Angry with attendance policies

[mdhiggin]

Our trip is two weeks away, and I spoke with someone who worked at my child's school about missing while we were gone. She told me to lie. She said the policy had gotten so bad that everyone got 0s for an unexcused absence, even kindergartners. What?! She said to tell them that our child was sick. I wanted to be able to work with the school during the absence, but now I feel guilty about this lie. I'm going to have to even ask my kids to lie when they come back if the teacher asks why they were out. This is not right. The school systems get money for attendance, so they don't allow any room for family time. I feel like they are getting too far into a family's business. My husband says if they push it too far we'll homeschool. They punish everyone instead of dealing directly with the people who have excessive absences. I take school very seriously and don't let my children miss unless they're sick or the few days a year we go on a trip, but I'm very angry about this policy. It's putting a damper on my upcoming trip.
One of the teachers complained about their school's policy at church one night, saying that kids were coming to school sick. She had one with 104 temp. that week who said he'd be fine and that the day was almost over.

[MickeyMomof2]

I wouldn't lie. You are the parents and it is your right to take your kids on a trip if you want to. If your kids are in elementary school, what their report card says isn't going to have any kind of impact on their ability to achieve success in the future. Of course, you will need to discuss with them why some of their grades are lower than they should be. I would also talk to the teacher. Some teachers are more flexible than others, even within the district policy.

And for the record, I am a former teacher and I highly value education. However, I also value family, and it is the parent's right to make decisions for the family. We are very fortunate. Our system allows up to 5 "family" days every year.

[thumperbug]

We pulled my son out of school last December for our trip. He was in Kindergarten at the time. I wrote a note ahead of time advising he would be out and got his homework from his teacher.

Somehow the attendance office didn't get my note and called me on my cell to see if my son was "ok". I told them we were on vacation....by the reaction I got you would have thought that I told them he had commited a major crime. I explained that I got all his work from his teacher and he had completed it (even thought his teacher told us not to worry about the homework and to have a good time).

So, at the end of the year, his last report card listed all his excused and unexcused absenses and of course..there were 5 for our trip. Nothing has come of it. But I agree....the schools tend to overreact a bit. He was in Kindergarten.

But I have to say, every trip I go on to WDW, no matter what time of year it is, I meet tons of familied who pulled their kids out of school for a trip. So don't worry about it.

If you don't want to lie, just say you have a family commitment. Which is the truth.

Have fun!!

[Tiggerlovr9000]

I totally agree with you. I think that if I want to pull my child out for family time and they are getting good grades then it shouldn't be a problem. Our school has a policy that if they are sick with out a doctors note then it is unexcused. When they just have a cold they don't need to see the doctor just alot of rest and juice. This is causing alot of parents to send their children to school sick which helps make everyone else sick. Someone should really get some common sense. Funding should not be based on attendence. I also don't like having to teach my child to lie so we can have some special family time..

[Ian]

I agree totally. The whole attendance thing has gotten way out of hand. They need to chill.

We're fortunate in that our school district works well with the parents in these situations. We took DD out a few times during her kindergarten time last year and they worked with us with no trouble at all.

[Sunshine1010]

I took my son out for 5 days when he was in Kindergarten to go to WDW. Told the Principal, told the teacher......

....the Attendance Supervisor threatened to put me in jail if I did it again.

[Puppy Mom]

I both agree AND disagree with some of the things said above.

I agree that parents certainly have the right to decide what is best for their family, but some families have better judgement than others.

Also, decisions have consequences. If you chose to remove your child from school they will miss some instruction time and possibly test or quizes. That would be YOUR choice and you and your child should be willing to accept the consequences.

Also, I do NOT think that it is the responsibility of any teacher to do extra work so your family can go on vacation. If a teacher can just take a few minutes to write down chapters to read or pull a few worksheets and they want to, then that is fine, but for parents to expect teachers to do extra work because they can't take their family vacation during the MANY weeks that there is no school is selfish.

[TexasPrincessAurora]

Wow...unbelievable. Gee, makes you wonder whether they think the parents are really in charge of their own kids. Family is so important. Somehow everyone can't see that. I hope you have a great time on your trip and that your kids have a magical time!

[Puppy Mom]

OF COURSE parents are in charge of their own children, but personal decisions have consequences. If these parents took their vacations during the MANY weeks that school is not in session, there would be no school problem.

If they cannot or CHOSE not to , then it is the family/student who needs to be willing to bear the consequences of missed school.

If you believe that your child does not need the instruction that will be given that whole week, then fine. But don't complain if your kid is behind when you return. Whose choice was that? Not the schools.

[Tygger7]

Also, I do NOT think that it is the responsibility of any teacher to do extra work so your family can go on vacation. If a teacher can just take a few minutes to write down chapters to read or pull a few worksheets and they want to, then that is fine, but for parents to expect teachers to do extra work because they can't take their family vacation during the MANY weeks that there is no school is selfish.

I would just like to interject something....some of us don't have the luxury of always being able to schedule our family vacations around the school year calendar. My DH has to work around project schedules, which change from year to year. In order to take a family vacation this year, we HAD to go in mid-May, or not go at all. As a result, we pulled our DD15 out of high school (9th grade) for 10 days. We never expected the teacher to do "extra" work...simply provide their lesson plans/outlines for the time she was out. Again, and please keep in mind we have many friends who are teachers, we don't expect the teachers to put together special work or lessons, just work with us and give us a basic outline of what she needs to make up.

I know there are strong feelings on both sides of the arguement with taking kids out of school. Ultimately, you are the parent and you pay taxes for your child to go to school....and you also know your child and your family. For us, family comes first....I've never regretted taking the opportunity to spent time together as a family. We have so little time with our children, and then they're grown and gone, raising families of their own. I don't know of anyone whose parents pulled them out of school (or conversely, a parent who took their child out for a vacation) look back and say, "Gee, I wish I'd spent that time in school than on vacation with my family." Life is precious, and we have no guarantees of a tomorrow....live today and savor every second you have with your kids. You may not have tomorrow. :mickey:

[tmosier]

I agree! You never know whether or not you will wake up tomorrow, so take family time when it fits your schedule and budget best! While school is incredibly important, family time is supreme.

This does assume however that the student is generally not a problem in the classroom, does not have too many other absences, works hard, and would not suffer too much by being gone.

[bouncer]

I agree with savoring the moment as well as work commitments prohibiting vacations during the "MANY" weeks off of school (I started the thread asking if your school's spring break was at Easter). As I stated in that thread my job only allows me to be on vacation mid-month. I don't want to go to WDW in July-we don't handle heat/humidity well. Can't go during Christmas break 'cause of work. Many of the school off days interfere with my work schedule. As much as I wouldn't want to inconvience a wonderful teacher sometimes it may be a necessary evil to afford our own family time. Carpe Diem!!

[Georgesgirl1]

Also, I do NOT think that it is the responsibility of any teacher to do extra work so your family can go on vacation. If a teacher can just take a few minutes to write down chapters to read or pull a few worksheets and they want to, then that is fine, but for parents to expect teachers to do extra work because they can't take their family vacation during the MANY weeks that there is no school is selfish.


I am a teacher and I don't mind when a kid who is hardly ever absent and is on level misses a few days for a family vacation. I even had one kid who missed a month to visit his grandfather in another country for his 80th birthday (He had to withdraw and re-enroll when he came back). I have been know to take a few personal days here and there for a vacation as well.

But it frustrates me to no end when parents want me to come up with all of the work that their child will miss for them to do! I don't always know what we will do weeks in advance because the class may need to spend more time on a subject they are struggling with. As a parent they made the decision to pull their kids out- I didn't! I don't mind giving them a basic idea like we will be working on subtraction with regrouping or simple machines in science, but some parents expect a packet of work with all the worksheets and page numbers we will do for every day they miss! Don't make the teacher do extra work so that you can go on vacation!

[tinksmom02]

What timing--I just put a letter in DD6's backpack for her to give to her teacher on Monday. We pulled her out for a week last year (kindergarten), and her teacher was vdry excited for us. Hopefully her 1st grade teacher feels the same way, but if not, oh, well...

Our school's schoolwork policy is to give the work when the kids return back to school, and the kids have as long as they were out to make it up (eg, if they miss three days, they have three days to turn in the work).

My letter nicely asks the teacher if there is anything in general that DD could be working on while we're away, and that we will be more than happy to have her make up any work she'll miss. If she chooses to send the work home early, then we'll take it with us. If not, she can make it up when she comes back.

The district allows 10 unexcused absences a year. DD used 5 for WDW and 2 for a bad head cold in January. Hopefully we'll be just as lucky this year!

My only gripe is that we missed Back to School night last year. So I booked this trip a week earlier, thinking B-t-S would be around the same time. Guess what? I'm missing it again.

[DizneeRX]

OF COURSE parents are in charge of their own children, but personal decisions have consequences. If these parents took their vacations during the MANY weeks that school is not in session, there would be no school problem.

If they cannot or CHOSE not to , then it is the family/student who needs to be willing to bear the consequences of missed school.

If you believe that your child does not need the instruction that will be given that whole week, then fine. But don't complain if your kid is behind when you return. Whose choice was that? Not the schools.

I couldn't agree more! :thumbsup:

[buzznwoodysmom]

We've taken our kids out of school several times and it has always worked out well. Now that they are getting older (1st and 3rd grades this year) I can see that it will be harder to justify them missing a whole week of school for a vacation. Just making up all the missed work was a job in itself, preparing them to make up any missed tests was even worse. We'll probably still take them out from time to time, but we'll definitely think hard about taking them out for a whole week every year like we used to.

All that said I do think as a parent it is your right to decide if and when you take your kids out of school for a family vacation. However, like someone else posted it is also your reponsibility to deal with whatever consequences come with that. While I would never not let a student make up missed tests, I do think the school as well as the teachers have every right to tell you how missed work will be made up and if missed tests will be allowed to be made up. It's not like they are telling you that your child can not miss school for a family vacation, they are simply letting you know what to expect should you take them out. Anyway that's just my :twocents:!

[mdhiggin]

My wife posted this originally but after reading these posts I realize that a lot of people agree with us.

I have a VERY strict work schedule which revolves around supporting our military. I have times that come up when I am not allowed to take vacation. These can be very long periods of time and I never complain because those periods are never as long for me as they are for the deployed soldiers.

I just wonder if you are saying I should not be allowed to vacation with my family at all? How about those soldiers who are gone 18 months at a time and then are home for a short period and sent back again?

My Mom is a teacher so I understand it is a tough job. I also think that the school system has gone too far in the wrong direction to "protect" kids. Some parents make great decisions with their kids and some parents are lazy and have their kids miss school because they don't want to take them.

I understand that this happens. Why don't the systems single out the "bad" parents from the parents in my situation or our military men and womens' predicaments?

On another note, why is this always looked at from a child's perspective when it is discussed. How much does it slow a classroom when a teacher is forced to miss days? When my child has a substitute because the teacher is out for an extended period is that time ever made up to them? Does the school system "owe" me an explanation for why the teacher was out and my child lost several of their limited education days with a substitute teacher?

I understand that the above scenario sounds a little heartless and mean but can you see how the reverse may sound a little like that to me? How can a substitute be prepared for teaching our children if the teacher has no real plan for what the class will be doing for the next 5-10 days? I know that giving out exact paperwork for a 5-10 day period may be tough and I don't expect that but to say that a teacher has to do a ton of extra work to give the parent a loose outline of what will be covered sounds like a little bit of a stretch to me.

I understand that education is important and as parents most of us put as much time and effort into our kids getting one as their teachers do. I also think that having my children be with their family away from the hustle and bustle of daily work life is educational. I want my kids to learn what it means to be a man or a woman and a father or mother. What it truly means to be a family and what it takes to keep a family together and happy.

If the only time I have to do this doesn't unfortunately fall in the school's approved calendar of vacation days should I never do this? Should my children be punished because their father does not have a job that is flexible on when they can or cannot be off? I respect teachers as I have watched my Mom suffer through the joys and pains of teaching for almost 30 years now. I also however feel that I am the head of my household and I am in charge of when my family does things. If it is too much work for the teacher to give out work and grade work outside the window that they do that for other students then it can be our responsibility to make sure our children catch up.

I do not think the school has the right to give my kid 0's or say that I have to lie to take my child on vacation. I am certainly not trying to pick on you but I feel that thinking the whole world can vacation by the school calendar or suffer the consequences is more than a little arrogant though. I hope no one takes this as an attack on puppy mom because that is certainly not my intention. I think everyone has a right to their opinions and I respect the fact that is how she feels but I have also had this conversation with several people who share her opinion and I get frustrated.

