What to do about kids missing school...

[DWofjdads2]

Hi!

I have a question for all you veterans with kids. What do you tell the teachers when you take them out of school? I don't really want to request homework (or at least a bunch of it) because we don't want them doing it at Disney World.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Jackie

 

[faithfull]

I went in and advised that we were taking the kids out of school to go on our own educational fieldtrip. I pointed out all the educational experiences I thought my kids would be obtaining on the trip and offered to have them write up an essay AT THE END of the trip if she would like to see a presentation on their experiences. (I also kiss up all school year offering the teacher any kind of help she may possibly need to try and ward off any hard feelinings.)

 

[LI Debbie]

Jackie,
The first time we took the kids to WDW, our twins were only 4 and our oldest was 10 (fourth grade). He had a wonderful teacher who when I told her that Mike would be missing four days of classes, not only wished us well, but she gave us this advice-

"Write a note to the school the day before the trip and say "A family situation dictates that Michael will be absent from school from ___ to ___." Leave it at that and don't send him back to school the first day wearing a Mickey Mouse tee shirt!" She was great.

I saw a picture of your kids, Jackie, they look very bright to me. Don't worry about the homework. They'll catch up soon enough. Have a great time. It won't be long now.

 

[kellyla]

When we went last December I let the teachers know about a month before hand so that my kids could do any assignments before they left.About a week before hand I requested any work that they would be doing during the week we would be away.The teachers were great.They gave both of them math they would be doing(which we got done and handed in before we left)My youngest son was asked to write a journal for English,which he did everynight before he went to bed.He then did a presentation when we got back and it was included in his marks.My sons were in grade 4 and 7 when we went.The teachers also allowed them to make up any tests they missed(spelling,math and French)

 

[jabrown40]

I've taken my kids out of school, several times over the years. The responses I received were mixed, but it made no difference in their grades. I have always called the school the day before, and stated, DS will be out of school from __ til___. I was pretty up front that they would be on vacation. It doesn't do any good to hedge, because as soon as you get back, the kids will spill the beans. Besides, most of their friends all knew were they were, so it doesn't do any good to try to keep it a secret. Some teachers got a little snippy, but overall, the responses I received were favorable. One teacher told me not to bother with homework on the trip, because she felt it was important to enjoy time with family! Can you beat that? now if only my boss felt the same! If you are going by car, there is a good deal of time that you can get work done. I really tried to have the kids do a little work on the plane (It's a two and a half hour flight for us, there and back.) Also, if there was any free time in the evening, I tried to get one assignment done, so there wouldn't be so much when they got home. It's hard to get their minds on it, but a lot of homework, esp. math, can be done fairly quickly. Also a little reading before bed doesn't hurt. Just don't be afraid to take them out. Over the course of the nine weeks, it doesn't seem to effect the grade at all.

 

[faithfull]

Also...when we go in December we will be taking me nephew who is 13. He has never been a great academic achiever. When we invited him the deal was that he had to be making good grades or his brother would take the ticket. For the first time in his life he is now a straight A student. I guess this was the motivation he needed. ( He has never even flown on a plane so this will definetly be educational for him!)

 

[supercarrie]

I am glad so many of you actually have good experiences with your kids missing school! Here, when I tried to put down "family situations" on the note my dad wrote for me to miss 1 PERIOD of school for a cruise, they told me I should have lied and put I had a doctor's appt! This upset me because we are raised not to lie, and then are told TO LIE by the school itself!

If we miss less then 4 days, and put down "family vacation" or anything not considered excused, it is unexcused and NOTHING is allowed to be made up, not even tests. They consider you as truant. But if we miss more than 5 days, and arrange it in advance, we can get an "independent study" form where teachers assign us the work for that week ahead of time. This is the way it is from K-12, and some kids here miss even up to a whole month visiting relatives in Mexico!! So maybe you could see if something like that is available for your kids?

 

[DWofjdads2]

THANKS!

To everyone who posted. The ideas are great!

Jackie

 

[mouskamom]

We have taken my daughter out every other year since she was in kindergarden -she's graduating high school 2002 (little boo-hoo sob! sob! )and yes, we are going to go this year - I have told teachers in advance when she was in grade school - in high school she made the arrangements - I can't say the teachers were always happy - but she is a great student - 99+ average - AP classes (brag - brag - brag) her marks never suffered - the odd thing is it was harder for her to make up the gym classed than her AP physics labs!! Go figure!!

 

[OhMickey]

I've taken my 4 kids out 2 times over the past 3 years for Disney vacations. The last trip I took them out for 8 days. Most of the teachers were great - "go have a good time, write a journal". Sometimes, they sent home work before we left so that we didn't have to finish during the trip or after we returned.

I am a little apprehensive of taking my now 12 year old Junior High student out next year for a December trip. She is only a so-so student. But, she is my child and I want to take her to Disney in December - not June, July & August. This is the reason I support year round school with many small breaks throughout the year.

My advice (as given in an earlier post)

1. Suck up to the teachers.

2. Tell them ahead of time. The earlier the better.

3. Remind them when it gets closer to your trip.

4. Know your principal. Our principal is supportive about families spending time together. I tell him 1st that we are going. Hey, he's the teachers' boss!

Good luck!

 

[jdads2]

WOW what great looking kids!!! Wait those are mine.

We don't think that we can suck up to our oldest son's teacher. He does not like her and we are sure to have some kind of confrontation with her during he year...I don't mean fist fight or argument here, just a talk on what is best for DS.

I really don't want my kids doing homework while we are on vacation. This is our family vacation. Just because we can't afford the luxury of getting time off together during the summer months I don't expect my kids to suffer by not enjoying there vacation fully.

Both DS's will be responable for a personal journal. Oldest son will be in charge of keeping a family expense log (dad gets out of doing THAT...woohoo). Youngest son gets to help add it up every day. DD will have to collect one souvineer for every letter of the alphbet. A-address for a WDW resort, B-Beaches and Cream napkin....

I hope this is enough to please the teachers.

 

[Beanie]

I have three stepdaughters ages 12, 15 and 16 and we took them out of school last December for two weeks so we could go to Disney! All we did was advise them of this a month before hand and the girls did their homework BEFORE they left...then when they got back, they didn't have to spend weeks making up the work and they were right along with everyone else in class! Thankfully the schools up here don't give us a hard time about it as long as the girls do the assigned work before they leave...