We took our kids out at that age but I think over a week is a bit much. I would do the spring break trip and reschedule the Nov trip for Christmas or Thanksgiving when he's already off school.
I have debated rescheduling the November trip, but I am purposely planning it around Veteran's Day holiday (Monday) already to minimize time off. And my cousin's family is going at that same time and we want to meet up with them (we haven't seen them in years (they live in Michigan).
Really, the only reason I am considering going twice in the same school year is because of other family members going and because I was planning on getting an AP anyway! So really, they are sorta dictating when I go. We have the flexibility since we won't fly there and only have one kid in school.
Our kids get 12 weeks off during the summer, a week off at Thanksgiving, a week off for Spring Break, almost 3 weeks off during winter break, 2 additional days off around President's Day, and 2 additional days off for Fall Break. It's a lot of days off that are either already full weeks or are chunked enough that you could take off a week. That's before I count the one-day off holidays, etc.
That seem a lot more generous than my school district. How do they fit 180 days in that time?
Having an entire week off for Thanksgiving or having a "Fall Break" of 2 days or 3 weeks off for Christmas would be amazing (we get less than 2)
As for my school's vacation: Here is my school districts days off;
We start 8/27.
They have the normal holidays - Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving (3 weekdays), Christmas/New Year (8 weekdays), MLK day, Easter week (5 weekdays in April), Memorial Day and off for the year on June 7.
The are a scattering of half days out there, that are worthless - those seem more for the teachers than the parents, as you can't really go on vacation and a lot of parents have to scramble for day care for their younger children.
So, sure, plenty of days off in big chunks to take family vacations. So while I could go on a WDW vacation during Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter week -- so will everyone else and that just doesn't seem worth the time or money to fight those crowds I've read about here. *shrug*. And like I said, they don't line up with my out-of-state family plans.
I probably will choose to go those times that when the kids are older (they are more independent, more mobile, and less whiny about long lines, etc.), but not now.
All in all, I am sure it won't be a problem with my son's teacher or school (unless we start doing it year after year
). I am sure there are plenty of families that pull their kids for a week or two.