Calling all parents of school-aged kiddos!

[meatloafsfan]

I personally feel that taking kids out of school to go to WDW sends them the wrong message about the importance of school. School should be the number one priority, not a themepark... I am sure I will be beaten up for this idea, but, lack of priorities and a sense of privilege is partly what is wrong with our society today.

Not to beat you up :brick: but, why should school be the number 1 priority?

If you have a father or mother whose number 1 priority is their job instead of their family, many people consider their priorities messed up.

School is a priority but in my books, family comes first. If that means spending one on one time together away from the pressures and responsibilities of day to day life, so be it - whether it's at Disney or other vacation or camping in your backyard with no phone/internet/etc.

 

[ThinkTink721]

Hey gang!

I grew up in Orlando and I've always known that the best times to take kids to WDW are when the rest of the world is in school. LOL!

For our 4 previous trips we have taken our sons out of school for the week of our trip with no trouble out of the schools regarding truancy, etc. We recently moved to Texas and, boy, they kinda scare me over here with the note they sent home on the 1st day of school. I certainly don't wanna land my behind in jail just for taking my sons to WDW. Both of our boys are required by us to keep up their attendance and grades to earn their priviledge of taking the trip. They rarely miss school, we schedule appointments so they don't interfere, and make all a's with occasional b's.

I'm wondering if any other parents out there got into major hot water for taking their kids out of school for an extended amount of time without a medical excuse. I don't even know if I want to approach the school officials...

School for my 3 kids began around mid-August.
I sent notes to their schools during the 1st wk. to inform them that they would be out for a wk.(5 days).
They did not seem to think it would be a problem.
I have talked w/ all of their teachers & they have agreed to send all of their make-up work home.
This will be our only planned trip for the school year.
The administration at one of the school's said that the attendance officer would be calling us regarding the absences, but as of today, we haven't heard from them.
Hope everything works out!
Have a great trip!
:wave:

 

[ThinkTink721]

School is a priority but in my books, family comes first.

I like the way you think!
If people would focus more on their families, I believe that it would solve alot of problems that our world is facing today. :wave:

 

[ThinkTink721]

I agree with the don't ask them for permission, tell them what you are doing.

I would not even offer up any more explanation as to why you need to go when you are going. If they cannot figure out that you are beating the heat/crowds, then you would be fibbing to tell them any different.

That is what I plan to do in the foreseeable future.

Yes, I agree.
I just sent a note to each school telling them that the kids would be out for 5 days.
I did not even mention where we were going.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I know this won't be a popular response, however, my school only allows excused absences for doctor's appointments. I personally feel that taking kids out of school to go to WDW sends them the wrong message about the importance of school. School should be the number one priority, not a themepark. Yes, it is a pain to have to deal with the crowds, but, it's the price we pay for having them. A price I gladly pay. They grow up so quickly, you will be able to go anytime you want soon enough. I am sure I will be beaten up for this idea, but, lack of priorities and a sense of privilege is partly what is wrong with our society today.

I understand what you're saying. I know there are people out there who just let their kids miss school for any little thing and don't really make education a priority. As with other families, sometimes the kids' time off doesn't mesh with the times the hubby can take off from work. As busy as WDW is getting these days, it's almost necessary to have the school schedules for next year right now to get reservations at your choice of resorts. We can't even get a room in the Contemporary for Spring Break. They're already booked solid.

We choose to make family *the* #1 priority above all else. That's one of the biggest things we try to teach our sons. I didn't have that growing up so I truly feel the importance of it. School and education is not something we take for granted either. Coming from an after-school-special-teen who was in all kinds of trouble and who was a drop-out, education and school are something my boys get a lot of emphasis on from me in particular. I'm determined for their lives to be the exact opposite of mine. The week they get to take off school is a priveledge that they earn. It's certainly no birth right or anything. Attendance and grades must be impeccable or the trip doesn't happen. Period. We spend a lot of time and effort together as a family planning these trips. They are the crescendo of our year. They are important, extremely important.

I don't want to lie to the schools or anything like that. I think maybe that would send a wrong message to the kids, that lying to get what you want is okay if you believe in the cause. It's not. Honesty is important as is taking responsibility for your decisions. We've not run into any resistance from schools in the past 4 years from 3 different school systems in Louisiana and Georgia. Texas seems a bit strict and the scary form letter was something I'd not seen before. That's why I asked. After reading the responses here and giving it some thought, taking time to reinforce family bonds is not at all what I would consider "truant". That's the term I'd use for the month I ditched school prior to dropping out at age 16. If there ends up being a big rift from either the elementary or middle schools here I'd have no problem whatsoever in withdrawing both of my children and either enrolling them in private school or homeschooling. We know other couples with kids who went to private school and homeschooled. All got good educations and are well-balanced human beings.

