Balancing WDW Vacations and School - How do you make it work?

[MickeyMomV]

So my DS is now in Junior High and we are having some Disney withdrawals. For the last 5-6 years we have been going once every 9-12 months. Historically with him being in elementary school we just pulled him out for the week and went whenever we wanted. Now with him in Junior High and the fact he is taking advanced math and Spanish we no longer have that ability. He was out sick for 4 days this winter and it took him 2-3 weeks to get fully caught back up.
We have always avoided official school vacation times such as summer vacation and Christmas and spring breaks because everything is so busy but I'm not sure that is going to be an option anymore. I guess I'm just looking to see what some of you do to balance the vacations with Jr. High or High School. Do you take shorter trips around in-service days? Do you fight the crowds during school vacation time? Do you just pull the kids out and deal with it? Or do you just leave them with Grandma and enjoy the trip without them?

 

[ninjaprincesst]

just be totally careful if you decide to take an older Child out of school. I have friends who did it all through elementary with no issues then they took their daughter out for vacation in junior high thinking it would all be ok like usual, guess who had to take all zeros was not allowed to make up any of the work zeros on three test grades and gets to repeat 6th grade?

 

[ToTBellHop]

just be totally careful if you decide to take an older Child out of school. I have friends who did it all through elementary with no issues then they took their daughter out for vacation in junior high thinking it would all be ok like usual, guess who had to take all zeros was not allowed to make up any of the work zeros on three test grades and gets to repeat 6th grade?

Sounds like the parents need to argue more effectively for their child. I would never allow that. Take it up to the superintendent level and threaten to lawyer-up. Suddenly the make-ups will get scheduled.

 

[MissingDisney]

Our Kids are in middle school and high school. Advanced classes and both in sports. Still taking trips of all sorts. Planning ahead, working ahead in classes and great communication with the teachers and coaches, if necessary. Life is short. In the grand scheme of things, these family memories will far outlast anything they review in a few missed days of school. Tomorrow is not a guarantee.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Sounds like the parents need to argue more effectively for their child. I would never allow that. Take it up to the superintendent level and threaten to lawyer-up. Suddenly the make-ups will get scheduled.

They have no argument a vacation is an unexcused absence and you can not make up work for an unexcused absence and regardless of grades if you have 5 or more unexcused absences for the school year you automatically fail. It's there own faults for not paying attention to the attendance policy, not to mention they did it during semester exams so she had three semester exams where she got a zero, so she had no hope, and it's all my friends fault, the policy is written out in black and white.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Our Kids are in middle school and high school. Advanced classes and both in sports. Still taking trips of all sorts. Planning ahead, working ahead in classes and great communication with the teachers and coaches, if necessary. Life is short. In the grand scheme of things, these family memories will far outlast anything they review in a few missed days of school. Tomorrow is not a guarantee.

That is all true but not all school districts have such liberal policies on vacation. In many districts it is unexcused work can't be made up, period the end, and a trip is not worth a failure on your child's record .

 

[MissingDisney]

That is all true but not all school districts have such liberal policies on vacation. In many districts it is unexcused work can't be made up, period the end, and a trip is not worth a failure on your child's record .

I would move.

 

[PineapplePrincess]

Speaking as a teacher specifically to the poster who said "what do they really miss the first 3 days?" They miss all of the classroom routines which are extremely important to running a classroom smoothly. When the rest of the class is ready to begin the curriculum, your child is clueless as to what they are supposed to be doing. I don't usually rant, but that really just rubbed me the wrong way!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

@MickeyMomV When does the school year start and end? If they're cutting out every possible "extra" day off during the year, they should either start relatively late or end relatively early. I would aim for either right before the year or right after; the crowds will be best then. According to Touring Plans, Thanksgiving week is all pretty crazy.

@PineapplePrincess I would think the beginning of the year is very important, as well. I'd want my kids to get settled in with everyone else before they miss days... meet new kids, new teachers, etc.

 

[Kgw2202]

My family and I live a couple hours away from WDW, so we take weekend trips at least once or twice a month. All of the kids in my family are homeschooled so it's a little bit easier for us to go. We have a pretty busy schedule but we make our Disney trips work. We sometimes even take one day trips to Disney on Saturdays(which we did yesterday actually), which works out well for us. I have gone on five trips to WDW this year, and only had to miss one day of school.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

My family and I live a couple hours away from WDW, so we take weekend trips at least once or twice a month. All of the kids in my family are homeschooled so it's a little bit easier for us to go. We have a pretty busy schedule but we make our Disney trips work. We sometimes even take one day trips to Disney on Saturdays(which we did yesterday actually), which works out well for us. I have gone on five trips to WDW this year, and only had to miss one day of school.

