Taking Kids out of school About This Page:

[kemom_wdw]

Originally Posted by JudyMcB

I know this is a controversial topic (especially between my DH and I) but I'd love to hear some other opinions. We went to WDW last year, 2007 the first week of September since my DD's school didn't begin until 9/11/2007. It was wonderful! Not too crowded and we all had a great time. I'd love to go that week again BUT her school year starts earlier this year. She'd end up missing the first three days of school. She'll be in third grade. Any thoughts??

Thanks!

Judy

I am a fourth grade teacher and am planning on taking my 2nd grader out for 4 days in Sept. and we begin school on Monday (so we're both missing). As a teacher, as long as parents let me know in advance, I can often give them their work and they can work on it in the car on the way there or sometimes on the airplane. I've even given students the work a day ahead of their vacation and they begin working on it then. Just be sure they make up the work!

[knzyzach]

I will ask for make-up work for both my kids and work with them on the plane and possibly have them work by the pool in Disney....
But really... we will probably save it for when we get home and have it completed by the next school day.

I agree with Stephanie0419. "Kids need vacation as much as adults" I think it is a great way to start the year - I won't let them miss the first 2 days of school (or the last few days of school). Currently they are both in Elementary school... my views may change in a couple of years....

[cmhand30]

DS15 will miss 1 class on a Thursday, and will be sick on Friday when we go to WDW in Dec. The class he will miss is drama. I wish he had chemistry in the morning so we could leave 2 hours earlier but he doesn't.
It is just hard for high schoolers to miss classes. He would get too far behind if he missed more than one day.
And we are dealing with a new school district so I have no clue if we took a longer vacation if the teachers would freakout.

[hall0731]

I was just reading our local major paper the houston chronicle and there was an article in there about truancy laws. I guess the district attorney's office is adding two more attorney to the docket to procsecute parents/children now. I cannot beleive we live in this great nation and parents/students are punished for good behavior. It is seriously messed up.

[disney]

Originally Posted by hall0731

I was just reading our local major paper the houston chronicle and there was an article in there about truancy laws. I guess the district attorney's office is adding two more attorney to the docket to procsecute parents/children now. I cannot beleive we live in this great nation and parents/students are punished for good behavior. It is seriously messed up.

the da office sounds like the O.K. CORRAL shoot first ask questions later. sorry the nices way i can say it .

[cmhand30]

Just read county handbook, GA state law gives military families 5 days max of excused absences for reuniting from deployments.

[wyomom]

Gotta love Wyoming! They are very laid back with their "school laws". Before I wrote my rant (found in earlier post), I read and re-read the school handbook. It gives no amount of days a child can miss in one school year and it doesn't state what is considered an "excused vs. unexcused" absence. It is mainly up to the principal and parents to make that decision. I have friends whos children have missed over 15 days in a school year and nothing was done so I figure six days is a breeze!

All the same, I wrote two lovely letters to my children's teachers explaining how we will be on vacation- as family time is just as important as school for us. In addition, I am playing on their sympathies as my husband does work away from home and misses out on much of the kids growing up. I also offered to have the kids (5th grade & Kindergarten) to give reports of their trips upon their return.
Hey, one catches more flies with honey than vinegar!!

[KS Tink]

I just read my kiddos' (1st & 3rd grades) school handbook, and it talks about unexcused absences and truency court. I started to panic, so I called a friend who teaches at their school. She eased my fears! She said that as long as the teachers know in advance, it's not a problem! Thank goodness!! My kids will be missing the first 7 school days after Christmas vacation....I hope their teachers can give them their assignments before Christmas break starts so we can have it ALL done before we leave on our trip! However, I understand that they might not have plans made for after the break, so maybe they can get the assignments to us during break (very small town!) so we can get things done before we return.
Best of luck all!

