continue in his absence from school.

Some things [student] will learn about:

• Different cultures of the world, including architecture, language, diet, and dress, by visiting the different countries in the Epcot World Showcase (Japan, China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Canada, France, etc.) [student] will have the chance to explore the exhibits for each country and speak with natives from each country who work as cast members.
• American history by viewing the Hall of Presidents presentation in the Magic Kingdom and the American Adventure show in Epcot.
• Nature and conservation at Animal Kingdom.
• Science by exploring the Mission:Space ride in Epcot where he will have a chance to see and feel what it would be like to travel by rocket to Mars and by experiencing the Universe of Energy exhibit which teaches about fossil fuels, energy, and conservation.
• Economics by managing his own spending money and making budget decisions on how to spend his money.

[student] will also be learning about map reading by navigating in and to the different theme parks, as well as the resorts and water parks via the Disney bus system, sociological aspects of crowds including patterns and behavior, physics of the different rides, breakthroughs in technology at the Innoventions computer lab in Epcot, art and animation and the history of film, and mathematics.

We believe this will be a wonderful and educational experience for [student] and hope you agree not to charge him with unexcused absences as a result. If it is possible for [student] to take any assignments with him to be turned in when we return or to turn in before we leave any work that will be due while he is gone, please let us know as soon as possible.

Thank you for your attention to this. If you have any questions or need any further information, please feel free to contact me.

[Parent's Signture]_________

 

[Hanover]

This isn't the one I was referring to above about the sample letter, but it looked interesting:

http://allearsnet.com/pl/educ.htm

Tammi67 listed the site I was speaking about:

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SchoolExcuse/SE1.shtml

 

[canwegosoon]

My kids attend private school, and it is not a big deal for them. There are many DH/DW that work, and taking a vacation at school breaks does not work. Eg. my DH has a 7day conference the week before Presidents day...so no way he can also miss the following weak, and still have a job. The teachers know months in advance, and I also check the year before if there are any major tests given at the week we are planning to go. I would not go in a month of a big test(like the Iowa State tests). The teachers get a reminder notice about 2 weeks out-by then I know they have their lesson plans ready, and I can see if there is any work that can be sent home, but if the teacher wants to save it for after the vacation that is fine too. I already know that one teacher wants one of my children to keep a journal of his vacation, and I will bring other teaching aids to keep them on track. (I am also a certified teacher). I know the policies vary state to state, local to local, and even teacher to teacher. Being upfront, and honest about your vacation plans and what you plan to do to keep your child on track is a big help. Yes, I have been standing on lines for rides doing flash cards with my kids. Good Luck with your trip...I really think in this day and age of work enviroments, it is very difficult for families to get away during a school vacations.

 

[Mariposa]

Our school district has a policy stating that a child can only have 5 preapproved absences per year... after that they receive an U (unsatisfactory) in attendance. Due to my belief that I'd still be homeschooling at the time of our November trip and DFiance's work schedule, our trip was inadvertantly planned over 6 school days. Sure enough, the school approved her for 5 days, but not the sixth. We decided that we'd just deal with the U on her report card and take the sixth day as planned. Luckily, DD's teacher conveniently 'forgot' to put that on her report card and instead listed that she had 6 excused absences.

 

[starusc]

Thanks for all the responses, this will help greatly. New I cound find the information from the disers. Hope to see some of you the week of January 21 through January 26.

 

[PrincessLindy]

I taught in a district where the parents would pull them out without warning for 2 weeks, even a month, to go visit relatives in Mexico. The school didn't say anything. That was hard because meny of the students were struggling.

My DD's school last year was no big deal, as long as they were doing well. We pulled her out for a week to go to Washington DC and a few other days here and there. I know other students went to Disney World.

This year we moved and they are very strict. Five days for the year, including Doctor apointments. The kicker is that they don't even have a Spring Break. Pretty much you are only able to take vacations in June, July or August.

As a teacher I think that as long as the student is doing fine they should be allowed to have family time. Not everyone can get time from work in the summer. So these people aren't allowed to have family vacations?

 

[snowy76]

Up here a U means "unexcused" rather than "unsatisfactory". But I don't know know of any schools which look at a child's attendance record as an academic indicator, so as I parent I would not be too concerned by a half dozen U's during the course of a year (especially when the teacher knows where the child will be) on his/her long term school record.

It becomes an issue when that tally starts to climb -- talking double digits. We have CPS involved for some students in our school as it does not appear anyone is supervising the children enough to make sure they get to school. Other times the courts request the records in a custody case or child neglect case.

 

[idofabric]

And in Ecpot there is the Behind the Seeds tour. This is very educational. Also Disney has an educitional web site that has info on the tours and programs that schools use when they go down. A former teacher of my DS is gonning to take her Theater Art honor students and we have put together a plan that is will have science, art, theater, history, and some other stuff on it... for a 3 day trip! Sorry I can't remember the web site... it is for schools to book trips... but it would be a great tool for you to use in planning educational stuff to do, or to suport your trip if your school district is being a real stickler about attendance...
Best of luck!

 

[HollyJoy]

Many people have already replied with some great information! We didn't need permission to take the kids out, but I did have them keep a journal during the trip to document what they did, and what they learned. Epcot is a wealth of information from the LIving Seas, Spaceship Earth, and World Showcase. My girls learned about holidays around the world, and came back with thier passport will all the different greetings in other languages. There is also a ton to learn in Animal Kingdom!

Have a great trip!

 

[Pedler]

To anyone who knows I have to ask a question. Why is that the school districts (not all but some) require people to justify the educational experience for an absence due to vacation but dont' mind when kids miss school to go to band, cheerleading, sports and other events. I am not saying that they shouldn't do those things but they have about as much educational value as a family vacation. Is it some sort of government funding requirement that the kids have to be at the school or some other education experience?

We probably wouldn't pull the kids out of school for vacation (We can go at the end of August, hot but no crowds and much less expensive.) but I would have an issue having to justify it as an education experience. If a family needs to schedule thier vacation during the school year then they should just be able to say that they are on vacation and that is it. Fortunately our school district doesn't seem to have that requirement. Friends took thier kids to WDW in October and I don't think they had to write an excuse.

As our kids start to get older we are becoming aware of all the other activities that go on when they get to middle school and high school and some of them do require missing days of school.