Would you take your child out of kindergarten for a vacation?

[xplor]

Originally posted by tink&cinderella
I took my then 4 1/2 year old dd out of junior Kindergarten for a week during January last year.
This January/February we are taking her (now in Senior Kindergarten) out for 2 weeks.

We have Pre-K and Kindergarten- but yours sounds SO cute!LOL

 

[SILLYANDI]

I am doing precisely the same thing, going in December with our Kindergartner before Christmas to beat the crowds and save money. I spoke with her teacher, who is giving us a packet of homework, and I am going to help her keep the travel journal (disneydollarless.com) as a way of learning while we are there. Our school district will allow her to go because she is considered "home schooled" during the time we are gone. The best part, she will still get her Attendance award as if she were there everyday, because she is being "home schooled!" Have fun!

 

[margiemc]

We were supposed to take my DD out of kindergarten for a week in December last year. My father passed away about 10 days before we were supposed to leave. We rescheduled our trip for March and we celebrated DD's 6th birthday there. It was the best trip we ever had! And it was needed for everyone! The teacher told us to enjoy ourselves. She gave DD some math pages to work on (which she did on the drive down) and told her she had to bring in pictures to tell everyone what she did and saw. She missed absolutely nothing!

 

[WhispyPixie]

We are doing it...the teacher is supportive and encouraging! We are also pulilng our twin middle schoolers and our senior in highschool out. They grades are good...we will do the work and turn it in BEFORE we leave on the trip! I am sorry, family memories and family time is more important to us that academics!

 

[kathyclownfish]

Definately take your child out of school! Its only going to get harder not easier. Having older kids, I know that as they get older it gets harder and harder and harder to take them away from sports and school obligations. Believe me Kindergarden is nothing. Take your child out and have a wondeful time!!
I took my kids out when they where in 2nd & 4th grade. The teachers made them do a little journal of their vacation when they got home. I was nervous about telling them and they told me that I was being ridiculous.....the kids learn (sort of) when they are on vacation too

 

[dmonroe]

We will take ds out of kindergarten for a week next December for our annual Disney trip. I am a little worried about it; but I think we'll be fine. Dh has to request his vacation time almost a year in advance. Even when he requests the weeks that schools are out for X-mas, he doesn't get them because people with seniority get their request met first. We could go in the summer; but I would rather wait until missing school is a real problem before we do that! There is just NOTHING like Disney at Christmas!

 

[4thegirls]

I am taking both DDs out of Kindergarten and second grade in 7 days (single digit dance!). They will miss 4 days for a nine day trip. To miss or not to miss depends on three things in my opinion. 1 School's attitude toward family educational vacations.
2 Your child's ability to keep up, make up etc if missing school. 3. What will benefit your child more.

In our case, 4 two and a half hour days (kindergarten) and even the four full days for my second grader will not set them back. Fortunately for us, both are good students and the school has a lenient policy about educational family vacations.

Do what is best for your children/ family and still doesn't violate your school's policy.

Unless it is impossible, I say GO! It will be the trip of a lifetime and in the end there just is not that much to kindergarten!

 

[Petersmom]

I would do it. We will be taking my 1st grader out of school for a week in May to go with other family members who don't have kids. Kind of a family reunion thing.

We have already spoken to his teacher about it and will get as much of his work for that week ahead of time. He will be doing it on the plane! It will be good 'busy work' for the travel time.It is amazing how much work they do get in K and 1st grade.

I think as long as you plan with the teacher you will be fine.

Have a good time!

 

[lovmy2girls]

It all would depend on your school and teacher. I think it is great for the teachers to be so supportive. If they give you the work and say have a great time, your home free. My kids go to a private school and they do not support it. In the handbook they talk about taking family vacations during times when the kids are out of school. If a child is absent and not sick, family death or other special circumstace, it is counted as unexcused. I could always just say they were sick, but when my kid says hey we had a great time at WDW, eek!! Why do I send my kids there??????

 

[MELSMICE]

I say go for it. We have taken our 3 DD's out of school fairly often for WDW trips, the most recent being last week. Oldest is a freshman & 2 younger twins are in 6th grade. As always, I was a nervous wreck wondering how the teacher's were going to react and if they would give them work or let them make it up, especially after the lecture and info we got at freshman orientation about missing school for vacation time!

I sent a letter to all the teachers about a month in advance & then another one the Monday before we left (which was a Friday) to remind them. All my DD's took quite a bit of work with them, finished it all, called friends daily for any additional assignments & were ahead in many of their classes when they returned.

I have to say, the teacher's were great about it. A few even thanked them & told them they were impressed with what they accomplished.

I truly believe it is all in the way you handle it & if your child takes work with them, they better get it done! I've been told by teachers there's nothing worse than assigning the work & then the child not bothering to do it.

If 9th & 6th graders can miss school then I think a kindergartner will be fine. Go & have a great time.

