How often do you go to Disney when kids start school?!

Our school district will finalize the next school year's calendar in the middle of March. For example the 2018-2019 school calendar will be available March 15. It has all of the holidays, breaks and random teacher in service days marked so you know ahead of time when your child will not be in school. I find this helpful for planning vacations. trips to the dentist and well child checkups.

Your new school might have the same thing on their website. We are switching to an online only model and the supply lists, student handbooks (contains absence policy) and other forms are not sent home.
 
Canadian, here. Our school district has no real guidelines around family vacation or attendance. Parents are free to do as they please. Teachers rarely send any work with the kids. Any make up work was done at school, and we never saw any impact on their learning. We always consulted our children's teachers about our plans, and they were always supportive.

We took a week off from school about once a year, though those weren't all Disney vacations. We'd add in the occasional long weekend, too. The school's Special Education resource teacher encouraged our younger child to take regular "mental health breaks" (he's dyslexic).

We usually booked our vacations for the last week of school before the Christmas holidays, to minimize disruption. And we kept it up into high school, leaving it up to the kids whether they wanted to come or not. In Grade 10, my daughter (a very responsible A student) was waffling about whether or not to take the time off. Then her Biology teacher sat her down and said, "Go! Next year you'll be too busy. Grab the opportunity while you can! I wish I could go to Disney with you!" :laughing: So, she went!

And yes, the next year both kids said they were too busy to go to Disney. And that was it!

They're now in university, and this upcoming spring we were hoping to take them both back to Disney. But our son begged off due to work and school commitments, and so it'll just be the girl this time.

I'm in very much in favour of making the most of your family vacations when your kids are young. It gets so much harder to have them, when they're older and busier!
 
Canadian, here. Our school district has no real guidelines around family vacation or attendance. Parents are free to do as they please. Teachers rarely send any work with the kids. Any make up work was done at school, and we never saw any impact on their learning. We always consulted our children's teachers about our plans, and they were always supportive.

We took a week off from school about once a year, though those weren't all Disney vacations. We'd add in the occasional long weekend, too. The school's Special Education resource teacher encouraged our younger child to take regular "mental health breaks" (he's dyslexic).

We usually booked our vacations for the last week of school before the Christmas holidays, to minimize disruption. And we kept it up into high school, leaving it up to the kids whether they wanted to come or not. In Grade 10, my daughter (a very responsible A student) was waffling about whether or not to take the time off. Then her Biology teacher sat her down and said, "Go! Next year you'll be too busy. Grab the opportunity while you can! I wish I could go to Disney with you!" :laughing: So, she went!

And yes, the next year both kids said they were too busy to go to Disney. And that was it!

They're now in university, and this upcoming spring we were hoping to take them both back to Disney. But our son begged off due to work and school commitments, and so it'll just be the girl this time.

I'm in very much in favour of making the most of your family vacations when your kids are young. It gets so much harder to have them, when they're older and busier!


You'd think that, but my oldest keeps wanting to vacation with us! She's 22 and lives 800 miles away, but this coming summer, she's spending 12 days in Europe with us, plus several days on a ranch a month later. In between, she's going to Cuba on her own (she's a teacher, so she has the summer off). I just can't get rid of the kid! Maybe I should stop paying...:rolleyes: But seriously, we don't get to see much of her, so I'm glad she likes to travel with us.
 
My kids are in parochial school and I try my best not to pull them out for trips to Disney. In the past few years (they're now 5th and 7th grade) we've done long weekend trips that have included Fridays and Monday's they've had off. Unfortunately, other schools have off as well, so the parks have been crowded. We tried going during Spring Break, but it was too crazy for us. The best time for us to go is end of August, right before school starts for us the day after Labor Day.
 
You'd think that, but my oldest keeps wanting to vacation with us! She's 22 and lives 800 miles away, but this coming summer, she's spending 12 days in Europe with us, plus several days on a ranch a month later. In between, she's going to Cuba on her own (she's a teacher, so she has the summer off). I just can't get rid of the kid! Maybe I should stop paying...:rolleyes: But seriously, we don't get to see much of her, so I'm glad she likes to travel with us.

Ours is the same, I think! She's still happily living at home, 22, and only plans to move out if her degree takes her out of town. Loves spending time with us. The only thing that's been stopping her vacationing with us for the past five years is her overwhelming sense of responsibility and desire to maintain her GPA. That, plus summer internships.

