Take off a week in school year to go to disney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our kids out during the school year to go toDisney y when my oldest was in K, 2, and 5 (the youngest is 3 years behind).

The oldest still got straight As and ended up in the TPMS magnet, then the Blair magnet. The youngest had straight As and qualified for both middle school magnets, but lost it in the lottery. He expects to get into a HS magnet eventually.

Missing a week in elementary school, especially early in the school year, will not make or break your kid.

However, this does not apply if they're in middle or high school.

It’s not about whether they’ll struggle academically. It’s about the message it sends.

We took ours out for Disney in 6th grade. He graduated from high school with honors and a scholarship. He has one year left in his Engineering degree, earning high grades. A few missed days of ES school for a trip to Disney did no harm.

Op, check the crowd calendar and plan around a weekend.

Good for you. Don’t care. Not the type of family I would ever want to be in.

I'll add that my husband is a teacher, and ds's teacher told us to go and not worry about it.

You don't care because your theory about priorities over one trip is a little off.

And you’ve ignored posts from teachers on here, expressing frustration with these trips.

Your kid’s teacher very likely said that because what the heck else is he/she supposed to do? You’re going to go on the trip regardless of what the teacher says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our kids out during the school year to go toDisney y when my oldest was in K, 2, and 5 (the youngest is 3 years behind).

The oldest still got straight As and ended up in the TPMS magnet, then the Blair magnet. The youngest had straight As and qualified for both middle school magnets, but lost it in the lottery. He expects to get into a HS magnet eventually.

Missing a week in elementary school, especially early in the school year, will not make or break your kid.

However, this does not apply if they're in middle or high school.

It’s not about whether they’ll struggle academically. It’s about the message it sends.

We took ours out for Disney in 6th grade. He graduated from high school with honors and a scholarship. He has one year left in his Engineering degree, earning high grades. A few missed days of ES school for a trip to Disney did no harm.

Op, check the crowd calendar and plan around a weekend.

… as long as you aren’t expecting anything extra from the teacher, that is. School isn’t a concierge service, so please don’t ask for special exceptions or packaged work. It’s a rude thing to do to the teacher.

We didn't ask for anything. He was doing accelerated math. The teacher had ds and 5 or 6 others working at their own pace. He took a novel and the work that went with it, and finished more than the kids in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our kids out during the school year to go toDisney y when my oldest was in K, 2, and 5 (the youngest is 3 years behind).

The oldest still got straight As and ended up in the TPMS magnet, then the Blair magnet. The youngest had straight As and qualified for both middle school magnets, but lost it in the lottery. He expects to get into a HS magnet eventually.

Missing a week in elementary school, especially early in the school year, will not make or break your kid.

However, this does not apply if they're in middle or high school.

It’s not about whether they’ll struggle academically. It’s about the message it sends.

We took ours out for Disney in 6th grade. He graduated from high school with honors and a scholarship. He has one year left in his Engineering degree, earning high grades. A few missed days of ES school for a trip to Disney did no harm.

Op, check the crowd calendar and plan around a weekend.

… as long as you aren’t expecting anything extra from the teacher, that is. School isn’t a concierge service, so please don’t ask for special exceptions or packaged work. It’s a rude thing to do to the teacher.

We didn't ask for anything. He was doing accelerated math. The teacher had ds and 5 or 6 others working at their own pace. He took a novel and the work that went with it, and finished more than the kids in class.

Well congratulations. Sounds like your kid is superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our kids out during the school year to go toDisney y when my oldest was in K, 2, and 5 (the youngest is 3 years behind).

The oldest still got straight As and ended up in the TPMS magnet, then the Blair magnet. The youngest had straight As and qualified for both middle school magnets, but lost it in the lottery. He expects to get into a HS magnet eventually.

Missing a week in elementary school, especially early in the school year, will not make or break your kid.

However, this does not apply if they're in middle or high school.

It’s not about whether they’ll struggle academically. It’s about the message it sends.

We took ours out for Disney in 6th grade. He graduated from high school with honors and a scholarship. He has one year left in his Engineering degree, earning high grades. A few missed days of ES school for a trip to Disney did no harm.

Op, check the crowd calendar and plan around a weekend.

Good for you. Don’t care. Not the type of family I would ever want to be in.

I'll add that my husband is a teacher, and ds's teacher told us to go and not worry about it.

You don't care because your theory about priorities over one trip is a little off.

And you’ve ignored posts from teachers on here, expressing frustration with these trips.

Your kid’s teacher very likely said that because what the heck else is he/she supposed to do? You’re going to go on the trip regardless of what the teacher says.

I see a teacher or two saying don't expect them to do extra work for that student.

I also see a teacher or two say they don't worry about it.

Pp, my kid does well but he's certainly not superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our kids out during the school year to go toDisney y when my oldest was in K, 2, and 5 (the youngest is 3 years behind).

