Taking Kids Out of School

[Toadlover]

We may have to have homework time sometime during the day.

 

[Aurora0427]

There's always the option of doing homework at the parks at your hotel room. Having a nap time for the grandparents be homework time for the grand kids. I just don't think that's ideal.

AP classes are a whole different ballgame. I took all AP classes in high school, and they are very difficult. Sometimes they introduce new material everyday, and it moves at an incredibly fast pace. So the student would be effectively having to self teach very difficult material at WDW.

I personally think taking elementary and even middle school kids out is no big deal. But high school may be a whole different ball game. I also would not want to do homework at WDW. I think it would take away from the magic. But that's just me.

I think the idea of going before an official school break is a great idea- that way they don't have to do HW at WDW!

I also think private schools may be more willing to work with you than public schools. As a former teacher in Texas, public schools can be a pain when it comes to this kind of stuff.

 

[leebee]

After missing a week of 8th grade to go to WDW, my DD put her foot down and said never again; she'd skip going to WDW before she'd miss another full week, or more, of school. She pointed out that it's NO fun to have to do a pile of challenging homework and in-class assignments while on vacation; while everyone else is relaxing at the pool or catching a nap or early bedtime, she was either doing homework or feeling guilty for NOT doing homework. She also said that although she would have the work in advance and get it done, it's not the same as being in class for the instruction- and it's no fun at all to come back to school and try to learn the material in class when you missed the prior week's work and that's what this week's builds upon.

My DD was always at the top of her class and her good grades were important to her, but she worked for them; nothing came easily. We started going to Disney in the summer (August… ugh…) because that's when she was willing to go. SHe made her decision in 8th grade, based on the work involved for her high school level classes in algebra, biology, and french; I cannot imagine how much work and stress it would have been for her to make up/keep up with her high school classes, especially with taking mostly AP and honors classes.

I am proud of her for her responsibility towards her education, and had no problem respecting her requests about not missing school. However, what really got to me was thinking about how much fun it must NOT have been, having to do homework every day while the rest of us were on vacation, resting up for the evening's activities, playing at the pool, etc. THAT as much as her dedication to her education is what made me agree to going to Disney during the heat and crowds of summer. Now that she's in college, there's a bit more flexibility with her vacation time- spring break in early March, fall break in mid-October. It's much easier to deal with the crowds now, when it's not 100+ degrees and 95% humidity like it was during all those August vacations, but I don't regret listening to DD and letting her decide to put her education first.

 

[mefordis]

A couple of concerns I have are:

1. Even if they can make up their homework, they still miss in class instruction for those days.

2. You just never know if you will need to pull them out due to sickness. A bout with strep or the flu could have them out for days as well.

Those are my concerns, anyway. I pull mine out but only for a few days. Definitely no more than three. I'd ask people you know in the district if they have pulled out and if they the school is okay with it.

The general consensus where I live is people do pull out during elementary school, much less in middle school and almost never in high school.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Growing up, I never missed a day of school. Literally. I received the perfect attendance award for not missing a day from Kindergarten through senior year. It wasn't that I went to school sick. I just never got sick. Except during Thanksgiving break, anyway. It seems I always seemed to get something that week. But I digress. So I never missed school. My parents never took me out for vacations. I figured I would raise my daughter the same way. Now I'm really changing my mind. Teaching for a while helped me with that. Personally, as long as your students are strong enough academically that a week without formal instruction won't hurt them, and they are responsible enough to make up the work, I see no harm in taking them out of school for a fun family vacation. My advice is to have them do the makeup work prior to ever going on the trip, though. Have your student notify the teachers that he/she will be taking a week at Walt Disney World and the dates and have him/her ask for the assignments (I'd probably follow up as a parent, as well). The teachers should have this available or be able to get it within a day or two. Then, your child can work on it throughout the week leading up to the vacation and then just enjoy Disney without the added stress of working when he gets back to the hotel or knowing he has a mountain of makeup work waiting for him. Then again, if your child has an awesome teacher like some of my former colleagues, he or she might just get to do a short write-up on how he or she used math, English, Science, etc. on the trip, or something relating to a specific subject that your child learned. The kids seemed to enjoy those assignments the most because they got to come back to school and talk Disney.

 

[Toadlover]

Growing up, I never missed a day of school. Literally. I received the perfect attendance award for not missing a day from Kindergarten through senior year. It wasn't that I went to school sick. I just never got sick. Except during Thanksgiving break, anyway. It seems I always seemed to get something that week. But I digress. So I never missed school. My parents never took me out for vacations. I figured I would raise my daughter the same way. Now I'm really changing my mind. Teaching for a while helped me with that. Personally, as long as your students are strong enough academically that a week without formal instruction won't hurt them, and they are responsible enough to make up the work, I see no harm in taking them out of school for a fun family vacation. My advice is to have them do the makeup work prior to ever going on the trip, though. Have your student notify the teachers that he/she will be taking a week at Walt Disney World and the dates and have him/her ask for the assignments (I'd probably follow up as a parent, as well). The teachers should have this available or be able to get it within a day or two. Then, your child can work on it throughout the week leading up to the vacation and then just enjoy Disney without the added stress of working when he gets back to the hotel or knowing he has a mountain of makeup work waiting for him. Then again, if your child has an awesome teacher like some of my former colleagues, he or she might just get to do a short write-up on how he or she used math, English, Science, etc. on the trip, or something relating to a specific subject that your child learned. The kids seemed to enjoy those assignments the most because they got to come back to school and talk Disney.

