Taking kids out of school for a week!

[Mollymarie86]

Hi everyone! I'm so excited that we are going on our very first trip to Disney World! We are going the day after Labor Day(9/5) and the kids will be missing 5 days of school. Not sure why, but Im a little nervous to tell their teachers that they will be missing 5 days to go to Disney World when they just started school on 8/21. Anyone have any teachers have an issue with their students missing school for a week? I'm going to tell them on Monday and maybe have their teachers send some work to do so they don't get behind. Since they are not too far in the school year, I'm hoping they won't give me a disapproving look...I feel like I shouldn't care because it's Disney World and we won't get to go again for a long time!

Ps: our kids don't know that we are going to Disney World yet. We are going to tell them on Labor Day. They think we are going to Nana and Papas house in IN(we live in IL)

 

[jhaig]

We debated this issue before we did the same thing and came to this conclusion - your children will always remember that one week at Disney more than they will ever remember that one week of school.

Our teachers were usually cooperative and the kids were given their work ahead of time and never fell behind. One year they were given a project to interview a cast member from each World Showcase pavilion and do a report on it when they got back.

Make your family memories at Disney while you can.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We took our kids out of school for vacation several times - Disney being several of them. We did tell the teachers and usually didn't get work because NYC didn't want kids to take off from school so they won't give work anymore. Our kids are good students and would get work from friends and make up whatever they missed. Go and enjoy the time with your family.

 

[Allie B]

We are doing same thing week of Labor Day. I have gone ahead and let the school know. I know several other parents at my daughters school who have done the same thing. They usually give us her work and she completes it prior to trip.

I feel Disney is a cultural and learning experience for her (Epcot especially)so I don't feel a bit bad about it.

 

[glocon]

When my son was young I never could do it. Looking back with the wisdom of living, I would for sure do it. A week off from school seems like so much when you have a school age child, but looking back, it really wouldn't have mattered in the grand scheme of things.
And they would always have that special memory.

 

[rebelbuddhist]

As a retired teacher who gave many years of my life to teaching, I can't disagree more. There are several weeks of vacation scheduled in the school year. The 36 weeks or so of school are jammed packed with learning that can not be made up with busy work sent with the child. Every day important learning happens in the classroom and your child needs to be there. Would you be willing to give up Thanksgiving or Christmas or Spring or Summer breaks because nothing crucial happens at home during a week? I did a great deal of planning educational actvities for my students and found it insulting when parents asked if anything important would be happening or would it be ok for child to miss a few days (or weeks). Important learning is a daily event in a classroom!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

What is the school's policy on attendance and makeup work?

 

[stinkpickle]

We do it every year. The teachers have been very cooperative in giving us the learning subjects/materials/assignments in advance.

 

[DisneyOma]

Hi everyone! I'm so excited that we are going on our very first trip to Disney World! We are going the day after Labor Day(9/5) and the kids will be missing 5 days of school. Not sure why, but Im a little nervous to tell their teachers that they will be missing 5 days to go to Disney World when they just started school on 8/21. Anyone have any teachers have an issue with their students missing school for a week? I'm going to tell them on Monday and maybe have their teachers send some work to do so they don't get behind. Since they are not too far in the school year, I'm hoping they won't give me a disapproving look...I feel like I shouldn't care because it's Disney World and we won't get to go again for a long time!

Ps: our kids don't know that we are going to Disney World yet. We are going to tell them on Labor Day. They think we are going to Nana and Papas house in IN(we live in IL)

How old are your kids? If they are not in high school, sure, take them out. But high school? No way. High school attendance and grades, even freshman year, go off to colleges.

 

[supersnoop]

In Texas, if a child misses more than a certain number of classroom days, even if they're excused absences, they have to repeat the grade. It's a pretty high number of days; I think it's 10% or 18 days, but taking the kids out for five days of unexcused absences this early in the year could cause real problems later on. I wouldn't think it's worth the risk.

In all of my daughter's life, we've never taken her out of school for a vacation. Only once, we pulled her for a truely once-in-a-lifetime experience, and she seemed to be way behind after missing just four days even with advanced notice and work provided by her teachers ahead of time.

