Taking kids out of school..any problems upon return

[tomboy_m]

For those of you who have taken your grade school aged children out of school for a week... Did your child have any problems when returning either with the social aspect or the academic aspect. I am thinking about taking my DD when she is in first grade either on a November Disney Cruise or for September free dining if it is still in effect.

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

For those of you who have taken your grade school aged children out of school for a week... Did your child have any problems when returning either with the social aspect or the academic aspect. I am thinking about taking my DD when she is in first grade either on a November Disney Cruise or for September free dining if it is still in effect.

Nope. No problems here. We took DS out for 6 days in 1st grade and my younger son from kindergarten. It doesn't even feel like they left. This was about a month ago.

 

[asmit4]

For those of you who have taken your grade school aged children out of school for a week... Did your child have any problems when returning either with the social aspect or the academic aspect. I am thinking about taking my DD when she is in first grade either on a November Disney Cruise or for September free dining if it is still in effect.

Problems tend to occur in districts that have harsh 'no vacation' policies. I would contact your school and find out what their policy is. With that said, even if she misses 1 week of school, and can't make up any of the work (per a harsh policy), it's 1st grade. They do a gazillion worksheets over the course of a year. Even getting all 0's on them for a week, won't hurt her grades too much. Even if she ends up with a C in a class (provided your 1st grade even gives out real grades), it's not like HS where a C could seriously hurt college entrance.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We took dd (6yo) out of first grade for a week in December.

During our first week back home she told me three or four times (whenever I was prodding her to do something or move faster)....

"Mom (as only kids can say it...the long drawn out version), I'm a ride girl not a school girl!"



Other than that no other issues behaviorally or otherwise!

 

[eyor44]

I have taken my son out twice, 3rd and 5th grades. Both times I just sent the teachers a note saying we would be out of town for a week. If there was any work he could do, we would take it with us. We would make a point of going back to the room each evening for study time. Of course he would do most of it on the way down (we drive), but we would still study something each evening. He never had any problems academically nor socially. He actually did more studying in the evening at Disney than he would normally do at home. He knew what a special treat it was to be there. The last two nights we would let schoolwork pass, if he had all assignments done and if there were any EMHs in the evening.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We take our DS out of school every year. In kindergarten we did it in September for 2 weeks, then again in February for 4 days.

First , Second and this past year in 3rd grade all for 1 week. And in 4th grade , he'll be pulled for a week for our October WDW trip.

He has quite a bit of work upon his return. But he's a good student and bounces back pretty easy. When he doesn't or ever gets bad grades, the mid-school year trips will be over.

No problem with the school. There is a form to fill out that needs to be approved by the principal.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

We've spent a week in wdw the first or second week of december every year since the kids were born. They'll be going into 3rd & 4th grade this fall.

I always tell the teachers about 3 weeks ahead of time that we'll be going. By then I have a good relationship with the teachers and most of them are aware of our "disney obsession".

We nicely ask for as much homework ahead of time as they're willing to give us and also offer to do an extra, EPCOT/science oriented project while we're there. Most of the teachers have just given us the homework the friday before we leave and we either work on it while we're at disney or they do half the sat before we leave and the rest the sat/sun before they go back.

They're both straight A students (although for the first time ever DD9 did get a B second semester in math-it was an 89, augh!), and the school really doesn't hassle us that much about it. We don't make a big deal out of going, we say, this is a yearly family trip that we take to see relatives that we only see for this trip, and it's important to us as a family, and everyone so far has been cool with it.

Once the teachers find out how often we've been I get emails asking for vacation tips, which I happily give! .

 

[RMulieri]

It depends on your school district.In my area, vacations are unexcused and work can not be made up, which results in zeros.I think for awhile parents were just claiming illness, till the distrcit now requires a dr's note for any more than 3 consecutive days out.It really does stinkers.But I guess i can sort of understand.between snow days and holidays and teachers conventions,conferences,after labor day start, and before Memorial Day finish I guess they need to maximize the days they do have.

 

[Goofy'slady]

I wait til May to take my kids down to Disney, we have two girls and only one is in school the other one just turned 3 last week. I've take my oldest out every year she's been in school since pre-k and she just finished the 4th grade.

What I found works easiest for everyone is to wait to take her out in May. That way three of the four quarters are done, all major statewide testing is done and the science fair is done. By the time we're back from our vaca (which most last about 2weeks) both kids and teacher alike are soooo ready for summer all that's left in the school year are school trips, spelling bees, and music recitals; to which my daughter was able to take part in all of the above.

Next year when she's in 5th grade we'll return to Disney in May again but this time for her 5th grade graduation present and we're going all out-flying instead of driving, staying at a deluxe resort(WL) instead of renting a house and even the dining plan. When she returns to school she'll have about a month of fun activities left before the actual graduation.

