Wwyd??? I am a little sad!!!

[Darcy03231]

I would leave her at home with relatives.

My "children" are 33 and 30, and I learned not to force them to go with us on "family" vacations when they were in high school. They preferred to stay at home with family, and stick to their regular schedules. IMHO if you force a teenager to go on a family vacation, they are miserable and they make the rest of the family miserable. To me there's no point in that so I would rather let them stay home. It's part of the "letting go" process. I hated to see the day come when they didn't want to go with us anymore, but I think it happens to most families probably.

I think the issue here is that her daughter wants to go, just not during school.

OP - Is there anyway you, DH and the other kids could go in January and leave DD home with relatives and then you and DD do a Mother/Daughter trip in June when she gets out of school?

 

[dogluva]

I just booked our trip for next year the end of Jan. thru the 9 of Feb. I was so undecided about when to book, because of the kids school schedule with finals and report cards. We want to go when the crowd levels are low and the weather is cool. Well I came home the other day and announced to everyone that I finally booked the trip DS9 and DD11 are very excited asking all kinds of questions about the trip, but DD 14 didn't say anything and just went into her bedroom, when I asked her what was wrong today she said she doesn't want to go and miss that many days of school. I think I could leave her home with my brother and Sister-in-law, but I think the guilt would be too much for me to have a good time. She will be 15 by the time we go so its not like I am leaving a baby home (with my brother and SIL of course) for 11 days (7 total school days)

I told her I would go to the school and talk to the principal, and I have talked to other parents who have taken their kids out of school and they said they didn't have too much trouble, but our school has block scheduling so she says it is like missing 14 days instead of 7.

So WWYD? any suggestions

****No flames about taking the kids out of school my kids usually have perfect attendance and they are pretty much straight A students.***

I am surprised the principal doesn't have a problem with her missing that many days. My daughters in high school and can only miss a total of 10 days, even with a doctor's note. My son had surgery and he had to "make-up" hours on Saturday.

I can understand why she wouldn't want to miss that much school. That is a lot of work to make up. And then have to do the current work as well. We are going away April vacation. As much as I didn't want to go this week, my girls cannot miss school.

Good luck.

 

[dogluva]

......I'm gonna be the black sheep here......TAKE HER ANYWAY! It's High School.....7 days Will NOT kill her grades Get Homework ahead of time, do it and HAVE FUN.

Life is too precious NOT to take her and have her miss the family memories.

Yes be proud she is so responsible......but let her know thats it's OK to be a little reckless too- especially if the Mouse is involved

I don't agree with this attitude at all. Seven days (or 14 which is worse) is way too many days. She may not even enjoy herself worrying about all the work she has to make up when she returns.

I don't think it is ok to teach her to be reckless, even just a little.

 

[DebIreland]

You're overthinking the whole thing now - which happens all too easily when it comes to WDW! Go at Easter! Perhaps let the kids miss just one day so you can fly down on the Thursday evening (no one else will have thought of that so the parks will be empty j/k). Come back the following Sunday week.

Yes it'll be very busy but so what? Use TGMs least crowded parks advice, get to the parks very early and ENJOY!! You know it'll be brilliant cause it's Disney World! Think of the amazing atmosphere - springtime, stretch in the evenings, new flowers everywhere, newborn bunnies hopping around (okay I'm getting carried away...).

I know it'll cost more cause your ds will be ten but, in restaurants he can still order a child's meal unless it's a buffet/family style. Just don't do any of those.

I can see where your dd is coming from and I think it would be wonderful to reward her hard work with an Easter trip when she can unwind and forget her studies for a while. My ds is 15 and after just 2 weeks back at school he's overwhelmed by the workload - 3-4 hours of homework each night, pressure to pick the higher or ordinary level for his exams next May etc. Poor guy. Much as he adores WDW I think missing 7 days of school would cause havoc - he'd be a nervous wreck trying to catch up.

