Taking kids out of school

[Sienna]

We are >this< close to booking our trip for January, and my third grader will be missing 4-1/2 days of school. While I'm not opposed to taking kids out for special trips and things, I'm having some hesitation and I'm not sure why. I've taken her out of school once or twice for a long weekend, but never a week at a time. She's an average student, struggling a bit with math, but I don't think missing a week in third grade is going to harm her overall education. Can you guys help ease my mind a bit???

(PS - have you ever had your school totally frown on this?)

 

[princessmom29]

Could you talk to her teacher about it? Mabye ask her if she feels that your DD would be able to catch up from being out without too much of a problem? I am not aying that you need the teacher's approval, but if you are concerned about your DD being able to get back on track she may be able to give you a little more insight into what that would involve. Some school systems do frown on it and will not give excused absences. I work in one where unexcused absences mean no makeup work can be given. That would ba a lot of zeros, so I would check on the school system's policy to find out wether your DD would even be allowed to make up work missed.

 

[Schmoodle]

You will get a lot of different (and strong) opinions on this, but really it depends on the kid, the school, and the parent. Only you know your child.
The school district where we used to live really frowned on this and they were considered illegal absences. Our current school district allows 5 missed absences for family trips in a year (considered legal and allowed to make up work).
For me, no, I would not do it again, at least not for Disney (did it once). I might consider it if it was a trip I could consider "educational", but DS has a learning disability and really needs to be there every day to keep up with the work. When I took him out last year, it was during a week when they had half days for parent-teacher conferences. I thought with such short days, it would minimize how much work he would miss. It still took us two weeks to catch up, and they counted as full day absences anyway, although legal. He got very sick in January and missed a week of school, so we ended up bumping up against the limit for the year. For us, it was a mistake.
I'm not suggesting you, or anyone else should feel as I do. This is what I feel is best for my child.

 

[DVC Sadie]

If my child already had difficulty in a subject (any subject), especially math, I would try to reschedule our trip. The main concern for me would be if my child could get caught up, and how much will it effect them later on.

 

[Poohbug]

IMO missing one week of school out of the year is not going to ruin her life. I have found that working with your child at home with subjects they need special help with is more productive than other things like summer school.

If your daughter need help in math, just keep working with her at home. Take your family vacation and have fun. Usually work is sent home before or after the trip and she can catch up on anything missed.

We usually take the kids out for a week during the year and have never had any big problems. Send a letter or email to the principal and the teacher and arrange for all the work to be completed.

 

[belle&sebastiansmom]

My dd is in kindergarten and we had to get permission from the principal to take her out for five days in September for Disney. The principal said that only one time per year will such permission be given (for what that is worth.)

Now fast forward to this week. My dd was out of school for 4 days being sick. So now, since school started only two months ago, she's missed 9 days total. Not too big of a deal being in kindergarten. She didn't have any work to make up from the teacher, we did activities at home when she felt up to it. But I don't think I'd take my kids out of school again after this, especially when they get older. I worry with all the flu scares what how many more days will she miss if she gets sick with that?

 

[Sienna]

In general, I have a very strong attendance ethic - I typically try to schedule longer trips during holiday/break times, and schedule doctor's appointments outside of school hours. Luckily she hasn't been very sick and has only missed a day or two due to illness over the past few years. This trip is a 'big' trip for us - we will be celebrating a significant anniversary, so it's not something that we'll be doing every year. And, being from the west coast, we typically get our Disney fix by going to Disneyland. I know people that take their kids out of school all.the.time for various things - attending a local fair, going to the cabin, things that indicate (to me, anyway) that school isn't necessarily a priority for them.

I don't know if there is a specific policy on how many days the student can miss - it might be more official once they get into high school. They do 'encourage' you to plan vacations during break times, but I'm not sure they'll flat-out deny you. I guess we'll find out.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I have only take my kids out of school once since they started (they are now a senior and freshman in HS). It was the only year both kids kept getting sick, it was like Karma was kicking me in the butt and they both were very close to the "too many days off".

They both had to play catch up even though it was in the beginning of the school year.

DD would never do it again, DS is taking a week in April to see his Sister perform in WDW. He is willing to play catch up to see his sister perform her last time in HS. Since we let him make the decision, I am hoping Karma gives us a break.

 

[abcboys]

I took my oldest out for a week in 3rd grade and he is definitely not an A student. He has always struggled in school but I didn't think that was a reason not to take him out for a trip (we have never done that before or after) He had perfect attendance in 1st grade and they still wanted to hold him back (which I didn't do, he would have been an 8 year old 1st grader) To tell you the truth he is in 5th grade this year and still struggles in school. In other words a week out in 3rd grade didn't make or break his school achievements.

Don't know if I would do it again now in 5th grade but his 3rd grade teacher was AWESOME about it!!

 

[james'mommy]

We usually take DS out of school twice a year for a week each. We always let the teacher know ahead of time and ask that she send home work for DS to take with us. He hasn't had any problems. Also usually one of our trips per year I get excused for educational purposes. Not Disney. We usually go somewhere out of the country for our anniversary and that's the one I try to get excused.

 

[blessedby3]

IMO missing one week of school out of the year is not going to ruin her life. I have found that working with your child at home with subjects they need special help with is more productive than other things like summer school.

If your daughter need help in math, just keep working with her at home. Take your family vacation and have fun. Usually work is sent home before or after the trip and she can catch up on anything missed.

We usually take the kids out for a week during the year and have never had any big problems. Send a letter or email to the principal and the teacher and arrange for all the work to be completed.

I agree with this. We have always taken our kids out of school for Disney trips to take advantage of lower crowds. I dont think it will mess her up for life either to miss a week. I would just work with her on your way down and maybe on some down time while there with the concepts she is having trouble with. We have taken our kids out from just about every grade including my oldest when she was a freshman, junior and senior. Never any problems with the school or the work. I just get it ahead of time. Now that she is a sophomore in college we are SO limited as to times that we can go- mainly her breaks or summer. We are going to shoot for Thanksgiving week next year as she has the whole week off, but the other 2 kids will still miss 2-3 days as they dont get the full week off.
Good luck to you

 

[Jack&Ryan'smom]

I just took DS out of 3rd grade for 4 days 2 weeks ago for our trip. It's funny because when I booked the trip I was like who cares it's only 4 days...then I sweat it out the day I send the note in to the teacher (I did this the week before we left). She was fine with it. I told her school was important to us and I would ensure any work given would be done ASAP. She gave him a journal to write in each day of our trip. She also told him to pick a book to bring and she gave him another journal to answer questions about the book she prelisted for him. When we got back he had maybe 10 sheets of school work to make up.
And needless to say once I was on the plane I wasn't worried one bit about him missing school. I was too excited to spend a week with my family during a quiet/value time at Disney!
Don't worry...it will be fine. Just have an awesome trip!!!