Can I take my child to Disney for vacation?

[wileybunch]

And the kids are only in Kindergarden & 2nd grade!

Oh my goodness .... if they show deficiencies in cutting out construction paper shapes, it will be all your fault!

 

[luckymom]

A Department of Education study released in 2006 showed that American 4th graders ranked 12th in math when compared with kids from other developed countries.
Could it be that one reason for our lousy scores is that parents keeping taking kids out of school for Disney Land vacations?

I am living in one of the top scoring countries and no one here would believe that there are parents who believe that vacation plans should trump school!

 

[Ohiogal]

A Department of Education study released in 2006 showed that American 4th graders ranked 12th in math when compared with kids from other developed countries.
Could it be that one reason for our lousy scores is that parents keeping taking kids out of school for Disney Land vacations?

I am living in one of the top scoring countries and no one here would believe that there are parents who believe that vacation plans should trump school!

No one huh? I bet you are wrong about that.

 

[LdiJ]

No one huh? I bet you are wrong about that.

OG, there really are some countries who take education far more seriously than we do in the US. Where the state does have greater control.

 

[stealth2]

I'm sorry, but I really do laugh at the whole "Disney is educational" premise. And there really are other times to schedule a family trip that would still be off-season and not miss school (spring break, for example - the timing of that break varies widely). But.... whatever. It's not something I'd agree to, either.

 

[haiku]

I don't think one can explain away american education woes by our disney vacations....

Other countries also have much different schedules, and styles than most american schools...

Though one can learn a lot about the world and science at Epcot, I too find the educational aspects of Disney a bit dubious....

The older children get the more damaging absence becomes to thier school career....

After witnessing a full loss of letter grade for a few core subjects.. for the majority of the year, with my older middle school steps last year after they missed a week of school, I don't think I will consider a week out again now that my elementary schooler, is older....

 

[nextwife]

Spring Break is also peak time, but besides that, often there are TWO working parents traveling, and in many offices, only one person from each dept can be gone at the same time. That means only the person with seniority GETS spring break as their time off. The vacation must be whatever week BOTH parents in the traveling household are allowed to be off. In our case, we travelling with another family and shared a large condo, and it had to be a week when all four working parents were allowed to be off work.

Sorry, as someone who lost their dad when they were young, IMHO, any special family time together, in the long run of life, trumps a couple days at school in an entire school year. Next year may be too late. My siblings and I experienced this EOY, and we are all successful in our field. One sibling is published, and is a sought after expert. Those two days here and there had no negative impact.

 

[stealth2]

Spring Break is also peak time, but besides that, often there are TWO working parents traveling, and in many offices, only one person from each dept can be gone at the same time. That means only the person with seniority GETS spring break as their time off. The vacation must be whatever week BOTH parents in the traveling household are allowed to be off. In our case, we travelling with another family and shared a large condo, and it had to be a week when all four working parents were allowed to be off work.

Sorry, as someone who lost their dad when they were young, IMHO, any special family time together, in the long run of life, trumps a couple days at school in an entire school year. Next year may be too late. My siblings and I experienced this EOY, and we are all successful in our field. One sibling is published, and is a sought after expert. Those two days here and there had no negative impact.

Two days? OP's talking five. To *me* that's pushing it.

My ex did this. Of course, it was only our kids who were missing school. They went over his stepkids' spring break because THEIR mother wouldn't allow them to miss school. LOL I told him it was then his responsibility to make sure all the schoolwork was done. Which, needless to say, it wasn't.

 

[JakeTheDad]

Yes, I know 5 days seems like a bit much, but again, they are in Kindergarden & 2nd grade. I have Wed. dinner with my son, his homework includes a short story & math addition/subtraction worksheet. My daughter, writing upper/lower case letters.

In my state, we do not have spring break, we may get a few days off for Easter, but it's never guarenteed, they always use these days for make-up snow days.