I also know that this is not a teacher decision but a school system decision so I am not trying to direct this at teachers. Most of the time our kids teachers work great with us because they know what I do. I just hate that a teacher is put in the awkward position by the systems decisions. I don't want to ask them to do anything that makes them break the rules.

[Marilyn Michetti]

It was really easy when our kids were in school. Both trips in the 80's were in Oct., and nobody cared.
:secret:

[buzznwoodysmom]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention in my post. I would never lie to the school about it. Chances are that if you child were to miss a whole week of school because they were sick you would have taken them to the doctor and have a doctor's excuse. If the school system is so strict I would guess that even in the event that your child misses school because of an illness they would still not be able to make up any tests without a doctor's excuse. Lieing to the school about my kids missing and having my kids lie about it as well, is just something I would never even for a second consider. I think it is horrible that someone actually suggested you do that. My kids are so excited about their trips they could never keep it a secret and would probably spill the beans by talking about it when we returned. Don't lie to the school, just tell them that these are your children, you know what is best for them and at this time you think that this family vacation is more important than being in the classroom. Tell them that you would be more than happy to help you children make up all their missed work and tests as to not fall behind. If you child is a good student they should be able to bring up their grades even if they get 0's on their tests for that week.

And I don't think anyone here is suggesting that you or your children don't deserve a vacation or should be punished because you can't vacation at other times. Your family is more than deserving of this vacation I am sure. My hubby is in the military so I know how crazy schedules can be. I just think that for the most part most of us here think it's your child, you make the decision that is best for you, but just like everything else in life there may be consequences for that. When we had kids we knew that there would be lots of things we wouldn't be able to do the same anymore. As they get older, taking trips to WDW anytime we would like is one of those things unfortunately.

[MegaDisney]

Not to stir the pot, but is taking kids out of school for family trips a fairly new thing?

I made it all the way through school (K-12) going on vacations and trips only during school breaks and over the summer. My parents never took us out of school for any reason other than a funeral or if we were sick.

[Jen C.]

I get that you are not wanting to lie, yet being forced to lie.

If you choose to go forth with the "untruth", don't say sick, say...headlice!

No Dr.'s note required. :thedolls:
;) :D

[Puppy Mom]

Please do not misunderstand me.

No, I am NOT saying you shouldn't ever take a vacation with your family or that kids should never be pulled out of school for a family reason.

What I AM saying is that it is unrealistic and wrong to expect that the rest of the world adjust to YOUR decision. Your job circumstances are not the problem of the school system.

I would say the same to a teacher. I think they should make every effort to get their ELECTIVE personal stuff done in the many weeks when school is not in session.

My problem is not with parents making choices about what is right for their family. It is in expecting the the teacher and the school should do extra work or bend the rules because of those choices.

[Puppy Mom]

By the way..... teaching the kid that it is acceptable to LIE rather than accept the consequiences of YOUR choice..... nice, very nice.

[bleukarma]

Do you have to give an excuse when you tell the school that your child will be out for a week? When I was in high school I missed a week of school because I had to travel from FL to WV for a funeral and I believe we just told the school that I would be out. I made up my work when I got back, and I'm sure you will help your kids get back on track when you get home. I don't see why the "why" the kid is out of school is relevent. I do the same thing when I call in sick to my job....which I hardly ever do. I only offer an explaination when it's asked, and I frankly find it irritating to have to explain why I'm using my personal day. I have a track record that should show that I don't call in for anything and I am given personal days to use. I find the "why" I'm missing a day of work to just be plain nosey. If your child has a good track record of being in class then I would just tell the teacher that you have to pull them out for a week and could they please give them what they might miss.

I have had more then one family member leave for work and never come home. Take your family on your vacation and please don't feel bad about it. You never know what tomorrow will bring. Enjoy the time you spend with them. Things will work out with the school, it's your time together that is important. If something bad happens, God forbid, you want your family to look back and say "I'm glad we took that vacation together" instead of "we should've went on that vacation."

[mdhiggin]

post more carefully you would have seen that lying was a recommendation from one of the school employees.

I didn't expect to change your opinion and you definitely won't change mine so we will agree to disagree I guess.

[mdhiggin]

I agree totally with your post on the topic. Responsible parents shouldn't have to explain why their kids will be out.

I also agree with your thoughts on taking time as a family when you can. I have watched many military families that have been destroyed by the loss of a mother or father. The time we have together is limited as it is and we should enjoy every minute we get together.

Watching these families has taught me that. Seeing them have to be apart for 18 straight months is also a very sad thing to watch.

I guess defending our freedoms has a price but it is a very high one on a personal level.

Those families deserve every second they get to be together. They shouldn't have to ask anyone to spend that time together. Even the all powerful school system.:D

[Aggie97]

All that said I do think as a parent it is your right to decide if and when you take your kids out of school for a family vacation. However, like someone else posted it is also your reponsibility to deal with whatever consequences come with that. While I would never not let a student make up missed tests, I do think the school as well as the teachers have every right to tell you how missed work will be made up and if missed tests will be allowed to be made up. It's not like they are telling you that your child can not miss school for a family vacation, they are simply letting you know what to expect should you take them out. Anyway that's just my :twocents:!

I think this is a very reasonable way of looking at it: it is your right to choose when to take a vacation, but you do have to be prepared to accept the consequences of the decision.

It is really unfortunate that your school district has set such a strict attendance policy instead of dealing directly with the individuals who abuse the system. Even though someone in the school office suggested lying about the trip, your initial instinct is correct: it just is not the right thing to do, and it would set such a bad precedent for your child.

Maybe there is a chance the teacher will work with you anyway if you speak with him/her directly?

(For the record, I am not unsympathetic to challenging work schedules. I grew up an "Air Force brat," and my father is en route to Baghdad as I type this. My parents pulled us out of school for one family vacation, in 1986. :))

Whatever happens, I hope things work out and that your family has a great vacation.

[vizsla]

We always pulled our DD out of school every year for a two week trip to WDW. They never gave us a problem in the past but this year they changed their policy and are giving us a hard time. We don't care if they like it or not, but we are still taking are DD out of school. We explained to them that she does extremely well in school with her grades and really doesn't miss any other time during the year unless she is sick. And the other issue is that DW's and my employeer do not let us take vacations from June through August so when are we supposed to have some family time.

[Tinkerfreak]

OF COURSE parents are in charge of their own children, but personal decisions have consequences. If these parents took their vacations during the MANY weeks that school is not in session, there would be no school problem.

