When to take kids out of elementary school for WDW..

[Dust2]

Take them out the week before a break so the prices are still low, but they have the break to catch up on independent study work. That way they don’t have to do schoolwork during the trip and their absence can be erased if they complete the work the teacher sends home. That’s how it works in my district and likely in others as well.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

When do people with young school age kids go to Disney? Do you take your kids out of school and when do you do it? Any school year vacation plans that worked would be interesting to hear. I'm stumped when I look at the calendar!

I swore I would NEVER take my son out of school. Yea, I lied to myself.

He has 4 day weekends - MLK and President's Day weekends.
Starting in 1st grade and continuing through this year (8th grade), we have pulled him out of school the Thursday before one of these scheduled long weekends. It gives us 3.5 full days in the park. We didn't have any push back from any of his teachers. I always let them know about 3 weeks in advance.

We find we like MLK weekend better. It is less busy.

Once he is in HS, we won't go. Too many things going on and too hard to make up the work.

 

[Brett Wyman]

My DD is a rising 2nd grader so I'm concerned and with what she missed in K in 2020/2021. Did you travel on breaks or summer after? We travelled in June after school last two years and it was just so HOT.

Our schools get out the last week of May and we go immediately then then. But yeas it's still hot. We usually do parks until noon-ish and then pool the rest of the day.

 

[1420Elexismc]

When my daughter was a sophomore in HS we did the first week of May in 2015 with no issues. We are doing the same next year with my son and niece(they will be in 5th grade) right around the same time of year.

 

[Ursula J]

This is nuts. Not you, parents-- the pressure! Look, I was actually an academic superstar: valedictorian, National Merit Schloar, standardized test rockstar, now a PhD. I missed a LOT of school. My parents could talk to teachers, teachers understood my needs and our family, principals trusted teachers. Travel with your kids. Talk personally to teachers, and when they're able (systems are so oppressive now!), they'll usually get it. Your kids will be fine and if they have to learn a lesson about how to bracket stress and take care of themselves, GOOD. That scholarship probably doesn't depend on a week of school, and even if it did, there are other colleges that reward creativity, individuality, and world experience. Hit the road. They're only young once. ETA: planning a well in early Dec 23 and already told my 15 year old daughter's teachers "We're going to be gone a week NEXT December"

 

[Ursula J]

We had no issues until son got to middle school and then too hard to make up work. Remember elementary grades will show up on a final transcript . That said we didn’t do after 3rd grade as he always had stuff going on.

College prof here-- no one cares about grades until at least 9th, maybe 10th

 

[KristaZ]

So I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here. I'm an elementary special education teacher, so keep in mind I work with students that have higher needs than most. Ultimately it is totally you're decision to take your child out of school for vacation, and there are times, when as a teacher, I totally support it, but there are also times when I don't, even as an elementary teacher.

With that said, there are two things I would keep in mind. #1 - what is your school districts policy on absences and providing work ahead of time? In every district I've worked in, a vacation would be unexcused and after like 5 of those the district starts sending angry letters. It's also been policy of every district I've worked in that as a teacher, we are not allowed to provide work ahead of time if your child is going to be out for vacation. For reference, I'm in upstate NY.

#2 to keep in mind is the bigger one for me as a teacher - what are your child's needs? Do they pick up on material quickly? Are they an independent worker? Will they have a hard time catching up on missed concepts? Are you able/willing to work with your child on missed concepts? No, grades don't count until much higher levels, but the foundations are built at the elementary level. Math is especially hard for some kiddos to miss. Some kids can absolutely miss a week and catch up without a problem. I have seen other students miss a week and struggle for the rest of the year. If your child will catch up no problem, then I would say go for the vacation, but if they're truly going to struggle, I would think more carefully.

Now I would say, a day or two before a break starts it totally fine no matter what. Believe me, we teachers know how expensive it is and how much it sucks only traveling during breaks.

 

[dez1978]

So far we've taken ours out for a week the last 4 years. the oldest starts 6th grade this year and we plan to take him out in March for a week then we'll see how that goes before we do it again. Actually we are taking them a week in Feb and a week in March for different things. 99% of their work in on their Ipads anyway. We haven't had a problem so far. One of my friends is the 6th grade ELA teacher at his school and I talked to her about it before we made any plans. She said even at this age, most teachers are willing to work with you as long as you are up front and the kids get the work done, and as long as the kids aren't struggling with the concepts or work before hand.