[chimo2u]

Hi! I live in Canada, so our kids don't go back until after labour day. I looked over the whole school calendar for 2009, counting all possible combinations for another family trip to Disney world. Our first trip (Jan 2008) was a special circumstance trip... DH was home on leave from serving in Afghanistan, so this is how we chose to spend our reunion/leave period together. We pulled the kids out for 9 learning days, and it was hard for them to catch up. DS 15 missed provincial testing and had to catch up when he got home. I guess it was worth it for the time spent as a family, but it seemed the kids spent the rest of the year off kilter and in catch-up mode. This next trip, I really want to avoid missing too much as the boys will be 17(starting grade11) and 13(starting grade 8). After much thought and consideration of what will hurt the attendence least, we are planning on Sept 1-12, 2009. Labour day is late next Sept. (Sept 07)... so the only damage will be 3 or 4 days missed for a 12 day vacation.... and it will be the first week of school, so hopefully not too much missed. We will have to put up with the hot/humid Sept. weather, but at least we'll be in Disney! Our compromise for the longer vacation. I hope I made a good decision, as this will most likely be the last family vacation with oldest son getting ready to hit college in a few short years! Each individual family has to do what's best for their own situation
Marie

[pflamingo]

Just another 2cents here.

A lot of school systems are under pressure b/c of "No Child Left Behind" (what a joke, as most teachers will tell you). A number of schools in our county didn't make AYP (adequate yearly progress) just because of absenteeism. A school can have stellar testing scores, come in high on every other criteria (as these did), but b/c of a few too many absences, they get put on the "bad school" list. Not a place any school wants to be b/c of the potential penalties involved. And NCLB doesn't make any distinction for absences due to responsible families taking a vacation and those who don't give a fat rat's backside about their kids whereabouts.

Having said all that, I'm lucky to work in a private school with a very cool principal who understands the difference b/w responsible and irresponsible "hookey".

[Michoubi]

We are also taking our 2 boys our of school for our trip. They will miss 12 days. My youngest starts school this year, he will be in Senior kindergarden so i'm not worried about him missing school. Since we're only leavin the night of 29 October he will have had almost 2 months of half days under his belt

My 17 yr old DS is going to an alternative school this September. I did mention the trip to the Counsellor during our meeting and suggested maybe they give him some work to do while on the trip. SHE SAID NO She said how many times do you get to go to Disney World??!!! She said he can continue when he gets back. This type of school the kids work on one subject at a time at their own pace on their own and they have 6 weeks to complete a subject. If he was in a regular high school program with mutliple subjects then it would be a different story. He would be bringing work with him. It's his first big family trip and probably the last for him anyway since he'll be 18 next and probably itching to move out on his own.

[Principessa_di_Fata]

I'm constantly amazed at schools that won't let children make up missed work. Why punish the child and have him or her miss out on learning something just because an administrator makes a ridiculous and insulting rule?

It makes me insane every time I think about it. It shouldn't even be a question.

[Moyer8]

Well, here's my 2 cents.

We have a combined family that crosses 2 states. DS is in NY and we live in PA. Most of the vacation days don't all match up. All of our kids do very well in school. DD17 inducted into honor society, DS12 honor roll last year, etc. We will be getting homework ahead of time for them and are taking them out for 6 days. Family is the most important thing and education is a very close second. This is our first and probably only big family vacation. (5 kids, very expensive) There is no way with the crowds and heat I could handle WDW during the summer months. I think everything will be alright. But of course this is only my opinion. You have to do what you think is best. Good luck!

[Rissa Roo Mom]

I am trying to figure out the best way also to tell my DD new 3rd grade teacher for this year that she will miss a week of school in October. I had thought I would be ok since there has always in the past been 2 or 3 days off in mid October for teacher in-service and she would only miss 2 or 3 days, but they changed the school calendar after we booked our trip and not only will she miss a week, but the week she is missing is her first year of taking the statewide standardized tests. I'm not sure how to go about informing her teacher or how soon I should - we're only on day 2 of the school year. Wish me luck!

[KMB733]

My parents use to take me out of school when I was younger to go to Florida for vacations. I'm 30 years old with a college education, so I guess missing school for a few days never messed me up I don't have kids yet, but I would have no problem taking them out of school for a few days to go to Disney. As long as it doesn't interfere with something important at school (test, projects etc).