Children Missing School

Also think about how they will fair doing work while you are away if teachers give it to you prior to your leaving. We usually go in the summer. Since the age of 10 or 11 my daughter said it wouldn't be much of a vacation if she had to take work with her. And having extra work when she got back wouldn't be worth it. She missed 3 days with strep once and told me that makeup work felt like she was being punished for being sick. :lmao: She said she'd just rather go when school is out.
 
Middle school makes the call hard. Is your daughter going to a different school campus? Will she have different teachers for different subjects? Will she be required to change classrooms? While these questions may seem minor, a preteen may find these circumstances hard to adjust too. Pulling them out just as they are starting to adjust? That's a parents call. (I won't address missed work, I think the preteen years is about "fitting in" and feeling comfortable in the environment they find themselves). I might be off base, just my two cents.

May I suggest a possible solution. If it's possible book two packages, one for end of August and one for September. You would then have almost a year (can cancel package 30 days out), to make your final decision. If "free dining" comes out you could see if your dates are available.
 
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May I suggest a possible solution. If it's possible book two packages, one for end of August and one for September. You would then have almost a year (can cancel package 30 days out), to make your final decision. If "free dining" comes out you could see if your dates are available.

This might work, of course you'd have to wait on booking airfare (if you fly)
 
This is my take. I have two daughters. First one, was 3rd rank in high school at graduation time. We pulled her out when ever we wanted. No problems. Second one, (there is nine years between them) doesn't give a rats *** about her grades and it is all we can do to get her to pass. We can no longer go just anytime we want. That just sums it up for my situation.

I will add that when my youngest daughter graduates (if she does) I will be able to start taking trips again any time I want. End of January/first of February here we come.
 
We do not take our daughter out of school for vacations. When we lived in California & went to a private school is was frowned upon to do so. It was even written in their book of “rules” & that teachers are under no obligation to give any work to take with them or help make up. We now live in another state & she attends public school. A high achieving school district. I wouldn’t even know how I would get a week off for her & be an “accepted” absence. We’re only allowed “x” amount of excused absents ( I think 5 or 6). Which are usually for illness & doctors appointments. I just don’t understand about doing some school work while on vacation. Who wants to do that? Isn’t that one of the points about going on vacation to not do any work? That goes for kids too. My child is going into 8th grade & she would miss A LOT. She would be stressed out & worried. School work really started piling on in 5th grade. My child is a very good student, straight A’s & some AP classes ( she could be all AP but that would be too much for her). I know every child & every family is different. You’re going to get so many different opinions.
 
Children will remember memories not possessions when they grow.
For our house we pulled kids out till high school. But I talked to the kids about when to miss too. My oldest asked she missed school at the start of a quarter vs the end. This allowed her catch up.
 
Children will remember memories not possessions when they grow.
For our house we pulled kids out till high school. But I talked to the kids about when to miss too. My oldest asked she missed school at the start of a quarter vs the end. This allowed her catch up.
I'm not quite comprehending what you are saying: knowledge is a possession but a trip to WDW is a memory is what I'm getting.
Can you clarify?
 


I was 2nd in my graduating class and my parents took me out for up to a week as late as the 10th grade. No big deal. I always finished homework before we left though and didn’t do assignments at Disney. Vacation mode only.
As the parent of two developmentally and by extension academically delayed children I have had unconditional support from our teachers to take them out for upcoming trip. They have only ever been taken out for illness or medical appointments/procedures in the past. I agree that it is going to be entirely case/child specific but there is something to be said about still taking the kid who isn’t an academic superstar.
 
As a parent and a Middle School Teacher, I would not do that many days in September. It is very hard to make up the work for multiple classes and it is sometimes really stressful to start middle school. That is right when they get in the groove. To have her miss that many days and then have to jump back into seven to ten classes, at the point where everyone else is and she missed, is really hard.

I am all for family vacations, my kids missed four days last year for the Disney Cruise, but it was 4th and 2nd. We planned to book a cruise for next year in Nov and then I realized DD would be in 6th grade and decided no. Also, grades are different in middle school. Most counties allow four discretionary days per year. After those four days, you can’t get any credit for work missed.
 
Family over school. As a former teacher, I completely support kids missing a little school for a family vacay. We took our kids out of school in the past and are planning on doing it again this coming Spring. My oldest will be in 7th grade so I think it's the last time we will probably be able to do this without having her completely bogged down with make up work. We are in a new school district and I'm hoping they won't give quite as much make up work as last time. If a child is doing well in school I don't think it's important for them to complete every single worksheet or assignment they miss while absent. So far this district seems to think that's true when kids are sick (different than our previous school). I hope it's the same for when you are on vacation.
 
Family first. We have taken our two out of school for 5 days every year for the past 5 years in November. Main reasons for this was monetary cost and time costs. Airfare and hotel was cheaper and the parks were not crowded ( then have been getting busier every year). It made for a more enjoyable time with the shorter lines and my kids will not be little forever.
 
The older they get, the harder it is to miss school. My kids are in middle school and last year was the first year they didn't miss a single day. The year before, they missed one day of school and said even that was a lot to catch up (honors math). Back in the day, I recall getting lectured by the preschool director that we needed to stop missing so much school in preK for Disney trips, which I thought was excessive. I'm grateful for all of the early elementary school WDW trips we took--a week off plus long weekends here and there till 3rd grade, it was always fine (and worth it)! We started just doing long weekends in 4th. Middle school is an entirely different animal though. With 5th, I would keep the August trip.
 
