Keeping children out of school to go to WDW

[MickeyTigg]

Here, they are very strict on absenses. If it's unexcused, you get zero's for missed work. You don't get the option to make it up (I believe some teachers do go ahead and let kids make stuff up though). Also, after 5 unexcused absenses, you get a nastly letter. After 7, you go to family court.

That's great that you were able to get your assignemts!

At about that point I'd homeschool my kids. I'm responsible for my kids not the state.

 

[swimmom]

I can take my high school daughter out of school for up to 5 days for a vacation, but it's not encouraged. We have to fill out a form and all her teachers have to sign off on it and give her assignments if they have them planned, otherwise she gets them when she returns to school. However, we don't like to take her out of school because some classes like science with labs can be very difficult to make up, and she also has to make up her missed P.E. classes.

She will be a senior this year and I have only taken her out of school three days for vacations and don't plan to this coming school year. We have been very lucky - most of her teachers didn't give her a hard time about taking time off school. Some were even jealous!

 

[pinkrose]

At about that point I'd homeschool my kids. I'm responsible for my kids not the state.

That's about what my husband said.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Never had a problem leaving school here (went to a private school, BTW). You were never required to actually tell anyone you weren't going to be in class for __ days but most people did. When you got back you just had to bring the folks in the office a note saying why you were out of school and they'd give you a "pass" into class which all teachers had to sign. The teachers were always cool about it if you told them you weren't going to be in class, they'd ask where you were going and wish you a great time. If you wanted the work you would miss before yoyu left the teacher would be glad to give it to you but you could also get it once you got back. If you missed a test/quiz while gone you were able to make it up during the class or after school.

The last time I was out to go to WDW was probably when I was in elementary school but in high school I was out a lot to go on cruises (the 3-day ones which we would go on often left on a Friday and came back on Monday) and other trips.

 

[ilovepluto23]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! As a first grade teacher I find this insulting. I hope you're joking. I know as adults we don't need to read and write on a daily basis, but if children don't practice every day, they don't maintain their reading and writing skills, and often fall behind. Grrrrrrrr! Okay, I'm calm now. Rant over.

Wow, umm yeah you should probably not take that to heart lol.

Anyways, I really don't see how a few days once a year can seriously be that detrimental to a child. If a child's parents are even half-decent, they're working with them on reading and writing outside of school anyways. I think missing no more than a week is just fine. I'm going to take my children out of school for Disney every year, but it's not like I'm going to neglect their learning. I see it as an encouragement to read anyways...if they're excited about seeing Mickey Mouse I'm sure they'll read children's books with Mickey or do some Disney activity books.

Now, taking them out for say...a month? Yeah, not a good idea.

I've taken child psychology, and also have been around a preschool/learning center (my mother is the director of one here in LA) for many years. I understand how important those beginning school years are.

 

[MickeyTigg]

I will grant that HS is more of an issue than grade school and MS. As for the extracurriculars....they miss them so what? That's not what they're in school for anyway.

I had my kids in a private school...and guess what I'm paying for my kids to go to school there. They want to keep me happy to keep getting my tuition. As long as my kids get the work made up they really can't say much and frankly if they did...I'd still tell them too bad.

No...they don't encourage it...but they do know that being in an affluent area...vacations with the family is important too and sometimes can't be regulated to off school time.

I'm the ultimate educator of my kids....not the school. Family time is important too.

 

[jozzmenia]

shouldn't the ultimate decision lie with the parents not the schoolboard...you know your children and their abilities better than they do :wave:

no that's not true. that concept would give parents free reign to send their kids to school whenever they want. and as we see on this thread, school is not a priority for many of them. that's why u have these rules. i work with truancy court and we see all too many parents who think it's perfectly fine to miss a ton of school for anything from a cold to the kid is too tired. the fact of the matter is, not all parents know what's better for their child when it comes to school. especially since by the time a lot of kids reach high school their education has already surpassed that of their parents.

 

[jozzmenia]

I will grant that HS is more of an issue than grade school and MS. As for the extracurriculars....they miss them so what? That's not what they're in school for anyway.

that's not the mentality in a high school. maybe in a small school, but in large schools if your kids play varsity sports, it's a totally different story. they dont play those games. you'd think kids are getting paid the way some coaches run things like a bootcamp.

 

[Unplugged]

I mean, if a parent doesn't respect the importance of school attendence, why would the child?

I understand your view here. I thought about it for sometime, but realized that it's not the school attendence that needs to be completely respected, it's the education and educators. As long as you can teach the child that somethings in life require balance, this case being to ensure the class work is completed per the set schedule while away from the physical classroom, I think a more important life lesson can be learned. That is how to accomplishing things by thinking outside the box.

This does require discipline as well, but can be of value. When in college, I had to master working full time + overtime while completing my degree as it was my career that was paying for the degree. There were times I could not attend classes, but had to learn to work with the instructors to complete work on time. Not having any prior experience with this scenario, it was difficult at times.

I want my son to appreciate and respect the educational opportunities he has and to maximize them for his future, but do not believe that being restricted to a specified location is required to successfully obtain an education.

My son is very young, so I ask: Does anyone have any thoughts on this after having your kids out of school occassionally? Any noticable difference between those that have or have not?

 

[tinkish]

If your child has an unexcused absence (and vacation time is not excused) your school district loses money. And while your child may only miss a few days, when its combined with absences of other children, it really adds up.

And if your child is a great student, imagine how much MORE they could achieve if they didn't miss any days of school to go see Mickey Mouse.

