Getting the kids out of School

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

I pull my kids out of School for two weeks to go to Fort Wilderness in October - and I make no excuses for it.  It will be the second time I have done it.  My kids are hardworking students with excellent grades.  The teachers started to give me a hard time when I announced I was doing it in 2009 but I was prepared - I knew my state laws. 

See my daughters school had made up their own rules - and those rules did not agree with the State laws.  If they don?t agree with the state laws - they can threaten all they like, but those rules don?t mean jack.  My sister is an attorney who home schools and she knows everything there is to know about school system laws.  So I was prepared.  When they balked - I stood my ground - told them the date we were leaving - the date we would be returning and when they threatened suspension ?did they need to see a letter from our attorney??  Oh - No Mrs. Whipperwhirl - we just do what we can to discourage parents from withdrawing their kids unnecessarily - Have a nice trip!

So my advice to parents is be prepared ? know your state laws ? and remember ? these are your kids ? they are only young once ? do you think they are going to remember that one week in class or that one week at Fort Wilderness?  Kids grow up so fast and before you know it they want nothing to do with you ? Make the memories while you can.       

[jrandall1972 aka Jan 0]

I don't like to take my kids out of school.  My son is in the 5th grade and has never missed a day of school.  He enjoys going.  He seems to time his colds and stomach viruses for the weekends.  I live close enough to the Fort to be able to just take a weekend here and there. 

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

wow - not a day huh.  Healthy kid.  My kids like going to school also - we don't live close to the Fort though - about 1200 miles away actually so weekends are kind of out of the question. 

[disney92 7]

I also take my kids out of school for 2 weeks to go to Disney.  :parrot:    I have learned how to word it so I don?t have a problem.  It seems if you request permission for an ?educational family vacation? the school does not hassle you too much. :parrot:  I keep a letter on file in my computer and just change the dates as needed.

My kids do great in school and are very involved with sports so we try to schedule our trip in between sport seasons. We always make the teachers aware of our trip and ask for any work that they may miss.  We take 2 days to drive the RV down to FL. so the kids have plenty of time to get all their assignments done.

Almost every year, without fail, it snows at home. If the schools are closed my kids are not ?charged? with missing a day. In fact it snowed so much at home last year that we opted to stay a few extra days in Disney, after all the kids were allowed to be out for 10 school days!!  :parrot:

More often than not, when my kids get back to school they are ahead of their classmates as far as school work is concerned.  As far as I am concerned, the time we spent together as a family is priceless, the experiences we share and the memories we make can never be taught in a classroom.

I know not everyone will agree, but this works best for our family.

[Retired and Happy (Ken) 101]

We take ours out for an extra week before Christmas (Winter) vacation.  Our schools withdraw them so they don't count against their attendance counts...then re-enroll them when we get back in January.  Never been a problem.  If it was, we would fight.  Our time with our kids is indeed priceless as is the time at the Fort for them and for us.  For several years we took them out a few extra day before Thanksgiving for a trip to the Dollywood area.  Also priceless.

[Rhonda (aka Roz) 7]

We used to take our son out of school for 2 weeks every February.  We told the teachers in advance, and they would tell him what he would be missing while he was gone.  He'd bring his books along, and do the work while we were on the road (driving down from Minnesota).  Usually when we got home, he would be ahead of the rest of the class!  We did this all through Elementary and Jr High, and never had a problem!

Like you said -- they are only kids once.  He has great memories of going to Disney every year with us.  But, he doesn't really remember too much of Elementary school.  :banana:

[polkadotsuitcase 12]

Homeschool, baby!  :parrot:

It's a mixed blessing -- on the one hand, we can travel more freely. On the other hand, we always bring the school work with us! (Usually, anyway. I'm not a total hardnose.) We can usually get some stuff knocked off the to-do list either early in the morning or in the evening, so we're not scrambling to catch up when we get home.

Kate

[~Kristina~ 10]

I've pulled mine out for a week.  I make no excuses either since I'm the PTO VP and know the principal very well...who is a DVC member.  :wave1:  We typically go the week after spring break to avoid massive crowds and I just tell them they won't be in school, we're going to Disney on vacation.  This trip, I think they'll miss only a couple days of school.

For a different trip we have planned in June the week before school lets out, they'll miss 2 days.  My children are also excellent students, so I have no worries.

[HillBillyWhisperer 20]

I use to pull my kids out all the time as we were heavy into the Soap Box Derby Racing and traveled all over the States racing.  But, we have always had a good repore with the teachers so they were willing to even give us school work to be made up.