Again, I appreciate all the input from everyone and will most likely go speak with the teachers and principals in person well ahead of time just so that everyone is on the same page and they can see that I'm not de-emphasizing school. I'd like to make it a part of the WDW experience.

 

[kubfish]

Hey one other point to add.

I find it funny how its okay for lets say a football / basketball team / band or whatever group to take a week off.

We have 4th and 5th graders who take a week off to go camping. Our high school football team takes a week off to visit another state and play at a div1a school. What makes these trips any different? Because it has a coach with them? I went to DL for band and trust me there was no education going on at least of the book kind :ROFLOL::ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

 

[ELopez]

This is one of the many reasons we homeschool. (All of my school age children placed above grade level on their end-of-year nationally standardized tests). We always make our WDW vacations educational, at least a little.

Last year, we studied all the countries represented in EPCOT. It made WS much more enjoyable for the kids. This summer, we have been working on notebooks about all of the U.S presidents. I hope it will make HoP more interesting. Maybe these could be extra credit projects for those of you who pull your children out of school for vacation?

My girls have just begun 4th, 3rd, and 1st grades.

 

[miles1]

Not really on subject, but I came across this today:

http://www.wesh.com/news/13974430/detail.html

It seems that the school principal decided that she would not release the kids from school for an extra FIVE HOURS because she didn't feel it was safe for them to be out in a thunderstorm. This despite the fact that the parents were standing in the gym demanding that she let the kids go.

I was out in this storm at the MK that day. It rained very heavily (the water in the entrance plaza was 3-4 inches deep), but I never felt that my safety was jeopardized. I always thought that thunderstorms were a daily occurance in Florida this time of year and locals just went about their routines.

If I were one of these parents, I would have let her run her course then had her brought up on kidnapping charges. Her actions send the message that she is somehow more interested in the kids' safety than their own parents. I just feel that this was an inexcusable abuse of authority that should be punished.

 

[happymom52003]

Not really on subject, but I came across this today:

http://www.wesh.com/news/13974430/detail.html

It seems that the school principal decided that she would not release the kids from school for an extra FIVE HOURS because she didn't feel it was safe for them to be out in a thunderstorm. This despite the fact that the parents were standing in the gym demanding that she let the kids go.

I was out in this storm at the MK that day. It rained very heavily (the water in the entrance plaza was 3-4 inches deep), but I never felt that my safety was jeopardized. I always thought that thunderstorms were a daily occurance in Florida this time of year and locals just went about their routines.

If I were one of these parents, I would have let her run her course then had her brought up on kidnapping charges. Her actions send the message that she is somehow more interested in the kids' safety than their own parents. I just feel that this was an inexcusable abuse of authority that should be punished.

I would have called the police if she would not have given me my child!

 

[wdwmomof3]

Yes, I agree.
I just sent a note to each school telling them that the kids would be out for 5 days.
I did not even mention where we were going.

I sent notes last week and they were returned approved. I told them that we were going to Disney and there was no problem. They will only miss 3 1/2 days so no big deal.

Also, my oldest daughter who is a freshman this year is not going because missing one day is like missing 3 so we decided to keep her in school. She went to the beach with some friends this summer so it's kind of fair plus this was not a planned vacation, hubby has a business meeting so we HAD to go. :lol:

 

[JimboJones123]

This year is Oldest's first year. We had K meet and Greet w/the teacher tonight. I asked my wife if we should be asking now about permission for a Dec trip to DL. She said not to worry yet.

She was a teacher near Dallas for a few years. She had plenty of students leave early for Christmas on the first week of December and not come back til Mid January. Some of them taking off an additional month on top of the 2 weeks for the holiday.

It was a very common practice since families would head to Mexico and spend a month to 6 weeks there. They couldn't possibly do it during the summer because of the heat. So they took off during the school year. There was a set schedule that they had to keep up with and work to turn in upon arrival. Besides that there were no problems from the district or the principal to these families. It was about 2-5 kids from almost every class that would follow this schedule.

I have NO PROBLEM turning a family trip into an educational trip.

Who remembers 3rd grade? What did you learn? What do you still remember today? Any of it specifically? I remember very little myself. I remember getting candy for doing homework. I also remember missing recess for not doing homework. Nothing specific from either of those examples. Well except missing recess and seeing the Challenger blow up. I was released to Recess after that because it was too much for the teachers to keep us while the events unfolded so I was dumped back to recess.

