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

[hucifer]

I think you should reschedule your trip.

Yep. Don't punish your responsible daughter. Cancel your trip and go during summer break. It may be more crowded then, but your family will be together, and that is far more valuable than splitting up the family for shorter ride lines.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Be sure to know the school policy. Our school policy has a strict, and enforced policy for Middle and High School in regards to unexcused absenses. It states that if any tests or quzzes are given on the day the child is gone, then they get a ZERO for that test or quiz. No make-ups, no extra credit. So that could really, really hurt a grade. And yes it is enforced and no, family vacations are not excused.

I am not saying your school policy is so strict, but it could be. Check into it.

My DS14 would be thrilled to miss and wouldn't care about the grades but I would care.

Good luck!
Katy

Our district is also strict. 7 consecutive days requires a doctor's note, actually anything over 3 days requires a note. Without a doctor's note, it is an unexcused absence. 7 unexcused days in a year, whether consecutive or not, triggers the truancy officer. The parents then get in trouble for being irresponsible in allowing a child to miss so much school. In our district, you may find yourself being required to attend parenting classes through social services if you willingly allowed your child to miss 7+ unexcused days.

The child would not be allowed to make up any work, so that A average would go down the drain. It would also be noted on her permanent transcripts that so much time off was taken.

Also, any further absences after 7 unexcused, even a single day of a sniffly nose, requires a doctor's excuse to be allowed to return to school.

Missing that many consecutive unexcused absences in HS in our district is taken extremely seriously.

There are plenty of months to take a trip without impacting your daughter so severely, especially if she is on a blocked schedule. This could really hurt her overall GPA and in turn, depending on the schools she is considering post HS, could limit those selections too.

You should be proud that you raised such a responsible daughter. Now take heed, follow her example, and reschedule your vacation so that all of you can enjoy it. A little heat is much more tolerable than what your daughter would have to go through if she went with you on your current plans.

Edited to add: The reason our school implemented such strict attendance requirements is that we have a large population of parents of means that often saw no problem with jetting off for a ski week, a Disney trip or a week in the Caribbean. Not only does missing such a large block of school do a disservice to the child, it also puts enormous extra work on the teachers. Just in tests alone, they would have to make up more versions because you certainly couldn't give the same test that was given a week ago.

 

[dislal]

OP HERE:

Wow, thank you guys for all the great responses, you have really opened my eyes. I never had to deal with block scheduling before. I think we are going to have to discuss this as a family and try to find another time to go. I know she really wants to go.

My DD14 is a very responsible, mature girl and I am so proud of her. This semester she has Biology, Computer Science, Honors English and this is her second year of Algebra. Next semester (which is the one we would be going during) the only class I am sure of is Gym which the school has an after school program to make up, but right now I don't know what the other 3 classes would be.

let me see if I can explain my reasoning behind this trip:


The last time we went was January 2007, we had a great time and the kids were in 7th, 4th, and 2nd. I went to school and talked to each of their teachers and all the teachers were great(we had no problems at all, the teachers gave us the homework at least a week in advance so the kids had it all done before we even left.) I was hoping this would be the case again.

While we where at Disney in Jan 2007 we all agreed that we would go again before my DS turned 10 (which is Feb. 24 2010) and that would be our last time we would take the kids out of school for vacation because they are all getting older, we have been discussing this at home and my DD14 seemed fine with it all even talking about things we would do and how much fun we would have. etc. so I thought she was fine with it.

We are making the trip so long this time because we figured out the last time that the biggest expense was the flight down there so we wanted to stay as long as we could. (the tickets aren't much more, and just the few extra nights in the hotel and the food aren't that much more)

I am going to talk to DD again, I just looked at their school calendar again and the only week they have off is the week after christmas and Easter week.(so both of those are probably out)

Thank you all for the great responses and you have helped me see that we waited one year too long.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I'm glad you're re-thinking this. My oldest is also 14, this is our first experience with block scheduling as well. FTR, she has honors algebra, social studies, Spanish 2, and band/computer now. I know she's taking honors science and honors English, and something else--band/computer go all year. but, it's tough to get a handle on at first.

