When to take kids out of elementary school for WDW..

[Ursula J]

I grew up in a poor district where truancy was a huge issue and they had a "zero tolerance policy." Any more than five absences in a semester and it became a law enforcement matter. The literal police got involved, as well as Child Protective Services. It wasn't about kids falling behind academically, it was about preventing actual delinquency. It didn't matter that I was a top student, there was nothing my teachers could do.

Now I live in a rich district where the parents, teachers, administrators, heck even the bus drivers are all on great terms with one another. We talk and text and hang out and they're infinitely flexible. My daughter missed three weeks last year for a Disney trip, a Hawaii trip, and a cruise and it was a complete non-issue.

I can see how the context of a district would totally impact these decisions, absolutely--though involving the police seems intense! Not allowing teachers any leeway or judgment seems to be a common theme in these posts, and that's too bad; a good teacher who can get to know his/her students and make decisions accordingly is invaluable. Also, how wonderful that your daughter was able to experience all that! Lucky her, and lucky you for being able to share those adventures!

 

[Boopuff]

I took my girls out in elementary, but we used a "holiday" weekend to wrap around so they really only missed 2 days for our 5 day vacation. Once they hit middle school, they were in sports, and activities and didn't want to miss. Our high school was highly competitive, and teachers didn't prepare ahead for vacation work. Plus if they missed for sports they would be benched. I've worked in several school districts, and most of them don't make teachers prepare vacation work (why should they do extra lesson plans - which frequently change)

 

[Rory607]

I grew up in a poor district where truancy was a huge issue and they had a "zero tolerance policy." Any more than five absences in a semester and it became a law enforcement matter. The literal police got involved, as well as Child Protective Services. It wasn't about kids falling behind academically, it was about preventing actual delinquency. It didn't matter that I was a top student, there was nothing my teachers could do.

Now I live in a rich district where the parents, teachers, administrators, heck even the bus drivers are all on great terms with one another. We talk and text and hang out and they're infinitely flexible. My daughter missed three weeks last year for a Disney trip, a Hawaii trip, and a cruise and it was a complete non-issue.

This is a weird take. Our district is one of the top in the state and what some may consider “rich” and attendance is taken seriously. It’s very a large district, which is what I think plays more of a role. There have to be set policies across the board. We also have a lot of parents that throw fits about things if they don’t get their way, so I’m sure it’s easier to deal with them with firm rules in place. Some people would pull their kids constantly if they could and I honestly don’t think that is the best thing for most kids, even those who do well.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is a weird take. Our district is one of the top in the state and what some may consider “rich” and attendance is taken seriously. It’s very a large district, which is what I think plays more of a role. There have to be set policies across the board. We also have a lot of parents that throw fits about things if they don’t get their way, so I’m sure it’s easier to deal with them with firm rules in place. Some people would pull their kids constantly if they could and I honestly don’t think that is the best thing for most kids, even those who do well.

I described my experience. I never said it was universal. It wasn't a "take," it's just what happened to me.

 

[Einstein509]

The airlines, hotels, etc. know when the school breaks are both locally and nationally so the prices get jacked up. We've saved a lot of money traveling outside of these times or as some have said, leaving early or coming back after the breaks.

I've also looked at weeks at school where there is a "Teacher's Day" or other break and travelled during that week to minimize the total days out of school. I highly recommend this approach to save money, avoid crowds, and still bond as a family. I'm of the mindset that kids learn different life skills on vacation that they don't get in a classroom and family bonding is invaluable. You never get that time back.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The airlines, hotels, etc. know when the school breaks are both locally and nationally so the prices get jacked up.

If you live in the East (where the cities are dense and the states are small), you can get around this somewhat by looking at different airports. Hartford flights might be super expensive the week that Connecticut is on break, but within a two hour drive I could also fly out of Providence, Boston, Newark, Newburgh, New Haven, JFK, LaGuardia, or even Manchester.