Thanks!

I will have to talk with the family more about the idea of going in February. Its appealing because for one its the dead of Winter here in Michigan. Flying out to Florida is so wonderful after weeks and weeks of cold and snow. As I said before, the crowds are lighter, and the prices are cheaper as its off-season.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I will take each into consideration and share them with my other family members who are going with me.

 

[JimmyV]

I think it depends on the kid and the caseload they are carrying. My DD will be a senior this year and in AP classes. There is no way she would miss a week of school. It would be too hard to catch back up. I think I would ask each kid in private for their opinion.

I'm in the same boat. We took her out in 4th grade. Now, with multiple AP classes, there is no way we could do it and she wouldn't want the stress of having to catch up. So it really is a personal issue.

There's always the option of doing homework at the parks at your hotel room. Having a nap time for the grandparents be homework time for the grand kids. I just don't think that's ideal.

Again, purely from our own personal experience, there is no way that she could do homework for three different AP classes while taking breaks from a Disney vacation. It would defeat the purpose of the vacation. I don't pretend that everyone would or should come out on the same side of this debate.

 

[CharmedLife]

We took out our kids almost every year through DD being in 8th grade. One tip (or "never again" for us) is to NOT go right before the end of the quarter. It was very difficult for the kids to make up their homework in time to get everything graded for quarterly grades. Even though we notified teachers ahead of time, not all of them gave us the extra work ahead of time so some of it had to be done after the trip. Many late nights and tears shed as we were trying to catch them up afterwards.

I swore I'd never go in the summer but alas, we are heading out in 2 weeks because DD is starting high school, honors and AP classes, and the school swim team. There is just no way that she can miss right now, especially when she's just starting and doesn't know yet what to expect.

I also agree with PP that private schools may be more willing to work on this than public schools, but obviously every school and every state has different requirements, every kid takes different classes, and every kid is different. So I think you need to make a situational decision after talking with your kids...

Crossing my fingers that we don't melt down there!

 

[princessjadesmom]

I have taken my daughter out of school for a week long Disney vacation almost every year since she was 6. I will be taking her out of school again this Fall for a Disney Cruise/ Disney World vacation. She'll be in the 8th grade this year. Family time is extremely important to me. She has always been able to make up the missed work. It would be impossible for me to get time off from work during Christmas or Easter vacation because I don't have enough seniority, and I am not willing to go during the hot summer. The times when she would be off of school would also be PACKED at Disney, so sometimes you have to pull your kids out of school. They're your children, so nobody should be able to tell you what you can or can't do as far as pulling them out of school.

 

[mefordis]

I have taken my daughter out of school for a week long Disney vacation almost every year since she was 6. I will be taking her out of school again this Fall for a Disney Cruise/ Disney World vacation. She'll be in the 8th grade this year. Family time is extremely important to me. She has always been able to make up the missed work. It would be impossible for me to get time off from work during Christmas or Easter vacation because I don't have enough seniority, and I am not willing to go during the hot summer. The times when she would be off of school would also be PACKED at Disney, so sometimes you have to pull your kids out of school. They're your children, so nobody should be able to tell you what you can or can't do as far as pulling them out of school.

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Toadlover]

Who has gone during Spring break? This is our other option, and then tacking on 3 or so days. That way they wouldn't miss that much, be more likely to get the time approved and not get that behind. Three days is much more manageable than 10. It would be more crowded than in February, though.

 

[leebee]

Who has gone during Spring break? This is our other option, and then tacking on 3 or so days. That way they wouldn't miss that much, be more likely to get the time approved and not get that behind. Three days is much more manageable than 10. It would be more crowded than in February, though.

Depends on what you mean by "spring break." This term seems to refer to about a 6 week period from the beginning of March until the middle of April. We have been during the beginning of March (started on Mar 5) and it wasn't bad; it was actually better than the year we went in February, during Feb. school vacation (usually the 3rd week of Feb. here in the Northeast).

 

[Kristine316]

I took my teenage sons out of school back in 2011 for about a week to go to WDW.

They went to a private school and I volunteered at the school and had the school's approval on it. Since I volunteered at the school I was able to make arrangements with all of their teachers to have the homework done before we even left. The school was very supportive and it was common to have students miss school for various reasons through out the year.

So.. far be it for me to judge anyone for taking their kids out of school for vacation.