 

[Shanti]

As a retired teacher who gave many years of my life to teaching, I can't disagree more. There are several weeks of vacation scheduled in the school year. The 36 weeks or so of school are jammed packed with learning that can not be made up with busy work sent with the child. Every day important learning happens in the classroom and your child needs to be there. Would you be willing to give up Thanksgiving or Christmas or Spring or Summer breaks because nothing crucial happens at home during a week? I did a great deal of planning educational actvities for my students and found it insulting when parents asked if anything important would be happening or would it be ok for child to miss a few days (or weeks). Important learning is a daily event in a classroom!

Agreed. I'm a mom and a teacher, too. "Will he miss anything important?" Why ask? If you're going to take your child out, take him out and don't fish for the teacher's blessing.

And please, don't ask for all the make-up work to be provided in advance, so your child can return worry-free after the trip. It is a major hassle for a teacher to advance plan make-up work for kids to take vacation during school. So much so, that our district no longer allows parents to demand this.

Students missing school weeks for vacation is a major burden on teachers in states like mine in which schools have high-stakes standardized tests that our students MUST pass (or our jobs are on the line). It becomes our job to stay late after school, taking time away from our families to tutor the child who is behind due to their fun vacation they took during a school week.

Schools receive state funding based on daily attendance, so every day your child is on vacation is money your child's school loses.

 

[Allie B]

I think it also depends on the school. My daughter attends a private school so they tend to be more lenient.

 

[jhaig]

How old are your kids? If they are not in high school, sure, take them out. But high school? No way. High school attendance and grades, even freshman year, go off to colleges.

Agreed. We only took them out up until 7th or 8th grade.

 

[FreeTime]

It depends on the age and the performance of your children. Don't ask for the work in advance. That is an unnecessary burden on the teacher. I always gave my children work I would assign them while on the trip and require them to turn it into the teacher when they returned. One year the teacher said that they did more on vacation then the kids in the class and they didn't have to do the make up work. We would have lessons in each subject every day and my kids had to write about it. Examples: math they calculated percentages with merchandise discounts and determined the cost of meals, science they identified flowers at Epcot and for English / spelling they would write about the plants.

I would never take them out now as they are in HS. Also, new law fails the child regardless of the gpa due to absences.

 

[Tattylou]

If your kids are middle school or high school then that makes a difference for sure....and how they do in school. I would have been totally stressed out to miss a week of school from 7th to 12th grade - the catch up is a lot. I think with younger kids it depends. I have an incoming 4th grader who really struggles with reading - missing a week would be tough for him. My incoming 2nd grader can read well beyond grade level and catches on easy, he'd be fine.
DH is a teacher so we have to travel school vavation weeks anyway bc he can not take a week off. He teaches high school and said students generally come back and are stressed out, overwhelmed, etc trying to catch up- especially the honors and AP students.
That being said, we did take them out for a Thur and a Fri last year to go to WDW for a long weekend. They were in 1st and 3rd grade. They just had to make up their spelling and math tests, but that was it.

 

[Mollymarie86]

How old are your kids? If they are not in high school, sure, take them out. But high school? No way. High school attendance and grades, even freshman year, go off to colleges.

What is the school's policy on attendance and makeup work?

It says if a child misses more than 6 days in a trimester, a note from the doctor is required for anymore absences to be excused.

 

[Mollymarie86]

It says if a child misses more than 6 days in a trimester, a note from the doctor is required for anymore absences to be excused.

How old are your kids? If they are not in high school, sure, take them out. But high school? No way. High school attendance and grades, even freshman year, go off to colleges.

My twins are in 1st grade and my son is in 6th, but he's on the spectrum, so it's a different type of classroom(therapeutic day school)

 

[Mollymarie86]

I just have to say that if it's our first(and probably only) time at Disney World, I want it to be a great experience and not miserable...if we go in the summer, it hot and crowded..why would I spend so much money to go and not have the best time...? I haven't taken my kids out of school before for a vacation, so it's not like I do it every year.

 

[Mollymarie86]

What is the school's policy on attendance and makeup work?

Missing more than 6 days in a trimester would require a doctor's not for any more absences to be excused

 

[Shanti]

I just have to say that if it's our first(and probably only) time at Disney World, I want it to be a great experience and not miserable...if we go in the summer, it hot and crowded..why would I spend so much money to go and not have the best time...?

WDW now has lower crowds in summer than most of the rest of the year. It is also less expensive than most other times of year.