If they cannot or CHOSE not to , then it is the family/student who needs to be willing to bear the consequences of missed school.

If you believe that your child does not need the instruction that will be given that whole week, then fine. But don't complain if your kid is behind when you return. Whose choice was that? Not the schools.

I have taken my kids out 6 years in a row and have never expected the teacher to do extra work or blamed any teacher for work to be made up. My kids know that they are the ones responsible for making up the work and they do. As far as taking vacations during summer when it is 95 with 100% humidity some people for health reasons just can't do that. We cannot take vacations during school vacations because of my husbands job. Most of our customers live out of our state and they all want to meet with him when their kids are out of school.
I DO NOT take my childrens educations lightly and we knew that if a year came that either one of them had a hard time catching up or it impacted their grades at all we would not plan another trip. This is the last year we will do it because my oldest is going into hight school next year.

[Georgesgirl1]

mdhiggin- I hope I am simply misreading one of your previous posts, but it seems like you said that it is okay for you to pull your kids out for vacation without giving an explanation, but you want the teachers to give an explanation for the times they miss since your child may be missing some instruction. When I miss, whether for sick days, personal days, training, or my upcoming maternity leave, I leave detailed plans for what should be done so that those days do not become simply "play days" or "review days." I always make sure new info is covered and the subs at my school are great and actually teach the kids stuff. I never want my personal issues to keep the kids from learning on the days I miss. Some teachers also have reasons they cannot travel on their breaks just like you do. DH and I travel with our family to WDW every other year and between all the schedules in our family and with the travel schedules of my dad and brother's jobs, sometimes during the school year is the only time we can make it work.

Like I said, I hope I simply misread the post. I do think that students and teachers alike should have the opportunity to miss days provided for the students are not missing many other days during the year and provided that teachers have personal days accrued that they can use.

I don't think you should have to lie about it though. When I taught in public school ( I teach in private now), the policy was 5 unexcused absences or tardies and the teacher had to write a note home, 10-the principal wrote a note, 15 the social worker became involved, and 20- you could be taken to court. When I had a little girl miss a week for her trip to WDW I just let her mom know that it didn't bother me, but to know I would have to send a note home. I let her make up all her work that she missed when she came back. She was fine with this and only missed 2 other days in the year due to an illness so they were excused and it never went any farther.

I do understand why they do this b/c when I student taught there were two kids at the school who each missed 30 days!! I have also known kids who would miss school everytime their parents had a weekday off (i.e. every 2nd Tuesday). Yes, we hope that all parents would be responsible and think through their decisions to pull their kids out of school like it sounds like you have, but unfortunately a lot of parents don't. That is why the counties and schools come up with policies like this. It's unfortunate how a few irresponsible people ruin it for the rest of us!

[wjrhw]

Please do not misunderstand me.

No, I am NOT saying you shouldn't ever take a vacation with your family or that kids should never be pulled out of school for a family reason.

What I AM saying is that it is unrealistic and wrong to expect that the rest of the world adjust to YOUR decision. Your job circumstances are not the problem of the school system.

I would say the same to a teacher. I think they should make every effort to get their ELECTIVE personal stuff done in the many weeks when school is not in session.

My problem is not with parents making choices about what is right for their family. It is in expecting the the teacher and the school should do extra work or bend the rules because of those choices.

If I were a teacher, I would have to think that doing extra work for students who miss school is part of my job. Not extra. I know teachers are all union members now, but remember your not dealing with parts in a factory, you are dealing with infinite situations and extra work is not always extra. It should be expected.

[mdhiggin]

Yes I think you misread the point of that post. I don't think the teachers should have to explain why they are off on personal days but my point was for some of the posters to look at it the other way.

I think some of the posters who are teachers and are strongly against this are looking at this from only a kids perspective. Our school system is now asking me to explain my entire schedule when I am going to be off and explain why I need to take my children out during this time. I don't OWE them that just like you don't owe your students an explanation when you need to be off.

I know a lot about how teachers operate as I have watched my Mom. I know that teachers in our system have lesson plans for at least a month in advance so giving a parent a loose guideline of what will be covered during the 5-10 days the kids will be out is no major task.

That is all I was saying. I want to thank everyone who posted on this thread. Even the people who disagree with me offer a different perspective for me to look at. I am glad to see that most people understand that not everything can be done on the school system's calendar.

I agree with what you said that it is unfortunate that a few bad apples spoil the bunch where this rule is concerned.

I also agree with what tink said and this will be the last year we can make this trip as our son starts high school next year also.

[SteveL]

If I were a teacher, I would have to think that doing extra work for students who miss school is part of my job. Not extra.

WHY???
Teachers have enough to do as it is without being expected to do more to accomodate someone's vacation.

[elmjimmlm]

I may be way off here but I do believe that I have read that there is an excuse that can be given for a trip to Disney as an educational experience...If you think about it there is so much that your kids learn on a trip...Look at Epcot, it has more hands on than any other place that I know of...Just something to consider...

[TheRustyScupper]

My wife posted this originally but after reading these posts I realize that a lot of people agree with us.

Bravo !

[TheRustyScupper]

WHY???
Teachers have enough to do as it is without being expected to do more to accomodate someone's vacation.

1) I have never asked for extra teacher work.
2) Just give me the assignments, and we will followup.
3) I won't dicsuss my thoughts on teachers' work load.

[Puppy Mom]

If I were a teacher, I would have to think that doing extra work for students who miss school is part of my job. Not extra. I know teachers are all union members now, but remember your not dealing with parts in a factory, you are dealing with infinite situations and extra work is not always extra. It should be expected.


If you were a teacher you would know that teachers/school systems already DO a great deal of things for students, students who are sick and students that have bad home lives.

Let me explain my attitude with a few examples of some of the things that teachers I personally know have had to do include:

-Buying school supplies from their own money because the parents couldn't or wouldn't.

-Picking a kid up at home and taking him to catch the bus on a Saturday for a band competition because his parents were too hung over from the night before and swore at him when he tried to get them up to drive him.

-Dealing with kids that come to school drunk or high, in one case because the sophomore had a couple beers with dear old Dad at the breakfast table.

-Calling a parent to inform them that their child is not in school only to be told the kid was home sick......all the while looking out the window at the 13 year old standing in a parking lot across the street smoking with his buddies.

- Having to take a high school kid aside after school and explain that they needed to take a bath or shower and wash their hair because they were sent to school with body odor and dirty clothes. Having to call a second grader's parents to tell them the same thing and being told to mind their own business.