I also agree they they learn far more in life than in school these days so missing a little school to live life is not gonna hurt any.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

I'm a teacher and I feel that the rules were not made for people like y'all. We have kids who miss days and days of school. Their "parents" just don't care enough to get up out of bed and make sure they go to school. I believe most school administrators will be reasonable about excusing kids for family trips as long as they are not normally absent frequently. There is so much pressure with all the high-stakes testing, here in Florida schools are graded based on the students test scores, so teachers want them in school.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I always took my kids out for 10 days each year. I always tried to make sure that there was no testing going. For us it was the only time we could go. Summers were and still our our busiest time of the year for our business. Fortunately our school system was always willing to work with us. :banana:

[Momoffive aka Loretta 34]

Our school schedule is finnally out for next year.  Our kids will only miss 4 days the week we are down for Halloween.  My crew will be doing school work while we are away too.  I wish I could say missing school would be easy for them but only 1 of my 5 has it "easy" and can keep up rather easily.  The other 4 struggle at times.  I am worried about my oldest.  Next year will be her first year in middle school.  Things move faster, I am sure, but she requires so much one on one time and the motivation is just not there.  They will not miss any testing, the end of the first quarter is the week before we leave.  I am not worried about taking them out.  We used to have a whole week off for a Fall break, now it is down to just 2 days  :'(. 

We do make it as educational as possible.  May not be everything they would learn in school but we try to incorporate things they are learning.  Calculating line times, estimating the number of people in line, managing money, time management, reading all of the signs/ menus, and Epcot offers a "world" of learning opportunities.  The fun part is them not even realizing they are applying their Math and or reading skills to the day.  We make them journal too so they have a memory book and they are practicing their writing skills.  Amazing how much can be accomplished when fun is involved!  Matt and I have already starting thinking of a way to apply Whips Amazing Race into an educational fact finding trip around the "World".  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  :popcorn:

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Homeschool, baby!  :popcorn:

It's a mixed blessing -- on the one hand, we can travel more freely. On the other hand, we always bring the school work with us! (Usually, anyway. I'm not a total hardnose.) We can usually get some stuff knocked off the to-do list either early in the morning or in the evening, so we're not scrambling to catch up when we get home.

Kate

We homeschool also.  One off the things I love about homeschooling is we set our own schedule.  We usally do school all summer, when it is too hot in SC to go out much.  Then we can take time off for Disney and such with no worries. 

[polkadotsuitcase 12]

We homeschool also.  One off the things I love about homeschooling is we set our own schedule.  We usally do school all summer, when it is too hot in SC to go out much.  Then we can take time off for Disney and such with no worries.

That's roughly our schedule -- do school in the summer when it's too hot, the winter when it's too cold, and then ease up when it's gorgeous out!

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

Boy - thats pretty smart.

[MLM5.. aka Judy 97]

Our school schedule is finnally out for next year.  Our kids will only miss 4 days the week we are down for Halloween.  My crew will be doing school work while we are away too.  I wish I could say missing school would be easy for them but only 1 of my 5 has it "easy" and can keep up rather easily.  The other 4 struggle at times.  I am worried about my oldest.  Next year will be her first year in middle school.  Things move faster, I am sure, but she requires so much one on one time and the motivation is just not there.  They will not miss any testing, the end of the first quarter is the week before we leave.  I am not worried about taking them out.  We used to have a whole week off for a Fall break, now it is down to just 2 days  :rofl2:. 

We do make it as educational as possible.  May not be everything they would learn in school but we try to incorporate things they are learning.  Calculating line times, estimating the number of people in line, managing money, time management, reading all of the signs/ menus, and Epcot offers a "world" of learning opportunities.  The fun part is them not even realizing they are applying their Math and or reading skills to the day.  We make them journal too so they have a memory book and they are practicing their writing skills.  Amazing how much can be accomplished when fun is involved!  Matt and I have already starting thinking of a way to apply Whips Amazing Race into an educational fact finding trip around the "World".  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

I feel your pain, my kids struggle with school, my hubby and I were just talking about it, 2 out of the 3 school age will be in summer school this year.  It was a hard decision to take them out for halloween but between our work schedules and a few other things we are commited to, this is about the only time we can go as a family.  I went without hubby last year and I'd to it again if I had to but I missed him and my littlest princess, this will be baby Izzy's first trip!  So I plan on letting the teachers know at the beginning of the year that way if there is any heart burn we will have time to work it out and everyday we are there my kids already know we are setting aside some homework time.  We talk about this trip everyday, anything short of a natural disaster wont keep us away!