To Pull or Not To Pull??? That is the question

[*Robin*]

I haven't read all the responses, so please forgive me if you've heard it a million times...

PULL!! It's an amazing trip...it's something they will remember forever, and off season makes it worth every minute!

 

[Cherch]

Definitely pull them out of school. Thoses kids will get more out of 1 week with the family
then they would from 1 month at school. You won't be able to measure the impact of the
vacation on their test scores. But the stronger bonds that will be built from a family vacation
will have a lifetime effect on them. We have been taking our kids out of school for the last 9 years without and worries about it. Also we tell them that they can't miss a lot of time during the school year. 4 kids 4,5,10,13.

 

[Planogirl]

Are strict schools like ours so rare? Our district states that under no circumstances will a vacation be an excused absence and more than a few unexcused days is grounds for suspension. I don't think that I'll be pulling my son out. We'll just have to have these educational family trips during breaks.

 

[EPCOTLADY]

we always take our out too. they are in 3rd and 5th grade this year. we will be there the end of sept. i always get nervous taking them out, but it usually works out well.

 

[Dizzy]

We always pull them out during the school year. My daughter will be going into 2nd grade and my son will be in Preschool. We notify the teacher months in advance and remind her often. I would say about 75% of her class last year were taken out for a family vacation to Disney World. Also, where we're from, vacation absenses are counted as regular absenses but their not counted toward an amount of missing time to fail. But, my children are young. When they get to the older grades and high school then that may be a different story. When my daughter was in 1st grade, she had enough homework to work on that took up time on the flight to and from WDW. Plus, I see it as a good time to be sitting still with your child looking at her work as she is doing it and being able to review. You've got so much time on that flight to use the time constructively.

 

[PoohMoma]

We pull our kids out of school the very last week before Christmas vacation. That week is still not really busy at WDW and it is usually a slow week at school, parties, Christmas crafts, etc. My kids don't mind missing the parties because they are at WDW!!
Plus they have all Christmas vacation to make up missed work. I always prearrange this with teachers.
My kids are still young and I'm sure in the years to come they may have exams that week, but for now that's my best week to pull them out!

 

[Mom B]

Sorry, but it seems in our area that school vacations are not
designed for the students and their families...they are designed
so the teachers and their families can go on vacation! All that is
fine for them, but scheduled school vacations do NOT fit in well
with our work schedules. It's hard enough to schedule vacations
around our work schedules; if we couldn't take the kids out on
the rare occasions (every 4 or 5 years) that we do our Disney
trips, we'd never get there at all!

 

[gillyflower]

This seems to be a hot topic! (have to put in my 2cents ! ) I agree with the majority of posts here, and we are planning on taking our 6th & 7th graders out of school in Nov.for their 1st WDW trip. We did, however, first look at the school calendar. We made sure it wasn't the at the end of a term. They already have Mon. off for Veteran's Day, so only 4 days missed. We did try to work around the school schedule somewhat. And if they were in highschool and we couldn't find a time when they could miss school without difficulty, we wouldn't take them out.
And I do think you can teach your children responsibility and still have a vacation during school: They will be sure to get assignments ahead of time. They will make up the work. They will be giving advance notice for their absences. They have parental permission
There was a post that asked if you would go to Disney if you did not have vacation time...yes, you would, if you were my husband who doesn't get ANY paid vacation(or sick) days. He works in construction, and the summer is too busy to take off work, so we have planned ahead to miss a week's pay to have a family trip. And I am betting that the memories from our week in Disney (can't wait!!!!) will outweigh a missed week of school or paycheck.

 

[Mickey0330]

GO FOR IT!!!!! If your children do well in school, then talk to the teacher early & tell her what you are planning so she can give you some work. We've done it every year (son is in 3rd grade) and he has had no problem. The kids benefit so much by the trip and all the great family time.

Unless your child is behind, go for it.