I feel your pain on having to go during vacation time. We went at the end of June this past summer, and it really wasn't all that bad. We were even there over July 4th. yeah, it was hot, but we had a good time, did everything we wanted to, etc. You could also consider towards the end of August, but be warned--if your DD does sports, again, she can't miss the beginning of fall season.

 

[tar heel]

Second semester, she almost for sure has whatever social science your school requires for freshmen. For us, that is World History, and Honors World History is one of those classes you probably wouldn't want to miss a week in.

The other thing you really have to consider is whether make-up work for unexcused absences is even allowed. At our school, it isn't, so it wouldn't be struggling to get an A, it would be probably failing the class.

Since you're not taking tiny children, I wouldn't rule out the busy weeks. I wouldn't have said that until our last trip. We went Christmas, and it was wonderful. When you plan carefully and really do the EMHs (MK was open until 3 am!), you can deal with the crowds.

We also went the very first week of the summer, a couple times even leaving the day school was out, a few times. Even though it was hot, we found June acceptable. The year my oldest graduated, we did July instead -- I'm not going to tell you to go then!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[dislal]

Has anyone ever went to disney the week between christmas and new years? Was it REALLY crazy, I am using Tour Guide Mike if that helps any

That would be cool to keep planning like we are still going in Feb and tell them on christmas morning that we are leaving tomorrow instead. But I just know my DH and he does not handle crowds well at all then we would all benot just DH


HHHMMM I am off to visit TGM website.

 

[Darcy03231]

Looking at her schedule next semester your daughter should have a history class, a foreign language class, you said you know she has gym, so she should have some other elective as her 4th class. Our school requires the kids to take a an elective class called "Freshman Seminar". If your school has something similar that may be it.

Good luck with rescheduling. As another poster pointed out, June is good month to go, especially if you can go in early-mid June.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I was there the week between Christmas and New Year's once. Christmas was crazy but the day after Christmas was dead.

 

[dislal]

I was there the week between Christmas and New Year's once. Christmas was crazy but the day after Christmas was dead.

What about that whole week in between?

 

[mjkacmom]

Has anyone ever went to disney the week between christmas and new years? Was it REALLY crazy, I am using Tour Guide Mike if that helps any

That would be cool to keep planning like we are still going in Feb and tell them on christmas morning that we are leaving tomorrow instead. But I just know my DH and he does not handle crowds well at all then we would all benot just DH


HHHMMM I am off to visit TGM website.

From what I've read here, it's the worst week with regards to crowds - shoulder to shoulder, sometimes scary, and with frequent park closing.

 

[patsfan101]

I wish I could go to Disney in January but the issue for me is not taking the kids out of school - it's taking me out of school - I teach!

Not to rain on your parade, but I don't give work out ahead of time. If I accomadated every student who went on vaca that way, I would spend hours writing assignments. I do let kids know about where in the book we will be when they get back and they are free to read up and study what they can on their own. But... if kids could learn all of that on their own, what do we have teachers for, anyway? It's not the assignments, it's the 7x90 minutes of instruction she will miss in 4 classes -that's ALOT of time. There's a reason she does well in school - she obviously uses that time well.

Now, I'm the first person to say that perfect attendance is over-rated and if I could take a few days off to go to Disney in January, I would.

But I can't. Can you?

Addendum:
We go every President's Day week. Yes, it's crowded. And expensive. But it's when we can go.

 

[tar heel]

Re: Christmastime

Disclaimer -- we were there a few days earlier, which is not quite as busy. We left the day after Christmas.

Do you have a family who can stay up late? If so, there are truly outrageous EMHs. MK closed at 3 a.m. while we were there. The place was really empty after midnight, too. We were visiting our son who was doing the College Program and using his free admissions. We only had three days of admission left, so we made them really full and, yes, we left MK at 3 a.m. We were familiar with Disney, used fast passes carefully and did the EMHs, and we had a great time.

We did run into a couple ADR issues. Couldn't get a couple places we wanted in advance or after we arrived. We also had a truly annoying situation at Ragland Road on Christmas evening -- we were seated THREE HOURS after our ADR time and had odd service.

 

[justhat]

We've gone the week between Christmas and New Year's twice and clearly it was not when BeachGirl went cause that place was mobbed!! We've done Easter week before and it was nothing compared to the week between Christmas and New Year's. Every single day was packed at every park, several filled to capacity throughout that week.

