Pulling kids from school?

Marianm

Well-Known Member
Am I bad parent for pulling my kids from school for 6-7 days? They're in K and 1st. I'm getting some anxiety over this for some reason!
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Kindergarten and First Grade, I say do it. I think some kids 3rd grade and up, it might be a bad idea. Certainly any kid shouldn't be taken out for a week at middle school level and up as they would miss a lot.

I would agree except I completely don’t...

Life is more than goals, standards and performance measurements. That all boils down to money...and that is becoming a bigger problem by the day.
 
Upvote 0

Disney4family

Well-Known Member
Maybe it depends on the state. We're New Yorkers, which means we have a communist-inspired Common Core curriculum mandated by the state, so our teachers know (for better or for worse) exactly what they'll be working on every hour of every day, and can simply tell us which pages/chapters they'll be covering while the kids are gone. For teachers in other states -- states that still allow their professional educators to exercise their own professional judgment and personal creativity, and develop their own lesson plans (oh dear, is my anti-Common Core bias showing? LOL), I can see why having to pull everything together ahead of time would be an extremely time-consuming and inconvenient exercise. I guess it's something parents should approach on a case-by-case basis. :)
Like, like, like - a billion times like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(sorry - NY teacher of 25 years here. Nice to know I'm not the only one who calls it "commie core".)
back to the thread...
 
Upvote 0

Marianm

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We're doing it :) they'll miss 6 days. My kids go to a private catholic school.
Got the all clear from administration and their teachers. The week we're going their school will be doing terra nova testing (grades 5-8) so it's a down week anyways for the younger guys.
 
Upvote 0

polynesiangirl

Well-Known Member
Our school district has a policy of allowing a certain number of days per school year where a child can be absent for family events, vacations, etc. You have to submit a form in advance letting them know the child will be gone and why. We've done it and plan to do it again. My kids are little, but it hasn't seemed to be a problem. Taking them out of school is not my preference, and I generally try to plan so that we don't take them out, but it happens sometimes.
 
Upvote 0

Des

Member
Am I bad parent for pulling my kids from school for 6-7 days? They're in K and 1st. I'm getting some anxiety over this for some reason!
Hi.
We pull the kids out every year. We time it so that it is before a school break, if any work needs to be made up that isn't done before hand or immediately after, we do it during the school break. I have two boys, one in 5th grade the other in kinder. I also make sure, especially the 5th grader, is doing well in all areas. He has, so there haven't been any issues. I agree with another poster here on how short their childhood is and I'd like to enjoy family time with them as much as possible as well.
Human beings spend most of their lives as adults. Childhood is short.
As long as they are doing well and understand school material, don't worry about it.
 
Upvote 0

zeedan

Member
We've pulled the kids out during the school year a few times. Early grade school years was never an issue, they kept a log of what they did and saw .. including what they learned. Later in grade school ( grades 4 and 6) we went in September and took extended weekend (left on Thursday night and returned on a Monday night for Tuesday school) . Two years later we went right before Thanksgiving (grades 6 and 8) and took off 3 days of school before a Monday holiday. It worked great. Now with kids in 8th and 10th grade, we've had to rethink the days out because the high school regimen is a lot more controlling as to time away.

In any case, I would not hesitate to take kids out of school at any time prior to, and including, 8th grade.
 
Upvote 0

OG Runner

Well-Known Member
On several occasions my ex-wife and I took our children out of school for Disney trips. We would tell the school
and teachers ahead of time. Our trips were from Thursday to Wednesday, so the kids were not out a full school week.
When my oldest son was in the 5th grade, he had an assignment to write a report on his trip. He was taking notes for
the whole trip.
 
Upvote 0

juniorthomas

Well-Known Member
Am I bad parent for pulling my kids from school for 6-7 days? They're in K and 1st. I'm getting some anxiety over this for some reason!

You are not at all a bad parent for that.

The school district may object, and teachers may have some issues (perhaps the 1st moreso than the K), but ultimately this is your family and your life. You call the shots.
 
Upvote 0

ninjaprincesst

Well-Known Member
As long as your school district will allow it. Our school district you have 5 unexcused absences a school year any more and you automatically fail. Also you can't make up work for an unexcused absence so pulling them out for a vacation will fail them for the six weeks. So around here it's really not a choice.
 
Upvote 0

lukegoose

New Member
We pulled our son for a week in first grade and it was perfectly fine. The adminstrative office gave us some attitude but his teachers weren’t bothered. Things move so slow at that age he was basically caught back up on his first day back.
 
Upvote 0

Andrew M

Well-Known Member
We talked to the principal before booking our March '19 trip, we have a Kindergartner and one in Pre-K 4. She said it's fine up until around 2nd grade. After that missing a week at a time might start to get tough. We refuse to go to Florida in the summer, so we'll probably just have to do long weekend trips when they're older.
 
Upvote 0

tinker-ella

Member
We took our kids numerous times, at various ages, due to the fact that my work didn't allow me to get summer or holiday weeks off for vacation, until I accrued higher seniority. It isn't always possible to coordinate work/school schedules. I always notified the teachers in advance , so they could give us homework assignments, etc, and made sure they were completed. They did not fall behind, and we were able to enjoy quality family time at our favorite place!
 
Upvote 0

MonoMan

New Member
You can put your anxiety away, you are among friends here. We will go on 1-2 vacations during the school year. Our children and teachers begin preparing for this weeks in advance. We have done this for years without any problems. Public schools tend to take issue with this because you are affecting their attendance statistics, making them look "bad".

Just communicate with their teachers, have them do as much work in advance as possible and you will be fine.
 
Upvote 0

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
As long as your school district will allow it. Our school district you have 5 unexcused absences a school year any more and you automatically fail. Also you can't make up work for an unexcused absence so pulling them out for a vacation will fail them for the six weeks. So around here it's really not a choice.

And what’s the point of that policy?

Does it create more effective humans? I would guess it does not.

I’d move if I were you 🤪
 
Upvote 0

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
We talked to the principal before booking our March '19 trip, we have a Kindergartner and one in Pre-K 4. She said it's fine up until around 2nd grade. After that missing a week at a time might start to get tough. We refuse to go to Florida in the summer, so we'll probably just have to do long weekend trips when they're older.

Yeah...I think the principal is a bit whacked out too...

Day after day slog where information is pounded and pounded and forgotten...
I’d pull them...nothin spectacular going on in October in Staten Island...especially for Yankee fans 😉
 
Upvote 0

JillC LI

Well-Known Member
I am not looking at anyone else's responses, but I will say from my own experience that there is nothing wrong with pulling out a child in K or 1st grade. In fact, we pulled our kids out for vacations all the way through high school graduation (although the time periods decreased as the work missed increased). As long as our kids felt they could catch up, we had no problem with it. One child graduated with a 98 average and an IB degree and the other is on target to graduate this year with a 99 and an IB degree. I don't think it was a problem for them and I've never had a single regret. The memories we made and experiences they had (both at Disney and elsewhere in the world) are irreplaceable. (I do understand that some school districts make it very hard for parents to do this by requiring doctors notes for absences, etc., but fortunately ours did not.)
 
Upvote 0

crbrown25

Well-Known Member
We've taken our 2 kids out the past few years and will again next week. They're in 1st and 5th grade this year. I have a cousin and a sister-in-law who are elementary school teachers. When i asked their opinion, they gave similar responses...that it depends on the kid. I guess if a kid is struggling in school, maybe a week out of class can be a bigger issue than for one who is doing well.
 
Upvote 0

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom