Writing letter to school concerning childs absence.

[dixiegirl]

Ok so its that time of the year that I stress on writing a letter to my daughter's teacher and principal concerning her missing school due to our family vacation.. Does anyone have any tips on writing , last year we found a great letter to write concerning how it was going to be a learning vacation as well as a family one, but was curious if anyone had any tips on what they used...any help rather than the normal old standby ..
thanks guys, we leave next Fri 9/14 so I usually liketo get the letters out there early ..

 

[Hakunamatata]

You insinuated that any teacher who felt it more important for students to be in school than on vacation is trying to justify their own importance, and that it is all a matter of ego.

My statement said "a few", not "all", therefore I did not "insinuate" that.

 

[dandaman]

Just tell them that you heard something about "no child left behind"...you figured that meant that when you when to WDW, you had to take them with you...:shrug:

"But the government told me to!" :lol:

 

[DCSCTE]

Vacation Education

This is the exact topic of our book! We are a homeschooling family and want all of our experiences to be educational, even our vacations, okay especially our vacations.
We put together a book of unit studies on Epcot Center, we took all of the existing educational elements of each pavilion and built a unit study around each one.
It seems to me that if you completed a comprehensive study on Mexico, Norway, Japan, China, Morocco, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain; then took a virtual tour of each one, it would be difficult for anyone to say that you were "missing" school.
We are going back next week to learn more!
Corinne Johnson
vacationeducationbooks.com

 

[dixiegirl]

Oh, for the love of God.

Can any thread stay un-argumentative for longer than a day around here?

For the record, my parents wrote notes a few weeks prior, then did the "reminding" technique.

(And it was JUST that easy.)

LOL..Oh that just made me laugh...It's truly amazing how asking one simple question can spark such a debate( putting it nicely)........

 

[dixiegirl]

Just tell them that you heard something about "no child left behind"...you figured that meant that when you when to WDW, you had to take them with you...:shrug:

LOL....got to tell you guys are killing me tonite!!! I laugh also because this afternoon I checked this thread and it was still on a happy note....I check it now....Oh dear...... I should have know better......

Can't we all just get along??

Have a magical nite guys!!!

 

[Ringo8n24]

I am so glad someone brought this topic up on here. I have been stressing so bad about telling my 5 yr old's teacher that we will be on vacation early December. I do not plan on doing this again since I now have the calendar for the whole year to see when to plan absences. The week before we leave she has practice for her Christmas program that she will miss while we are on vacation. Oh, the guilt I am feeling. I do not want to reschedule because as someone said in an earlier post we are staying for about 1/2 the price of what we would if we move it to a later week in December. When we get back, she only has about 2 days of school then they are out for Christmas break. :hammer: I think I am going to be short and sweet with the note and go from there. I am not mentioning WDW, just that we will be out of town that week. Of course, she is so excited she will be telling everyone where she is going when it gets closer.

 

[Plane Crazy]

I don't feel that I need to justify getting away for a vacation with my family to teachers. I'll write them a note saying I'm taking the kids out to spend some quality time with their dad on a vacation before he goes back overseas. Whether or not they agree with my decision is not my concern.

You don't have to justify anything to your children's teachers... they simply turn over the "excuse" to district or building administrators. The administrators are charged with enforcing your state's cumpulsory education laws. So, whether or not you "feel that you have to justify anything"... you do. If your children miss an excessive amount of days of school without legitimate reason, you may find yourself being investigated for educational neglect.

That being said, I think that most school systems are understanding of families wanting to take a week vacation during the school term.... as long as it is not an excessive length of absence, the child's attendance is otherwise good, the school is provided with advanced notice, the parents ensure that the child makes up missed assignments and reviews missed content, and there are no extenuating circumstances.

As others have said... be honest, give them advanced notice, ensure them that you will be responsible for making up missed work/lessons, and be sure to follow through. I would not recommend going in with an attitude...

 

[Plane Crazy]

When I read some of the posts on this site, I come to the conclusion that grammar, spelling, and general writing skills are no longer even taught.

Perhaps writing skills were actually taught in school... but the individuals in question missed these lessons because they were vacationing in Walt Disney World! :lol:


You are the parent and, legally, you can do what you want. quote]

WRONG! Education is compulsory in all 50 states.

 

[cptwife80]

When it comes time for my family to go I always write a letter to my daughters school. It always says that she will be joining myself and her family to celebrate my birthday. Then I put in that family to me comes first, school is second. She's a really smart kid and we always ask for work to be sent with us of course. But they don't care as long as she meets the end of the year learning requirements she is fine.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

You don't have to justify anything to your children's teachers... they simply turn over the "excuse" to district or building administrators. The administrators are charged with enforcing your state's cumpulsory education laws. So, whether or not you "feel that you have to justify anything"... you do. If your children miss an excessive amount of days of school without legitimate reason, you may find yourself being investigated for educational neglect.

