taking kids out of school

[prekteacher]

I will be taking my 6th and 3rd grader out of school for the frist week of may this year for our very first family reuion ever. Also one of the family members going has cancer and may not be around next year( my dad)They both have great grades and the school looks at there days in school and days out and there behavier(sp) and it is also up to the school pricpcial(sp) .
Ifeel it is up to the family if they take the children out of school or not.

 

[HonnyDipp]

We have 3 school aged children and we are taking them out of school for a week for our world trip in November. My DS10 has severe asthma and taking him during the summer months is a bad idea. I plan on telling the teachers right after school starts of our plans.

 

[robinc71]

I will be taking my 6th and 3rd grader out of school for the frist week of may this year for our very first family reuion ever. Also one of the family members going has cancer and may not be around next year( my dad)They both have great grades and the school looks at there days in school and days out and there behavier(sp) and it is also up to the school pricpcial(sp) .
Ifeel it is up to the family if they take the children out of school or not.

Sorry to hear about your Dad I hope that you have a magical journey and wonderful memories. I feel that as a parent, I get to chose certain things for myself and my child. When to vacation is one of them. I'm a single mom working 40+ hours per week. Each dime I save is worth its weight in gold sometimes. Value season is not during the summer! It would be different if my DD was not a good student but I'm lucky. Our school makes you fill out papers to get approved and then We did have work to take with us. No flack from teacher, told to have a great time. Heading back this September for a surprise trip. Hope her teacher next year is just as wonderful.

 

[dvczerfs]

I will be taking my 6th and 3rd grader out of school for the frist week of may this year for our very first family reuion ever. Also one of the family members going has cancer and may not be around next year( my dad)They both have great grades and the school looks at there days in school and days out and there behavier(sp) and it is also up to the school pricpcial(sp) .
Ifeel it is up to the family if they take the children out of school or not.

sorry to hear about your dad. both my parents were wdw fans and lost them and a brother to cancer all in the early 50s and late 40s. have a wonderful trip! remember to keep the faith! theres always hope!!

 

[liftn]

I think it is a choice that should be made based upon the child. If your child is rarely absent and does well, then it should be no problem. If your child struggles or has missed many days, then you should reconsider your choice. I know they are only "young once", but remember that is a double edge sword. They are only "young once" - if you let them know that they are allowed to go only because they have been doing well and have a good attendance record, then great. On the flip side, if your child does not do well or misses scholl a lot, then you should think twice about your trip. Giving them the wrong message at a young age could affect them later in life.

We leave for Disney in exactly 1 month from today. Although my DD is very excited, she has not missed a single day this year, and this will be bitter sweet for her, because she wanted a perfect attendance.

Oh ya, her teacher has missed 8 days this year so far. As an adult, I feel that is far worse then a child missing school.

 

[Kaler131]

We are going to do it this September. Our kids will be in 9th, 6th, 3rd, and preschool. My 9th grader is an honor student, so she will not have a problem making up the work. The boys will do their work before and after we go/get home.

 

[3happydancers]

I will be taking my 6th and 3rd grader out of school for the frist week of may this year for our very first family reuion ever. Also one of the family members going has cancer and may not be around next year( my dad)They both have great grades and the school looks at there days in school and days out and there behavier(sp) and it is also up to the school pricpcial(sp) .
Ifeel it is up to the family if they take the children out of school or not.

So sorry to hear of your Dad's failing health. We have lost both my husband's parents and my dad. I wish you and your family the best of memories to hold onto!

 

[2giddy4wdw]

I truly believe that it is the parents choice on whether to take your children out of school, whether they are good students or not so good students. In this day and age I think that we have lost sight of our children. If your children are still willing to go on a vacation with the family, whether to Disney or some other place, I say go for it. Our DS was not the best student in school or college. No matter how much we stressed to do your best, he was ok being an average student. Our DD on the other hand is an over achiever. But to say that we can't take a vacation because one doesn't do as well as the other isn't fair either. Our DS is now graduated from college and did his externship at Disney (that's how much we all love disney), and I would not give up all of the vacations that we took with him while he was younger. I have pictures and memories that will last a life time. My DD is a freshman this year and we took her and a friend with us in October, and all work was made up before the end of the week that we got back. We will be going again this year the week after Thanksgiving and taking DD out of school and will continue to do this until she graduates from high school. My children know how important school is and by taking them out doesn't make them worse students then the ones that don't take vacations during school. Even with taking my daughter out, she still carries a 3.9 GPA. Yes I guess she could of had a 4.0 if we didn't go on vacation, but then again maybe she would not even have that.

I say that everyone needs to decide for themselves what is best...in the long run I feel that you really need to live each day to the fullest!!!! I went through almost losing my dad this year and am sooooo thankful that a year ago we took both of our kids (while DS was on college break, DD still was in school)and my parents to Disney for a vacation. We have the best memories that none of us will ever forget.

 

[Aliceacc]

Just for the record:

I haven't heard anyone argue against family vacations or family time. I think that everyone here agrees that they're incredibly important.

I think the argument centers on whether or not those family vacations should coincide with school days.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I am just curious....I noticed on a board it said that taking kids out of school starts a controversy.... not to start one but I am just curious as to what/why people get so upset about it? I see some things but if your child is doing very well in school and you know they will not fall behind what is the harm?

Because we have quite a few of the "moral majority" here on the Dis that feel it is their place to let us know how our children should be raised and have a great need to save us from ourselves and the bad examples we are setting for our children by taking them out of school for a vacation. That's just my opinion though, and I'm just one of those irresponsible parents who take their children out of school to go to WDW.

 

[dvczerfs]

Because we have quite a few of the "moral majority" here on the Dis that feel it is their place to let us know how our children should be raised and have a great need to save us from ourselves and the bad examples we are setting for our children by taking them out of school for a vacation. That's just my opinion though, and I'm just one of those irresponsible parents who take their children out of school to go to WDW.

VERY NICE! COULDNT OF SAID IT BETTER MYSELF!! IM HUMMING GOD BLESS AMERICA AS IM READING THIS! IM WITH YA SISTER!!

 

[tina_la]

 

[all4disney98]

We will be taking our son out of school for 4 days next school year. He is a good student and can handle missing these few days. I don't feel I am setting a bad example because as with last year, we will set aside time each day back in the room to work on some homework. Also, I am setting the example that family comes first. You can have all the money in the world but without time for your family and friends to share your life with, you aren't going to be happy.

I lost my father a few months ago and he and my mom were planning on going with us on this next trip. Losing him has just strenghthened my belief that our time here is too short to worry about missing a few days in the real world and that our time together is priceless.

This is how I am raising my family and I am not saying what others do is right or wrong. This is just right for our family and our situation so no flames please.

 

[daisyduck123]

I pull my high-school freshman & 4th grader out every year...they each miss 5-6 school days for our WDW trips. I am glad that there is such a large group of parents that detest pulling their kids out....it just makes the crowd levels lower for the rest of us!

*I also pull myself out of school as well

 

[Disneyparisfan]

Just to 'stir things up' how do the people who don't think we should take the kids out of school feel about me doing it?

I work in the emergency services- Shift work and Loooong Hours. (at the moment I am averaging a 75 hour week) My leave (vacation time) is rostered, ie. my station officer TELLS me when I can and cannot have leave.

I have no choice on the matter, I can request, dates but as there are other guys on my watch with kids, it usually doesn't happen.

I don't see nearly as much of my DW or my DD as I would like to, and often when I do I am just too tired, grouchy, upset, stressed etc depending on my last shift to really appreciate my time with them.

Vacation is another thing though. We love Disney, visit as often as we can, which is no where near as often as we would like (costs a lot from where I live) so sometimes the only way to be able to go is to take my DD out of school, both for time and money.

I do it reluctantly, (she does reasonably well at the moment, but I am aware that that can always change ) but my choice is pull her out or dont go.

So would the 'anti' lobby have me take at best one vacation every 4 years with her, and sit around the house every other year by myself, or is it OK in some circumstances to bend the rules a little?

The above would obviously apply to anyone with restricted leave dates, Militairy personnel, some Government workers, etc.

What's everyones views please.

Just as an afterthought- when asking the school for copies of any work my DD missed, so we could cover it with her we were told no! So the schools obviously dont think it's that important! Or possibly just our school's rubbish!