She makes me feel like I'm the bad influence! "C'mon... ditch school... come play with us!" :laughing:
 
I have no issue pulling my kids out of school for one "big" vacation per year (as in a week or so). They are in 3rd and 6th grade, both straight A students. We have done that since they started kindergarten and never had an issue. Any other trips we do during school breaks or over long weekends where they miss no more than one day of school. Really it's a personal decision and depends a lot on how well your kids do in school, what rules your district has in place, etc. I will say, the older they get the harder it is for them to catch up when they get back.
 
We didn't go much to be honest. To us, attendance matters as much as the homework. We did WDW before they were in school, then when we moved to the West Coast we had APs and did Disneyland on weekends and some holidays. But by the time both kids were in grade school and my wife was back teaching Disney was off the table, mostly due to crowds during the holidays, lack of desire to go in the heat and we felt the kids needed to be in school. Plus we got into other things not-Disney related, liked camping and ATVing.

Both of our boys got to go in High School with their Band program and both want to go back now as young adults.
 


We took kids out of school until the 5th grade. That year, the teacher sent a TON of work with us. We spent at least one hour a day in the resort/on the ship (it was a WDW/Disney cruise combo trip) doing homework. It was NO FUN for either my 5th grader or me. We decided that was our last time taking them out of school. Now, we only travel on school breaks which usually means spring break crowds. It still works better for us than trying to keep up with homework while on vacation.
 
It was that way for us in the beginning, before daughter started with school. We were living in California, taking long weekends at Disneyland & going to WDW for longer trips & meeting up with family. We, too, are DVC members. First & most importantly...know your school policy. It really varies & some are very strict. When my daughter was in kindergarten (this was in Cali), I informed teacher my daughter was going to miss 2 days of school. I didn’t think it was a big deal but teacher was upset with me. I still remember look on her face but my goodness, it was kindergarten. This was a pulic school. We put her in a private school (in Cali) the following year. The private school was very strict about taking kids out for vacations noting that was what scheduled breaks are for. We never took her out for vacations when in private school. As she got up in grades, the amount of work & instruction list would of been so much. I now live in Georgia & daughter is in 6th grade in public school. I will note that we live in area of very high achieving schools. I would never take her out for a vacation. They move so fast in school & she would miss so much. My daughter is someone that benefits from teacher instruction in school & needs to be there. I know my daughter, if we took her out, she wouldn’t be enjoying herself. She’d be too worried over all the work she’s missing. I’ve heard some schools/teachers will give work to do while on vacation but who wants to do that!? Some of the work, like writing about the educational value of your trip is a joke. I know every child & circumstance is different & this is just my experiences & daughter but I believe school is too important.
 
I think a lot depends on your school district and how strict they are. Me personally, my DD is in 2nd grade now and although it hasn't been a Disney trip that DD has missed school for, she has missed school for a trip every year since kindergarten. I was raised by parents that would never let us miss school unless you were dying and couldn't go but I don't have the same philosophy. Her first year of school it was because my grandfather was ill that she missed so many days, 5 days when he was diagnosed with cancer and another 5 when he was admitted to the hospital. I'm glad that we went to go see him for the first trip because he ended up passing away later that year and we were there a few days before he passed and before he went into hospice. I think that may shape part of my philosophy about school, had I adhered to my parents rule of being in school all the time, I would not have pulled her out the first time since we didn't know at the time the cancer was that serious they were talking about treatment plans it was more a morale trip and to see him since I hadn't seen him in many years.

Making memories is important and spending time with family is important. In elementary school, I can't see a reason why a kid couldn't miss about 5 school days and be fine a year as long especially if you do enrichment type stuff at home like reading and math and just every day learning. The last year and this year when she has been out of school we pair it with a district data day (teacher in service) to create long weekends and to minimize that amount of school she misses so she'll only miss a day or two so she has missed much less than her kindergarten year. This year it was Yellowstone in January and last school year it was Disneyland (we live on the west coast) to see it during Christmas season. Both of these trips I would not want to make over her Christmas break.
 
Canadian, here. Our school district has no real guidelines around family vacation or attendance. Parents are free to do as they please. Teachers rarely send any work with the kids. Any make up work was done at school, and we never saw any impact on their learning. We always consulted our children's teachers about our plans, and they were always supportive.

We took a week off from school about once a year, though those weren't all Disney vacations. We'd add in the occasional long weekend, too. The school's Special Education resource teacher encouraged our younger child to take regular "mental health breaks" (he's dyslexic).