-Being called into the principal's office and almost fired when parents complained that you slammed their kid into a locker. Having to explain that what you did was pin the kids hand against the locker so you could get the KNIFE out of it that he had pulled on you when you told him to get his hand off his girlfriends behind in the hallway. (This one happened to my father).

-Spending hours on the telephone, on their own time, trying to talk to parents of kids that are failing. Having the parents curse at them and tell the teacher that if their kid is failing it is the teacher's fault and not to bother them.

From reading this forum it is pretty obvious that this is a very dedicated group of parents who would never dream of letting their kids be in these situations. Your kids are very lucky.

The thing is that all of these things happened in nice small towns in "good" school districts..... places where people would swear that these things never happen. Don't be so sure you KNOW what your kids teacher is doing with their time.

Perhaps my knowledge of these " infinite situations and extra work" that you refer to is why I give a teacher a pass if they don't have the time to drop everything and make a pretty little special packet for your cherub to take on their Disney vacation so they don't have a dreaded zero for a week. Most of these teachers have their own kids they want to spend their time with too, you know.

Some kids would pray that little zero is all they had to deal with....... and so does their teacher.

I apologize if I seem to be taking a snarky attitude. I just seriously believe that some people have no CLUE what teacher's deal with and some people that I love very much are teachers.

[pink]

I was taken out of school for one week every October and it never affected my grades or my ability to keep up with the homework. I guess I had some pretty good teachers and got lucky. Everytime I went away they just told us to have a great time. :mickey:

[Dyanna]

I am from LI NY & the school policy here in our district is that no family vacation is an acceptable excuse for absence. Guess my daugher will be thrown out of school if we decide to take her to WDW. Oh well. Family time is very important to us since my husband does not get home from work each evening until 8pm or later. Every minute my dd spends with her father is priceless as she is now only 21 months old.

[disneylovinmom]

You know, going to the funeral of a 15 year old family member put everything in perspective for me. If I need to take MY child out of school for a few days so we can go on a family trip, then by golly I will. If the school does not like it, too bad. We as her parents will take responsibility for anything that she misses. I painfully realize that we may not aways have that opportunity to be together as a family. Due to my and my husbands job, we have to go when our employers say we can. And as I recall, our employers are how we earn our money, not the school. That's all I've got to say about that.

[Jeff]

Folks let's please remember to be civil. This is always a very "hot button" item on Intercot. One person's opinion is just as valid as another's on this family issue.

Also, please let's not turn this thread into a "teacher bashing" thread.

Keep in mind that many State Legislatures now set attendance policies and school calendars and school employees, administrators and school boards have virtually no say on the subject.

[tinklover]

It should not be EXTRA work for a teacher to send home work with teh child who is going to be missing school. As part of the teacher's job description , they are to have a lesson plan made up a week to two weeks in advance incase they wer eto be ill and a sub had to come in . so taking teh extra time to jot down what chapters to read or print off some work sheets while the kids are reading or taking notes form teh black board is not and should not be considered EXTRA work. and Puppy mom those are some heartfelt stories about teachers you know and most of them took teh extra time when in some of teh cases all that neede dto be done was contacting social services. I comend those teachers for taking that extra step and contacting the parent to try and resolve the issue. I know school teachers are different then a day care teacher but in some ways teh same. we too had to have lesson plans for teh week and we too were responsible for contacting social services if somethingw as not "right" like kids coming to school repeatedly in dirty clothes and having B.O. and yes their are parents who just don't care. BUt to me it seems like the OP really does care about their children and are stuck between a rock and a hard place because of the school district's rule of 0s for unexcused absences, that were more then likely put in place due to the parents who really did not care and let tehir kids miss school becasue they did not want to wake up in time to make sure teh child was up or becasue they did not feel like waslking them to the bus stop or what ever reason. all i am saying is, it is not fair to jump teh OP because she was asking for advice on how to handle the situation when a school employee told her to lie which would mean she would have to get her kid to lie. if it wer eme iw ould be searching for a new school in a different school district becasue that to me says the schools are not teaching my kids what they need ., but teaching my kids to be liars. just my :twocents:

To the OP i am sorry your school district is so strict . we went in to our DD's class on open house night ( she is in Kindergarten this year.) We asked teh teacher right up front that night would she be ok with , aslong as we gave her enough notice, us pulling our DD's out for an extra week or so after christmas vacation as we always take the girls to see tehir grandmother in Florida in Jan. she said not a problem. she said she understood not being able to go due to my DBF's work schedule and the fact that once school lets out for teh summer it is hurricane season. i truly hope you have a magical time on your trip and not let the silly rule ruin your good time.

[MickeyMousse]

Last year I took both of my DS's-one in Kindergarten and the other in 5th grade-out for our trip for 10 days. My oldest missed the state assessments, but I informed both of their teachers and principals 2 months in advance. Both teachers had whatever work they had to do ready for them on their last day and my oldest was able to make up the state test the week he returned.
Next year we will be gone for another 10 days, but I will only be dealing with my youngests 1st grade teacher as we decided to pull our oldest out of public school and started homeschooling.
I agree that education is important but so is family time. You never know what tomorrow could bring.

[Faver]

Not to stir the pot, but is taking kids out of school for family trips a fairly new thing?

I made it all the way through school (K-12) going on vacations and trips only during school breaks and over the summer. My parents never took us out of school for any reason other than a funeral or if we were sick.

I think the answer is yes and no. When I was a kid in the 70's and 80's, my parents took me and my brother out of school a week early (near Christmas vacation) to visit family and go to Disney, we just did it, and made up our class work. My Mom always told our teachers up front.

I think what's different now is that things are so expensive, and if the only time you can go to WDW is value season, which is never during a school break, then parents take advantage of the lower cost, in order to have that experience with their family.

:mickey: Go Disney :mickey:

[luvdiznee]

I'm about to send a note to DD's guidance counselor about this very thing. I have already discussed it with her and she said she will pass the note to the teachers. :mickey:

[Georgesgirl1]

If I were a teacher, I would have to think that doing extra work for students who miss school is part of my job. Not extra. I know teachers are all union members now, but remember your not dealing with parts in a factory, you are dealing with infinite situations and extra work is not always extra. It should be expected.

I would be careful about saying all teachers are union members. I am not and proud of it!

I will always be fine about giving kids their make-up work when they get back, but I am not going to take time away from my family to stay later than the hour or two (at least) that I already stay past what I have to everyday so that I can get that packet of work done before a child leaves for vacation.

