Taking kids out of school for Disney

[Caitsmama]

I think what is bothering me the most while reading this thread, is the amount of work i am hearing that these young kids have!!
Sgmom - I can't believe at 6 your son had THAT much work!!! That seems crazy.. i know i never had that kind of homework at 6! I really feel bad for the kids.. they honestly don't need homework at that age..
My dd is in K, and they send home a sheet to do each week.. now, granted that's not bad, i just know i never had to do ANY homework in K..
I think our kids are being pushed to young with all this.......

 

[Michigan]

I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the funding for public schools in Michigan is based on the head count on 2 separate attendance days for the entire year - not average daily attendance.

You are correct the first day is the 100th day of school and the other one is sometime in the late winter or early spring I think.

 

[Starr W.]

You are correct the first day is the 100th day of school and the other one is sometime in the late winter or early spring I think.

Just south of you, in the Buckeye state. it's basically the same. The "official" count is in October and they do another count late Feb/early Marck.

 

[Downrivermama]

Originally Posted by Caitsmama
Sgmom - I can't believe at 6 your son had THAT much work!!! That seems crazy.. i know i never had that kind of homework at 6! I really feel bad for the kids.. they honestly don't need homework at that age..

I agree, my dd now in 3rd grade has had homework 4 days a week since kindergarten! At her school they also have to do 3 independent projects a year, which includes science fair. Now in 3rd grade they have to do 7 book reports a year plus daily homework! It gets worse as they get into the higher grades. I don't remember having homework until 5th or 6th grade. They do push kids alot harder now. I can't see stressing out an 8 year old!

 

[MELSMICE]

We just returned from our week long Disney vacation and DS6 missed a week of school. He had perfect attendance in K and also in 1st grade up until our vacation. I did tell his teacher at the beginning of the school year that we had our trip planned and then reminded her 2 weeks prior to our trip. Even though I requested any school work to be sent home prior to our trip, I did not receive feedback or any homework until the Friday before we left on Saturday! Based on the amount of work that she sent home, I wish we would have received this the week before, but my son managed to get it all done! I do not feel that it was beneficial to receive this amount during our trip, as we were returning to the room late every night and some nights, he was up past midnight working on homework sheets and reading! Yes, we could have set a time to do this during the earlier hours of the day, but hey, we were on vacation. However, the entire family felt bad about the amount he received - about 7 or 8 math sheets - some needing to be colored; 3 cut and paste worksheets; 5 reading books with worksheets. So we took our box of crayons, scissors and glue stick! His DCousin10 only had to write an essay about his trip.

So, whether the school excused his absences or not, does not matter to us - enjoy the family time!

I have taken my kids out of school numerous times, but I'm just wondering how much work you did or did not expect your son to receive?

Considering he was out for a week, I don't think 7 or 8 math pages is out of line. Remember, he was missing class work also. This only amounts to one page per day, plus 2 or 3 sent home during the week. Five reading books is only one per day also. Does the teacher read the story in class or have the kids read the story & then have them do the worksheet?

Also, regarding the teacher sending home the work the Friday before you left - she/he probably didn't have it together before this time - might not even have had a lesson plan made up for the next week. My kids always get their work the day prior to leaving. We have taken suitcases filled with just text books on trips.

Some days they have done school work while at the pool. They complain, but I always tell them that they are fortunate enough to be at WDW instead of school & to do that they MUST complete all assigned work or we will not be doing it again. (I know that your son did also, kudos to him! )

Did he have time to do the work on the way down or on the way back? My DD's have always gotten a lot of work done on the plane rides.

 

[sgmom]

Yes, I expected him to have homework, but not this much! We even printed off sheets and were going to have him put together a trip journal to work on during and after his trip, to turn in to the teacher... never got to that!

I think she could have provided the work sooner or waited on some of it when we returned. She has been teaching for 25+ years and yes, things change year to year, but for the most part, she stays on track with her lesson plans from previous years.

Our flight was only 2 hours, so by the time we pulled out the stuff, it was time to put it away. He did work on some of it on the way home, but frankly, we were all too excited about Disney to worry about it on the way there!

A month ago, we had grandparents come to visit and took them to DC for 2 straight days. DS's teacher knew that I was taking him out of school early each day, staying in DC for the rest of the day for tours and then having dinner. After fighting traffic here, which can take hours, we were home late... We still were given 2 story books and 2-3 worksheets to complete each night. Yes, I'm thankful for him having homework and being able to keep up with his classmates, but talk about being overwhelmed! I do applaud my son because he did not complain once about having to complete his homework! However, he was disappointed he did not get to make a gingerbread house with the rest of his class, until I reminded him that we saw a real lifesized one at The Grand Floridian!!

 

[declansdad]

If you are going to take a child out of school don't complain about the amount of work that you may receive. A child in class will do much more than i worksheet per day.

 

[Starr W.]

Yes, I expected him to have homework, but not this much! We even printed off sheets and were going to have him put together a trip journal to work on during and after his trip, to turn in to the teacher... never got to that!

I think she could have provided the work sooner or waited on some of it when we returned. She has been teaching for 25+ years and yes, things change year to year, but for the most part, she stays on track with her lesson plans from previous years.

