Taking Kids Out of School?

[Lady]

Thank you for your kind words. I take my job very seriously and I love my job. Also, sometime I plan 1 day for a lesson and at the end of that lesson, the class may not fully comprehend it, so I take another day to reteach it which pushes my other lessons back a day. While I prefer students to be in class rather than on vacation, I never get upset if they do take a vacation. Some people, especially those who are new to a company, may not have enough senority to get summer weeks for their vacation. I had a family go to Disney this past school year and the mother loved not having to do homework because she could just relax and enjoy her family. She had basically double homework for a week afterward but she said it was doable and the timetable I gave for completing the work kept her daughter on track.

[wdwcarrie]

Me again...this is a really great discussion and I love to see people respectfully sharing opinions.

I agree that having the kids get help upon return is fine (and you're right, you can't always predict with 100% accuracy how far you'll get). I do send home reading with the kids, though (I teach HS English); I typically suggest they read in the car/on the plane/a few minutes a night before bed. Coming back 100+ pages behind on a book is a huge deficit to overcome!

I think most people in my profession have a very healthy respect for family time. Lots of people on this board advocate very responsible handling of vacations. Understand that if you get a negative reaction from a teacher, s/he has probably been burned by less considerate families in the past. I've had no work done upon return, a parent excusing their child from the work, a parent angry because their child's grade dropped a little because they didn't understand the missed work, and students informing me of vacations one day before they leave.

Two other things to consider...how much OTHER time does your family/child miss? Here in WI, deer hunting is huge, and it's really hard to keep giving your extra time to a student who misses 5 days deer hunting then, the next month, 5 more days on another vacation! And second...can you help your child with his/her homework? I am not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but as kids get older the work gets more specialized, and a number of parents would have a hard time helping out with Shakespeare, trigonometry, or 4th year French. This places a substantial tutoring burden on teachers who, at the 9-12 level, have 75-150 kids in their courses. Most will still happily help out, but being as respectful as possible of teachers' time and their work makes it easier for us to give of our time [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[pbdennis]

Again...thanks for all the great responses. As of right now, I feel comfortable with taking the vacation and working with her teacher. With her going into the second grade, this will be a great experience for her.

This question is for the teachers who have posted responses...how does the administration at your schools feel about vacations during school? I know you may work with the students, but does the administration frawn on this?

Thanks again.

[wdwcarrie]

I'm glad the responses are helpful, and it seems like you're making a thoughtful decision.

At my HS, we have 4 administrators (one principal and 3 APs). They're pretty much split on the issue, although they'll come out more boisterously against the vacation if the student is in danger of failing one or more classes (and we do get requests frequently from such kids).

When it comes to staff vacations, BTW, they are expressly forbidden. We get one personal day a year, but no district personnel could take a week off for vacation. It would likely lead to the loss of a week's wages.

[Thumper03]

We were faced with this dilema when planning our Jan. '05 trip. Our kids were entering Soph in high school, third grade, and kindergarten. We told teachers, guidance counselors, and the dean of students at the beginning of the school year what our plans were. We were assured there would be no problem for any of them as long as they worked ahead before they left. Our oldest would be gone during finals and was to take her tests the two days before we left. As vacation time approached, DD went to her teachers to arrange her test times. Some of her teachers were true to their word and allowed her to complete her tests before vacation. A few had either forgot to have the final prepared or didn't want her to take it and tell others what might be on the test. In these cases, she had to take the tests when she returned and second semester classes were going full tilt. This meant for a much more hectic schedule to start the Spring, and she carried incompletes until grades were reported. In hindsight, we would never trust the teachers to be able to pull her out at this time again. We will continue to go during school as time permits for the entire family.

[Lady]

Our school board has a policy about vacations. A student may take only 1 vacation per year and it must not exceed 10 missed school days. Any other vacation that same school year results in an unexcused absence and the student receives 0% in all work missed. It also states that it is up to the individual teacher as to how and when to arrange make-up work for a vacationing student. Only once in 15 years of teaching did I have a parent upset that I would not give work ahead of time or give special assignments to the student while on vacation and yes, they were going to Disney. They knew I loved Disney as much as they did and wanted me to give him a scavenger hunt to complete at Epcot. I encouraged the parent to make up games or hunts for her son and she responded, "I am too busy to look up that kind of information!" I replied, "So am I" and she dropped it. Overall my experience with families on vacation has been positive. The students have completed work after the vacation and on time. I will continue to support parents and their students who take a vacation during the school year as long as they support my make-up policy and we work together.