 

[tigsmom]

no that's not true. that concept would give parents free reign to send their kids to school whenever they want. and as we see on this thread, school is not a priority for many of them. that's why u have these rules. i work with truancy court and we see all too many parents who think it's perfectly fine to miss a ton of school for anything from a cold to the kid is too tired. the fact of the matter is, not all parents know what's better for their child when it comes to school. especially since by the time a lot of kids reach high school their education has already surpassed that of their parents.

I cannot see how you come to that conclusion...every parent who said that they would or do take their kids out of school has also said they make sure the kids do the make up work and almost all agreed that they do or would stop once the child reaches a certain age.

And while I will agree with your statement that not all parents are vigilant when it comes to seeing that their kids go to school on a regular basis (even though some kids do sneak off after the parents drop them off, etc) I will never agree that the school board knows what is best for my child.
While most educators are concerned about the kids well being and education there are just as many that worship the almighty dollar.

I grew up in NYC in the 60's and the public school system had a bad rep even back then so I was sent to a private school (Catholic). My kids go to public school because I am fortunate to live in a district that really cares about the kids education and in keeping current....that cost comes out of my pocket as we have some of the highest school taxes around, but we have a great rep too.

Broad sweeping generalizations are not fair to anyone. :wave:

 

[tinkish]

Wow, umm yeah you should probably not take that to heart lol.

Anyways, I really don't see how a few days once a year can seriously be that detrimental to a child. If a child's parents are even half-decent, they're working with them on reading and writing outside of school anyways. I think missing no more than a week is just fine. I'm going to take my children out of school for Disney every year, but it's not like I'm going to neglect their learning. I see it as an encouragement to read anyways...if they're excited about seeing Mickey Mouse I'm sure they'll read children's books with Mickey or do some Disney activity books.

Now, taking them out for say...a month? Yeah, not a good idea.

I've taken child psychology, and also have been around a preschool/learning center (my mother is the director of one here in LA) for many years. I understand how important those beginning school years are.

I know all too well that not all parents work with their children at home with reading and writing. In fact about half my students don't even have children's books at home, nor do they have anyone working with them on homework. For many of them I'm the only one fighting for their education. When they leave to go on vacation, I can't be there for them. So, do you understand now why I feel so strongly about this?

 

[pinkrose]

no that's not true. that concept would give parents free reign to send their kids to school whenever they want. and as we see on this thread, school is not a priority for many of them. that's why u have these rules. i work with truancy court and we see all too many parents who think it's perfectly fine to miss a ton of school for anything from a cold to the kid is too tired. the fact of the matter is, not all parents know what's better for their child when it comes to school. especially since by the time a lot of kids reach high school their education has already surpassed that of their parents.

Just because my daughter has a skin condition that rules out the summer months for WDW, doesn't mean that I don't care about my kids education. My kids have rarelly ever missed a day of school. Only when sick and that's been one or two days a year, that's it. She shouldn't be denied a trip to WDW because she can only go during the cooler months. Next year, my son will be going into the 6th grade, so we won't be going anywhere during school after this year.
I care very much for my kids education.

 

[kennygman]

We thought we'd have to do that this year, but school doesn't start until the 23rd of August, so we planned it just right without really trying. We usually just tell the school we're going on vacation and they allow the kids to take their work along with them.

 

[Nemo14]

I know all too well that not all parents work with their children at home with reading and writing. In fact about half my students don't even have children's books at home, nor do they have anyone working with them on homework.

I see this all the time. In fact we had a neighbor whose 5-year-old couldn't count past 3 when he started kindergarten because he was never taught that at home. However, he could recognize what brand of beer his father would request from the fridge! ( and we live in a pretty nice neighborhood) :brick:

 

[blazerblvd]

I went with my school on a trip in February to WDW. You might have seen us all wearing yellow lanyards...

 

[BRER STITCH]

Never let school get in the way of your children's education!!!



Family first....ALWAYS!

 

[PSU_Princess]

no that's not true. that concept would give parents free reign to send their kids to school whenever they want. and as we see on this thread, school is not a priority for many of them. that's why u have these rules. i work with truancy court and we see all too many parents who think it's perfectly fine to miss a ton of school for anything from a cold to the kid is too tired. the fact of the matter is, not all parents know what's better for their child when it comes to school. especially since by the time a lot of kids reach high school their education has already surpassed that of their parents.

There have been multiple other posts to the same effect as mine...just because you take your kids out of school for a couple days does not mean you don't care about their education. If you read the rest of my post you would notice that I said you need to know your own child and their abilities and whether or not they would be able to make up the work easily or not. Its not like we are talking about taking them out of school one week every month. These are isolated instances. It seems to me like every parent on this board talks about making up the work and most also create other educational opportunities. I'm not sure about the school districts in your area, but where I come from most of the parents who don't care at all about their children's education are not the type that plan fun, family vacations--they are to self absorbed thinking about themselves.

I'm also pretty sure that when our children graduate from high school they will not have the knowledge that I have from my master's degree or that my husband has from his med school degree....and if they do then I guess we just wasted a lot of extra time and money on that extra schooling.

 

[Nemo14]

I think we're all pretty much in agreement here that our kids' education and our vacation time with them are both important to their well-being. As long as we keep a balance in their lives with emphasis on what's best for them in the long run, then we're doing OK as parents. JMHO

 

[pinkrose]

I just heard back from my kids principal and he's going to mark their absense that week as excused. :sohappy: