Whats the longest you pulled your child out of school and how old were they?

[Magic2000]

My youngest DD missed 5 days of 3rd grade for a Disney trip in Oct, 2003. That's the most she's ever missed at one time. She has missed 2 or 3 days for our early Dec trips to Disney.

She's a good student and does not have trouble keeping up at school. The school and teachers have been fine with it.

Have a great trip!!!!

 

[tammy1210]

We'll be taking ds out of 1st grade for four days in Nov - we actually planned it during the Veteran's Day week so he'd take four instead of five off. I really don't see the big deal in taking a child out of school for a week each year for family vacations - every family is different and everyone can't get time off during the summer, Christmas - but at the same time I read our school's attendance policy last week, and I'm dreading my talk with the Principal - apparently if he has more than 3 unexcused absences in a school year we get referred to the school social worker - and it specifically said vacations had to be pre-approved! So, I def. will be having a talk with her soon.

 

[Iluvthemouse]

DD just started 2nd grade. She will be missing 5 full days of school in 2 weeks.
Last year we went the same time and she also missed 5 days. I got a letter from the principal saying they had to do a home visit because of "unexcused" abscenses. They never did. I sent a letter to the teacher 2 weeks prior letting her know and to get her school work ahead of time.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I have pulled DS out of school every year to go to WDW but this is the longest stretch at one time. Usually its just 5 days. We decided to extend this trip, because we felt as he gets older , we won't be able to pull him out for longer extended periods.

DS is a straight A student and he goes to a Catholic school with only 139 kids. We leave in 3 weeks and I plan to send the note to school with him tomorrow to let his teacher know.

There are 3 other families in my DS's class that will go to WDW this school year also. But they only pull their kids for a week at most, since they have children in the older grades also.

Thx again!

 

[we3disneygo]

dd12 in the 7th grade will miss 5 days of school in about 12 days!! she goes to a private school where they would prefer you to take vacations when school is not in session but dh is a retail mgr. so that doesnt' always work out....the office said it's no problem, and she has a classmate who is leaving the next week for WDW also! she also missed a week in kindergarten, third, and fifth grades!

 

[Jennasmomma]

my dd will miss around 7 days in December. We leave the 14th and get back the day christmas break starts. I'll talk to her teacher/principal ahead of time and get her work. This is a once in a lifetime trip for us.
She's always been on honor roll or high honor roll. She's 11 and in 6th grade.

 

[MikeyA50]

Our son is going into grade 5 and our daughter into grade 7. They will miss 21 days of school of over a period of 32 days which includes 4 days of travelling by car. Are we crazy? A lot of people would say so. Our daughter's teacher was not impressed. It's at the start of the school year and therefore they will have the whole year to catch up. We have been planning this trip for 8 years, waiting for the perfect time to go. Our jobs do not allow us to take time off in the summer. We'll be spending 14 days at the Disney parks, including the water parks and Disney Quest and then 14 days at Universal, Seaworld, Wet & Wild, Discovery Cove, local Museums, Kennedy Space Center, Pirate's Dinner show, Medieval Times Dinner show and finally a day at the beach. Imagine what the kids will gain from this experience, they will certaintly never forget it.

 

[MammaKat]

Well, I'm pulling mine for 2 weeks, we leave sept 17, return Oct 1, but they'll probably not be back at school until the 3rd, as we're flying out of Calgary, and I need the 2nd to drive the 10 hr drive home.

DS is entering GR 5, after having a very difficult gr 3 year, but a much better gr. 4. DD is starting grade 3, and she will have the same teacher my DS had for grade 3 & 4.

At the last IEP Individual Education Plan meeting that I had with DS's teacher, school counselor and principal, we discussed what I wanted to do, and they actually recommended that we take the last 2 weeks of Sept instead of the 1st 2 weeks, so that they can meet their teachers & classmates, etc, so they know what they are coming back to!

They were ALL really positive about the trip, and felt that some good family bonding would be great as we've had a rough couple of years. (seperation & divorce from mentally ill and potentially dangerous hubby, diagnosis of recurrent depressive disorder activated by stress, sudden death of my young mom from brain haemorrage, death by accidental drug od of my cousin, and death of my grandma to ALS. the deaths werre all in a 3 month span.)

My kids do well in school when they actually TRY, so they'll have to to catch up when they get back. (DD age 7 is reading over my schoulder and isn't happy with my TRY statement.. LOL!

 

[Natalya]

I'm glad you posted this. My 7th grader will miss 8 days of school and my preschooler will miss 5 (he only goes three days a week).

I was so worried about my son (the 7th grader). I don't look forward to meeting with his principal about this situation but I will shortly after school starts (I'd like to give him some time to get things rolling for the school year but we are leaving in mid October so I want to talk to him early enough)....I'm hoping to be able to work something out with him.

My son has NEVER missed school for a family vacation and on average he only misses 2 days a year for sickness (we have been fortunate that he is a healthy child) so its not like he is consistently absent.

My cousin is getting married in Kissimmee on October 14th...and that was the primary reason for this trip (with Disney thrown in for good measure since neither one of my kids has every been) so it isn't something that I can change the date on.

