Taking kids out of school?!?!

[DizGirl20]

Help - I got a fantastic pin code last week - 40% off a Deluxe Resort!!! So I booked the Beach Club.

Here's the catch: I am graduating from nursing school in May and will have to the kids out of school for a week (to use the code). They are in 4th & 6th grades. They both do very well academically.

WOULD YOU DO IT?!?!?!

 

[The Tabasco Kid]

Yup. A few days of school won't matter.

 

[MollyAnna]

40% off Deluxe? You are so lucky!!! We actually just returned a few weeks ago from a vacation with our children (our older kids are in 3rd and 5th grade); it was the first time we had ever taken them out of school. They missed a Friday and Mon-Wed. We did cut our trip a little short so they would be back in school by Thursday. I have to say we had a wonderful time and the kids' teachers were great about it. We told the teachers when school started and they were in on our secret (we didn't tell the kids until we woke them up the morning of). Both were super accommodating and got all their homework together before our trip. In fact, both of our children had all their homework done on the plane ride and were not behind at all when we returned. They did keep a daily journal of their activities that they shared with their class. That said, both are excellent students and we live in a rural area with a small school where we know the teachers well and vacations like this are pretty rare. I know some schools make it very difficult to take your kids out. We just feel that we should take advantage of the opportunity to travel when we can. Our kids are growing up so fast. Anyway, have a great time on your trip and congrats on the great deal!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Did it all the time up through middle school. HS does not work with his honnors and AP classes. Go while you can.

 

[mommy*RN]

I'm doing it in about a week.

Take your kids and have fun!!

Congratulations on graduating nursing school -- after all that stress and before taking the boards...you're going to need that Disney trip to decompress!

 

[The Hendies]

We were the "take the kids out of school" kind of family. In fact, in 2006 DS24 even missed 2 days of college to join us at Disney. It was his senior year, and he still graduated Magna Cum Laude and went on to a perfect 4.0 for his Masters. We have fabulous memories (along with great pictures of the whole family in our matching t-shirts) that will last a lifetime. Now we are working our our custom 10/10/10 shirts for next year! Yes, we are THAT kind of Disney family!

 

[Shmily1]

Never took my kids out for vacation. Vacations are secondary to school and were scheduled around school. Actually, even though DS19 and DD18 are in college now, we are still planning around school.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Yes I would, and I am taking my kids out of school next month. They will miss 7 days. Our school has an understanding vacation policy, and I will be sure to help them catch up if needed.


I wanted to add my kids are in 2nd and 4th grades. My niece and nephew are also going with us and they are in 6th and 10th grades.

 

[clutter]

Did you ask your 6th grader? I used to pull dd out for a trip, usually short, but in 6th grade, she balked. She was in a compacted math class and felt that she would have missed too much. Now, in 7th, there's no way. She'd miss too much.

 

[tjackson8685]

we typically pull our kids for a week each year and they have no issues.

 

[jakenjess]

We've pulled our kids out for a week every year. They're now in 7th and 8th grades, so this will be the last. They've never had any trouble making up the work and are both honor students. The airfare to go over a school vacation week is outrageous. Not sure what we're going to do next year when DS is in high school, but taking him out for a week certainly won't be an option. Go now while you can and have fun!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

If they can handle it and you don't have issues with the schools, I say go for it.

I tried to take mine out for only 4 days and it didn't go well. DS didn't make up the work (he lied and told me he did and I didn't know until I got his grades the next week and it was too late to get credit for anything.) and DD was stressed out about all the work she missed and had to make up.

Add those things to our schools tough absentism policies and we decided we won't be doing it again.
That was in Sept. 2008 and the kids were in 3rd and 7th grade.

 

[princessmom29]

I would ask the kids. That age is kind of a gray area. Some kids would be ok with it, but some, evn academically strong, would have a hard time catching up. It is a lot of stress of a really type A kid to have a week of makeup work sometimes.

 

[Darcy03231]

Before you make any firm plans I would check your district's policy on unexcused absences. Some districts are really strict and don't allow any make-up work and others are fine with it.

If your children are going to zeros on all the work they miss for week, how much will it impact their grades and will they (and you) be ok with it?

I would go if it wouldn't impact their grades. In fact, I'm taking my niece the first week of December and she'll miss school. Her school is really leniant (she's in 6th grade). Since she'll be gone a week she'll have a week to make up anything she missed.

 

[milleali]

We have taken my DS8 out of school the last 3 years for vacation. We will be taking him out in 13 days for our Halloween trip to disney. He will miss 3 days this time. I spoke with his teacher when school started and she is fine with it. She is going to send his daily work with us. We are driving down so I think in the 6 hour drive he can complete it.

Talk to the teachers! See what they think, as long as they don't miss any standardized testing you should be fine.

 

[wmharley]

Help - I got a fantastic pin code last week - 40% off a Deluxe Resort!!! So I booked the Beach Club.

Here's the catch: I am graduating from nursing school in May and will have to the kids out of school for a week (to use the code). They are in 4th & 6th grades. They both do very well academically.

WOULD YOU DO IT?!?!?!

i would, but then again we are homeschooling.

If the teacher cannot provide lessons up front, then bring a laptop and get conencted and have her send it to you via email. Dedicate an afternoon to get your kids caught up..

 

[aksivers]

Yeap..Just took mine out (3rd grade) for a few days in September and we are going again in January and I am taking him out 2 days in January. He still has all A's we take his classwork and homework with us and he does it on the way down or back. I know when he gets to middle school we might be able to because they are only allowed 4 days off in a 6 week period. So we have a couple of years left to sneak in Disney in the off seasons.

 

[Cinderellabride]

Would I take my kids out of school to go to Disney. Yes. But like a previous poster I will be homeschooling them (they are only 19 months and 5 months now). I have a different opinion than some of the education system anyway, and so if my kids were going to public school I'd still take them out because frankly missing a weeks worth of school is not going to ruin their life or their future.

ETA: FTR I graduated Cum Laude with a degree in teaching high school english. After going through the whole student teaching process, and then having a baby a few months later (yeah I pg while student teaching) I decided it was more important for me to be with my children. Just putting that out there so people know my background with public school.

 

[Cinderellabride]

One more thing, I would check with the teachers to see how it would affect their grades and stuff. Even though I think that missing a week of school is not going to have detrimental effects on them, you should find out the policies and decide if you are okay with whatever the potential "consequences" from the school might be.

 

[tinkmom2]

I have been pulling my daughter out of Disney for the last 5 years. My other daughter is in K3 but I was sure to let both teachers know at the start of the year. We are going in November and my oldest DD has testing but they are going to start one portion of the test early for her. Usually we go around spring time but we had to take our bounceback cruise this fall so we chose November so we can go to WDW and see the MVMCP too.