Our flight was only 2 hours, so by the time we pulled out the stuff, it was time to put it away. He did work on some of it on the way home, but frankly, we were all too excited about Disney to worry about it on the way there!

A month ago, we had grandparents come to visit and took them to DC for 2 straight days. DS's teacher knew that I was taking him out of school early each day, staying in DC for the rest of the day for tours and then having dinner. After fighting traffic here, which can take hours, we were home late... We still were given 2 story books and 2-3 worksheets to complete each night. Yes, I'm thankful for him having homework and being able to keep up with his classmates, but talk about being overwhelmed! I do applaud my son because he did not complain once about having to complete his homework! However, he was disappointed he did not get to make a gingerbread house with the rest of his class, until I reminded him that we saw a real lifesized one at The Grand Floridian!!

Our 4th grader does 2 pages per day of math in class, then 1 page of homework. So 3 per day. Now I know our district went to a new Language Arts/Reading/Spelling program this year and I have seen a pick up in the homework in that area, it's more writing, spelling and vocabulary. Also varies on Social Studies/Science, usually a couple a week. I know 5th grade has homework in every subject Mon-Thurs. Would I take my son out for a full week, answer is no. Will I take off a couple days before Thanksgiving,Xmas or spring break, yes because after years of observation, they are winding down the work. He had no problem doing 4 workbook pages plus 1 homework sheet in math, reading 4 pages of social studies and doing a science worksheet. He took his at home book to keep up with his 20min/night reading requirment.

 

[Caitsmama]

We have taken suitcases filled with just text books on trips.

Never, EVER will you catch me doing that!!!

 

[MELSMICE]

Never, EVER will you catch me doing that!!!

To each his own, I guess.

Just wondering (not in a snotty way), but why not? Would you prefer not to take your kids out of school or are you saying you wouldn't do homework on vacation if there was school going on? I'm just wondering?

It's never really been an issue for us & my DD's understand that if they want to go on vacation while school is in session they will need to do work while they are there.

 

[bgirl29]

When we went in October I encouraged my children to finish all of their homework (9th and 6th grades) while on our trip, but I believe our school does give them a couple of days before they expect everything to be turned in after missing school. I just wanted them to keep up with their classes and it was almost the end of the marking period.

Did your teacher tell you if she expected everything done on the first day back to school?

 

[DaisyD]

DD brings her school work with her. She loves sitting at the room desk and feeling all important doing homework. Every night if we returned early enough she would do a days worth of work. If we were late then she did it in the morning before going out. She even did a trip journal and talked about what she did every day. It wasn't difficult and she really liked the down time and was able to relax a bit while doing her work. Her teacher gave her the 12 days of school work she would miss and also the 12 days of homework. I think that if you take a child out of school then you need to put time aside every day while on vacation to get it done.

 

[flying_babyb]

I like the teachers who give it early. I went away once, got all my homework for a week nd got my homework three days before. I Sat down, did it, and handed it in before I ever left.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I think most schools have a policy as to how long a child has in order to trun in missing work. In our district it is one day for each day our child is out. So when we miss 4 days this January, we will have four days after he retuns and receives the work in order to get it done. Most years DS has just not been given a lot of work to make up.One year (5th) he did it all before we even left. Third grade he had a huge amount of work that he did not receive much ahead of time. He did all the reading on the drive down. The plan was to work on it in the hotel room but that just did not work well for us. We alway return on Saturday and leave Sunday free to work on Homework. I will again this year request any work that the teacher knows about ahead of time to be given to him well before the trip but i make it clear that I do not expect that and we will see that DS completes 100% of the work. I think that seems to be the biggest issue for teachers that kids do not complete the work. We will see what happens this year.
BTW- I normaly have almost no part of DS doing his homework excpet to sometimes review for a test or help with an overwelming project. The expection I make is with trip make up work when I choose to take him out to travel. I admit that I do help a little bit more in order to get the work done a little bit quicker. DS almost always understands the material already but I do make absoluty sure of that and then help with review work.

MsSandra

 

[Caitsmama]

To each his own, I guess.

Just wondering (not in a snotty way), but why not? Would you prefer not to take your kids out of school or are you saying you wouldn't do homework on vacation if there was school going on? I'm just wondering?

It's never really been an issue for us & my DD's understand that if they want to go on vacation while school is in session they will need to do work while they are there.

That's ok - I didn't mean to sound like i was putting you down in any way..
I would definately take my dd out of school, (and already have - but she's only in K), See, i guess after thinking about it - it's hard, because i still have so many years to go of this ahead of me.. my dd is still so young.
So, I guess i would have to cross that bridge when i come to it.. But, hopefully, we can get some of the work done before we left, and some when we come back...... I guess i could see bringing a subject or two worth of books with us, but not a whole suitcase or so..
If we are going away, i want my dd to really enjoy the time with the family, and not stress about school work.. Which is why like i said, the ultimate thing would be to have the teachers who have it all "together" so we could do a bulk of it before we left..
I don't know.. it's a tough decision i guess, And all i am doing is speculating, so, ask me this question again in say - 5 years or so.. LOL
Thanks!