 

[PeterPansMum]

We're taking out DD 4th grade and DS 1st grade for 6 days right after school starts. I'm a little worried about our school's reaction to this as well. The "parent handbook" states all vacations will be illegal absences and makeup work is provided for legal absences only.. I'm wondering if the letter I saw on mouse for less really works and is worth the trouble. Anyone have input on that?
Thanks,
Cindy

 

[Scotsmomma]

My three sons now aged 17 19 and 25 were always taken out of school for one or two weeks every year...not just for WDW vacations...but for trips all over Europe...I know it's a touchy subject...but I always saw it as a learning experience too...they always caught up on any work they'd missed when they came home...travels an experience that I'm so glad my kids had the opportunity to do from an early age...

 

[LuvOrlando]

My kids miss 5 days every other year because of the school district's truancy rules and switch to the summer on alternate years. We've done this when the oldest was in preschool 2 x's , kindergarten and 2nd grade. This year we have to do a summer trip but the next its Feb again Its never affected their grades at all.

My 2 cents is that I don't think 8 days is too much but I'd keep silent on the traveling to WDW thing. Its very possible the principal might ok some of the days but not all of them, in effect oking the wedding but squishing the travel plans. I'd just tell him/her that you're having a long overdue family reunion and you think its important for the kids to get to know their family. When you get back the trip to WDW will just be an extra your kids tell their friends about.

Have an amazing time on your trip, it sounds like fun.

P.S., In our district they don't count a day when the kids were in for the morning so if that's the case by you might techincally have them out for 6 days if they go in a bit on the travel day out.

 

[tammy1210]

Our son is going into grade 5 and our daughter into grade 7. They will miss 21 days of school of over a period of 32 days which includes 4 days of travelling by car. Are we crazy? A lot of people would say so. Our daughter's teacher was not impressed. It's at the start of the school year and therefore they will have the whole year to catch up. We have been planning this trip for 8 years, waiting for the perfect time to go. Our jobs do not allow us to take time off in the summer. We'll be spending 14 days at the Disney parks, including the water parks and Disney Quest and then 14 days at Universal, Seaworld, Wet & Wild, Discovery Cove, local Museums, Kennedy Space Center, Pirate's Dinner show, Medieval Times Dinner show and finally a day at the beach. Imagine what the kids will gain from this experience, they will certaintly never forget it.

WOW! Sounds like a fantastic trip - I can't imagine being gone that long. I'm wondering if schools in Canada are more understanding than US schools - the poster after you is from Canada, too and going for two weeks - I honetly think if I took my kids out for 4 weeks they'd disenroll them - not to mention I'd end up in court (yeah, it's criminal here if your child misses too many unexcused days - the parents get charged!). I might have an understanding Judge, but I can't imagine facing that. What did your kids teacher/principal say?

 

[MikeyA50]

WOW! Sounds like a fantastic trip - I can't imagine being gone that long. I'm wondering if schools in Canada are more understanding than US schools - the poster after you is from Canada, too and going for two weeks - I honetly think if I took my kids out for 4 weeks they'd disenroll them - not to mention I'd end up in court (yeah, it's criminal here if your child misses too many unexcused days - the parents get charged!). I might have an understanding Judge, but I can't imagine facing that. What did your kids teacher/principal say?

Two years ago we took them out for 2 weeks and we only informed their teachers, this time around we informed their teachers that they would out for a month and informed my daughter's principal that we were taking her out for a vacation this fall, she didn't ask for how long and I didn't volunteer any more information. I didn't chance having anyone ruining this trip of a lifetime for my kids. I was ready to pull them out of school for a year and home school them if necessary. I have never heard of any parents being charged for taking their kids out for a vacation, however it is against the law to not have them go to school at all.

 

[mom2my3kids]

The most my kids have ever missed is 5 days, this is when we have gone to the beach. This is our first year staying longer then one day at disney, so they will miss 4 days of school because we are going during our fall break.

 

[Natalya]

WOW! Sounds like a fantastic trip - I can't imagine being gone that long. I'm wondering if schools in Canada are more understanding than US schools - the poster after you is from Canada, too and going for two weeks - I honetly think if I took my kids out for 4 weeks they'd disenroll them - not to mention I'd end up in court (yeah, it's criminal here if your child misses too many unexcused days - the parents get charged!). I might have an understanding Judge, but I can't imagine facing that. What did your kids teacher/principal say?

I was thinking the same thing!!! I'm worried about getting charged by taking my son out of school for 8 days. I couldn't even imagine 4 weeks.

I'm not sure exactly what our districts truancy policy is but tomorrow is the start of school and I will get his handbook. I'll be able to figure it out then.

 

[digskat]

our kids will be missing 11 days this fall, they missed 8 last year, and 6 the year before. We speak to the Teacher well before the trip, and they prepare work for the kids. The kids are also expected to keep a journal and complete a presentation upon return. They have had no problem catching up, and have maintained A's and B's in a Bi-lingual immersion program. Our school has several class trips, some of which are lengthy trips to Quebec, because they see the experience as invaluable. We have yet to receive any flack from he school, actually, our son's teacher asked us all about our trip, and took her kids during spring break. I think if our kids were missing 11 days throughout the year, just vegging on the couch......then they would be calling Family and Children Services, but this is a family learning adventure.