The only other thing I remember from my 3rd Grade Education was learning my multiplication tables

This exact one. I will always remember 12 x 12 = 144.

That's because I learned it after visiting Sea World when back at the Embassy Suites Orlando doing homework. The only homework I think I may have ever done and learned from in all my elementary education.

The deal was that I had to set aside 1 hour every day for studies. I could use them when I wanted over the week, but it needed to be 8 total hours. Of those 8 hours that week 1/2 went into my Multiplication tables and I knew them PERFECTLY before anybody else did in the class. I was also rewarded with nightly swims afterwards in the indoor/outdoor pool in JANUARY. Yeah, I got to swim in January. Who else got to do that in 3rd grade??

That's all I really have to offer up.

 

[MickeyFan77]

I have to agree FAMILY comes first. We are pulling my 3rd grader out for 6 days total of school. We pulled him in Kindergarden for 5 days with no problem hopefully it will be the same this year. I plan to talk to the teacher at open house tomorrow. Other than those days I think he has missed only ONE maybe TWO days the rest of the time. In fact he had perfect attendance last year. I have been working with him all summer to keep up on his reading etc. I figure the first couple weeks are review anyways and he is a straight A student. PLUS this is my husbands "slow time" at work. He is only work 45-50 hrs compared to 50-60 so since he pays most of the bills and the trip we go what is convenient for him. My son wanted a Pirates Journal from the Disney store a couple weeks ago and I agreed to buy it only if he planned on writing in it while we were at Disney. Figured it was a good project for him.

 

[Laura]

I'll be pulling my son (1st grader) out for 6 days around the Thanksgiving holiday.

I plan to write a note telling the truth - that this was the only time the military would allow us to schedule a vacation between my husband's deployments and we are more than happy to do any make up or extra work so that he doesn't fall too behind. I've read things on the internet where parents try and manipulate the teacher by writing notes to try and persuade them that going to Disney is an "educational experience". Teacher's aren't stupid. :lol:

Seeing as this is a military town where there's always families being affected by deployments and such, I cannot imagine that they will give me a hard time at all so I'm not sweating it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'll be pulling my son (1st grader) out for 6 days around the Thanksgiving holiday.

I plan to write a note telling the truth - that this was the only time the military would allow us to schedule a vacation between my husband's deployments and we are more than happy to do any make up or extra work so that he doesn't fall too behind. I've read things on the internet where parents try and manipulate the teacher by writing notes to try and persuade them that going to Disney is an "educational experience". Teacher's aren't stupid. :lol:

Seeing as this is a military town where there's always families being affected by deployments and such, I cannot imagine that they will give me a hard time at all so I'm not sweating it.

Nah, you shouldn't have to sweat it. Y'all neeeeeed your trip and your time together much more so than a lot of folks. Have fun on your trip. :wave:

 

[Timmay]

We are unable to take vacations in the summer, so we do it during the school year. We always let the school know at the very beginning of the year when we will be taking our son out of school. I have never asked once if it was okay…I simply tell them we are doing it. I tell them when and where we are going, and that my son will spend his normal 30-40 minutes reading as he does the rest of the year, and we would be happy to help him complete any school project based on his trip, wherever it may be that year.

I have only had two teachers/administrators object to his being out of school for a week. I calmly told them the subject was not open for debate…period. It is funny, because all the other teachers worked with us to complete some work and learning opportunities before and after the trip, but those two did everything they could to keep my son from advancing. They didn’t get their way, nor did I allow them to have their say, so they threw a fit the entire year. Anyway, I told them a week away from school, with grandparents and cousins not often seen, can only be a good thing for a child.

Kids need to be kids while they are still kids. Let’s not start shoving adult like behavior down their throats just yet.

 

[3girlswdwdreams]

I will be taking my kindergartener out of school for a week this year for Disney.. and won't be surprised if it happens every year.

I was taken out of school for a week or two every year growing up for various family vacations....all road trips. I finished in the top 15% of my class in high school... and could've been much higher in my class just lack of effort on my part. LOL
I took work with me and got more of my work done while on vaca than I ever did when home. LOL

I learned more and remember more still about life, my country, it's history, different places, types of people, etc...on those trips than I ever learned in school.