[Maleficent's Dad]

I know this is a very heated subject at times, and I'm glad to see it going so smoothly this time around!
A few things have been pointed out to me, as a father now of 2, that we may not all be aware of.
First - Schools have had to adhere to much more rigorous curriculums; this over the past 2 or so years. The main culprit? The No Child Left Untested (oops - I mean Behind) Act.
Secondly - Testing/assessments now bein as early as kindergarten in most districts. Again - thank the new laws.
Schools have changed dramatically in the course of a very short period of time.
Additionally, NY State has very strict laws governing the absences of students - and these have been challenged in court (the state has won every time). In my children's district, schools not only aren't required to give work in advance, teachers are not allowed to give work in advance [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img] !!!
And if you're wondering what type of area we live in...they send 99-100% of HS grads to college each year, so something is working.
Now please note, I may not necessarily agree with these policies, but DW and I need to take them into account when planning our trips!
Good luck with whatever you decide - do what's best for you, and check your district's policies! [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[conorsmom2000]

Originally posted by Maleficent's Dad:
The main culprit? The No Child Left Untested (oops - I mean Behind) Act.

[img]graemlins/rotfl.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rotfl.gif[/img]

This has been a heated discussion in the past and there is no right or wrong, just what you feel is best. My son is starting kindergarten this year and we will be taking him out the week after Thanksgiving. I am very nervous about doing this - especially because of all the new guidelines Maleficent's dad mentioned. My son is already reading and writing, so I'm not too worried about him getting behind, but I just don't know how the school will view this. I will let his teacher know in Sept about our trip and will do whatever she needs us to do to prepare for it. Although I'm a little uncomfortable about it, this is still a once in a life time trip for us - and we definitely could not afford to go at any other time. I don't know that I'd do this when DS was older - or at the least, I wouldn't do the 5 days out of school that we'll do this year. But, I do absolutely agree that it's up to each family to decide what is best. For some families, they have no choice but to do this (my babysitter's family for one - her dh is a chef at a country club that closes for the month of January - that's his only vacation so the kids have to pulled out of school or they will never get vacation!) Bottom line is that I can't wait to see WDW through my 5 year old's eyes!! [img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img]

[ksstanaka]

A few months ago, we took our two daughters (one high schooler and one in elementary) and our son (in jr. high) out for four days. It wasn't a problem at all. We informed the teachers well ahead of time, and the kids made it their responsibility to schedule meetings with their teachers to see what they would miss. They did most of the homework beforehand, and the rest of it was turned in on the very day they got back to school. With the prices and great crowds, I think it was worth it.

[jafarsgirl]

Ok, I've seen this topic beaten to death before, but I must ask this question:

How on earth is taking your kids to WDW educational?!

Mind you, we have taken our 4 out of school both times we have gone, but the "educational" aspect escapes me. (Unless I want to teach them about airport security.) Sure, Epcot is wonderful, but please don't kid yourself into thinking you have truly learned anything about the countries in the World Showcase.

I have no problems taking my kids out of school to go to Disney, but I cannot see how it could be considered educational!

[PEDSNURSE]

if your child were to miss a week of school due to an illness no one would think twice. if you are scheduling this trip during school and are willing to incorporate a little "education" into it, why is it worse than missing school for illness?? may actually learn more than a week off for illness. have a good time and create a "book" to take to school that shows use of math, social studies, history etc. (epcot would probably be the best place to get a lot of info ) most of all have fun!!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[merlinmagic4]

I don't really think we can compare illness to vacation [img]smile.gif[/img] No offense, but I'm sure my son would rather be at Disney than in the PICU!!! An illness is unavoidable; we can't plan them in advance [img]smile.gif[/img]

[faline]

Originally posted by jafarsgirl:
How on earth is taking your kids to WDW educational?!

Partially, it might depend on the age of your children. I did find our trips to have an educational component to it. On our first trip, our daughter was 7. One of the first things she learned, first hand, was the concept of distance. We drove down to Disney World. We kept a map handy and continually updated her as to where we were. After having slept for a while, we informed her, upon waking, that we were in Florida. She was quite excited and wanted to know where we were on the map. After having tracked our trip all the way from Massachusetts, whe took one look at our location in Florida as compared to our destination and immediately declared "But, that will take us forever!!!" It was very clear she had grasped the concept of real distances versus space on a mapbook page!