 

[Starr W.]

That's ok - I didn't mean to sound like i was putting you down in any way..
I would definately take my dd out of school, (and already have - but she's only in K), See, i guess after thinking about it - it's hard, because i still have so many years to go of this ahead of me.. my dd is still so young.
So, I guess i would have to cross that bridge when i come to it.. But, hopefully, we can get some of the work done before we left, and some when we come back...... I guess i could see bringing a subject or two worth of books with us, but not a whole suitcase or so..
If we are going away, i want my dd to really enjoy the time with the family, and not stress about school work.. Which is why like i said, the ultimate thing would be to have the teachers who have it all "together" so we could do a bulk of it before we left..
I don't know.. it's a tough decision i guess, And all i am doing is speculating, so, ask me this question again in say - 5 years or so.. LOL
Thanks!

Trust me those years come up on you fast! Seems like yesterday eldest DS was in kindergarden and now he is a very tall (5'2") 4th grader. We told the teacher the first week of school and filled out the school form soon after. I have never come across a teacher who hasn't had it all together, but when you go on vacation, you're asking them to spend a lot of extra time(which is not in ample supply for them) to look ahead at their teaching plan to get the classroom work together for you. Our district starts co-teaching in 4th grade, so there are 2 teachers to get work from. I thanked them both for their trouble. They thanked me for giving them enough heads up to pull the work together and appreciated our planning so DS wasn't missing much work.

 

[MELSMICE]

That's ok - I didn't mean to sound like i was putting you down in any way..
I would definately take my dd out of school, (and already have - but she's only in K), See, i guess after thinking about it - it's hard, because i still have so many years to go of this ahead of me.. my dd is still so young.
So, I guess i would have to cross that bridge when i come to it.. But, hopefully, we can get some of the work done before we left, and some when we come back...... I guess i could see bringing a subject or two worth of books with us, but not a whole suitcase or so..
If we are going away, i want my dd to really enjoy the time with the family, and not stress about school work.. Which is why like i said, the ultimate thing would be to have the teachers who have it all "together" so we could do a bulk of it before we left..
I don't know.. it's a tough decision i guess, And all i am doing is speculating, so, ask me this question again in say - 5 years or so.. LOL
Thanks!

I understand what you're saying. I have 3 DD's that all are in high school now, so there's a big difference between the work they have now & the work they had when they were in K or elementary school. Also, if they can get their work done on the plane some of the books never even leave the suitcase, which is a plus for them!!!

It is hard to speculate what might happen in years to come. When my DD's were younger I swore I would NEVER go during peak Eastery holiday time. Guess what? We have been there during their Easter break for about the past 6 years. Go figure! Plus, it's probably our favorite time to go because we go for at least 10 days (have been as long as 15) & there is no school work to make up. (well, there will be this year because we're overlapping our vacation with 3 school days)

I also said I would NEVER let sports or activities "dictate" when I would take a vacation. Hmmmmm........I'm eating my words now because one DD is involved in basketball & we've planned & cancelled 2 trips this year because of tournaments.

 

[Lady V]

Hi- We are working on planning our first trip to Disney next fall. Our oldest will be in second grade. What experiences have you all had with kids missing school? I'm worried about what the teacher's reaction might be, and I don't want my daughter to fall behind. She'd miss 4-5 days of school. I know missing school is not a great idea, but it sure seems like a good time to go in terms of disney timing.

any thoughts/experiences????

I think it is fine. Especially tht young. We go every Jan and the kids miss about 5 days of school. This year we will be there Dec 31-Jan 8th so they will miss 5 days. My kids are in Kin. and first grade. the principal always just says it is fine and can he come along?? I figure, as long as your kids are ok with missing school and they can catch up and not feel lost then you should go for it!! Have fun!!

 

[declansdad]

That's ok - I didn't mean to sound like i was putting you down in any way..
I would definately take my dd out of school, (and already have - but she's only in K), See, i guess after thinking about it - it's hard, because i still have so many years to go of this ahead of me.. my dd is still so young.
So, I guess i would have to cross that bridge when i come to it.. But, hopefully, we can get some of the work done before we left, and some when we come back...... I guess i could see bringing a subject or two worth of books with us, but not a whole suitcase or so..
If we are going away, i want my dd to really enjoy the time with the family, and not stress about school work.. Which is why like i said, the ultimate thing would be to have the teachers who have it all "together" so we could do a bulk of it before we left..
I don't know.. it's a tough decision i guess, And all i am doing is speculating, so, ask me this question again in say - 5 years or so.. LOL
Thanks!

Your bolded quote makes it sound as if you think teachers who don't give you the work before hand, don't have it all together. I know that it is difficult to convey the proper tone in a written message but in my opinion this is unfair to teachers.

 

[Lady V]

Teacher Response:

I do not take off work just for the heck of it. I come sick, I come when I'm tired, etc. I believe that you are hired to do the best you can do and to do that you have to be at work.

QUOTE]

but see, when people come sick they cause other people to have to miss work or school because they get them sick!!!