Homeschooling is the best vacation planning aid!

 

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

Speaking as a teacher specifically to the poster who said "what do they really miss the first 3 days?" They miss all of the classroom routines which are extremely important to running a classroom smoothly. When the rest of the class is ready to begin the curriculum, your child is clueless as to what they are supposed to be doing. I don't usually rant, but that really just rubbed me the wrong way!

I totally agree! I would much rather a student miss later on in the year than at the beginning. Parents can help with make-up work, but not with procedures and routines in the classroom. It slows the entire class when there's a student who doesn't know the routine/procedures of the classroom.

 

[MickeyMomV]

@MickeyMomV When does the school year start and end? If they're cutting out every possible "extra" day off during the year, they should either start relatively late or end relatively early. I would aim for either right before the year or right after; the crowds will be best then. According to Touring Plans, Thanksgiving week is all pretty crazy.

@PineapplePrincess I would think the beginning of the year is very important, as well. I'd want my kids to get settled in with everyone else before they miss days... meet new kids, new teachers, etc.

Sept 5 to June 12. It seems like a really long school year, especially with the minimum breaks!!

 

[MickeyMomV]

They have no argument a vacation is an unexcused absence and you can not make up work for an unexcused absence and regardless of grades if you have 5 or more unexcused absences for the school year you automatically fail. It's there own faults for not paying attention to the attendance policy, not to mention they did it during semester exams so she had three semester exams where she got a zero, so she had no hope, and it's all my friends fault, the policy is written out in black and white.

That is crazy strict! I'm assuming medical counts as an excused absence? Thinking back over the last couple of years I think the only thing we have pulled our son out for, other than being sick which does not happen often, is Disney vacations. There might be the random Friday before Memorial Day for a camping trip but that would be it.

 

[21stamps]

Speaking as a teacher specifically to the poster who said "what do they really miss the first 3 days?" They miss all of the classroom routines which are extremely important to running a classroom smoothly. When the rest of the class is ready to begin the curriculum, your child is clueless as to what they are supposed to be doing. I don't usually rant, but that really just rubbed me the wrong way!

I took my son out for 2 weeks after the first week of school. It allowed him to (quickly) settle in first. Still the beginning of the year, but there's too much going on the first few days, those aren't worth missing.

Sept 5 to June 12. It seems like a really long school year, especially with the minimum breaks!!

I would talk to the teachers and the school secretary. Get their opinion on what weeks are better. Our elementary school doesn't allow us to bring work, we have to make it up, but you know your child and if they will be able to be ok with that. I would think it would depend on how many days/hours of sports they have thru the week as well. But if you guys are committed, it could just be a stressful week of make up work, but worth it. Maybe friends of your son could email him the homework, or Spanish lesson?

All of this being said, I'm assuming that it doesn't have an impact on a scholarship, talk to the school about that as well.

 

[MickeyMomV]

I took my son out for 2 weeks after the first week of school. It allowed him to (quickly) settle in first. Still the beginning of the year, but there's too much going on the first few days, those aren't worth missing.



I would talk to the teachers and the school secretary. Get their opinion on what weeks are better. Our elementary school doesn't allow us to bring work, we have to make it up, but you know your child and if they will be able to be ok with that. I would think it would depend on how many days/hours of sports they have thru the week as well. But if you guys are committed, it could just be a stressful week of make up work, but worth it. Maybe friends of your son could email him the homework, or Spanish lesson?

All of this being said, I'm assuming that it doesn't have an impact on a scholarship, talk to the school about that as well.

I think we are good for the moment, we are going to go the week of Thanksgiving. Got everything booked over the weekend, 6 nights at POFQ. It started with just leaving on the Wednesday because it is a 1/2 day. That turned into "well we can just leave the night before" then that went to "if he is going to miss Tuesday afternoon we might as well pull him for the day" and now it is "let just leave on Monday night since he is not going in on Tuesday". In the end it will just be Tuesday and 1/2 day on Wednesday. Southwest usually has a 6:00 pm flight that is pretty cheap and will put us in Disney about midnight on Monday. It will be a long day but we will wake up in WDW and he will only miss a day and a half of school. We know Thanksgiving week will be busy but we figure if we can do Christmas week and we can do anything.