I've read on these boards that some parents will take their kids out while in grades 1-5 and maybe middle school but when it comes to highschool they'd rather wait til the kids are out for summer vaca. That may be the case for some but I for one will not hesitate to pull my child out of school for our family time at Disney. Our Disney vacations are something we plan and look forward to each and every year and a lot of work goes into the planning of them, so as long as my kids are still doing well in school and I'm smart about when I take them out I don't think I'll run into any problems.

T.

 

[MO Nurse]

For our trip in March my twin daughters were in the 6th grade and my son in the 9th. Some teachers gave work and others said they didn't want them to do homework on their vacation. Although they aren't considered excused so to speak they are able to make up their work. My kids didn't miss any days up until we went on our trip so that helped with their maximum absences they are allowed.

 

[matthew&haleysmom]

I took DD out of school this year for 4 days. She is in 4th grade. We talked to the principal and teacher beforehand and had no problems. When she returned to school, she had no problems.

I did let her know that I planned to go back to WDW next summer and if she has problems in school she can't go. I would say that kept her motivated; however, she LOVES school so there is no motivation needed.

 

[cogero]

I have taken my daughter out a few times in K and this year 1st grade. They were necessary trips and I explained to the teacher a month before going and received no problems. I am a very hands on parent so I make sure to keep up with what she would be doing in school.

My DH is a police officer and getting time off during the summer is not always possible so I have to schedule vacation usually during the school year this year is an oddity with us going in July

 

[Hayloburger]

My daughter was in 1st grade last year and we took her out for 7 school days. No problems. Her teacher gave us work to take, and she had some worksheets waiting for her when we returned.

I didn't think it was alot of work; but it opened up my eyes to how much of the work is repeat....the same concepts over and over, so 10 -15 worksheets isn't very difficult. So, for 1st grade, it wasn't a big deal....we'll reevaluate every year based on the work load and her performance.

Her teacher also made a point, which I had never thought about. She said "Oh good, that's a great time to go because it's not at the end of a marking period"....I took it to mean that the teacher wouldn't have to rush to get her grades turned in...and it was a convenient time (for the teacher).

We always bring back a little surprise for the teachers....this year it was boxes of Mickey Chocolates...they need something to make up for the inconvenience!

 

[Not so Dumbo]

We've taken them out 3 times and this last time we did have some trouble when we came back with the amount of unexpected homework that had to be made up. I had asked the teachers for homework for them to do while we were gone and I felt that we were all on the same page, but when we came back my kindergartener had over an hour's worth of homework that was sent home with him and my second grader was bringing home 6 extra sheets a day for over a week. That's on top of what they were given to do while we were gone, which for my second grader was 20 pages of math, 2 essays, 1 story with comprehension questions.
Plus, since we went towards the end of the school year, they missed a lot of the special activities like field day, meet your pen pal day and field trips.
Our school doesn't have a vacation policy and I am starting to think that maybe all of the extra homework was their way of detering people from leaving.

 

[TKERBELL]

on what grade they are in and the policy of the school system. We stopped taking our kids out of school for vacation about 3 years ago when oldest DS was in 6th grade. All of a sudden we realized that just because it was convenient and economical (and less crowded) for us it was becoming stressful for the kids to have to make-up missed work, catch up on any classwork that was missed and keep up with current work - even that one week can set them up for some stress. In the end DH & I decided that we would just have to "suffer" the crowds and the prices during the times ALL kids are out of school. This year we are going at Christmas!!! (but for 12 days)!!

Since the OP's child is still in early elementary school - I don't see an issue - but as they get older I think you should keep in mind that when they have 7-8 classes it can be stressful on them and if any of your children are in AP (or GT or whatever you refer to Advanced Students) classes it can be even more difficult for them to not only catch up but to keep up - JMHO!!!!

Have fun at Disney!!!

 

[Omma]

We took ours out in April this year. Our school policy is that family vacations count as excused absences so we didn't have a problem there. The teachers got work ready for us to do on the plane and their friends were excited to see them when we got back.

I did make sure they wouldn't miss any testing, school plays, etc. before we went.

 

[squirrel]

My sister just had a meeting with the Kindergarten teacher at my nieces school. The only thing she would like her to do is draw a picture each day of something she saw at WDW.

I bet I can already guess what most of the pictures are going to be-Stitch, her new favorite-sorry Ariel. She has been drawing pictures of him for weeks now-by September he should look really good!

 

[marlynnp]

We took DD out of 3rd grade for a week this year. No problem for her to get back in the swing of things!

 

[scootch]

I help at my daughters school about three days a week and the cook mentioned to me that there were a ton of families taking a disney cruise next fall and wasn't that terrible???? haha.. I was one of those families..... so I gathered that the teachers must have gotten wind of it and have been discussing it(it isn't till Nov 09). But no, so far I haven't had any problems... but we are only up to 2nd grade. My daughters go to a catholic school and there are alot of families who pull kids out.

 

[squirrel]

My niece is in a Catholic school also!