 

[Keeblerelf928]

We currently pull from school. She missed 9 days for trips in Kindergarten, 11 days in 1st grade and will miss 9 days currently for 2nd grade. These days are usually split up over 2-3 trips during the year. I'm usually upfront with the teacher, we always continue to read during trips and now I give her a journal that she writes in or draws pictures. The trips are a mix of learning (beach/tidepools/lighthouses/aquariums/national parks) and Disney/Universal. K and 1st grade teacher could not have cared less. We will see about 2nd grade, but the trips are booked and paid for already. No one remembers what they did on a random Tuesday at school, but I'm sure she'll remember a lot of the fun things we did on vacation.

 

[juxtapose]

We did in 2020 before Covid hit and ended up with 10 crowds anyways on a random week in February so the next time we will probably just go during a break. Looking at spring break 2023 or 2024.

 

[NJlauren]

I usually take a day or two here and there and do a long weekend.

We get 2 days in November, the rest of the week is half days, so she will miss 1 half day. Last year we got a Tuesday off for the Luna new year, so I picked her up early Friday, and she missed Monday.

This year we are going to Boston for the marathon, it turns out it’s a half day so she will miss that.

I try to limit the days I pull her out to 1/2 at a time. We get a lot of holidays and half days so I try to utilize those.

 

[Angelboys3]

We're taking ours out right after Labor Day. We've done this week in the past and it works well as it is typically review, no new content to master. It's also before concerts, testing, etc get underway. We have a senior this year and we're still taking him out. He's a good student and we're doing a Capture Your Moment sesh for senior pics. We've already alerted the school. Their policy is he will have 1 day of "ISS" when he returns for missing more than 4 days but it works out as a catch up day for the work he missed, not an actual punishment. His teachers have apologized in the past that that was the policy but it truly wasn't a big deal and he didn't mind.

 

[PinkPixel]

We're taking ours out right after Labor Day. We've done this week in the past and it works well as it is typically review, no new content to master. It's also before concerts, testing, etc get underway. We have a senior this year and we're still taking him out. He's a good student and we're doing a Capture Your Moment sesh for senior pics. We've already alerted the school. Their policy is he will have 1 day of "ISS" when he returns for missing more than 4 days but it works out as a catch up day for the work he missed, not an actual punishment. His teachers have apologized in the past that that was the policy but it truly wasn't a big deal and he didn't mind.

That sounds like a lot of fun, enjoy! I loved riding space mountain late at night over and over when it wasn't busy as a teenager.

 

[Rory607]

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This is nuts. Not you, parents-- the pressure! Look, I was actually an academic superstar: valedictorian, National Merit Schloar, standardized test rockstar, now a PhD. I missed a LOT of school. My parents could talk to teachers, teachers understood my needs and our family, principals trusted teachers. Travel with your kids. Talk personally to teachers, and when they're able (systems are so oppressive now!), they'll usually get it. Your kids will be fine and if they have to learn a lesson about how to bracket stress and take care of themselves, GOOD. That scholarship probably doesn't depend on a week of school, and even if it did, there are other colleges that reward creativity, individuality, and world experience. Hit the road. They're only young once. ETA: planning a well in early Dec 23 and already told my 15 year old daughter's teachers "We're going to be gone a week NEXT December"

I don’t disagree, but there are different factors at play for different families. Our district is strict about attendance. You can get a truancy letter after a certain amount of missed days. We have to submit a vacation approval form and teachers aren’t allowed to give work beforehand. When our kids were lower elementary it wasn’t a big deal, but now that our oldest is in jr. high I can’t imagine the amount of work there would be to make up when we got back. She’s in honors classes and the amount of work is no joke! I don’t care what anyone else does, but it’s not worth it to me. And my kids want to be at school, so I feel like for us personally it creates an amount of stress that isn’t needed.

 

[Ursula J]

@KristaZ, you are absolutely correct. And you are, too, @Rory607. Paying attention to the individual kid is key. I was remiss in not considering how important routine can be for different kids, or how much a child may truly want to be in school for the sake of joy and fun there.
I think what I was lamenting was the rise of school policies that do draconian things like put a kid on a truancy list for going on a family vacation. In my day (lol) teachers were given much more leeway to accommodate individual students based on their expertise and judgment; I know teachers now are subject to a lot more administrative "absolute rules." Parents then pick up on this stress and feel like taking a day off (or even a week!) is the end of their child's future prospects. I hate the unnecessary pressure and scarcity mindset. Anyway! Thanks for your points--good food for thought.