Also, I am a fair and understanding person, I realize that I must share my son with my ex, and I never object to her plans with our son, even if it on my time. She will just need to accept the fact that he is my son too & I plan on taking him to Disney. She would think nothing of it if she made vacation plans without informing me, she has done it before.

Hopefully the judge who decides will side with me since they are often faced with deadbeat dads who won't even pay child support, my attorney said it's refreshing to have a father who wants everything to do with their children!

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

trust me on this .... spring break is the height of season for Disney World/Universal/Epcot etc! Even us Florida residents cannot get special pricing for those dates!

 

[CJane]

RE: Kindergarten and Second Grade...

I have a second grader. My second second grader (as I also have a 5th grader).

I can't believe that their assignments only consist of writing upper and lower-case letters. My second grader routinely brings home chapter books that need read, she's working on a book report. She has a project for "Literary Character Day" (Halloween) that will need worked on at home, and every night she must write her spelling words 3X and do 2 timed math quizzes.

That's a lot to miss for 5 days of 'educational' vacation. ESPECIALLY considering school policy is that all miss work be made up w/in 3 days of returning or you begin to lose one letter grade/day that it's late.

Our kids start getting letter grades in the second semester of 1st grade... and they're writing in cursive and doing simple multiplication by second semester of second grade.

I wouldn't allow it if it was a 'mutually agreed' thing either.

And I'm wondering how amused the judge will be that your attitude is "She's gonna have to get used to the fact that I plan to take him to Disney."

 

[mb94]

I might be spoiled being a Florida girl who lives one about an hour from Disney, but I too see a problem with the second grader missing a week of school. While much of the reading can be made up while on the trip, I have to think that they will be learning some type of new math concepts or science vocab. that would be better in class. But if the school and the teachers are okay with it, then I can't really argue. I wouldn't take the kids out of school for a week for a vacation to Disney, but I also have the luxery of going there any weekend or in service day that I want. So maybe the attitude is different is you are from up north.

 

[stealth2]

RE: Kindergarten and Second Grade...

I have a second grader. My second second grader (as I also have a 5th grader).

I can't believe that their assignments only consist of writing upper and lower-case letters. My second grader routinely brings home chapter books that need read, she's working on a book report. She has a project for "Literary Character Day" (Halloween) that will need worked on at home, and every night she must write her spelling words 3X and do 2 timed math quizzes.

Yeah but... I think the upper/lower case letters are the kindergarten kiddo's homework assignments.

 

[CJane]

Yeah but... I think the upper/lower case letters are the kindergarten kiddo's homework assignments.

Sorry. The second grader's assigments are apparently simple addition/subtraction and a short story. Which is what MY school district requires of Kindergartners this late in the year.

Still not thinking 5 days away - especially if the school has such low standards - is going to further the children's education AT. ALL.

Even if Dad were to croak next year and the kids NEVER got to go to Disney with him. Hell, MY kids have never been to Disney and I steadfastly refuse to take them. They're not in foster care yet.

 

[wileybunch]

Having already raised 2 kids where I would never DREAM of having them miss school for a vacation (both now long out of high school -- and college) and now raising two more children, I don't see a problem missing school if the parents deem it, that's with using common sense and all that. I do not think "most" of a child's learning that they need in life comes from the time they spend in school. SOME of it does, but I do not hold it supreme. We value our family time, lessons taught in the home, etc. and trips are one way that families spend time together and children learn valuable life lessons. I agree Disney is stretching the "educational" argument, but that doesn't matter. Whatever a good strong family chooses to do with their time together is their business and I wouldn't weigh in on that. If it were a lot and very disruptive to the child so that they had no idea of the concepts being taught while they were away and they struggled greatly, then I would have a comment, but otherwise, no. If a child's an A/B student, it would be difficult to make a case that having them out of school for 5 days to spend time doing a family activity is, in the long run, a "bad" decision.

I have to chuckle a little about how somehow school, even public school, became more important than a parent in a child's life. Parents can and should be trusted to know what is right for their kids.

To the foreign poster ... if families spending time together has been so gosh awful terrible for our country, how do you explain our prosperity?