That being said, I think that most school systems are understanding of families wanting to take a week vacation during the school term.... as long as it is not an excessive length of absence, the child's attendance is otherwise good, the school is provided with advanced notice, the parents ensure that the child makes up missed assignments and reviews missed content, and there are no extenuating circumstances.

As others have said... be honest, give them advanced notice, ensure them that you will be responsible for making up missed work/lessons, and be sure to follow through. I would not recommend going in with an attitude...

I think you prob'ly misunderstand this person's situation. Her husband is in the military, hasn't been back from his most recent deployment to Iraq very long, and will be going back for another deployment soon. They're family time is probably more valuable than most. I understand that. I was a Navy brat and this particular person knows my cousin who is also in the military and has been on 2 deployments causing him to miss a lot of birthdays, holidays, and other important family occasions. It sometimes comes off as attitude when it really isn't. It's just really strong feelings more than anything that makes it sound so absolute. :animwink:

I think with these more "hot topics" it's important to understand that each of us have different situations, circumstances, etc. Each of us are living our lives and raising our children as best we know how. There isn't a right or wrong. There's just different. Different isn't right or wrong. It's just different.

With so many strong feelings in all directions particularly when it comes to what's best for children, I'd say that everyone here at the very least has their hearts in the right place.

Love and hugs, my fellow Disney-Nuts!!!

 

[ann0d1]

Our school allows five consecutive days, what happens if it is more and they tell me only five ? My son will miss 7. From PA:shrug:

 

[JeffC]

Considering attendance for school age children is mandatory under the law for most grades you'd been suprised how much of "their business" it is when a judge slaps you with a fine or some jail time.

Enforcement varies from school distict but generally the trigger is the eleventh missed day when things get very serious.

Home schooled students fall under a different set of rules. Can you declare your child home schooled only for vacation weeks? Not likely.

Bottom line is to honest with school officials and work with them. Attendance is codified in law and local school personal are often not the ones that set the policy but are charged as being the enforcers and held accountable.

Umm, I don't think so. Being a School Resource Officer (and a part time truant officer) for the past 14 years, I have to disagree with this. In my years of service, I have never seen a judge deal this type of punishment.
As far as the 11th day, this is a matter of "UNEXCUSED" absences - really under the heading of truancy.

While some teachers and school administrators don't like kids taken out of school for an extended period of time, most understand why families do this and work with them.

And for the record, I believe a child can learn just as much, if not more about our world on a trip to WDW. Even on our last trip, talking to our waitress at Le Cellieur, I learned so much about Canada I never knew.

 

[L Fisher]

My sister made an appointment with the principle and told her they'll be gone on vacation and the principle said that was fine but it would be his responsibilty to make up the work which that's not really an issue for him.."He's a smart Kid"..
Anyways my sister told me the school district in our area will call an outside agency to visit the child's home if that child has missed over a certain amount of days just to make sure the "child" is "safe" that I can understand..

 

[ann0d1]

Well, I sent the form requesting time off last week when they started school, so I am just crossing my fingers it will be approved! He is in second grade so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Last year he didn't even miss one day.

 

[Hakunamatata]

WRONG! Education is compulsory in all 50 states.

Yes it is. Education. Attending school is not education. Learning is education. If attending school is education, how do so many people get away with educating their kids at home?

 

[SamnDawn060304]

I always take my daughter and son out of school. Last year twice and they never held it against them. I just sent in a note as soon as I made the reservations. I think that the most important thing is communication with the school system.

 

[DISMOM]

Our school year gets longer and longer. We begin school on Aug 14th, and end on May 25th. The kids are so burn out on school, that a week off for vacation does everyone a world of good. Write a nice, polite letter to the school system, send it to the teachers, principal, and attendance officer, and have a good time. Write a good trip report for all of us. That's your homework.!! Let the kids help you.

 

[PhilharMagician]

We send a letter to the school within the first week each year basically stating the days we will be on vacation. That letter also requests and lessons or work be released to us prior to vacation. I also call the teacher personally and discuss their process on missed work (each teacher is differant). My DD typically does a vacation journal and I help her with editing digital pictures and creating her journal that she turns in.

The issue is that the older they get the harder it is for them to be out of school.

 

[Hakunamatata]

The issue is that the older they get the harder it is for them to be out of school.

I agree.

 

[lilclerk]

Our school allows five consecutive days, what happens if it is more and they tell me only five ? My son will miss 7. From PA:shrug:

You will definitely want to ask your son's principal about that.