 

[marcyinPA]

I'm taking my 3rd grader out for a week in May, although this may be the last time I'll be able to take my kids out of school. Our school district is trying to implement a policy for the next school year to keep parents from taking their children out of school. It has something to do with losing funding from the state if attendance falls below a certain level. (I believe that all schools must have 95% attendance or higher or they are placed on a warning list....)

I don't agree with the policy (apparantly, this is state-wide), and I think that vacations should be approved on a case-by-case basis. My kids are never out of school (and are rarely sick, thank Goodness!) and are good students. I can see not approving an extended absence for a child who is out of school constantly and has the grades to prove it.

I say, if your district approves a vacation absence, then go for it!

Have fun!

 

[01Sweetpea]

We're taking my boys (5th grade & 3rd grade) out of school for 6 days. When we were at parent teacher conference I calmly explained our situation to the teachers and they were fine. Both boys are excellent students and teachers said they can make up work when they get back. They are not sending work with them.

We are a "blended" family consisting of his & mine kids. It is VERY difficult to get everyone's schedules to come together. It just happened that DH's daughters were heading to WDW for a cheer competition at the end of Feb., and we decided to go. Originally one of my stepdaughters was going to stay the extra 5 days with us, but has since changed her mind (whole nother post there). So we are going anyway, support DH's daughters, and allow my boys to have a fabulous vacation at WDW (a place we haven't been to in 5 years!)

 

[raidermatt]

I guess I'm the only killjoy, but no, I wouldn't (we actually have a kindergartener right now).

Its more of a principle thing... I know he wouldn't miss all that much, but I think its important to be consistent with the message that school is important. Its not a trade-off for family time, because we will take our vacations in the summer, with smaller, weekend trips throught the year and during other school breaks.

 

[pjlla]

WHile I certainly don't completely disagree with the above post, I have no qualms about taking my kids out of school for our upcoming Jan WDW trip... DS is in Kindergarten (not mandatory in our state) and DD is in 3rd grade. Both kids are very bright and have no trouble keeping up with the class. I certainly agree with "raidermatt" about the principle of the thing, but I guess I figure I can explain to them that while school is very important, we also feel this family time is important....blah, blah... and so on. I make sure that the teachers know at the earliest possible convenience (we also did this two years ago when DD was in 1st grade) and I will volunteer to come in to the school once or twice the week we leave to be sure I understand everything they are working on and to be sure I am able to gather all of her work. I also, incidentally, volunteer once a week in both of my kids classes, so I have a pretty good idea of what is expected of them. My DS in Kindergarten doesn't have homework, but we will find out what "letter person" he will be missing and we will be sure to talk and read about that letter during the week at WDW. Anyhow.... just my humble opinion!!

 

[raidermatt]

Just to clarify, our (my wife's and mine) opinion is just that, our opinion, and its what works for us. Its not a value judgement about what others choose to do, just an answer to the op's question.

If we couldn't travel during school vacations, we might feel differently, as we certainly value family time.

(pglla, I didn't make this clarification because of your post... but when I re-read my post, I realized its the kind that sometimes sets people off and I wanted to avert that if possible.)

 

[antmaril]

Absolutely! We took our son out of school (for no more than three days) for Disney trips until he was in the fifth grade. After that, it gets too hard. The teachers were always supportive. He was an excellent student and it did no harm whatsoever. He is now a junior in high school and an honor student. The trips were great family times together and precious memories.

My philosophy is that I am the parent and I know what is best for my child.

 

[KLAIT]

We are taking our son out of K for 6 days starting next Monday. I was really nervous to tell the teacher so I sent in a note about a month and a half before we are scheduled to go. At parent-teacher conferences, I asked the teacher if it was going to be a problem. This is what she told me "It is my job as a teacher to give your child the basics, It is your job to show him and give him the world. He will learn more in a week with family in a place like that than he will sitting in the classroom". I felt really good about that!

 

[kbkids]

We're doing it next week for three days. Since this is my first child in kindergarten, I was nervous about requesting approval. The principal at least once a month since school started has put reminders in the weekly newsletter about using scheduled holidays for vacations. But, my daughter was approved with no hesitation. She's only been out two days since the beginning of school sick, and she's done well with her schoolwork. Basically, at our school, it's approved or disapproved based on each child's own individual record.

 

[blaqbelt48]

You might want to consider if the school or teacher gives out any rewards for kids not missing school. Our son had missed a few days due to illness, so we took him out......Disney is something that he will never forget!!!!

bob

 

[Bbgrizzle]

Heck yeah!

I took my Kindergartener and 3rd grader out of school for almost two weeks to do WDW and a 7-day DCL cruise. No problems with the teachers. They both asked if they could come with us.

I am a licensed teacher (but not currently working as one) and I feel that a child will learn and take away much more on a vacation like that than they would in school. Just make sure they catch up on all their missing work and they will be fine.