Taking DS out of school for Disney advice

[Lupeix]

I know this is a highly debated topic.
I am planning a trip to Disney to celebrate DD turning 3, it will be a surprise, she will turn 3 in Disney. The same week is my birthday. It is the last week of September, which I heard is great time in terms of crowds. The downside is that it is during the school year.
DS will be in first grade. I read the school parent handbook and all the policies regarding unexcused absences say "if children are 8 or over". They only allow 5 unexcused absences before starting teacher parent meetings. This means that because DS will be 7 it will be the last time I could pull him out of school without heavy consequences . I will only be able to give the teacher a 3 week notice right at the start of classes. Teachers in the boards, how would you feel about this?

I could do a girls only trip, but DS heart will break if he learns where we went, specially because we have been at Disney 3 times as a family and what he wants to do most is go to the halloween party.
Also, it will be my big 4-0 and I will like to have the whole family together to celebrate.

he is in Kindergarten now, so I have no idea how hard or easy it will be for him to catch up
he will miss a whole week
I am torn

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I see nothing wrong with taking him out.
My parents took us kids out every single year.
We all graduated high school and went on to graduate college.
He's only in first grade.
You could easily catch him up.
Besides if you let the teacher know in adance they could get a packet together for you to work on with him.

 

[TinaLala]

I say you only have these special moments for a limited time. Ask the teachers for any class work missed and take your child to Disney with not regrets!

 

[tmh43]

I'm not a teacher, but go for it while you can! Family experiences are worth it IMO.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I don't know where you live, but in NY, first grade was a huge transition year for my DS (he's in 4th grade now) and it's the year he started homework. They also did beginning of the year assessments at that time. Could you go right before school starts? Because of school, we have gone the last week of August every year since 2011. It's hot (but September will be as well), but the crowds are low. WDW also started MNSSHP the Friday before Labor Day last year, so maybe that could be an option for you? Or a long weekend? Does your son's school have off for the Jewish holidays? Personally, I would either go early and celebrate in WDW right before school starts or try to work around any school holidays in the fall. There's no right or wrong here. I just know, for my DS, missing a week of first grade would have put him in a tailspin.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I don't know where you live, but in NY, first grade was a huge transition year for my DS (he's in 4th grade now) and it's the year he started homework. They also did beginning of the year assessments at that time. Could you go right before school starts? Because of school, we have gone the last week of August every year since 2011. It's hot (but September will be as well), but the crowds are low. WDW also started MNSSHP the Friday before Labor Day last year, so maybe that could be an option for you? Or a long weekend? Does your son's school have off for the Jewish holidays? Personally, I would either go early and celebrate in WDW right before school starts or try to work around any school holidays in the fall. There's no right or wrong here. I just know, for my DS, missing a week of first grade would have put him in a tailspin.

I'm in NY as well. I think it depends a lot on the teacher about how much homework they get and how difficult it really ends up being. And obviously it depends on the individual child as well. My niece had her tonsils out and 2 surgeries on her back to remove rare childhood melanoma and missed quite a lot of school in first grade due to these surgeries and it was no problem for her to catch up.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I'm in NY as well. I think it depends a lot on the teacher about how much homework they get and how difficult it really ends up being. And obviously it depends on the individual child as well. My niece had her tonsils out and 2 surgeries on her back to remove rare childhood melanoma and missed quite a lot of school in first grade due to these surgeries and it was no problem for her to catch up.

Yes, of course, it depends on the child, the teacher and the school district. In our district, if a child is out for medical reasons, the district would send a tutor to the home, at no cost to the family, to help the student keep up with the school work. A very different scenario than taking a child out of school for non-medical reasons. Certainly, no right or wrong answer here. Just, based on the knowledge of my DS and what he faced in first grade, it would have been a bad idea for our family.

 

[SweetMissy]

We've taken our kids out for a disney vacation. I don't care. IMO vacations with family are more important than the little bit of school they'll miss. I homeschool now and we now live in FL so it's not even an issue anymore. Go for it!