The oldest still got straight As and ended up in the TPMS magnet, then the Blair magnet. The youngest had straight As and qualified for both middle school magnets, but lost it in the lottery. He expects to get into a HS magnet eventually.

Missing a week in elementary school, especially early in the school year, will not make or break your kid.

However, this does not apply if they're in middle or high school.

It’s not about whether they’ll struggle academically. It’s about the message it sends.

We took ours out for Disney in 6th grade. He graduated from high school with honors and a scholarship. He has one year left in his Engineering degree, earning high grades. A few missed days of ES school for a trip to Disney did no harm.

Op, check the crowd calendar and plan around a weekend.

Good for you. Don’t care. Not the type of family I would ever want to be in.

I'll add that my husband is a teacher, and ds's teacher told us to go and not worry about it.

You don't care because your theory about priorities over one trip is a little off.

And you’ve ignored posts from teachers on here, expressing frustration with these trips.

Your kid’s teacher very likely said that because what the heck else is he/she supposed to do? You’re going to go on the trip regardless of what the teacher says.

I see a teacher or two saying don't expect them to do extra work for that student.

I also see a teacher or two say they don't worry about it.

Pp, my kid does well but he's certainly not superior.

It’s just obnoxious.

Kids get plenty of breaks, but rather than using those, you all just take your kids out for a week at a time. Why? Is the message to the kid that, as long as they get good grades, it doesn’t matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We want to take kids to go to Disney. Both kids attend same elementary school. The long time lining up at Disney world sounds painful to me, and we are thinking to pull kids out during school year to do so. Will that hurt anything for school report records? And, how bad is it to tell teacher/administration that is due to we are going to disney world?

If you have done it before, which month is the best to go to Disney World for shorter lines, pleasant weather and good deals?

IF you know this now I suggest getting teacher gifts early - back to school Starbucks card, etc. Doesn’t have to be huge but something that makes teacher look kindly on your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We want to take kids to go to Disney. Both kids attend same elementary school. The long time lining up at Disney world sounds painful to me, and we are thinking to pull kids out during school year to do so. Will that hurt anything for school report records? And, how bad is it to tell teacher/administration that is due to we are going to disney world?

If you have done it before, which month is the best to go to Disney World for shorter lines, pleasant weather and good deals?

IF you know this now I suggest getting teacher gifts early - back to school Starbucks card, etc. Doesn’t have to be huge but something that makes teacher look kindly on your family.

Do you really think a Starbucks gift card will prevent the teacher from losing respect for this family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We want to take kids to go to Disney. Both kids attend same elementary school. The long time lining up at Disney world sounds painful to me, and we are thinking to pull kids out during school year to do so. Will that hurt anything for school report records? And, how bad is it to tell teacher/administration that is due to we are going to disney world?

If you have done it before, which month is the best to go to Disney World for shorter lines, pleasant weather and good deals?

IF you know this now I suggest getting teacher gifts early - back to school Starbucks card, etc. Doesn’t have to be huge but something that makes teacher look kindly on your family.

Do you really think a Starbucks gift card will prevent the teacher from losing respect for this family?

NP. I am a teacher. I promise you, a Disney trip in and of itself will not make me lose respect for a family. Please stop making us look bad (/petty/vindictive/etc.)!!!

[Anonymous]

High school teacher here. A student missing a week might be a bit annoying if the purpose was simply to avoid Disney crowds. There's going to be at least some minor impact, like not being able to give Monday's quiz back to the class in a timely manner because the vacationing student won't even be back to take the quiz until the following week, or remembering to set aside work for the missing student every day. But if it's a once in a while opportunity and not a regular routine to give your family an advantage over mine (we vacation during school breaks), then no problem and enjoy your trip.

Things only become frustrating when a student or parent makes requests that cause me more work so that you could spend less time waiting for Space Mountain...Can the student visit at lunch every day next week for help on the missed work? Can the student be given a retest for the big quiz taken after they returned to school because they really didn't have time to study during the trip, so that's why their quarter grade dropped to a B? Things like that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We want to take kids to go to Disney. Both kids attend same elementary school. The long time lining up at Disney world sounds painful to me, and we are thinking to pull kids out during school year to do so. Will that hurt anything for school report records? And, how bad is it to tell teacher/administration that is due to we are going to disney world?

If you have done it before, which month is the best to go to Disney World for shorter lines, pleasant weather and good deals?

IF you know this now I suggest getting teacher gifts early - back to school Starbucks card, etc. Doesn’t have to be huge but something that makes teacher look kindly on your family.

Do you really think a Starbucks gift card will prevent the teacher from losing respect for this family?

NP. I am a teacher. I promise you, a Disney trip in and of itself will not make me lose respect for a family. Please stop making us look bad (/petty/vindictive/etc.)!!!

Teacher here. I don’t think I’m being petty or vindictive. What I do is very important and yes, the child will miss instruction. I don’t have fluff days, even toward the end of the year. To say “go and have fun” trivializes what we do in the classroom. Perhaps students miss less at the elementary level. Still, you are building habits and setting priorities that will extend to high school.

