I feel so very blessed to be able to take my children to Walt Disney World every year. We have wonderful trips that have allowed our family to create some very magical memories. Over the past five years we have gotten into a trend of taking the kids out of school for our Walt Disney World vacation.
Now before you burn me at the stake….hold on one moment and let me share my credentials with you. :0) I am a former elementary school teacher with my masters degree in reading instruction. I totally value education and understand that there is nothing that can replace the work done in school. But there is something to think about when arguing my point…it seems like people that I encounter have very mixed feelings about me pulling MY kids out of school for vacation.
Here are some of the factors that have helped me decide that what I am doing is best for my family.
Family Time
Nothing in the world is more important than family time. Children that have life experiences are much more successful than those that don’t. Family=successful well adjusted children. I know what you are thinking, can’t you have family time over the summer, winter, or spring break. That leads me to my next point.
Price
Price is one of the factors in deciding when we visit Walt Disney World. Our family of 5 could not afford to visit as often as we do if we went to Disney during the school off times. I know what you are thinking well then just don’t go as often. That leads me to my next point.
Scheduled Time Off
My husband has a wonderful job as a GM for a major retailer. Now with that great job comes very restricted vacation time. The times that the kids have off are blocked for my husband. If we were to schedule a summer, winter or spring break vacation, Dan would not be able to go with us. That is not okay with me seeing as though we hardly see him to begin with. This brings me to my next point.
Educational Benefits??
In doing my research all about how Walt Disney World can be educational for families I came across a letter to the teacher . At first I read it and thought, there is no way that anyone is going to be okay with this. But last year before our October trip I decided to give it a whirl. To my great surprise it worked! My kids were excused from school for the entire trip up to 5 days. Not that it makes a difference at all but in the books it shows as an excused absence. In addition, the teachers are more willing to give your child their homework when it is an excused absence. Now I know I have heard mixed reviews on how much info to share with the school but I do like to be honest with them. After reviewing the letter and getting a refresher on the state learning standards I can see that a trip to Walt Disney World does hit some learning standards as long as you are willing to do a little extra research to make your trip educational.
Closing Thoughts
I do think that it is an individual family choice to decide what works best for them. For now, I have 2 of my three kids in school and they both do VERY well in school. I have no issue pulling them out of school to enjoy a family vacation. This will be the last year we go for a week during the school year for a while, because my daughter is a Freshman this year and we just don’t want her to miss. Fortunately, our kids have 2 of the 5 days off of school already this year…yay for less time off!!
I would love to hear your thoughts about pulling the kids out of school. Have you ever pulled your kids out of school for a family vacation?
See ya real soon!!
Kelly
18 Comments.
Until this year I never had a problem with pulling my kids to go to Disney. My mom did it for me, and with the low quality of the public schools where I am I was always sure that my kids would be learning more on vacation. Last year however was my son’s sophomore year in high school and he was struggling a bit with Japanese and Chemistry. My husband and I were discussing it just yesterday and as a junior this year I just don’t feel like I can pull him anymore. In his school test scores count for 80% of his final grade (which I find crazy and stupid) and if he’s not in class to learn exactly what’s on the test, he just can’t pass it. I really wish we were in a different school district that valued an actual education more than test scores.
Kristen I agree high school is hard to pull from. Lexis is going to be a freshman this year and I think this will be the last year for a while. :0( These test scores and the way schools function now are just ridiculous. That is exactly why I don’t teach anymore…it goes against my teaching philosophy. :0)
This is one of the huge benefits of homeschooling for us – we can travel during low-crowd times. We took our kids during the first week of September in 2010 and had an amazing time. Sure, we are also doing school in early August, but it’s too hot and miserable to be outside then anyway.
When I was young, my parents pulled me out of school for a family trip and I still remember the trip journal and research report I wrote about our destination. I doubt I would remember whatever the class did in school that week!
We always go during the school it is cheaper and less crowded. We have taken our kids at all stages of their schooling. We always got the homework before we left, and my kids always did it on the airplane. My daughter was in AP classes all through high school and still managed to get A’s in them and be on the high honor roll, and got a huge college scholarship. We don’t go during football or wrestling though (my son is on both those high school teams) but who wants to go to Florida in the fall during the monsoon and hurricane seasons. It is no problem for us going in January or February. It is in the 50’s in Florida some days, but where we live it is often -20 degrees where we live so the 50’s are really warm to us!!
I agree that High School is too hard to pull kids out of. We normally pull for a couple of days but have never done a whole week out of school. I have two in high school, one in middle school and one in pre-school this year so we will not be pulling the kids for vacations. Time off for my husband works at spring break time so we are lucky that works for us. It takes a little more “early” planning to book rooms and flights to make sure we get what we need but that’s ok. I too have had great success with teachers helping my kids make up what they missed while in lowers grades but high school has been too hard to make up.