That's right....in my plush teacher job I stay later each day and work more at home than I ever did when I worked in the corporate world! I also make less now than I did then, but I am 100% more satisfied with what I have done at the end of each day. Almost every teacher I know works "extra" each and everyday to give their students the best learning environment they can. So before you start off about what teachers do and don't do maybe you should drive past your kid's school about 2 or 3 hours after teachers are allowed to leave and see how many of their cars are still there working in their classroooms, meeting with parents, or helping kids with a tough assignment.

[Puppy Mom]

I think that more families take big expensive family vacations than used to years ago, including Disney.

In the dark ages when I was a kid most family vacations were of the pile the kids in the station wagon and head to the lake or the beach type.

I think that summer used to be THE family vacation time and this issue just didn't come up as much.

Regarding the earlier mention of teachers being in a union, I have some personal experience with why that is because my father was the president of the local teachers union for a few years.

In my hometown, working as unskilled labor on the factory line at the local glass bottle plant paid better than being a teacher. My father often had to take a second job to pay for a car repair or a medical emergency ( yes teacher's insurance stunk).

These days teachers make decent money in most places (as they should for being responsible for your children's education) and that is due to the union.

[Jeff]

Ok. We have had one warning which has been totally ignored. This thread is not about teachers, teacher pay, dedication to work and kids or Unions.

This thread is about taking kids out of school and school attendance policy. If discussion continues to stray into broad generalizations that are going to obviously upset others this thread will be closed.

[Tiggerlovr9000]

My two dd's just attended a furneral for their 17 year old friend who died in a car accident last week. Life is definitely to short. Take the trip and try to be polite to the school as possible. That old adage about honey instead of vinegar will probably go a long way.

[Jeff G]

We've pulled our kids out of school for one week every year since my DD started school and she's now in 7th grade. Part of the reason we pull our kids out is my work schedule (I'm a mortgage loan officer and do my own processing so going on vacation during the busier months of February - August isn't an option), part is it's cheaper in September and part because it's less crowded. As you can see, I'm honest about why I pull my kids out and part is purely selfishness.

I sit on our school board and am friends with many of the teachers who have taught my kids. A few of the teachers are not happy that we do this every year because they feel we are taking away from our kids learning time in school. A few of the other teachers support my decision and have no problems with it.

My kids are growing up super fast and will spend 13+ years in school. If they miss a week a year to spend quality family time with their parents & siblings so be it. The work they miss in one week can be made up and we make sure it is, the week we spend together as a family cannot if missed. My kids do well in school and that isn't always because they are super inelligent, we make them work hard and are very involved. We also make sure when we come back we cover any new work and make sure they understand what they missed. Our teachers have never penalized our kids for being gone but if they were to I would still choose to pull my kids out. If my kid is taught right with good moral values and a good sense of family a B instead of an A isn't going to change who they are later in life. My job as a parent is to raise my kids and I feel I'm best raising them by being a close knit family who spends quality time together.

[thrillme]

I too will be taking my DS out for vacation for a couple of days. He'll be in school half the day on Wednesday then he'll be out Thursday and then he'll be out Friday (which is a half day anyway and most teachers don't schedule anything they pretty much watch a movie and go to lunch). A holiday is on Monday so I just figured it would be one time to try Disney at a "different" time of the year. He's in 7th and I've given a heads up to his advisory teacher and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed there won't be any other issues with the rest of the teachers. He never misses school unless he's sick and now perhaps he'll miss a couple of hours due to ortho appointments (I alternate mornings and afternoons so no one class takes all the hits).

HOWEVER...I do understand that not all parents are as concerned about their child's well being as the members on this board. I've got a couple friends of mine who has told me some absolute horror stories.... I don't know WHY these people were even allowed to breed.

It's ridiculous that teachers have to deal with these days...The problem though...their parents don't care. Most teachers LOVE kids and they LOVE making a difference and I have no doubt if they can change the life of one child by imposing the rules they will. It's just sad that all of us get punished.

[Sunshine1010]

Advice:

Be honest. Talk to everyone involved. If there are negative consequences, then you have to make a decision.

Simple as that.

I'm not here to judge, to scold, to bash....just to support a Mom's dilmena in making a decision.

YOU do what is right for YOUR family. Period.

Good Luck....and try not to stress over it too much.

[LauraleeH]

I took my son out for 5 days when he was in Kindergarten to go to WDW. Told the Principal, told the teacher......

....the Attendance Supervisor threatened to put me in jail if I did it again.
Holy cow, that is when my kid would be pulled out of school and home-schooled.

[Sunshine1010]

he he.....trust me, we thought about it. If it happens again...we will.

[dnickels]

Wow, tough situation. I think I can sympathize with both sides on some level.

From a gut level, yes it seems like schools should be willing to work with responsible parents and students, but they have so much to deal with that they can't possibly ever know who the truly responsible ones are and who just plain doesn't care. As someone said earlier, some years a teacher might be able to breeze through a particular subject in a day and other years it might take a week for the students to 'get' it. Then there's the situation of a child who made the effort to attend school (but maybe gets sick or has a family situation that causes them to miss time) getting an F for their 14 missed days while another child with the same number of missed days (but 5 of them at Disney) gets to pass.

Has anyone on the board spent a significant amount of time in countries that outperform (without getting into the methodology of those performance metrics) the US in educating kids? I don't mean this as a flame, I'm just genuinely curious if parents in a country like Japan would even consider taking their kids out of school for a Disney vacation.

[brownie]

It's a good idea to check on your school's policy for vacations before scheduling trips during school time. Some schools have policies that allow this, but if your school doesn't you sort of stuck with it if you're still going to take your kids out. I feel the policies should be flexible and it should only become a problem for you if you abuse it during school time.

[disneyfan328]

We had some issues similar to this when we went to WDW last year. For our families situation we have decided that due to the passing of my father 3 years ago and the vacation to the beach that we never got to take with him that we won't miss any opportunites to be together as a family. IMHO school can be made up. Life is short and if someone dies they are not coming back. You never know what can happen today or tomorrow so live life to the fullest and do what you can to give your family and children the best family and education that YOU can. don't expect anyone else to do it for you.