However... My cousin is a middle school teacher and has made me rethink this issue. She was just aghast when I took my sons out of school to go to WDW.
She says that even the smartest kids in her class struggle at least a little to make up work they miss when they are absent. She also says every parent thinks their kid is a great student and it won't hurt them at all but, in reality missing an extended amount of school does hurt in one way or the other.
She told me that I was selfish for going during the school year because I wanted to avoid the summer crowds or holiday crowds. I am not judging anyone here but, simply admitting that she was right about me.. I was looking for low crowd times of the year at WDW and that meant going during the school year. I still think though that I made a good decision for the most part. We had an amazing trip and the crowds were minimal. Those are memories I wouldn't trade for anything. Both my sons said they loved the trip but, did admit later that it wasn't that easy doing all the extra homework before we left. They would have been happy going in the summer or Christmas they admitted to me later... but, they have never been to WDW during high crowd times, I wonder if they would truly feel that way if they experienced it?

Clearly, my cousin has a very strong opinion about this issue and since she deals with it frequently and sees first hand the consequences, I respect her opinion.

I have read on this forum though other teachers who do not have an issue with it. So.. I think it all just boils down to personal choice for your family and of course what your local school district thinks about it, because ultimately they will have the last word on it.

 

[smilegirl1117]

I'm a teacher too and this is the part where I am supposed to tell you that their education is being interrupted and blah blah blah...TAKE THEM! You never get this time back and I promise you the memories you make on your vacation will outlast ANY being made in a math or history class!

 

[Airship Ariadne]

For us this time we are missing the last four days before Christmas break, and so doubt even in 8th grade DD is going to miss much...for the last couple of years that week has been little more than trying to keep them in their seats before the holiday. Think the teachers were trying to wrap up all grades before the break so there were no assignments at all, no home work, no tests...they showed movies in most classes, with stretching the credibility of them being on subject.

 

[starsweeper]

If your school system will work with you and your kids can handle the make-up work, then go have fun. I do think the suggestion of scheduling before a break is a good idea. As a former teacher, I know very little is happening a few days before a break because kids start missing for vacations, etc.

My DH is very much against kids missing school, but I don't feel the same. However, we don't need to remove our kids because we get a fall break in October that works for us.

 

[moozle]

I know that this is mostly a question for their schools, but we are now thinking of going to WDW in February. Lighter crowds and less money. But it would mean taking the kids out of school on an extended absence. It would also mean they'd need to (probably) bring homework. (I went when I was in 9th grade [and my sister in 7th] and I had a week's worth of math to do before we went which I did in a day.)

Who else has taken their kids out of school? By the way, I should mention that my kids will be in grades 8, 10 and 12.

I have two daughters - one is going into 2nd grade, and one is going into 5th grade. We have pulled them both for a week for Disney every since my the year my oldest started kindergarten. We keep saying it's the last year we're going to do it, but I'm starting to think we might be able to pull it off through middle school. We'll see how this year goes.

What we do is pull them for that last week before winter break (so this year we'll be at WDW 12/13-12/20). It's our FAVORITE time to visit WDW. Also, there are so many holiday parties, field trips, and fluff activities that last week, that I have found my girls really don't miss THAT much work. I make sure both of them have their reading goals met in advance. I do ask to have any tests taken in advance -because a previous poster is right about the end of the quarter. Grades need to be turned in, so you can't really make up that work when you return. So far it hasn't been a problem. Last year my daughter just skipped PE for a few days before we left and took her tests during that time.

Our district only allows 10 absences - regardless of whether they are excused or unexcused - before you are considered truant. I'm lucky in that both of my daughters' principals have excused the vacations every year, but they do still count towards the 10. We do it anyway and just try very hard not to take very many other days off.

 

[Tonyz]

Take 'em out! If they're in elementary school they'll be fine. A week in Disney World will do more good than another week in school. They'll make up the work in no time!

I got taken out twice when I was a kid. They were the two best weeks of my life. And I only got held back once!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

AP classes are a whole different ballgame. I took all AP classes in high school, and they are very difficult. Sometimes they introduce new material everyday, and it moves at an incredibly fast pace. So the student would be effectively having to self teach very difficult material at WDW.

I personally think taking elementary and even middle school kids out is no big deal. But high school may be a whole different ball game. I also would not want to do homework at WDW. I think it would take away from the magic. But that's just me.

.

I totally agree. I used to pull my kids every year for 5-8 school days every year without question.

Now that DS is in high school there is no way I could do that. His classes move way too fast and it would take him forever if ever to catch up.
His GPA is way more important now than vacations.

Our vacation is now the week before school starts

 

[Grimlock34a]

IMO life is too short and we are so busy in our every day lives that taking time to enjoy it with family and friends shouldn't be an issue.

Having said that, I think you should be responsible about it. We are taking our kids out for 7 school days in September and notified the principal and their upcoming teachers back in May and reminded them again this week.

We also told our kids to be prepared for the avalanche of homework (as the price for the trip).

No one from the school has raised an issue about it and for that we are glad.

Good luck to all those who do this.