Last year one student’s vacation cost me about 12 additional hours of work. I first had to prep an individualized unit. When the family returned, I was told they didn’t have any time to do the work on vacation. I then had to meet daily with the student to complete the assignments and catch him up with the rest of the class. That should not have been my responsibility.

[Anonymous]

In a truly free society, this wouldn’t even be a question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher. As long as you don't ask me to do additional work or make spacial arrangements for your kids, why would i care? Your kids will just be marked absent and will get no credit for missed work. It's not like your kids are in the hospital or some such situation.

And if they miss a pop quiz, they’ll fail it. As they should.

Pop quizzes in ES? What grade does that start? Something else to look forward to.

(Unless you didn’t read that OP’s kids are in ES?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We want to take kids to go to Disney. Both kids attend same elementary school. The long time lining up at Disney world sounds painful to me, and we are thinking to pull kids out during school year to do so. Will that hurt anything for school report records? And, how bad is it to tell teacher/administration that is due to we are going to disney world?

If you have done it before, which month is the best to go to Disney World for shorter lines, pleasant weather and good deals?

IF you know this now I suggest getting teacher gifts early - back to school Starbucks card, etc. Doesn’t have to be huge but something that makes teacher look kindly on your family.

Do you really think a Starbucks gift card will prevent the teacher from losing respect for this family?

NP. I am a teacher. I promise you, a Disney trip in and of itself will not make me lose respect for a family. Please stop making us look bad (/petty/vindictive/etc.)!!!

Teacher here. I don’t think I’m being petty or vindictive. What I do is very important and yes, the child will miss instruction. I don’t have fluff days, even toward the end of the year. To say “go and have fun” trivializes what we do in the classroom. Perhaps students miss less at the elementary level. Still, you are building habits and setting priorities that will extend to high school.

Last year one student’s vacation cost me about 12 additional hours of work. I first had to prep an individualized unit. When the family returned, I was told they didn’t have any time to do the work on vacation. I then had to meet daily with the student to complete the assignments and catch him up with the rest of the class. That should not have been my responsibility.

Just say no when families ask you to do that- of course it’s not your responsibility. You need to accept a little blame for taking that on.

I know a couple families who took vacation the last week of the school year and that seemed like a decent enough time to me- lots of extra recess days and movies. DC had already brought all their supplies home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We want to take kids to go to Disney. Both kids attend same elementary school. The long time lining up at Disney world sounds painful to me, and we are thinking to pull kids out during school year to do so. Will that hurt anything for school report records? And, how bad is it to tell teacher/administration that is due to we are going to disney world?

If you have done it before, which month is the best to go to Disney World for shorter lines, pleasant weather and good deals?

IF you know this now I suggest getting teacher gifts early - back to school Starbucks card, etc. Doesn’t have to be huge but something that makes teacher look kindly on your family.

Do you really think a Starbucks gift card will prevent the teacher from losing respect for this family?

NP. I am a teacher. I promise you, a Disney trip in and of itself will not make me lose respect for a family. Please stop making us look bad (/petty/vindictive/etc.)!!!

Teacher here. I don’t think I’m being petty or vindictive. What I do is very important and yes, the child will miss instruction. I don’t have fluff days, even toward the end of the year. To say “go and have fun” trivializes what we do in the classroom. Perhaps students miss less at the elementary level. Still, you are building habits and setting priorities that will extend to high school.

Last year one student’s vacation cost me about 12 additional hours of work. I first had to prep an individualized unit. When the family returned, I was told they didn’t have any time to do the work on vacation. I then had to meet daily with the student to complete the assignments and catch him up with the rest of the class. That should not have been my responsibility.

Just say no when families ask you to do that- of course it’s not your responsibility. You need to accept a little blame for taking that on.

I know a couple families who took vacation the last week of the school year and that seemed like a decent enough time to me- lots of extra recess days and movies. DC had already brought all their supplies home.

When admin tells me I have to do it, I’m doing it. I’m not taking blame for somebody else’s decisions. If the parents made sure the student completed work on vacation, as we had discussed, this would not have been as much of an issue. To ask me to create an individualized unit and then not do it? It’s rude. This family did not respect my time, nor did my admin. That’s on them.

The easiest solution is to take vacations during the MANY breaks during the school year. That’s when I take mine.

I’m curious: If I decided to take a week of leave to go to Disney, would you be upset that I’m leaving your child with a sub (or series of subs) so I can avoid some wait times? Or is that completely reasonable and no parents would complain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s extremely obnoxious to take kids out of school for stuff like Disney. If you do that you have lost all rights to complain about the quality of your kids’ education, their teachers, the school system, etc ever again. You’re making very clear (both to the school and your kids) that education isn’t a top priority.

Or you are making it clear that you don't think MCPS uses kids' time wisely...