Taking kids out of school for a week!

[Mollymarie86]

How old are your kids? If they are not in high school, sure, take them out. But high school? No way. High school attendance and grades, even freshman year, go off to colleges.

Twin girls are in 1st and son is in 6th, on the spectrum and attends a therapeutic day school

 

[Mollymarie86]

WDW now has lower crowds in summer than most of the rest of the year. It is also less expensive than most other times of year.

Lol you can't be serious...I know I'm a Disney Virgin, but I did my research...

 

[mesaboy2]

WDW now has lower crowds in summer than most of the rest of the year. It is also less expensive than most other times of year.

I think crowds may be lower in summer now than they used to be in previous summers, but I don't think I would go so far as to say it's lower or cheaper than the rest of the year.

 

[Shanti]

Lol you can't be serious...I know I'm a Disney Virgin, but I did my research...

You haven't researched that much, then, or you've been reading website articles that are a few years old. WDW attendance patterns are changing, in part due to all the families who now take their kids out of school. We've been the last two summers, and had low-moderate crowds. Meanwhile, fall & spring crowds have gotten heavier. As for the prices, check the difference between midsummer & fall prices/availability, or the difference between midsummer & spring prices/availability. It's the truth. Midsummer is now cheaper & less crowded than much of the school year.

The WDW weather also won't be any nicer in early September than it is in midsummer.

 

[Mollymarie86]

You haven't researched that much, then, or you've been reading website articles that are a few years old. WDW attendance patterns are changing, in part due to all the families who now take their kids out of school. We've been the last two summers, and had low-moderate crowds. Meanwhile, fall & spring crowds have gotten heavier. As for the prices, check the difference between midsummer & fall prices/availability, or the difference between midsummer & spring prices/availability. It's the truth. Midsummer is now cheaper & less crowded than much of the school year.

I guess we'll see when we go...in 8 days!!!

 

[mamamelody2]

We have taken our kids out of school for the 3rd week of September twice. No issues. And last year they were 4th, 8th, and 11th grade.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Our kids just went back on the 24th and they will be missing Labor day week, too. We have their teacher's blessing but if the school has a problem with it, I really couldn't care less. I took my kids out of school last year to see the life-size Cars 3 cars that came to Cleveland and told them exactly why they were going to be absent. One of their teachers even used one of her personal days and came with us lol. We're making memories and that's way more important.

 

[cdnjason]

You haven't researched that much, then, or you've been reading website articles that are a few years old. WDW attendance patterns are changing, in part due to all the families who now take their kids out of school. We've been the last two summers, and had low-moderate crowds. Meanwhile, fall & spring crowds have gotten heavier. As for the prices, check the difference between midsummer & fall prices/availability, or the difference between midsummer & spring prices/availability. It's the truth. Midsummer is now cheaper & less crowded than much of the school year.

The WDW weather also won't be any nicer in early September than it is in midsummer.

Yup. I'm at WDW every three months, only because of work trips in Orlando. I take the family for an extended trip one or two times year on top of that. So, I've been there all different times of the year. @Shanti is definitely correct. I've notice the same trends myself just going as often as I do. Not worth the unexcused absences, imo. Nonetheless, have a great time @Mollymarie86.

 

[TowMater92]

I missed a week of school every year in High School to go to WDW and its really not a big deal. Do the work if they give it to you before or do it when you come back either way they're your kids so do what you feel is best for them. Most of my teachers told me to have fun and not worry about school work and they'll give me the assignments when I get back. I had some catch up in math when I got back and had extra questions for a few days since I took harder math classes but the teacher always helped well except for one but he didn't help anyone or answer questions. The teachers that take it as an insult need to relax the parent is doing what they decide to do with their family and that's their business not yours and they are coming to you trying to make it easier on you also by letting you decide how you want their child to makeup work.

 

[North of Mouse]

How old are your kids? If they are not in high school, sure, take them out. But high school? No way. High school attendance and grades, even freshman year, go off to colleges.

I say take them out! Sure didn't hurt our three (yes, even through HS). They were all honor students and the youngest was a Merit Scholar with a choice of 5 Universities - Free!

We always kept good relations with our children's teachers, our children gave no issues, and we 'never' had problems.
Don't agree with @rebelbuddhist - our 3 never had a teacher like that! Our vacations were worth far more in the scheme of things than a week of school missed.

OP, enjoy every minute!

 

[LSUmiss]

I just have to say that if it's our first(and probably only) time at Disney World, I want it to be a great experience and not miserable...if we go in the summer, it hot and crowded..why would I spend so much money to go and not have the best time...? I haven't taken my kids out of school before for a vacation, so it's not like I do it every year.