We typed up a letter stating these facts and also did use some education things. We taught our 2 youngest to read maps and help us plan out transportation routes, they had money to budget, we taught about timing and used various math and social skills while there. We talked in epcot about new ways to grow things and how to conserve and recycle and introduced the kids to several new ways to say hello and goodbye. Our school accepted the letter and stated that they abscenses would be excused but ONLY if all work was made up within 5 days of our return. Our kids were in K and 2nd grade. Our sons K teacher sent home a work pack to be completed which he did and our daughters teacher stated that upon her return if there was anything necessary for her to do she would give it to her then. Nothing came home in the 2 days after she returned to school so I emailed the teacher to find out what needed ot be made up since we only had 3 days left. She asked me if we had a good time and i stated yes. She said that's all thats important and _______(insert childs name here) is doing just fine with where we are and there is nothing else she needs to do. I was shocked as I had been told that this particular teacher was very strict and I expected to be given work to be made up. it was very nice. my DD said that she was asked to tell about her favorite parts of the trip and had we done anything special which she agreed to do in front of the class and that was it.

YOU do what YOU need to do for you and your family to have what YOU feel is necessary. Don't worry about what others think. It is YOU and YOUR FAMILY that are important but know that whatever you decide that the schools laws and rules are just that and you will have to do what they say as far as making up the work or taking the days as unexcused. My advise is to explain the situation to them and see if something can be worked out. If not then just deal with whateve consequences there will be. It will be more than worth it in the end.

[Ian]

One moderately ironic thing I see in all this is that school districts are constantly bemoaning the lack of parental involvement in their kid's lives.

I guess they're only interested in family time and parental involvement when it suits them (and their test scores) or when it involves the parents and kids being holed up in the dark doing reams and reams of pointless homework.

[Boojum]

What's really difficult about this situation is that rules can't be adjusted. I wish schools could use common sense and say "Well, we know these are responsible parents and children, so we can give permission to miss school."

But, if this is done, the irresponsible parents are going to raise Cain. Therefore, rules are pretty much administered blanket-style. Life isn't fair.

[Disney Doll]

Luckily the attendance policy in my child's district is not too bad so this is something I won't have to worry about. However, we plan to continue our annual trips to WDW during the school year.

I was a public school teacher and I do value education, but I also value family time. I for one never minded providing what assignments I could ahead of time for families that let me know about an upcoming absence. I was required to have lesson plans made out in advance anyway so this was not extra work. My biggest gripe with these super strict policies is that I believe grades should be merit based not punitive. An assignments should receive an "F" if the student submitted failing work. Missed work should be made up and graded according to the quality of the work. And yes if you make the decision you accept the consequence, but in some cases the consequences are just plain silly . Education is not a one sized fits all endeavor so these policies that paint everything in black or white don't always make sense.

I know if I were the original poster I would go ahead with my trip and be completely honest about it. Then, I would start making contacts with all the appropriate people- school board, state government etc. because all policies can be changed. If I was not able to get the situation resolved I might have to consider whether I still wanted my child to be a part of that school district.

I also have to agree with Ian. I taught in some pretty rough neighborhoods, the kinds where kids fend for themselves and parents can't be bothered to parent. I know what lack of parental involvement is like and I would have been thrilled to hear from a parent who was planning some good quality family time even if it did mean missing school. Many of my parents looked at school as free daycare and were always ready to get rid of their kid for the day. Again, one size clearly does not fit all.

[chrisb26]

My parents took me and my brother out of school on occasion. But it was never something that was done often. If we were taken out for vacation it was always for a long weekend. Where we already had a couple days off to begin with for example Parent Teacher Conferences or a holiday weekend. So it was never more then 2 or 3 days.

Our school was pretty easy with missing for vacation. They had a form that we had to fill out if we were gone more then 3 days we had to take it to all our teachers and they had to sign it then we brought it back up to the attendance office.

I think that schools should realize that everybody's situation is different not everybody has the opportunity to be off during the summer months and the only time they are allowed is during the school year. However I can also understand the need not to let the children out. But the way I see it is if its a good student who doesn't have many absent days and does well in school there shouldn't be a real big problem with it.

[Sunshine1010]

I don't think I've ever met someone that said.......
"I wouldn't be working in this dead-end job if my parents kept me in school in November of 1980 instead of going to WDW. I wish I could make up those 5 days and get my career in order"

[luvdiznee]

One moderately ironic thing I see in all this is that school districts are constantly bemoaning the lack of parental involvement in their kid's lives.

I guess they're only interested in family time and parental involvement when it suits them (and their test scores) or when it involves the parents and kids being holed up in the dark doing reams and reams of pointless homework.

ITA. I couldn't believe how much they kept our 4th grade kids at DD's school to study for a "pretend" state test. And how these teachers kept threatening and bribing the kids into having to do so good on these test. :thedolls:

[IloveDisney71]

I also know that this is not a teacher decision but a school system decision so I am not trying to direct this at teachers. Most of the time our kids teachers work great with us because they know what I do. I just hate that a teacher is put in the awkward position by the systems decisions. I don't want to ask them to do anything that makes them break the rules.

I'm a teacher who lives in one of these systems that goes overboard about absences. However, they allow the schools to choose if they want to offer vacation days or not - some schools allow 5 days and some allow none. I'm also a mother whose children used to go to schools in this school system...and I've handled it differently for different vacations depending which school they attended. My children always had A's and B's and wouldn't be harmed by missing a few days of school so I never felt guilty about them missing time. Especially when some of my students were missing 20 plus days and nothing was happening to them. A lot of the parents have just learned to lie and say they had a family emergency so they don't get penalized. It's really sad!
As a teacher, I always had a certified substitute so my students didn't suffer any ill effects of my missing 2 or 3 days.
What I'm trying to say is that school is important, BUT so is family. I think all schools should offer vacation days!!!
I have never minded getting missed work together for my students...I always have my plans ready two weeks in advance anyway.:mickey:

[mdhiggin]

Wow! This has been an exciting thread. Even two warnings from the moderator. No disrespect, Jeff.

Anyway, we decided to just send the teachers a note today about the absence. Our kids said the teachers were fine with it. One even told my son that BTMRR was her favorite ride. I guess they don't worry about the policy as much as I was led to believe. I told them we would be more than willing to make up any work in advance or upon return, either was fine. Don't I feel silly?

DD8 thought we should tell them she had to get Stitches.:stitch:

[bouncer]

:funny::clappy: So glad to hear that thus far it will not be as big of problem as anticipated. Have a safe trip & don't forget your trip reports!! Have fun!:thumbsup:

P.S. Please tell Mickey we'll see him real soon.