Since my dad worked weekends.. every once in a while they would also take me out of school on a Wednesday to do something fun like the aquarium, that we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. I have memories with my parents that I never would have had if they kept me in school strictly and didn't take those special days off with me. what would I have learned those days in school... no idea...doesn't seem to affect me now. LOL
but I sure remember those special days off.

I plan on telling school this week as she just started... I am hoping not to start her school life off on an argumentative note and that they'll be fine with it. we'll see. but it will also not be open for debate for me. and I guarantee she will get more out our vaca than those 5 days in school.

 

[MickeyFan77]

I just went to my son's open house for school and talked to the teacher about our vacation and she said no problem!!!!! She will save his work for when he comes back.

 

[DCSCTE]

Vacation Education

"kids have a job - attending school - and that job provides ample vacation time for them already."
I looked over at a picture of my son as I read this and thought, A job? Really? Four year olds with desk jobs. Sad, but true.

In response to the thread, I don't think anyone has to write a letter pretending that WDW is educational. We just published a whole book on Epcot that is a series of unit studies based on the educational exhibits featured there. We designed it for homeschoolers, but anyone could use it and never feel guilty again for 'skipping' school.

As far as taking kids out of a school institution during their scheduled hours, there are good reasons (off topic, but as an example, my husband is the store manager at a service business located at a major highway intersection, he gets vacation time, but company policy is that he can not take that time during peak seasons. It just so happens that his peak seasons are the times that everyone else is traveling because school is out (WDW is not the only place that gets crowded during these times) - we homeschool, so this is just a hypothetical, but I have to ask: if you aren't skipping school days, does a family in such circumstances NEVER get a family vacation???)

Back to my point, I just wanted to say that I think that a lot parents and school staff have forgotten that the secular educational system is a government agency that's purpose is to serve the public. The school system should be a tool to assist parents in educating their children. So parents, if you are worried about doing right by them, pleasing them, or getting permission so you don't disobey them, remember that they are supposed to be there to serve you, not the other way around.

Sorry to be longwinded and I don't mean to turn this into controversy, but I just had to say it.
Corinne Johnson

 

[TedsMom]

I don't have kids, but boy! All this discussion about the school telling me what I could and could not do with my kids would seriously make me consider home-schooling!

I know a couple of people who home-school, and aside from the socialization aspects of it, it seems like it's the best of both worlds. And the folks I know have groups that will home-school together and go on trips and so forth, so even the socialization is taken care of.

I can see if your kid misses 35 days of school and is failing. But for them to give people grief when it is 5 days and an "A" student is ridiculous.

I remember when I was in 2nd grade, I had to have heart surgery. This was 1969 (oops! I just gave away my age!!!) and I was out of school for 2 full months between the surgery and post-op course. The school was supppsed to provide a tutor, which they never did. My mother or father would go to my teacher every Friday and pick up the worksheets I needed for the week and hand in the ones I had completed. Come the end of the year, the 2nd grade teacher had no problem promoting me...I had done fine, not lost anything in the 2 months out of school etc. The Board of Ed started giving my parents grief about holding me back for missing too much school, and not having "formal" teaching. My parents very nicely told them that since they didn't see the need to follow the "rule" with regard to providing a tutor, which they were legally required to do, that she didn't think that it would be a problem for them to bend the "rule" for missed days of school either, especially since my teacher had deemed that I was quite ready to be promoted to 3rd grade. They also told the Board of Ed that, of course, they could check with their legal counsel with regard to which scenario would have fewer consequences...being sued because they didn't provide what they were required to OR letting a child who was perfectly ready to be promoted to 3rd grade (as per the teacher's recommendation) be promoted.

I got promoted.

 

[Shere_Khan]

I just wanted to add something that I find funny.

In 2003 for my 21st birthday my mom wanted to take me to WDW. She decided to plan the trip in October. I was in college at this time. I would be gone for a week of classes, so at most I was missing the same class only two times during the week. Since classes are like Tuesdays/Thursdays, that sort of thing. All of my professors were fine with it, except for one!
She threatened to fail me for missing the two classes, since I had already missed one earlier in the semester because of illness. I had to go to all of these extra curricular activities to make up the absences. It was a children's lit course so I had to do things like go to library readings, and a teacher's conference in another town on a weekend when I was supposed to work just so this professor would not fail me in the course.
Don't get me wrong, I was happy to do it because I have always been somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to grades and I hate missing work, but I just find it funny that I was paying thousands of dollars for college and I can't even miss two classes.
I know this is not extremely relevant, but I remember how hard it was to deal with this professor at the time, and can only imagine how difficult it can be for you parents if your school is not understanding.