My kids aren’t in school yet, but I don’t see how missing one week of school would be a big deal. Then again, my parents also thought it was fine for me to miss school for family vacations! I always made up the work.
We’ve pulled DS14 out 2 days before Thanksgiving in 2009 & we’re taking him out 2 days prior to fall break this year. He’s a really good student so we don’t worry about it affecting his grades. We work it out with his principal & they always excuse his absence because they know that Disney is quite educational. We booked our trips with free dining which is a huge savings for our family so we have to work around that schedule & since we haven’t done big vacations in the past, it is worth taking our son out of school for only a couple of days. Otherwise, we might not be able to go at all. We have a DS4 who will start school next yr & once DS14 goes into high school we will have to re-evaluate if we can keep doing this but for now we’ll take advantage of the opportunity while we can.
We pulled my oldest in Jan and plan on doing it again next April. We have to take leave when the military says we can. We notify the teacher well in advance, and explain that we know its a fun family vacation and that is the primary we are going, but that it can also be educational. We ask for the teacher’s input on things they would like for him to learn while we are there. The EPCOT passport that we make has a lot of questions for the CM to fill out and my son learns something from it. Now, once he is in MS or HS we may rethink it, but for now it works best for us as not many times do we get leave in the summer.
We pulled our two boys out of school until they reached high school. I would send a letter to the teachers in advance. They would then send along work to be completed.
You don’t need 4 walls and a teacher to create a learning environment. A Disney trip can be a meaningful educational experience if you make the effort.
Hi, thank you for sharing your experiences. We have a very similar background: I am a former prek public school teacher and a professor at the university in early childhood. I am all for education but I also believe that some experiences we are not able to create in the classroom and as parents, it is our job to supplement. My son enters kindergarten in the fall and we leave for Disney on September 21st. Would you be willing to share this letter you used? Thanks again.
Hi Ashley,
Below is the link to the letter I used from The Mouse For Less. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Thanks for stopping by!!
http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/SchoolExcuse/SE1.shtml
Thank you for this. I am taking my niece to Disneyland this November for her birthday, and I would love to send her mom this letter. Do you have any ideas about how it could be modified for Disneyland? I have to admit, I’ve never done most of the attractions on Main Street USA. Thanks.
Hi Mackenziie…let me look into that a bit further and see what I can find. I would be more than happy to reseach that out for you. I have your email and can send it to you after the weekend. Would that be okay?
Kelly,
Thank you for the letter.
Hi Ashley. I’ve been doing some research on this issue as we are in a similiar situation. We are taking our daughters age 4 and 6 to disney for our first visit as a family. My oldest daughter is entering 1st grade and we planned the trip thinking that we would be best scheduling the trip earlier in the year rather then later as to avoid missing any lessons, projects, etc. and also wanted to take advantage of the reduced fall prices, so we booked the trip knowing she would miss her 2nd week of school, 4 days rather then 5 due to labor day holiday. I’ve had spoken to her teacher last week and she was very supportive of the trip and totally understood and was ok with our decision.HOWEVER, hurricane Irene just hit us and has pushed out the start of school, so if we go away as scheduled, our daughter will miss the first 4 days of 1st grade!! I’m really upset and have considered re-scheduling the trip. She won;t be missing any lessons but will miss the initial days and initial routines, etc. Any thoughts from other Moms would be greatly appretiated.
Hi Jenni…well first of all thank God you are all safe. What a terrible storm! My son is also in first grade this year and I used to be a teacher. To be honest with you, I would say that it is really a personal choice but if it were me…I would not change the trip. Missing the first few days has pros and cons. Cons…missing the schedule, which remember, children are much better adapting to change than adults…lol. Pros….it is only the first few days of school and she will not be missing too much in the academic department.
I hope that this helps!! Thank you so very much for stopping by!
Kelly
I have no problem taking my kids out of school to go to Disney World. My younger ones go to a Montessori school and life experiences are a big part of their education. I have two grown children and took them out of school for Disney World also.
Back in 1996, my ex-husband took me to court in an attempt to keep me from taking our two children to Disney World for the first two weeks of December. The girls were going to miss 13 days of school. The judge decided in my favor, partly because it was obvious my ex-husband had no real involvement in their education and partly because I had documented all the steps I had taken to ensure their education wasn’t jeopardized.
I value my children’s education. If I ever thought taking them out of school for a Disney vacation would harm them academically, I wouldn’t do it. The truth is that Disney World is chock full of educational opportunities disguised as fun.
Anne very well said. I truly appreciate your honesty. I am a firm believer that life experience and time with your family far exceed anything that can be taught in a classroom. Not that I do not value education but at the end of the day…the things done in the classroom over the course of a week can be retaught and replaced, family memories cannot. :0)