 

[Einstein509]

If you live in the East (where the cities are dense and the states are small), you can get around this somewhat by looking at different airports. Hartford flights might be super expensive the week that Connecticut is on break, but within a two hour drive I could also fly out of Providence, Boston, Newark, Newburgh, New Haven, JFK, LaGuardia, or even Manchester.

Good point, but sadly in our area all of the local airports operate on the same schedule because of the school breaks. We have three major airports around here in two different states. We're also east coast.

Frankly though, I don't want to drive two hours to get to an airport to get down to Florida. At that point, it makes just driving down there almost worth it time wise (drive to airport, check-in, security, wait, flight, bag claim, rental car counter, etc.).

 

[SandyinMonterey]

This has been a hot topic for many years. You'll receive many different opinions. I think the one constant I read is that it gets more difficult as they get up in grade(s). We didn't and really still don't take our daughter out for vacations. I was, and so was she at a young age, worried about missing lessons. She'll be a junior in HS this year and she already told me she won't miss school for vacation. I would just recommend your schools policy about taking your kids out of school for vacation. I had a friend who took her 2 boys, second grade and kindergarten, out for a couple of days, like 3 days to make it a long weekend. She received notice about truancy and had to go to the school for a hearing.

 

[adribelle]

I swore I would NEVER take my son out of school. Yea, I lied to myself.

He has 4 day weekends - MLK and President's Day weekends.
Starting in 1st grade and continuing through this year (8th grade), we have pulled him out of school the Thursday before one of these scheduled long weekends. It gives us 3.5 full days in the park. We didn't have any push back from any of his teachers. I always let them know about 3 weeks in advance.

We find we like MLK weekend better. It is less busy.

Once he is in HS, we won't go. Too many things going on and too hard to make up the work.

This is what we do! I try to extend on shorter breaks, usually the ones that are random teacher workdays instead of major holidays. We are lucky enough to live within driving distance, about 8 hours, and I will take multiple short trips a year.... two or three nights in a hotel, one park day.

 

[tinkerjo]

We pulled our kids out when it was convenient for us. We have never had an issue. We have a 6 night trip scheduled for January and I feel DS15 basketball coach will be more upset than the school district since he will be starting varsity this year but my older children planned and paid for this trip as a thank you for taking them so many times as kids ( my kids are the best ) so he is missing a week.

 

[pinkxray]

I work in a hospital and it is impossible to get a week off during Thanksgiving and xmas. I was finally able to get spring break off this year after 12 years at my job and that was because I told my boss once a week for 18 months I was going those dates. Of course, someone with seniority who had no plans to leave her house that week was not happy I got it over her.

While Dd17 was growing up DH also had a small business where he couldnt take off any time during the summer. His busy time was April-October so we always traveled in Nov. Thankfully, DH no longer works as much during the summer so we could go in summer but man the heat is brutal. So we still go in Nov. whatever week I can get off. DD17 was a senior this year and missed a week. I always swore after elementary School she wouldn’t miss school but I always asked if she would fall behind and she said no. She never had an issue catching up.
We now have DS7 and DD5. We will continue to travel in fall until they can’t for whatever reason.

I will say that COvid and some personal health issues have strengthened my views of going when it works for me. DD17 missed the last few months of her sophomore year and then was virtual her junior year. If she could miss almost a year and a half of school in person a week at Disney wouldn’t set her back.

I used to try to travel around weeks that school had a day off such as Columbus Day or Veterans Day but our town no longer has those off. We only get a Monday and Friday for Feb. break. If I didn’t pull the kids out when it works for me we wouldn’t have gone on many vacations.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

DS is a rising 8th grader. We travel every year in January. With A LOT of prodding he caught up after this trip. I told him that if he can’t prove that he can keep up academically we will need to move our trips to November (when it is much more crowded) once he hits high school. My husband is a professor so that means Daddy wouldn’t be able to come if we have to shift, and spring breaks don’t line up either. I can only say “talk to your teachers” 950 million times after all!