[kakn7294]

To the OP - I hope it works out that you can enjoy your vacation without a hassle from the school district. We've made the decision to enjoy family vacations in the summer months (as long as we can secure the vacation time at work - not always easy to do) because DD13 is in 8th grade and it's more severely frowned upon to miss school in for vacations in the upper grades. That said, DD's HS band is going to WDW in March (see signature!) and we're going with her. She will miss 4 days of school and the school will "excuse" them but they will have to make up any missed classes, including gym class! DD8 (3rd grade) will miss with her and I'm hoping the school doesn't give us a hard time about that. I'm going to try to minimize what DD8 misses by sending her for a partial day then having her miss only 3 days.

[wjrhw]

If you were a teacher you would know that teachers/school systems already DO a great deal of things for students, students who are sick and students that have bad home lives.

Let me explain my attitude with a few examples of some of the things that teachers I personally know have had to do include:

-Buying school supplies from their own money because the parents couldn't or wouldn't.

-Picking a kid up at home and taking him to catch the bus on a Saturday for a band competition because his parents were too hung over from the night before and swore at him when he tried to get them up to drive him.

-Dealing with kids that come to school drunk or high, in one case because the sophomore had a couple beers with dear old Dad at the breakfast table.

-Calling a parent to inform them that their child is not in school only to be told the kid was home sick......all the while looking out the window at the 13 year old standing in a parking lot across the street smoking with his buddies.

- Having to take a high school kid aside after school and explain that they needed to take a bath or shower and wash their hair because they were sent to school with body odor and dirty clothes. Having to call a second grader's parents to tell them the same thing and being told to mind their own business.

-Being called into the principal's office and almost fired when parents complained that you slammed their kid into a locker. Having to explain that what you did was pin the kids hand against the locker so you could get the KNIFE out of it that he had pulled on you when you told him to get his hand off his girlfriends behind in the hallway. (This one happened to my father).

-Spending hours on the telephone, on their own time, trying to talk to parents of kids that are failing. Having the parents curse at them and tell the teacher that if their kid is failing it is the teacher's fault and not to bother them.

From reading this forum it is pretty obvious that this is a very dedicated group of parents who would never dream of letting their kids be in these situations. Your kids are very lucky.

The thing is that all of these things happened in nice small towns in "good" school districts..... places where people would swear that these things never happen. Don't be so sure you KNOW what your kids teacher is doing with their time.

Perhaps my knowledge of these " infinite situations and extra work" that you refer to is why I give a teacher a pass if they don't have the time to drop everything and make a pretty little special packet for your cherub to take on their Disney vacation so they don't have a dreaded zero for a week. Most of these teachers have their own kids they want to spend their time with too, you know.

Some kids would pray that little zero is all they had to deal with....... and so does their teacher.

I apologize if I seem to be taking a snarky attitude. I just seriously believe that some people have no CLUE what teacher's deal with and some people that I love very much are teachers.

I apologize. My DD goes to a school with very few problems where the teachers have it easy in comparison to you. They spend countless days showing movies and other nonsense where DD learns nothing. And most of the parents are very involved with their child's schoolwork. Sometimes overly involved.

[DisneyOtaku]

I couldn't believe how much they kept our 4th grade kids at DD's school to study for a "pretend" state test. And how these teachers kept threatening and bribing the kids into having to do so good on these test. :thedolls:

Because from what I understand, depending on the scores from all the students determines which schools get more funding. Do well, you get more money for newer equipment and the like--which I always thought was kinda backwards. I mean, shouldn't the schools with lower scores get more funding since they obviously need the help?

As for the "pull out" topic at hand, during my time in the public school system, my school district used to have 14-unexcused miss days. I have now heard they have reducded it to 5 because so many parents pulled out their kids for vacations that went past the 14 day mark. It's sad that so many people abused the system that now everyone has to pay for it.

Now, as much as I would love to go to Disney during the off season, I can't justify it when I'm paying nearly 2000 dollars a semester to go to school ^^;

[Puppy Mom]

Thank you for your understanding, wjrhw.

I do apologize if I offended anyone.

I am glad that the situation seems to be going to work out for the OP.

[green ranger]

Keep in mind that many State Legislatures now set attendance policies and school calendars and school employees, administrators and school boards have virtually no say on the subject.[/QUOTE]

The problem may be just that... the state gets too involved with family life now. It's coming to a point where they aren't letting the parents have any choices.

[KAT1811]

I agree! You never know whether or not you will wake up tomorrow, so take family time when it fits your schedule and budget best! While school is incredibly important, family time is supreme.


I never want to say "I wish I'd . . . " live each day to it's fullest as one never knows. Scary thought but true none the less.


Not to stir the pot, but is taking kids out of school for family trips a fairly new thing?


My parents pulled me out every year for 2 weeks to go to WDW with the family when I was young. Now we pull our children out. Vicious cycle I suppose.


I agree totally with your post on the topic. Responsible parents shouldn't have to explain why their kids will be out.

I don't mind explaining if the school has an open mind. The only year we had a problem (5th grade) the teachers told the children that the only excuse from school they would accept was if they were in the hospital or dead. The teacher "punished" our DD as much as possible upon her return but we dealt with it and DD survived.



-Buying school supplies from their own money because the parents couldn't or wouldn't.


Good to hear that you reach out to help your students. DH and I shelled out over $100 for back to school supplies (not a backpack or anything like that) for our oldest DD this year (the teachers send home a list of supplies to purchase complete with color coded notebooks and folders). I suppose we should thank our lucky stars that we live in an area where what you described isn't a problem.


I don't think I've ever met someone that said.......
"I wouldn't be working in this dead-end job if my parents kept me in school in November of 1980 instead of going to WDW. I wish I could make up those 5 days and get my career in order"

:haha: So true, so true.

We are pulling our oldest DD out of 6th grade this year and our middle DD out of preschool. DH and I own our own company and for business reasons cannot travel during normal school vacation. DH works 90+ hours a week and our family vacation times are cherished beyond belief. The only time off he gets is when we are on vacation other than that DH works 7 days a week 365 days a year. No paid vacation. We plan to pull her out for years to come and are all fully prepared to suffer the consequences if need be.

[kgoulash]

after reading this thread i sure am glad we homeschool ( and no we dont' homeschool just for our wdw vacations :mickey:)
we were always taken out of school for 2 weeks at a time growing up with no problems, i even graduated with honors
glad to hear all went well for the op
have a great trip!!!