Letter to School

[cal5755]

Also, I don't know about other school systems, but here the public schools have a set list for which absences are "excused" and which are "unexcused". Family vacations fall under "unexcused", no matter where you go and what you do. Unfortuately, most schools with such guidelines are bound by those to follow them and writing a letter will nto help your child to be excused.

Here in MD the family vacations are excused... only 5 days are allowed. My dd 8 is an aspiring actress/singer and misses days here and there for auditions as well as shooting commercials... the school system excuses all absences she has so long as her grades remain above average and she has paperwork form her manager. Most school systems will work with you as long as you are upfront and honest. We take our kids out for vacation in September.. one is in grade school and the other is in Middle.... no long notes just a request for vacation days for a trip to Disney. All work is made up in a timely manner and a report on what they did and learned is handed in with make up work. Our kids here only get a few long weekends and a Christmas break so there is no planning during school vacation.

[realtreebar]

this is a great letter and i am going to use it! thanks.

[Nurse Kim]

Wow. I have never taken my kids out for vacation but will in March when we take our first family vacation. My kids are in middle school and high school. We are very involved in their education and I keep in frequent contact with the teachers/school regarding grades or any concerns I have about their grades. We feel very strongly about this vacation because we have never taken a family vacation before. I know here the kids are allowed to miss a certain number of days a semester. My kids had perfect attendance the first quarter and have only missed 4 hours the second because of a dentist appt. We are planning no missed days until our vacation in which they will miss 5. I hope our school is understanding.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Just write that you are going on vacation.
2) Ask that homework be assigned.
3) You will make sure homework is done daily.
4) We took our kids out of school EVERY year.
5) Now, our kids take the grandkids out of school.

NOTE: I have seen all the letters about WDW being a learning experience, yada-yada-yada. I don't really think this will convince a teacher or principal? Besides. This might lead to the kid shaving to do a paper or something about the vacation.

[thrillme]

Lots of good suggestions and letters...

I think that's exactly what I'm going to do and I admit since this is my first time taking him out I'm nervous since he'll be in 7th at the time. I really want to go to the Halloween Party at least ONCE...I want to see something different that Disney offers outside of summer. My DS is a straight A student taking both Honors and Excel classes (fortunately and unfortunately they seem to be really easy for him...he gets a little bored...taking him away for a couple of days will actually give him some "relief"). I'm a little disappointed with the "No Kid Left Behind" Act because it seems to cut into the funding some kids NEED if they're ahead of the game.

It really doesn't matter if the teacher will be willing to provide homework for him before or after the trip (I'm looking at 2 MAYBE 3 days) he's the type that will finish it ALL in about 2 hours.

I read all kinds of different stuff where the schools are making this difficult. I understand in some ways and don't in others. Perhaps it gets abused. I guess I'm going to have to take a deep breath and just submit a letter. I admit after reading some of these letters about school districts I'm "tempted" to simply call in and say he's SICK. He won't be out long enough to warrant a dr.'s visit and he'll get to make up work easily. I just don't want to get caught lying.

[vamaggie]

I admit after reading some of these letters about school districts I'm "tempted" to simply call in and say he's SICK. He won't be out long enough to warrant a dr.'s visit and he'll get to make up work easily. I just don't want to get caught lying.

I would not lie to the school about him being sick. Not only does it send a wrong message to your son but if you do get called on it it will make things worse. Just let the school/teachers know that he will be out, offer to get work ahead (if teachers can/want to give it ahead of time) and let them know all work will be made up asap on his return. Unless he has missed a lot of days, I don't think they can tell you he can't be out. Good Luck!