 

[dizzy203]

Life is too short and you never know what will happen tomorrow so I go to Disney when I can. One of the factors that I take into consideration when I make my decision is how my son is doing in school. I had no problem taking him out of school when he was in 1st & 2nd grade but 3rd grade to 6th grade was harder so we didn't go. In both 7th and 8th grade he was doing a lot better so I talked to his teacher and she said that he was doing great and had no problem with me taking him out of school. She told us to have great time and not worry about it at all. He's in 9th grade now and this past Oct I took him out of school for 4 days. I was concerned about keeping him out (his father didn't want us to go) but we went and he had no problems with school. As a matter of fact, I think his grades have been the best he's ever gotten. I know next year will be harder so we're going to Disney but he'll only miss 3 days. He has blocked scheduling where he has the same classes all year but they're every other day. So he'll miss 2 days of 1 set of classes and only 1 day of another set of classes.

 

[Crisgw]

Our oldest is starting Kindergarten Aug 22 and we'll take him out the week (Sept 6-13) we do Disney. We're also taking our youngest out of preschool. My parents took both my sister and I out for Disney each year and we each got full rides (academic) to Northwestern and Denison University

 

[ilovediznee2]

As a teacher, I would say that taking a high school student out is doing their academics a disservice, particularly if the school is on a block schedule (which is wonderful in many ways). It can be very difficult for the work to be made up at the level the student is used to. Most students do more poorly on makeup work than their usual standards, especially in math, which is what I teach. I would have strong reservations about taking a middle school student out of school for similar reasons. However, if an elementary age child is doing well in school, some time out for a trip is not a bad idea. I missed two weeks for family vacations in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade. We had the vacations in the summer after I got to a high enough level that the absences would have hurt.

As a mom who takes her DDs out of school, I would have to say that I am starting to agree here...just a little...
My oldest is now in 9th grade, and I will be taking her out the second week of school next year. After that, I don't plan on taking her out, as she is doubling up on all of her classes, and in the 11th grade, she will also be taking 12th grade classes. This is a lot to make up, so I will plan our vacations accordingly.
Until then, though, both of my DDs have been on the honor roll, and the oldest plays on 3 soccer teams-one being Premier , so it hasn't been an issue. I just don't want to take the chance of her falling behind while doing work for two grades at once, all while maintaining her honor roll status, and staying on the three soccer teams. That's a lot to handle in the 11th grade.
I still think, though, that it should be up to the parents.

 

[ilovediznee2]

Just to 'stir things up' how do the people who don't think we should take the kids out of school feel about me doing it?

I work in the emergency services- Shift work and Loooong Hours. (at the moment I am averaging a 75 hour week) My leave (vacation time) is rostered, ie. my station officer TELLS me when I can and cannot have leave.

I have no choice on the matter, I can request, dates but as there are other guys on my watch with kids, it usually doesn't happen.

I don't see nearly as much of my DW or my DD as I would like to, and often when I do I am just too tired, grouchy, upset, stressed etc depending on my last shift to really appreciate my time with them.

Vacation is another thing though. We love Disney, visit as often as we can, which is no where near as often as we would like (costs a lot from where I live) so sometimes the only way to be able to go is to take my DD out of school, both for time and money.

I do it reluctantly, (she does reasonably well at the moment, but I am aware that that can always change ) but my choice is pull her out or dont go.

So would the 'anti' lobby have me take at best one vacation every 4 years with her, and sit around the house every other year by myself, or is it OK in some circumstances to bend the rules a little?

The above would obviously apply to anyone with restricted leave dates, Militairy personnel, some Government workers, etc.

What's everyones views please.

Just as an afterthought- when asking the school for copies of any work my DD missed, so we could cover it with her we were told no! So the schools obviously dont think it's that important! Or possibly just our school's rubbish!

Like you, I can only get vacation when I'm "told" that I can. So, while my thoughts on taking my DDs out of school later on in life may be changing a little, I also believe that life is too short. I am able to take a vacation every year- I just don't know when I'm "allowed." If you get the opportunity, take it!!!
Here's a thought- if your daughter starts to fall behind, hire a tutor and take them along!!!

 

[Cee]

I took my kids out of school for a week in December several times. Mainly
because it was a slower time of year and better weather. We always got
their teachers to sign off that they were caught up in all their work and to
get any assignments that would be due while they were away. If I had it to
do over again, I would not do it. I felt my kids struggled to catch up after
we got back. It's definitely an individual decision. I feel I was selfish and
didn't always put the kids interests first. I shouldn't have put them in the
position of being behind. That was pressure and anxiety they didn't need.

A lesson learned.....