 

[Lupeix]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I don't know where you live, but in NY, first grade was a huge transition year for my DS (he's in 4th grade now) and it's the year he started homework. They also did beginning of the year assessments at that time. Could you go right before school starts? Because of school, we have gone the last week of August every year since 2011. It's hot (but September will be as well), but the crowds are low. WDW also started MNSSHP the Friday before Labor Day last year, so maybe that could be an option for you? Or a long weekend? Does your son's school have off for the Jewish holidays? Personally, I would either go early and celebrate in WDW right before school starts or try to work around any school holidays in the fall. There's no right or wrong here. I just know, for my DS, missing a week of first grade would have put him in a tailspin.

We are in WA. They start the school year the week before labor day, so we couldn't go then unless we want to miss the first week of class. The school district does not have off for the Jewish holidays, but you are allowed to take excused absences if that's your faith. The week I am planning to go is early release on Friday, so he will miss less school than other weeks. Our district starts homework in kindergarten. It is not much, neither is first grade as far as I can remember. I have a friend with kids in first grade and will ask more about homework. I was not aware of beginning of the year assessments, but will definitely look into, never heard any parent talk about it here so hopefully won't be an issue. I really do not want to go after DD birthday because that means she will have to pay ticket and dining plan, so it is a big cost difference. We have gone in the summer twice already, and likely go in the summer every time after this trip. This will be the only chance to do MNSSHP for sure.

 

[kboo]

Not a teacher, but since this sounds like your last chance, and DS is only in 1st grade, I would do it, especially if he is pretty adaptable and social. Our DD is in a G&T school that accelerates, and we sort of made plans to go to Hawaii in January when we didn't know she would end up in this school. I know the administration isn't thrilled about it, but it is what it is - but this is probably the last time we'll take her out of school. (They do have homework too and apparently don't give any to you in advance since they want to discourage parents pulling their kids out of school. They also said that even if they don't miss much, it sends the wrong message about blowing off school, which I do sort of get.) Enjoy!

 

[Kerriowl]

I would say that since the school's policy specifically says consequences for 8 year olds, that they are okay with taking them out before this age. Also, at 7 in September of 1st grade, your child is one of the older ones. For many kids this policy wouldn't kick in until late second grade or even third grade.

 

[willmccready]

I've brought this up with many friends of mine who are teachers and school administrators and even they say they not hesitate to take their own kids out for a big trip like Disney.

 

[mjkacmom]

Go for it. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't do it more often when they were younger. My two oldest are in college, so the window tontake family vacations are very limited. Dd15 missed 2 weeks last year (months apart), and a week this year, travelingvto the U.K. For dance competitions, and maintained a 3.9 average in all honors classes. AP classes and labs start next year, so no more. My older kids refused to be pulled out after middle school.

Whatever you decide, if the teacher prepared work shead of time, great, make sure it's done. If the teacher assigns work when you get back, great, make sure it's done.

 

[jennygirlmt]

My daughter is in first grade and beteeen weddings, funerals and a Disney wish trip coming up I was panicking that they'd consider her truant or her teacher would be mad.

At conferences she said "oh it's first grade! I'll work with her to catch up!"

Our limit is 10, not 5, but I think most schools outline that policy but treat it on a case by case basis. I'm told that if a parent clears it ahead of time and makes up the work, it's different than a kid who is mia and his work is suffering.

Have fun!

 

[Sagginit]

My sister in law has done this with her children so they could be in another country for a big family wedding for 2 weeks, I believe my nephew was 7 the last time they did that, now he is too old and has too much work to miss a week and the younger was 4 so they go on family vacations at peak times. They go to a private school and were able to work things out for the older child, but have not done since just because they don't want the burden to be on him to do homework on vacation to keep up. I think it mostly depends on your school policies but I think in first grade it can be easy to catch up.

 

[martikus]

We have taken DS out of school for one week each year since k and he is now in 4th. My work is such that a summer vacation is really hard.