 

[Jen81NYC]

I’m in the minority in that I don’t personally like the trend of taking kids out of school for vacation. I did it when the kids were in prek and kindergarten but that was it.

A few reasons, in case it’s helpful: 1) Even in early years, there’s a lot of foundational math and literacy work that happens and if you miss a week of when they learn some of these basic concepts, it can kind of affect how they learn subsequent units, 2) family time and memories are of course important but with weekends, breaks, summer, random holidays, etc, there’s still a lot of family time—I want to emphasize to my kids that school/education is very key and I worry that being a bit casual about school attendance undercuts that, 3) I have a new appreciation for in-person school after so much remote school!, and 4) you never know how much school the kids may need to miss in a given school year due to Covid, monkeypox, other illness, a natural disaster, etc. and I don’t want to run into any weird attendance issues by adding a weeklong vacation to that. I can see adding a day or two before a break or long weekend but that would be it for me, tbh. Hope this helps!

 

[Lilsia]

If they are young, any time. We took ours out at various times of the year without issue. Once they get to junior high age, it is much more difficult, depending on how well your child learns.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

For us, it depends on Easter. Our spring break is always in April. Some years it's the week before Easter, some years it's the week after Easter, and some years it's not attached to Easter at all. When spring break is separate from Easter, that's the week we'll do WDW. Otherwise, we like January/February.

We don't like to take them out at the start of the school year because we want them to get to know their teachers and new classmates. Once we have a rapport with the teacher and a comfort with the rhythm of the school year, that's when we're comfortable with them missing a week.

 

[Lilsia]

This is nuts. Not you, parents-- the pressure! Look, I was actually an academic superstar: valedictorian, National Merit Schloar, standardized test rockstar, now a PhD. I missed a LOT of school. My parents could talk to teachers, teachers understood my needs and our family, principals trusted teachers. Travel with your kids. Talk personally to teachers, and when they're able (systems are so oppressive now!), they'll usually get it. Your kids will be fine and if they have to learn a lesson about how to bracket stress and take care of themselves, GOOD. That scholarship probably doesn't depend on a week of school, and even if it did, there are other colleges that reward creativity, individuality, and world experience. Hit the road. They're only young once. ETA: planning a well in early Dec 23 and already told my 15 year old daughter's teachers "We're going to be gone a week NEXT December"

Thank you for your story. I have only heard parents and kids say that taking a child out of school did not affect their learning at all and never once have we heard "it ruined my life". It is always some random people saying that they don't "believe" in kids missing school with a bunch of pearl clutching with absolutely no facts to back it up. A child that has no issues normally, will not be devastated by being taken out for a few days a year. Many kids are sick more then that. My husband was a very sick child and missed well over a month every year. He is brilliant and graduated with honors. If the child does fine, then it will not affect them.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is nuts. Not you, parents-- the pressure! Look, I was actually an academic superstar: valedictorian, National Merit Schloar, standardized test rockstar, now a PhD. I missed a LOT of school. My parents could talk to teachers, teachers understood my needs and our family, principals trusted teachers. Travel with your kids. Talk personally to teachers, and when they're able (systems are so oppressive now!), they'll usually get it. Your kids will be fine and if they have to learn a lesson about how to bracket stress and take care of themselves, GOOD. That scholarship probably doesn't depend on a week of school, and even if it did, there are other colleges that reward creativity, individuality, and world experience. Hit the road. They're only young once. ETA: planning a well in early Dec 23 and already told my 15 year old daughter's teachers "We're going to be gone a week NEXT December"

I grew up in a poor district where truancy was a huge issue and they had a "zero tolerance policy." Any more than five absences in a semester and it became a law enforcement matter. The literal police got involved, as well as Child Protective Services. It wasn't about kids falling behind academically, it was about preventing actual delinquency. It didn't matter that I was a top student, there was nothing my teachers could do.

Now I live in a rich district where the parents, teachers, administrators, heck even the bus drivers are all on great terms with one another. We talk and text and hang out and they're infinitely flexible. My daughter missed three weeks last year for a Disney trip, a Hawaii trip, and a cruise and it was a complete non-issue.