We usually booked our vacations for the last week of school before the Christmas holidays, to minimize disruption. And we kept it up into high school, leaving it up to the kids whether they wanted to come or not. In Grade 10, my daughter (a very responsible A student) was waffling about whether or not to take the time off. Then her Biology teacher sat her down and said, "Go! Next year you'll be too busy. Grab the opportunity while you can! I wish I could go to Disney with you!" :laughing: So, she went!

And yes, the next year both kids said they were too busy to go to Disney. And that was it!

They're now in university, and this upcoming spring we were hoping to take them both back to Disney. But our son begged off due to work and school commitments, and so it'll just be the girl this time.

I'm in very much in favour of making the most of your family vacations when your kids are young. It gets so much harder to have them, when they're older and busier!
In the US, all 4 years of HS count towards their GPA, freshman and sophomore year# are just as important as junior year (senior year not as much). I can’t imagine a HS teacher encouraging a child to miss school, especially those teaching honors and AP classes.
 
In the US, all 4 years of HS count towards their GPA, freshman and sophomore year# are just as important as junior year (senior year not as much). I can’t imagine a HS teacher encouraging a child to miss school, especially those teaching honors and AP classes.
Here it counts from grades 10-12. Never had a problem missing school for holidays in secondary school. A secondary school student should be able to tell from their syllabus what they are going to miss, and be able to catch up or study accordingly.
 
Here it counts from grades 10-12. Never had a problem missing school for holidays in secondary school. A secondary school student should be able to tell from their syllabus what they are going to miss, and be able to catch up or study accordingly.
What about labs? Dd16 has labs during lunch 4 days a week.
 
What about labs? Dd16 has labs during lunch 4 days a week.
Lunchtime and after school lab access were for those needing extra time or makeup due to being absent. Standard labs were scheduled during a lab block, so a science class needing labs would have 2 blocks, where as English, french or history would have one.
 
Lunchtime and after school lab access were for those needing extra time or makeup due to being absent. Standard labs were scheduled during a lab block, so a science class needing labs would have 2 blocks, where as English, french or history would have one.
Not here, they are mandatory and during lunch, but no matter when they are, they are harder to make up. Plus, if you play a school sport, you can’t miss more than a game or practice.
 
Not here, they are mandatory and during lunch, but no matter when they are, they are harder to make up. Plus, if you play a school sport, you can’t miss more than a game or practice.
Lunch is for eating lunch. Sometimes there are club meetings/choir type meetings in the last 30 minutes of the 45 minute lunch period. Our schools at least in BC are funded by the amount of kids registered in a school at a certain date, not on daily attendance. When a student transfers school the funding follows them.

School sports are what I don't understand. If you are really good at a sport, you play on a rep league outside of school. Most scholarships to Canadian schools are academic based, I don't think there is such a thing as a "full ride" sports scholarship to a Canadian University. Definitely partial or dollar amount scholarships.
 
I'm a teacher's kid so there were never Disney vacations (or any other kind) which school was in session. We had the flexibility of going whenever for the past few years since the kids weren't in "real school" yet but this upcoming year, DS will be going into PK4 and we will take our Disney trips during breaks and on weekends. Sucks to be going when everyone else is but it is what it is.
 
Lunch is for eating lunch. Sometimes there are club meetings/choir type meetings in the last 30 minutes of the 45 minute lunch period. Our schools at least in BC are funded by the amount of kids registered in a school at a certain date, not on daily attendance. When a student transfers school the funding follows them.

School sports are what I don't understand. If you are really good at a sport, you play on a rep league outside of school. Most scholarships to Canadian schools are academic based, I don't think there is such a thing as a "full ride" sports scholarship to a Canadian University. Definitely partial or dollar amount scholarships.
Lots of kids play club sports outside of high school, but some of the top high school athletes do get partial or full rides to college. Kids here basically have thousands of colleges and universities to apply to, and it can be very competitive. Grades, test scores, extracurriculars, leadership roles, academic awards, demonstrated passions, volunteer hours, sports, music, clubs - and so expensive! My oldest two go to top in state public universities (usually ranked #2 and #3), and even though staying in state usually saves $15,000 - $20,000 per year, it still costs around $30,000 a year including room and board.
 
Took my kids out twice when they were in elementary and middle school. Younger daughter took off a week at the end of her junior year of high school. She missed her school awards night, where they called her name for 5 awards, oops!
 

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