Two things to keep in mind, one of which has been touched on. Where we live 5 days or more requires a doctors note or a truancy charge can be filed. Whether it is or not depends on the school, but it can be done.

The second is this; legally the school is ok with it and teachers will always say how nice it is when informed but it actually puts a great deal of extra work on those same teachers. Some schools don't allow graded work to be done off campus, so you can request their work and get most of it but some will have to be caught up on return. Also, for some subjects, math in particular, when you miss several days you can miss most of a unit of instruction and because so much of math builds on previously taught concepts it requires a great deal of extra work to get the student caught up unless they were already ahead of the class.

My mom, who was a teacher, never pulled my sister or I during school, even early. My MIL, who was also a teacher, never took her kids out of school either, unless it was an actual emergency. My wife and sister who are elementary teachers both say that it can be hard to get those kids that are out caught back up. The teachers are happy for your kids and do want them to have a good time, but as I said, it does create a lot of extra work for everyone involved.
 
This comes up a lot and its really a personal choice. Some folks are hard liners against while others see no issue whatsoever. I don't have an issue with it. We took our kids out of school when they were in Elementary and Middle.. I think the oldest was in the 6th or 7th grade the last time we took them out.. once the oldest got in High School we stopped taking them out of school for Disney... By then, there was less benefit going to Disney during the Fall vs the spring or even Summer. Its crazy busy 365 nowadays... Our last Fall trip was just last Oct... our oldest is now out of school and our youngest are in high school but our school district now has Fall Break.. (go figure). :) Our reasoning for taking the kids out of school was always based on crowd levels vs anything else. At some point, the low crowd levels were no longer low enough to justify taking the kids out of school. We went during Christmas break twice... fun but way too crowded.. we went during spring break once, less crowded than Christmas but still quite crowded. The summer is now our go to time.. its crowded but not as bad as Christmas or even Spring Break... the rain can be a bear but the heat and humidity doesn't bother me as much as it does others... when i get really hot or sweaty, we just hit a long (indoor) que... to help cool off. TSM is a great que to cooling off as is Dinosaur. Anyway, off topic! :(

In the end, its a personal decision that only you can make. No doubt some folks will scorn you but ignore that noise and do what makes sense for you and your family!
 
Well, 5th grade isn’t middle school, it’s elementary school

#2 - no - it’s NOT a good idea to take ur kids out of school - there is summer .org breaks for vacation

#3 - check into what your districts policy is on vacation during school - our district does not allow vacation as an excused absence- and 5 consecutive unexcused absences will get the truancy court involved plus fines - parents have to initial a sheet that says they understand this

Maybe encourage family to go over a holiday break if the summer doesn’t work
 
In elementary school, I took my kid out for a week and gave the teachers a one months heads up. My kids, my rules!

In middle school, it was different as they had different teachers for each subject and there was more work to make up. If it was only for a couple -few days, I didnt worry about it, but once I took DD out for a full week + 1 day (8th gr) as my nieces were going to be dancing at Disney. The trip was in March. I asked each teacher, in September, what the policy was for missing 6 days and would she be able to make up the work, or just get 0s, effecting her grades. They all said it was fine for her to go and they would prepare assignments before our trip. She would then have 3 days to make up additional work. I kept in contact with them throughout the year, making sure she was on track and doing anything extra to avoid making up too much work. We went on the trip in March without issue. (Her math teacher, a Disney fan, gave her an assignment to compare the cost of our dining plan with what we would have paid OOP! )

In HS, I would not think about taking them out. Too much work to make up, not to mention missing sports practice/games is a big no no.
 
I usually avoid the topic as it can get pretty heated but I will add that I'm not against vacationing during the school year. Unfortunately not every family has the option to vacation over the summer months. My dh has been with the same company for 38 years and is given 30 vacation days a year. They may only be taken the 1st two weeks of November, 3 weeks in December(not Xmas), and 3 weeks in January. Beach trips are almost impossible unless we leave the country as the water in Florida is pretty chilly during that time. If only he could retire!!!! The only thing that I would worry about is the date. I would hate to start middle school and have to take time off. It may be just me but I think starting middle school is one of the toughest adjustments one makes while in school. You know your child and it may be different with your family. Good luck in your decision.
 
I’m a teacher, and both of my parents were teachers. I wish it was easier to pull my kids out so we could go at non peak times, but I can’t get the time off myself!

I would say you know your child best. If you think they might have trouble adjusting to a new school/the schedule, pulling them out near the beginning of the year is not a great idea. If you think they will be fine emotionally and academically, go for it!

Most teachers are okay with kids missing a week as long as it’s not during state testing or at the very beginning or very end of a term, but just communicate with the teachers early and encourage your child to remind them early as well. It does take a lot of time to put together all the work, so I suggest completing it all. If the teacher took the time to get it ready for your student, then it’s important. Also, junior high is old enough to make the child responsible for gathering the work and keeping track of everything that needs to get done, as well as turning it in or making up tests or quizzes when they return.

Hope that helps!
 
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Have your asked your daughter how she feels about it? That is a long time at the beginning of the year. Our district does not give work ahead of time, so that would be a lot of makeup work to come back to, possibly.

We are taking our kids out for a few days for the first time this fall. Dd will be in 4th and DS in K. My parents never once took us out for vacation growing up, so I was always against it. But this year we decided to go on fall break and tack on a couple of days in the beginning for a longer trip. My DD was so upset when I told her she would be missing school! I wasn’t expecting that, but she’s had perfect attendance for the past two years. I felt bad, but she eventually said Disney was worth it. I’m not sure she would agree to it once she’s in middle school.
 

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