Pulling kids out of school.

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

We did, but now that my oldest is in 5th (middle school here) I can't -- or won't, I guess. We'll take them out on the 1/2 day before a 3-day weekend or holiday break, but that's about it. I've resigned to the fact that I'll be traveling in the summer for the next 10 years or so.

Honestly, the real factor is sports, not school. She's on a competitive travel soccer team and even on holiday weekends when she's off from school and I'd love to fly down to Disney, she ALWAYS has tournaments. Sure we could skip them, but A) she loves to play, and B) I pay a small fortune for her to play, so she's going to the games.

Her team is "off" in December and from the middle of July to the middle of August, so that's when we'll travel with them. H & I take trips on our own, though -- I try to get to Food & Wine yearly.

 

[2009CAN]

I would be leery of pulling your 7th grader out for a week or more.

We’ve pulled our three kids out that last three years, and will be doing so again this year. The oldest is in second grade, the youngest in kindergarten. At these ages/grades I think it’s okay.

With that being said, our school lets the kids make up the work and so far, our kids are thriving and are not struggling.

 

[AngolaHeartsDisney]

I agree with the other posters- check your school policy first. My personal feeling on the matter is family time and life experiences are just as valuable as classroom time. A few days of school will not make or break them- prepare as much as you can, effectively communicate to the teachers, and set expectations with your children about doing the make up work. I outright asked my daughter's teacher last year her opinion and she said go... we gather most of the work and work with the teacher- most teachers prefer to know ahead of time. My children are 4 & 10 so I probably won't be able to realistically pull them out much longer..especially since she came home today and her math teacher told them I hope none of you plan on missing school for VACATION as this math will kill you to make up...Nice.. she freaked out- I told her not to worry... dealing with my daughter is worse than the missed work I did do a summer trip this year knowing my time is coming to an end- it is hard when they older.

Life is to short to live without disney!

 

[kmb584]

I do. My daughter is in 2nd grade this year and will miss 5 days of school in December for our trip. Her teacher is a friend of mine and I already let her know. The same goes for our June 2017 trip except she'll only miss the last 2 (half-days) of school for that one.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

This is our last year pulling the girls out as my oldest is in 6th grade. I won't be pulling her in middle school or high school. Maybe a day but definitely not a whole week. We've been pulling her since she started kindergarten, but school is quite easy for her. My youngest is jealous she won't be pulled past 2nd grade, but school is harder for her so it works perfectly.

 

[3Gsandme]

I have pulled the kids and I will this year as well. I don't think I would have my kids miss seven school days. IMO, that's too much. I'd shorten the trip so the kids only miss the one school week and no more.

 

[Kbendig]

I took my son out in K and 1st for vacations. The teachers didn't mind, they gave work in 1st and had him keep a vacation journal. I am already planning to go during the school year again in 2 years, as going to Disney in the summer proved to be a disaster with my family. My son will be in 6th, it will be a lot of work but he understands it's that or suck it up in the summer.

The principal is not ok with the kids being out for vacation. But last year we had to leave for a week to travel out of state as they took my MIL off life support and for her funeral. That was also unexcused. So after that I decided I don't care, if they don't respect having to be out over a death then I don't respect their no vacation policy.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I've taken my son out every year pretty much except for last year bc we didn't go to Disney last year. He's in 4th grade now and my little one is in Pre K and we are going to Disney in March. I don't think the Pre K teacher will mind bc its Pre K, lol...and so far the teachers my older son has had in Pre K, Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd when we have pulled him out have been ok with it. We usually get his work a head of time and he's a pretty good student, probably the best in his class. He's in the advance Math and reading class and gets pretty good grades on his tests as well. We also plan for Disney like a year in advance so when we know we are going to Disney he doesn't miss any other days of school unless he is like extremely sick.

 

[Thing 1]

We did every other year k-8. We were going to stop in middle school but the school was fine with it so we continued. High School was simply out of the question for us. Our max was 5 days. We always asked for work ahead of time but only once got it and that was the day before we left. Doing work at WDW just did not work for us so it was not helpful. Most years teachers gave some make up work but one year we did get slammed with tons of work. We got through it and it was fine. I would check your district rules and make sure you are ok with whatever the consequence is and also make sure your 7th grader is ok with it too. We almost always go January so I would mention it at open house at the start of the year and them send a letter after the Christmas break with the dates. I NEVER asked if we could take them out but rather stated it as a fact. NEVER had a teacher have an issue at all with it. Never involved the administration at all till middle school and felt like we needed to have those days forgiven so we did go through them during that time period. One kid is in his last year of Grad School and the little guy in fourth grade. Little guy has never made anything less than an A and its pretty obvious that a few weeks of missed school did no long term damage to oldest DS education. NO REGRETS.

