Taking kids out of school to go to Disney. Horribly irresponsible or acceptable in some situations?

[Tessaf]

Our district sends out a warning letter at 5 days and meetings are required after 10 and then meetings with counselors and other authorities after 15. I give the teachers and principal plenary of advance notice and they have absolutely no issue with me taking our kids out. They even warned me that I will get the letter, since the district office controls it, and they have no control. If my children were struggling at school, I would reconsider taking them out for a week, but that’s not the case.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

We routinely did this when I was growing up. I turned out okay-ish.

 

[paisleys]

As a teacher, the only time I have an issue with students missing school for vacation is if the student is failing my class. My school allows students to be gone for vacation. I think if you as the parent communicate to your child the importance of staying on top of their work and not falling behind, then you are doing the right thing. I have had parents take their kids out for vacation before when they student was failing every class. The parents had no idea. THAT is not okay.

I had a kid last week who just return from Disneyland. Great kid. Great grades. No one had an issue with it because his parents communicated to us well in advance and he made sure he was all caught up on his work before his trip.

I hope that helps!

^This post has been 100% our experience. We took ours out for a week up to second or third grade and zero issues. We are very grateful for those week long trips. Now it's middle school and trying to cram WDW into a weekend, rush rush rush and crowds. There is nothing like the regular weekday mornings at MK. Enjoy every minute of your trip!

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

We've taken my daughter out of school for three years in a row now. Luckily, our district has a written 5-day for vacation policy. The first year we had scheduled 6, and it was no big deal.

Communicate with the teacher before & let them know you'll want their feedback when they get back... and actually ask after the trip to make sure there wasn't a disruption (maybe a couple weeks or a month later). So far, all three teachers have given "no problem" reviews.

Disney in early December vs. Disney over Christmas are two very radically different trips in terms of crowds, what you can get into a day, etc.

 

[Magrathea]

Life is short, kids grow up fast, take them out of school and have an amazing time.

 

[DisneyRobin]

For elementary school aged kids, I think it’s ok to take them our of school for 2-3 days. Five seems like too much - unless there was a big reason like relatives that you’re meeting with or going overseas for a big trip... but not just for a trip to Disney. Maybe go for a shorter trip so you don’t have to deal with the school’s absentee policy.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Well, I know some states have policies where high schools lose credit for 9 unexcused days in a semester. But have your child taken away after 5 days is pretty extreme. Sounds like your district has had a lot of truancy issues that they had to go that route.

 

[EACarlson]

We told our son's first grade teacher he will be missing the week after Thanksgiving to go to Disneyworld. Teacher told us "Good, might give some of the other kids a chance to catch up to him."

 

[smiths02]

Everyone talking about compulsory kindergarten. Where I live, they even offer Pre-K at some schools (age 4), but school attendance is not required until age 6. However, if you enroll your child even at age 4, you have to abide by the same attendance rules.

 

[LSUmiss]

Everyone talking about compulsory kindergarten. Where I live, they even offer Pre-K at some schools (age 4), but school attendance is not required until age 6. However, if you enroll your child even at age 4, you have to abide by the same attendance rules.

But couldn’t you just unenroll them if it became an issue like what OP is talking about?

 

[Summer2018]

But couldn’t you just unenroll them if it became an issue like what OP is talking about?

I teach Pre-K in a public school. I have had parents withdraw their child for a trip, and when they came back, their spot was filled by another student from my waiting list. They, of course, got upset, but it’s the risk that they took.

 

[TammyLynn33]

I don’t think schools give parents enough credit. I have always taken my kids out for vacations with the simple philosophy is traveling can also be an education . You don’t need to learn within a school .
I involve my kids in everything from budgeting to maps/directions etc and follow their interests .
We leave to go in 15 more sleeps for a week for sons hockey tourney in Tampa we will squeeze in a couple Disney days . Kids will be missing four days . Grades 12, 8, 2 and kindergarten . Neither school is concerned as kids are good students and communication has always been there .