Really forget the whole missing-school option (except maybe max 1 day). Book it for Easter and you'll have a ball.

 

[disneymom2one]

As someone whose child will miss her fourth day of school today due to H1N1 (and is the same age as your daughter), I can't imagine intentionally putting a kid through missing that much school. Four days is too much on block. Your teen (in my opinion) is clearly trying to tell you something. She just doesn't want to miss the school days because she knows how hard it will be to come back afterward.

 

[powellrj]

My DH also works for a major soft drink company, so I know what you mean about their busy time, which is why we either go the first week of summer break or spring break. I know there are more crowds, but its just easier to work around schedules then. Usually summer activities haven't started yet and DS has an easier time getting off work then.

I have left my kids at home before so I don't have a problem doing that, but when I have left them it was because THEY didn't want to go. I don't think I could leave a child that wanted to go on a family trip for 2 weeks.

DS missed 4 days a couple of years ago for a choir trip and I have to say it was a rough semester for him to get caught up and this was a school sponsored trip where all the work could be made up. I can't imagine trying to make up that much work.

 

[Green Tea]

No flames about the concept of taking kids from school; I have done it myself. That said, it is too many days for an older student to miss. Knowing the workload in the upper grades, none of mine would be comfortable leaving for more than a day or 2 during the academic year.

We always loved traveling at off peak times when they were young to avoid crowds and have better pricing. But one the oldest hit about middle school, those days were over.

I think you have to change the trip. It isn't fair for your daughter to feel left out because she doesn't want to miss class. If it was something like she wanted to go to a special camp and was willing to give up vacation to be permitted to attend-that is one thing. But to essentially punish her for being a dedicated student is not so nice.

 

[Nancyg56]

I would leave her at home with relatives.

My "children" are 33 and 30, and I learned not to force them to go with us on "family" vacations when they were in high school. They preferred to stay at home with family, and stick to their regular schedules. IMHO if you force a teenager to go on a family vacation, they are miserable and they make the rest of the family miserable.

I think that this would be a disaster when the child wants to vacation but cannot miss school. She would get a mixed message from this, be responsible and commit to school.... stay with Grandma while the rest of us hit Disney. Toss your classes out and go on vacation and pay dearly when you get home. It is clearly a no-win for this girl unless Mom and Dad can come up with a better solution for her.

I agree that you cannot really force an older child to vacation but there is a huge difference between a kid who wants to stay home and one who needs to stay home.

I am trying to think about all our options here, does anyone have any other suggestions?

I understand work schedules, my DH has one that makes vacations in any other season than Winter impossible. For many years I took the kids and he stayed home, it was not the ideal solution but we did what we needed to d.

I would really check the school calendar to see the teacher inservice days. Many times they are clustered at the end of a week or at the beginning so that the kids get an extended break. If you could use them and then add on one or two days you would still have your vacation and it might be in a value season and your DD would not have so much work to make up.

FWIW- I just priced Disney and several other vacation destinations during my DGD's school break and was . She is now in third grade adn her classes are more difficult. We are also worried that there may be a lot of colds and flu this year so her Mom does not want to add on any extra days from school. I am also not looking forward to the crowsds and the expense of peak season travel but those days of pulling her out are officially over.

 

[luv2sew]

I don't think you should even think about leaving her home while the rest of the family is vactioning. I think it's sending the wrong message about family supporting each other.....there is plenty of other times to go to WDW. Spending time with family (all members of the family) is way too important, you need to come together as a family and decide the perfect time for that vacation which fits into the entire families schedule even if it means having to go during the crowded hot time....however, if you've never gone during Christmas break you may find that seeing the holiday's at WDW exciting, even with the crowds. Can't tell you how neat seeing the Osborne Lights was for us and the other Holiday decorations. Well worth fighting the crowds for.

We had a rule that once the kids got into high school (9th grade) we would no longer take them out of school for trips.