 

[Britkurd]

I'm a vice principal now and see no issue with it. A vacation is way more educational and has many more life experiences than a week in a classroom can ever offer.
My parents took me out for 3 weeks once to go to cbr and this was in high school! I'm fine I passed.

 

[Babydreamz]

I did take off 1 day before Winter Break for my daughter last December. She was in Pre-k. Her teachers didn't have any issues with it at all and gave us her homework early. Now that she's in kindergarten I wouldn't hesitate to take her out for a day or two at a time but probably nothing more. The older they get the harder the work to make up and I don't feel comfortable taking her out for any more than that. A week would be hard for her to catch up.

But each child is different and you know your child best. If the kids do well in school and wouldn't have any problems catching up then I don't see any problems with that as long as the school is okay with it.

 

[Megara5115]

My son is in sixth grade and we are pulling him out for 3.5 days in December (missing a half day). I'm not crazy about the idea but I figure in the grand scheme of things it's not a huge deal. This will probably be the last time he misses more than a day though.

He does well, works hard and takes pride in schoolwork. If he was struggling or not trying I personally would not take him out for so long. He missed a week during fourth grade but that was for a family wedding. Luckily it was not an issue for him or the teacher.

 

[Goofy for 1971]

I have a 2nd and 6th grader. I have pulled them out every other year in January since they started school. I will continue to do it as long as they can catch up. For the amount of money I shell out for our trips, I want to go when it isn't hot (I'm from Chicago, so it feels amazing in January at 60-65 degrees) and when the crowds are down. But then again, we don't get fined or given a hard time for pulling them out. It also depends on the kids. My girls do very well in school, so for them to be off a week, it isn't a problem. If your kid struggles, a week of lessons could prove to be very difficult to recover from. Now when we reach high school, we will have to re-evaluate the situation.

 

[Legendofthehawk]

We do. Our schools here are pretty nice about it. We give the teachers advanced noticed, ask them what the kids would be learning during that week and make sure that we work that into our vacation. We also ask for homework that will be missed, so they don't feel the need to have to play catch up. Disney also has the YES program, where kids can take classes to learn things.. so that is an added bonus if you're into that kind of thing.

We're pulling them out this year for total of four days missed school time. And that is probably the only school they'll miss this year. Unless we somehow get like a few flakes of snow this winter.. then the schools will be shut down for days..

 

[Tasmen]

I've pulled my DD out of school for vacations during the school year in Kindergarten and second grade. We will be pulling her out again this year and the following year. She's started private school this year and I spoke to the director about the time out of school before we enrolled her. She said it wouldn't be a problem. Key is to communicate with the school and the sooner the better imho.

The previous school did not give her assignments to do while we were gone, though I did ask for them. I'm not sure if the new school will or not yet. I still had her do a little journal while we were gone to document the trips from her perspective and so that she was doing something school-y while we were vacationing.

 

[ElenaRN]

This is always a very polarizing question.

We do it. Our kids are little. Only in nursery and kindergarten. We will still do it when they are older, but maybe for less time. We ask for all school work and homework for the days we will be missing.

 

[scurvyfreedman]

We are taking ours out 3rd and K this October. It's a week that my MIL is off from work, so that was the deciding factor on when to take our trip. We did it when my oldest was in K as well and my youngest was only 2.5. I think this will be the last time we do so.

 

[BLAZEY]

I do and will continue to until it is a detriment to DD's schooling. She's in 2nd grade this year.

 

[stitchfan75]

We did last year when the kids were in 7th and 8th grade. NEVER AGAIN.
1. I contacted all the teachers, principal, and guidance counselor a month before our trip letting them know. They all agreed it was no big deal but the DISTRICT makes the rules and considered it "unexcused".
2. The kids had a minimum of 2 hours of homework every night of our vacation that had to be photographed and emailed to the teachers every night. This caused many tears and arguments after a long day in the parks.
3. When we returned I left immediately for a work trip where I fielded phone calls from the truancy officer every day wanting to meet with me to "make a plan regarding their excessive absences". I reiterated to her that this was a vacation, not a repeating thing but it didn't matter.
4. When I got home we had a letter from the district stating if our kids missed another day within the semester we would be fined $500 and possibly face court.

Every state/district is different, some are more lenient. Where we live just happens to be extremely strict. In the end we decided it was not worth the hassle we went through and will have to stick to school breaks, hence the reason our next trip is during Thanksgiving. BTW neither one of my kids suffered academically, there were no zeroes or failing test grades.

 

[Jerzetta]

I pulled mine out for 5 days at Kinder and we will do it again in 2nd grade. I have no problems with that as I feel that she is only young once and that the memories made at Disney with her family are as important as learning in school. (I love our school and teachers but to go on school breaks or the summer doesn't work for us)