 

[sullyfam]

We have taken our kids out at various times of the year and various ages. As they get older, it certainly gets more challenging. It's never been an issue with the school system. I always communicate with the teachers and front office ahead of time to tell them the dates my children will be absent. Sometimes teachers give work to do, sometimes they don't. My kids have always been fine afterwards and jumped right back into school work. But I also am lucky to have kids that do not struggle academically or otherwise (at least not yet). We rarely pick a week where they would actually miss 5 full days of school. I tend to tack on days to already short weeks when they have holidays off or teacher professional days, 1/2 days etc. so that they aren't missing quite as much.

For a 5 year old in Kindergarten I would not hesitate to take them out of school. 5 days seems quite strict but then again, I think often times school policies are there on paper but perhaps not as stringent when applied to real life situations. If I were you, I would talk to the school about it. I would also talk to other parents who may have older children and have first hand experience with the process. You may also want to consider a different week that your child may already have some days off that you could tack onto. Good luck in whatever you do. I completely agree with a previous poster who said that life is short and childhood is especially fleeting, you have to take the opportunities to do things as a family while you can.

 

[ktlm]

Talk to the school. Having that policy and enforcing it across the board are two different things. Those kind of policies are often written when the school is having a truancy problem due to teens skipping out of school or parents not making their kids go to school on a regular basis. They are often written as a tool for those type situations. A lot of times districts have that policy, but they don't enforce it for families taking vacations etc. You can see from some of things written on your policy, that those are the type of situations for which it is designed. There is talk about kids dropping out etc.

Note, it says "if" a student is truant "and cited' the following "could" happen. They make the decision whether to turn the truancy over. I find it doubtful that they would turn someone over for a family vacation-- even if they mark the absences down as unexcused. Some districts have the policy in place for when it is needed, but only selectively use it. The school will be able to tell you what they actually do. I would talk to the school she will be in itself, not the district. The district may just parrot the policy, while the school itself can tell you what they actually do. It is the school, that will be marking and coding the absences and turning any "truancy" in.

DD is in 8th grade and we have taken her out of school at some point in the first semester every year, except for 2, for a WDW trip (and one of those years, she was out, but we went somewhere else). The past few years we have done fall break week, so she only misses 3 days instead of the whole week. There is absolutely no reason a kindergartner can't miss a week of school. If a child makes good grades and doesn't have learning issues in school, there is no reason they should not be able to miss a week to go on a family vacation. I always E-mail the teachers in advance and advise we are going to be gone and that we want to make up the work in the way that is easiest for the teacher- as we don't want to cause the teacher any extra work. We have never had any issues. In 8th grade she had a lot more work to make up for the 3 days she missed and had a couple of late nights getting it done while also not missing any of her after school activities, but she had no trouble getting it done. She has always been a good student, but I don't know if we will continue it in high school. We know other families that have continued it in high school. I just worry it may be harder to make up those 3 days when you are in all high school classes. My strongest happy memories of my childhood are our family vacations. I think that family time and those vacations are very important, and I have never once regretted taking her out of school for our trips.

 

[Maggie Gallagher]

Truancy is no joke in our school district.

We take the kids on vacation during the other 183 days of the year like the summer, Christmas break, spring break, etc.

School and consistency of attendance is just as important in the early years as in the later years while teachers are laying the foundations of education. My kids inevitably get colds and viruses that will keep them out a day or two a few times a year. That's enough days missed IMHO.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

For my job "busy season" is during the summer, so we have hard time taking a vacation. We have decided to use my son's 4 day weekends from school as our vacation time (Columbus day, MLK Jr weekend, President's day weekend). Sometimes we pull him out of school early (a few hours), other times (MLK weekend) he misses 1 day. But this give us the chance to leave Ohio in January and go to Florida and he only misses one day of school and we get 4 days at Disney!

I think it depends on the child. My son is a good student, I let his teachers know in advance he will be out. I ask what can I do to help him, what work can we do in advance, etc.

Now I will also say, my son goes to Middle School next year and pulling him out for vacation is a no go. They miss too much. But elementary school. They are only young once, go when you can and enjoy it!!! But I agree with everyone else, talk to the school/teacher. Communication in advance goes a long way!

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I see a lot of people referencing what was done when they were children, ect. When I was in school, we took a week off without a problem almost every year, but times have changed. The material kids are seeing now is vastly different than what we were asked to do.