I still believe she learned her money and budgeting skills at Disney World. We would empty out our change bank and that would be her spending money for trips. She very quickly learned that, if she spent it all here, she wouldn't have any money to spend there. She became quite good at deciding what to purchase and what to wait on.

Other things learned on trips: how to travel; how to pack; how to live with other people (her parents and, sometimes, her friends, in close quarters); how to be patient; and how to deal with those disasters of travel with good humor.

I think there's much for children to learn on vacation (even if the vacation doesn't take them to Disney World) if only we know where to look!

[pbdennis]

Thanks again for the help and responses. I can truly see both sides of the isse when it comes to making this an "educational" experience.

I personally believe it can be if it is approached the right way. As far as my case, I believe it can be for my 2nd grader. When we went in December, she was fascinated with Epcot and the World Showcase. She had to visit each Kidcot station. She truly loves learning about other parts of the world and cultures.

On the other hand...we will have fun. That is a fact.

Thanks again.

[Alligirl]

When my 2 DD's were in elementary school we would take them out but not now. My high schooler is taking difficult classes and the middle schooler needs to focus on her school work!

But one year my little one was in second grade and I spoke to the teachers and pricipal (i was involved in PTA so it was easy) and the teacher gave me a packet she had made a few years before to use on our trip.
It had history from the countries in Epcot and we had to match them up. There were geography questions, an essay to write, she had to send three postcards to the class that she wrote herself, etc. Now the teacher was a disney fan and did this for her kids and then copied it for her students but my kids loved it!
When they were young it was ok for us to do this. We could help them with what they missed and we knew what they were capable of.
I know you will make the right decision for your family! Enjoy!
~Allison~

[Mrssun]

I had to add my 2 cents. At our school, they do frown upon taking the kids out for vacation. But if the teachers want to take a vacation, then it is ok.( I know there are alot of good teachers but where we live they all think they are GOD.) Last year I took my son out for a week, didn't tell then ahead of time(he was a freshman in HS) and called him in sick everyday. The only time they questioned me was the last day I called him out sick. I said he would be in school on Monday. When I sent in the note(here you need to send in a written note when a child is out) I just wrote to please excuse him for being absent on such dates. I did not give a reason. My son was forever making up the work but he is a good student. This year I want to take 2 weeks in Disney so we are going in the summer. [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img]

[wdwcarrie]

Wow! That's a unique district. Just to show how things vary from place to place...I had to get special approval to use a sick day as a personal day b/c I wanted to take two days off before my wedding in May. My suspicion is that most educators can't take a week off for a vacation and are limited to crowded school vacation times.

[Space Mountain Man]

Originally posted by Thumper03:
As vacation time approached, DD went to her teachers to arrange her test times. Some of her teachers were true to their word and allowed her to complete her tests before vacation. A few had either forgot to have the final prepared or didn't want her to take it and tell others what might be on the test.

People tend to forget that HS teachers have (in my case) 131 students give or take. To expect us to create individual lesson plans for each kid when they want to take a vacation is impractical to say the least. WDW is open during the 13 or so weeks we're on vacation. I would rather go during October as well.

I am opposed to taking kids during the HS years, as much of the information is presented in classroom discussions, and is often 'over the heads' of the parents who are to supervise the make-up work (can you do algebra). You miss a day of school, you don't just miss the assignments, but the discussions, explanations, etc. that are a large part of the learning.

Here's what usually happens: The kid going on vacation comes up to me about 2 days before they leave, and demands "all their work" for the week they will be gone. I create my lessons as I go along, so I can more closely meet the flow of the class. I don't have a file drawer full of all the tests, quizzes, and homework assignments my kids will be doing next week, or next month. Therefore, when they ask for "all their work", I simply don't have it. When I do have it ready, it will take me (for example), up to 30 minutes to put that together. I prefer to have the kid meet with me after they return.

The real kicker? Most of the times I've put the packet together for the kid, they have simply blown it off, and don't do it. Then, I get the incredulous, "How come I failed?" question after the fact. Amazing. [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

My suggestion: Inform the teacher at least three weeks prior to the vacation. Ask them if they would prefer to give your student assignments ahead of, or make them up after. Make sure, as best you can, that your kid follows up on it. Bring the teacher a small Disney gift as a thanks for the extra effort they put in to allow you to vacation.