I’m going to keep pulling the kids out in January until proven otherwise. These memories are priceless!

 

[Karalee402]

I work in a hospital and it is impossible to get a week off during Thanksgiving and xmas. I was finally able to get spring break off this year after 12 years at my job and that was because I told my boss once a week for 18 months I was going those dates. Of course, someone with seniority who had no plans to leave her house that week was not happy I got it over her.

While Dd17 was growing up DH also had a small business where he couldnt take off any time during the summer. His busy time was April-October so we always traveled in Nov. Thankfully, DH no longer works as much during the summer so we could go in summer but man the heat is brutal. So we still go in Nov. whatever week I can get off. DD17 was a senior this year and missed a week. I always swore after elementary School she wouldn’t miss school but I always asked if she would fall behind and she said no. She never had an issue catching up.
We now have DS7 and DD5. We will continue to travel in fall until they can’t for whatever reason.

I will say that COvid and some personal health issues have strengthened my views of going when it works for me. DD17 missed the last few months of her sophomore year and then was virtual her junior year. If she could miss almost a year and a half of school in person a week at Disney wouldn’t set her back.

I used to try to travel around weeks that school had a day off such as Columbus Day or Veterans Day but our town no longer has those off. We only get a Monday and Friday for Feb. break. If I didn’t pull the kids out when it works for me we wouldn’t have gone on many vacations.

I agree with this completely! I had pulled my kids out for a day or two prior to Covid, but after going through such a difficult time with the pandemic and the losses we endured during it, I feel more strongly than ever that our family's experiences and memories matter just as much as a few days of school do - or more! And while I know the experience was different for everyone, our kids did a year and a half of virtual school and though it was hard, it did show us that they can learn anywhere and that missing a few days for something as important as our family's time together is totally worth it.

 

[unrequited23]

We make sure to avoid testing times (state or MAP) and the end of the grading period. We've traveled twice at the end of January/beginning of February and the kids have had less make up work to complete because school was cancelled for 2-3 days due to snow days/cold weather days.

 

[keziah23]

I actually asked my daughters kindergarten teacher what was the best time to take her out for a week. She told me the weeks testing was going on so we could avoid that, it was very helpful

 

[Emstars10]

We are pulling our daughter from 1st grade for the week in between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving this November. For daycare - K she was in a school that operated year round (except national holidays) so I got used to just jetting off to Disney whenever was convenient for our family. I am hoping that the week after a long weekend and before a holiday means that they won't be diving into something new but we shall see.

 

[nesser1981]

We're taking our kids the last week of January/first week of February. We've done early February & early March previously. We're timing it this year where our high schoolers will just been wrapping up exams, so they won't be too far into too many new things yet. Plus, it we almost always have one or two snow days here in Michigan that week, so fingers crossed. LOL!

 

[IndyToThere]

We took a full week during the first week of Dec during my son's 2nd grade and 3rd grade years. His teachers had no problem with it, and we kept them informed both at the start of the school year and closer to the actual date. I didn't feel like it had any significant impact to his ability to stay caught up on schoolwork.

Now that he is in middle school, we are trying to avoid doing this and sticking with scheduled school breaks (spring / summer / fall).

 

[DisneyOma]

We would take the kids out when the prices were the cheapest for an onsite resort, or there was a good ticket deal with free dining, etc. Never had an issue with them missing elementary or middle school time. High school, they were too busy to go, with their skating and dance and math team and editors of the newspaper and all the stuff high school kids get into.

OP, take your elementary-aged kids whenever you want.

 

[scrapquitler]

When do people with young school age kids go to Disney? Do you take your kids out of school and when do you do it? Any school year vacation plans that worked would be interesting to hear. I'm stumped when I look at the calendar!

As long as it was not during the standardized testing weeks., whatever worked best for us was when we did it.