Should I take my teen out of school to go to WDW? - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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i was a secondary english teacher for ten years (and continue to work in the field of public ed.) during that time, i had many students take long breaks from school to travel--specifically students from other countries who would return for several weeks to a month to spend time with their families overseas. some parents would simply un-enroll them for that time period so as not to break any attendance rules. nothing bad ever happened to these kids; in fact, i'd argue that they were more focused on work because they had to be. you'll obviously have to put some thought into when (fall is reasonable), but i don't see any reason why you shouldn't. especially since you'll be traveling with a homeschool family--perhaps they can help you make the trip a learning experience as well.
I was out of school 2x in HS during my sophomore year. Like others have said I would definitely advise looking carefully at the school calendar to make the most of your time. 2 full weeks would be a great a vacation but horrible to make up. 5 school days and 4 weekend days would be much more doable. I only had issues in 1 class and I had many 3 advanced classes plus choir. Definitely speak to everyone involved - teachers & daughter and see what is the best for everyone.
I would ask your daughter. If she's comfortable missing that many days of school and will be able to catch up, then go for it.
I've posed this question to my son, who's a junior in high school, and he said he wouldn't miss school for any trip. He has straight A's but even he finds it would be to hard to make up all the work he'll miss and to catch up on all the missed lessons.
Not much to contribute, but great advice here. Best plans, IMO: piggy-back it (maybe the last week of one term, with her working hard to get done early, and the first of the next) or one break week and one school week.
In the school where I work (high school) a family vacation is considered unexcused-unaccepted reason for absence. That is the school's stance on elected absences. There is no tutoring help available through the school to help student's catch up, it's up to the kid, their teachers, and the family to figure out how to get caught up on missing material.
That said, if your daughter is a good student and able to get caught up, it could work. I did WDW once when I was mid-term in college. I was in calculus at the time, I think, either that or Trig. I HAD to do work on the trip. It put a slight damper on my experience, but it was worth it. That trip was only a week long. For math...missing 2 weeks of the same term would be a disaster. She would need a tutor or at least Khan academy. Much better to work to get ahead than work to catch up.
Other families will have their own priorities and choices to make, of course; I just haven't wanted to give my kids the impression that vacations are more important than school.
Sounds like my parents who, both having been teachers before their marriage, said, "School is your job, a job with already scheduled vacations. Your dad can schedule his vacation when he wants; you can't. So, no, we won't agree to a few extra days out of school nor taking our vacation when you don't have one scheduled. That's how you do your job." Period, end of story for them.
Once I became a teacher, I often wished more parents felt that way. It was a tremendous amount of extra work for me along with coming in early or staying late for a student needing to make up tests or speeches. I certainly never minded doing that when the absence was unavoidable but had to grit my teeth when it was and none of the work was done in advance or during the trip as promised. After hours for such was an additional burden when I typically spent evenings at school anyway coaching debate and competitive speech students.
I still wish people would consider how heavily burdened teachers already are and not add to it by taking kids out of school when unnecessary. ::::shoves soapbox aside:::::
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
I still wish people would consider how heavily burdened teachers already are and not add to it by taking kids out of school when unnecessary. ::::shoves soapbox aside:::::
You are so right. I really don't think that others realize how much extra work it is to "prepare work ahead of time" for a student who is planning to be out. It's not like you can just reach into the file cabinet and pull out the next lesson. Teachers prepare each lesson based on what has been accomplished in class the day or week before. That changes from class to class and year to year. Certainly some things are used over again, but not everything. Tests are certainly not planned and prepared more than a few days in advance generally. I am an extremely organized person (more so than most, I dare say) and, yet, it was a challenge and definitely extra work when I had to do this for a student. And, generally, I would never give a test to a student more than a day early. Sadly, there is too much cheating going on in the classrooms to do that. And, making up a different test for one student in not easy at all.
It was especially bad for both me and the student when the absence was in the semester I taught interpersonal communication.
Two-thirds of the work was small-group exercises that were not only impossible to make up or substitute something as effective for them but gave students dramatic understanding of essential concepts. Missing any of those was a distinct handicap.
Most crucial was the very challenging chapter on perception. Students typically understood little of the text on that and only grasped how powerfully different types of perceptual differences could affect communication when they did the group work. People take everyday communication so much for granted that we are largely unaware how profoundly misperception and sensory flaws can damage understanding.
I often had students tell me they wished they hadn't been absent when they tried to achieve understanding of the IPC work missed even when I did extra tutoring with them. Some concepts are that difficult and challenging.
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Thank you all so much for all of your advice! I wanted to pose this question while we still had lots of time to consider all the possible pros and cons, so I am happy to have received all the responses. This is something that I am really going to give a lot of thought to. I have spoken to my husband and my DD about it - my DD has no idea what to think as she isn't in high school yet, and my DH basically said it's up to me (typical lol!). I think I might need to reconsider the time of year, which stinks because I basically cannot take vacation during times that schools have their vacations...but we will try to work something out. I will also discuss with our friends to see what their thoughts would be on this Thank you all again - I knew this would be the right place to ask
Believe me, teachers appreciate people like you who are willing to consider how difficult such absences may be for both your child and the teachers and may decide against vacationing while school is in session.
So many people seem to think accommodating their wishes is simply what public servants are expected to do no matter how burdensome that is.
Good for you!
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
We pull DS every December for a week for Disney. DH can't travel during school breaks because of work commitments. DS goes to private school so I basically told them to suck it because DH's job pays the tuition so they need to be understanding that we cannot vacation around school vacations. I tell the teachers in person tomorrow. The only teacher I am anticipating a problem with is the science teacher because his syllabus says no make up work allowed for unexcused absences. The school's handbook says makeup work is allowed and I have it in writing from the head of the upper school.
I asked my DD17 and she said as a freshman it probably wouldn't be too bad. However, you will have to weigh the types of classes she has and the type of student your daughter is. And since none of us know what kind of student she is, you're the only one who can answer that question.
But, it may help to talk to the teachers as well. And certainly consider whether you can tie your vacation into a break as well.
I asked my DD17 and she said as a freshman it probably wouldn't be too bad. However, you will have to weigh the types of classes she has and the type of student your daughter is. And since none of us know what kind of student she is, you're the only one who can answer that question.
But, it may help to talk to the teachers as well. And certainly consider whether you can tie your vacation into a break as well.
I certainly agree...but I think I will probably make my decision fairly soon because I received an awesome WDW ticket offer for Canadians which will need to be purchased by the end of February - I know I can keep it until we go, but it might make us try to come up with alternative dates to travel maybe before she even starts high school? Really not sure yet...2017 would have been ideal but we are already committed to going to Hawaii for dance. I appreciate your DD's input as a student herself - it's great to get the feedback, thank you!
I would not do it in high school, especially for two weeks.
If crowds and expense aren't an issue, the OP culd consider doing a one week trip .... for Thanksgiving. Her DD would only miss, what, 2.5 days of class? And often not critical days, at that, given everyone's focussed on the impending holiday.
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Thank you all again - I knew this would be the right place to ask 
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