Unfortunately, it will be just as hot as the typical summer months. I have been in June, July, August & Septemeber. All have been equally hot. Also, it's always crowded at WDW now.

 

[mdb78]

For elementary I don't really see a problem, but middle and high school can be different, and it also depends how your child does in school.
I get that teachers plan everything, but also understand some people can't get those popular days/ weeks/ breaks off due to seniority in the job. My husband was finally able to get one vacation week this past summer. My friend's husband hasn't been able to get time off during the summer and forget about those thanksgiving, Christmas and spring breaks. Luckily, most of my daughter's teachers know that some people just can't vacation during school breaks (whether it's the job or financial reasons) and they're totally cool with it as long as you give them notice.

 

[srwarden1928]

As a former teacher from a family FULL of teachers, I say take your elementary school age child out of school for vacation if that is when your family can go. Vacations are important too. I missed two weeks of school a year, first through sixth grades. Catching up was NEVER a problem. On the other hand, in middle and high school, grades become much more important, catching up becomes much more difficult. Especially if your school has a block schedule, where four courses are completed each semester. Many students ended up with lower grades because of the time they missed, even if it was excused and they had full opportunity to make up the work.

 

[mesaboy2]

Historical AP blockout dates are summer, spring break/Easter, and Christmas. Until I see those change, I'm confident summer is still among the 3 most crowded times of year.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

As a retired teacher who gave many years of my life to teaching, I can't disagree more.

Shocker! Teacher advocates not vacationing during school. School is important, but so is family time. If it has to occur during school, a week won't make a kid a high school dropout. Teachers spend way more time on distracted students than actually teaching anyways.

 

[Amelia :)]

You guys are all very lucky. The teachers here in the U.K. Are very strict about absences, they all go down as unauthorised and we can get fined. I took my daughter out last year and I'm doing it again this year. You do what you feel is best for the family.

 

[Realfoodfans]

My DGS is also on the autistic spectrum - along with bowel problems - one year we missed most of his summer as he was in hospital for some weeks and had to cancel our holiday- the (UK) company were so kind they moved the whole holiday on to the next year after receiving the Consultant letter. In addition he's missed a lot of school through ill health - if it ever suits them to take him out of school I'd say go for it!
He will miss the last 2 days of next term when we return to WDW.
In the UK if you don't get special permission you are fined for taking a child our of school for holiday. Someone tried to challenge this in court but failed.

 

[ghtx]

You haven't researched that much, then, or you've been reading website articles that are a few years old. WDW attendance patterns are changing, in part due to all the families who now take their kids out of school. We've been the last two summers, and had low-moderate crowds. Meanwhile, fall & spring crowds have gotten heavier. As for the prices, check the difference between midsummer & fall prices/availability, or the difference between midsummer & spring prices/availability. It's the truth. Midsummer is now cheaper & less crowded than much of the school year.

The WDW weather also won't be any nicer in early September than it is in midsummer.

I seriously doubt that's true... are you trolling us?

OP I took my son out of school once for four days, and next week we'll be taking all of our kids out for 1.5 days.

 

[chs27]

We're taking three days in October following a two day fall break. That's the only way we would get to experience the Halloween fun. Normally, we skip in the spring.

 

[Kindermouse]

This late in the game it may be too late to request work for an absence. Our school has a 2 weeks notice policy for independent study contracts (which is what missing work is). This is the only way that it is manageable for teacher who often has to create alternate lessons from scratch since the way a lot of the curriculum is written it really isnt something that you can make a copy of and do at home. The worksheet that we do for 5 minutes to close our 30 minute lesson will in no way substitute for the lesson so something different has to be made up-often from thin air and nothing more than creative thinking and a can do attitude. And if you get that request a few days in advance when you already have district mandated extras and responsibilities that will have you working 11-13 hour days just to get by...nope there is no way to get that missing work.

I also wont go in the summer because of the heat but there are other weeks with long weekends and other school breaks that you can take advantage of so that your kids dont have to be pulled out or can at least be pulled out for less time. They may be busier but, such is the life of a parent, its not all that convenient much of the time. I'm sure I am preaching to the choir here.

ETA: not all students struggle with missing a little school once in a while I had a student last year that went to Disney often but only missed a couple of days here and there and she never suffered for it. I had 2 others that took 2 week long trips to the Caribbean and mexico ant they fell far behind and never could quite catch up because they struggled to stay afloat when they were at school. This makes a difference-know where your kids are at.