I'm assuming middle school and high school would be hard with more classes, teachers and possible sport obligations.

Life is short enjoy making family
Memories. I have told teachers two weeks in advance with no issues. In first grade she just asked him to submit one page a day of a vacation memory. 2nd just asked to read each night. 3rd asked to read and sent some math worksheets.

I was worried this year because he has so many tests and is in gifted. But both his teachers couldn't be nicer. One let him take his tests in advance and one after. No issues at all.

Don't get me wrong, school is important, but so are family memories. As long as your kid can keep up with the class why not. I won't do more than a week, because I am sure we will have a sick day or two, but until high school grades don't even matter.

Go and enjoy!

 

[tachyonbb]

I taught for 40+ years and I would not worry about a week in 1st grade. i second what martikus said that grades don't even matter. Your grade school grades don't matter unless you are trying to get into a competitive prep school (then only the middle school years matter). Go, enjoy and he will probably learn more traveling than he would in school.

 

[Cbh02b]

As a kindergarten teacher I would say as long as he isn't behind that it should be ok. I teach in Texas and children need to know letters,sounds, and some sight words. Talk to the teacher about Ways you can help to catch him up after when you get back.

 

[Disney_traveler]

I am a public school teacher, high school, but a teacher nonetheless. I say as long has you don't have to worry about truancy issues, go for it. Ask the teacher in advance for some kind of work---at the most a packet, at the least a guideline of what will be missed. The longer I teach (and I'm only 10 years in) the more I think it is nothing more than a babysitting gig with a higher pay and benefits that is required by the government....and as I said, that's with HIGH SCHOOL. If nothing else, go to a book store or someplace like Mardel and get those workbooks designed for that grade level. Personally, I might schedule some down time for homework each day and use a Disney ride/show/etc as a reward.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I know this is a highly debated topic.
I am planning a trip to Disney to celebrate DD turning 3, it will be a surprise, she will turn 3 in Disney. The same week is my birthday. It is the last week of September, which I heard is great time in terms of crowds. The downside is that it is during the school year.
DS will be in first grade. I read the school parent handbook and all the policies regarding unexcused absences say "if children are 8 or over". They only allow 5 unexcused absences before starting teacher parent meetings. This means that because DS will be 7 it will be the last time I could pull him out of school without heavy consequences . I will only be able to give the teacher a 3 week notice right at the start of classes. Teachers in the boards, how would you feel about this?

I could do a girls only trip, but DS heart will break if he learns where we went, specially because we have been at Disney 3 times as a family and what he wants to do most is go to the halloween party.
Also, it will be my big 4-0 and I will like to have the whole family together to celebrate.

he is in Kindergarten now, so I have no idea how hard or easy it will be for him to catch up
he will miss a whole week
I am torn

When my daughter was in Kindergarten, I notified the teacher that she was going to miss 2/3 days of school (I think 2) and boy, oh boy, did I get a look from her. I didn't understand where that was coming from because if was Kindergarten (part time) and many, many kids in her class did it too. That was a public school in California. The next four years were spent at a private school and we had to sign a paper that we understood taking a child out of school for the purpose of vacation was "frowned upon." That that is what vacation days are for. And that the teacher was under no obligation to give any make up work, handouts or make up tests. Regardless, many parents took their kids of for vacations but we were not one of them. My daughter is one that needs to be in the classroom with instruction from the teacher, even starting in first grade. We have moved across country and my daughter is in a public school which is in a high performing area( fast paced and a lot of work) and I would never take her out of school for vacation. But that's my daughter's case, she has to be in school and she would miss way too much. You know your kids best. How they are in school, what their teachers are like, work load, etc. I would just be aware of their truancy policy. Even if the teacher is okay with it doesn't mean the school will be. A friend of mine took her two sons out a day or two before Thanksgiving. She notified the teacher, all was fine and about a week or so later she received a letter from the school that the kids were considered "truant and now is part of their records."