We didn't learn long division until 5th grade, but DD was doing it at the end of 2nd. We didn't write 5 paragraph persuasive essays with evidence in elementary school ,but she had to starting in 3rd grade, timed, as part of state assessments.

When I was in high school, you could graduate without ever taking algebra, now every student is enrolled in algebra as a freshman. The demands placed on me as an AP student in the 90's are vastly different that those placed on my DD who is an IB diploma student now. She is taking courses as a Sophomore that weren't even offered at the high school level when I was in school. She has already taken and passed AP exams that didn't exist when I was in school. I was in the top of the line, most demanding program available at the time, but what is she is being asked to do is worlds ahead of what i saw in high school. Her nightly work load is many times what mine was.

The demands placed on kids have stepped up. I am not saying don't take your kids out, just that its important to be mindful of what it is going to mean work wise for them. Particularly for students in advanced academic programs post elementary school.

 

[LSUmiss]

I see a lot of people referencing what was done when they were children, ect. When I was in school, we took a week off without a problem almost every year, but times have changed. The material kids are seeing now is vastly different than what we were asked to do.

We didn't learn long division until 5th grade, but DD was doing it at the end of 2nd. We didn't write 5 paragraph persuasive essays with evidence in elementary school ,but she had to starting in 3rd grade, timed, as part of state assessments.

When I was in high school, you could graduate without ever taking algebra, now every student is enrolled in algebra as a freshman. The demands placed on me as an AP student in the 90's are vastly different that those placed on my DD who is an IB diploma student now. She is taking courses as a Sophomore that weren't even offered at the high school level when I was in school. She has already taken and passed AP exams that didn't exist when I was in school. I was in the top of the line, most demanding program available at the time, but what is she is being asked to do is worlds ahead of what i saw in high school. Her nightly work load is many times what mine was.

The demands placed on kids have stepped up. I am not saying don't take your kids out, just that its important to be mindful of what it is going to mean work wise for them. Particularly for students in advanced academic programs post elementary school.

I went to private school here in the late 90s & had similar academic demands as the kids do today & I did fine missing school. I think like so many have said, it just depends on the kid.

 

[dez1978]

I would not send my kid to a school that was that strict about such things. I get the reasoning behind it. But if my child is doing well academically, its my decision if he misses a few days, not the schools. I believe sometimes we let the schools have too much say over our children and what they learn/do. However I get that if it weren't for those things, some kids wouldn't get much education at all.

My kids are in kindergarten and 3rd this year. We are pulling them out the last week of January to go. I've already told the teachers and they are ok with it. But other than this one time, they may leave half a day early 2 other times during the year for non medical/illiness related stuff. Technically our school says 16 days a year, but I think they only enforce it in extreme circumstances.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I went to private school here in the late 90s & had similar academic demands as the kids do today & I did fine missing school. I think like so many have said, it just depends on the kid.

Are you in Baton Rouge? My husband grew up in that area and went to private school around the same time. We find that my DD's public school IB curriculum is much more demanding than anything either of us saw in the top college prep programs at the time either there or where I grew up. Were you really doing things like AP Physics, AP world history, Algebra 2/ trig ect as a freshman? Because that is what is expected in academically competitive programs.

DD's IB curriculum is comparable to what is being offered at places like U High and the more selective private schools currently.Today's kids are starting high school in AP courses for college credit. I took one AP course as a Sophomore and one as a junior. Many my senior year. DD, as a sophomore, has already had AP World, AP US, and AP Physics. She will start college level computer science second semester, and college level math in the fall. He last 2 years will be spent on college level material in all disciplines and a major research project that must produce results that would be suitable for publication. She will have had statistics, fluid dynamics, and organic chemistry by the time she leaves high school. Those courses didn't exist as AP in the 90's.

She will have had to take a comprehensive written and oral exam, read classic literature and written papers in a foreign language. Students are required to study an art form of their choice, (theater, music, visual arts, or dance). They study history, theory, composition ect, and generate a final project or presentation. DD's choice is dance and she will have to prepare and present a senior choreography project. None of this was even an option when we were in school in the 90's, but is now pretty much standard for these programs.

I do agree that it depends on the kids, but I definitely think the material these kids are being asked to digest has stepped up significantly.