 

[21stamps]

I think we are good for the moment, we are going to go the week of Thanksgiving. Got everything booked over the weekend, 6 nights at POFQ. It started with just leaving on the Wednesday because it is a 1/2 day. That turned into "well we can just leave the night before" then that went to "if he is going to miss Tuesday afternoon we might as well pull him for the day" and now it is "let just leave on Monday night since he is not going in on Tuesday". In the end it will just be Tuesday and 1/2 day on Wednesday. Southwest usually has a 6:00 pm flight that is pretty cheap and will put us in Disney about midnight on Monday. It will be a long day but we will wake up in WDW and he will only miss a day and a half of school. We know Thanksgiving week will be busy but we figure if we can do Christmas week and we can do anything.

Perfect! Sounds wonderful.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

That is crazy strict! I'm assuming medical counts as an excused absence? Thinking back over the last couple of years I think the only thing we have pulled our son out for, other than being sick which does not happen often, is Disney vacations. There might be the random Friday before Memorial Day for a camping trip but that would be it.

It's not that strict it just clearly states vacations are not an excused absence. Yes you can be out sick but if it is more than two days in a row you must have a Doctor's excuse ,it's not like there is any big secret either when every year you are given a copy of the attendance policy to sign and return, love my friend but it was their fault .

 

[I am Timmy]

I'm thinking this is what we may end up doing. I'm just not sold on the August heat.

Agreed. Middle school has become more important than it was for me (DS 24, DS 21). We got away with taking them out of school in elementary school. Jr. high, nope. They were in high school classes that counted toward graduation! Missing 2 days would put them far enough behind. So, every year we planned our Disney vaca right after the last day of school (usually June 9th or 10th) for two weeks. Yeah there were crowds, but the heat gets so much worse the further into the summer it gets. Heat would already be getting ridiculous by the end of our trip, I can't imagine going any later. We did that every year until they graduated (along with trips during spring break (never again) or winter break as well) We found December to be great, only really gets busy starting the 22nd (we always leave xmas eve). Now, they can take online college courses and still come with us, but at different times of the year. Never fear, it can be done!

 

[Weather_Lady]

We pull the kids (currently in 3rd and 5th grade) out of school -- BUT we try to get the best of both worlds by minimizing the amount of time they miss, even while traveling during a non-peak week. Our district has a week in the fall (usually before Thanksgiving break) and a week in the spring (usually a couple of weeks after Easter) where they schedule 3 or 4 consecutive half-days for parent-teacher conferences. We aim to travel during one of those weeks: we can be gone for 7-9 days and the kids only miss 2.5-3.5 days' worth of instruction, at most. (I say "at most" because often, given the half-days and the disruption they cause to kids' attention spans, the teachers use those half-days to show movies or review things already taught, anyway).

We may have to revisit the subject as the kids get older, but for now, we'd rather take advantage of the significant cost savings, reduced stress (not having to fight crowds) and more efficient use of "touring time" that comes with traveling off-peak. As the daughter of two teachers who could ONLY take vacations during peak times growing up, I appreciate having the option to swim against the current right now.

 

[Marc Levin]

So my DS is now in Junior High and we are having some Disney withdrawals. For the last 5-6 years we have been going once every 9-12 months. Historically with him being in elementary school we just pulled him out for the week and went whenever we wanted. Now with him in Junior High and the fact he is taking advanced math and Spanish we no longer have that ability. He was out sick for 4 days this winter and it took him 2-3 weeks to get fully caught back up.
We have always avoided official school vacation times such as summer vacation and Christmas and spring breaks because everything is so busy but I'm not sure that is going to be an option anymore. I guess I'm just looking to see what some of you do to balance the vacations with Jr. High or High School. Do you take shorter trips around in-service days? Do you fight the crowds during school vacation time? Do you just pull the kids out and deal with it? Or do you just leave them with Grandma and enjoy the trip without them?

If pulling the kids out of school isn't an option, then the only option you have, unless you can just hop over for the occasional public holiday weekend or similar, is to sharpen your elbows and get stuck in.

At least you'll be safe in the knowledge that the reason the parks are so busy is because all the other parents (including me!) faced the same predicament you did