I see that you've decided to move the dates of your trip, so I'll suggest after New Year's, the beginning of January. You can likely still take your daughter out of school for a couple of days without her missing much (meaning 2-3 days) and get in a decent amount of time for your trip. We've done June and August before and I preferred August crowd-wise, but like Buzz&Belle said, you need to think about sports issues there.

 

[si-am]

OP, could you go in the summer? Is there a reason you have to go before your son turns 10? That seems a little arbitrary to me.

Summer can be hot but isn't quite as crowded as the week between Christmas/New Years.

Also, are the few days before and leading up to Christmas not an option? When do your kids get out of school for Christmas? We go every year at that time and it's very nice!

 

[justhat]

OP, could you go in the summer? Is there a reason you have to go before your son turns 10? That seems a little arbitrary to me.

Summer can be hot but isn't quite as crowded as the week between Christmas/New Years.

Also, are the few days before and leading up to Christmas not an option? When do your kids get out of school for Christmas? We go every year at that time and it's very nice!

I think the reason is cause at 10yo her son will be charged as an adult for food/tickets.


Another alternative, that isn't too crazy, it Presidents Weekend. It would still be before your son turns 10yo and it's crowded, but not super bad really. I think someone else suggested that time and we've done it and found it pretty enjoyable. You can still pair it with a day out of school before/after the weekend so you'd get some more time down there.

 

[dislal]

OP, could you go in the summer? Is there a reason you have to go before your son turns 10? That seems a little arbitrary to me.

Summer can be hot but isn't quite as crowded as the week between Christmas/New Years.

Also, are the few days before and leading up to Christmas not an option? When do your kids get out of school for Christmas? We go every year at that time and it's very nice!

No there is really no reason why we wanted to go before DS turned 10 we just kind of set that as a goal for ourselves.

I just priced airfare for the week after christmas and it is very high and I talked to DH and he can't get that week off.

My DH has a hard time taking time off in the summer, because of his job he works for a popular soft drink company and that is their busy time.

I talked to DD again after school and she keeps insisting that she won't care if we go without her, but I don't know.

I asked her if we cut the trip down to a week that they have an early dismissal if she would miss 4 1/2 days instead of 7 and she said maybe. Or I asked her how she would feel about just missing 2 days and flying home by herself with my brother getting her at the airport and keeping her for the rest of the week, and she said she would have to think about that.

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

 

[Lionqueen2]

No there is really no reason why we wanted to go before DS turned 10 we just kind of set that as a goal for ourselves.

I just priced airfare for the week after christmas and it is very high and I talked to DH and he can't get that week off.

My DH has a hard time taking time off in the summer, because of his job he works for a popular soft drink company and that is their busy time.

I talked to DD again after school and she keeps insisting that she won't care if we go without her, but I don't know.

I asked her if we cut the trip down to a week that they have an early dismissal if she would miss 4 1/2 days instead of 7 and she said maybe. Or I asked her how she would feel about just missing 2 days and flying home by herself with my brother getting her at the airport and keeping her for the rest of the week, and she said she would have to think about that.

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

It seems that your DH has the same problem as your daughter since he can't leave work in the summer and your daughter can't leave school. How about Easter time or spring break? Would they both be able to go then?

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

What about that whole week in between?

I was there three days before Christmas, Christmas, and two days after. The two days after were dead.

 

[claudia]

No there is really no reason why we wanted to go before DS turned 10 we just kind of set that as a goal for ourselves.

I just priced airfare for the week after christmas and it is very high and I talked to DH and he can't get that week off.

My DH has a hard time taking time off in the summer, because of his job he works for a popular soft drink company and that is their busy time.

I talked to DD again after school and she keeps insisting that she won't care if we go without her, but I don't know.

I asked her if we cut the trip down to a week that they have an early dismissal if she would miss 4 1/2 days instead of 7 and she said maybe. Or I asked her how she would feel about just missing 2 days and flying home by herself with my brother getting her at the airport and keeping her for the rest of the week, and she said she would have to think about that.

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

do the kids get a "winter break"? Here it is the 3rd week of February...

 

[MIGrandma]

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.