Originally Posted By ImTinkerbellsfan I need some advice. I would like to put together a letter, for the teachers, to excuse my niece from school while at Disneyland. I want to have my ducks in a row, just in case mom and dad say yes. Any suggestions on how I go about a letter like this? Thanks
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan A lot of it depends on how the teacher feels about vacation during school time. Some teachers are okay with it, some resent it. Either way, your niece will need to make up the missed work, so I'd include that in the letter -- that you would like, if possible, her homework in advance. Seems to me, however, her mom & dad would be the ones to write the letter (or maybe you are just providning them with a template?).
Originally Posted By dsnyredhead I would simply state that you are going on a family vacation. Make sure they know that your daughter will do all of her homework...although it might be hard to do on a vacation, you may have to have her do it all when she gets back. How long are you planning on taking her out of school? Many schools will frown on a long vacation as they seem to get their funding based on how many students are in school as well as simply put "the student could get behind". I am guessing you will get some flack from people stating that "you should never take your child out of school for a vacation".
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Ah, got it. You might want to offer mom & dad to help her with catching up with her homework (assuming she gets a whole bunch). That way it isn't all on them to be the no-fun ogres. ; )
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka My daughter's 2nd grade teacher refused to give us her homework in advance even when I told her that Linnie felt more confident if she could keep up w/what the class was learning. The teacher told me that she needed to be the one to teach my daughter instead of us helping her with it. She's right. I couldn't possibly figure out such complicated subjects as 2nd grade math and English. Grrr
Originally Posted By HyperTyper Shouldn't the letter actually be written by and be from the parents? I'm a teacher, I love Disney, and my extended family have gone during the school year, taking my nieces and nephew out of school to do it. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, with only 180 days of school in a calendar year, there are plenty of days to go on trips when school is out. On the other hand, I know anytime school is out is an insane time to visit Disney. My two absence pet peeves as a teacher are when students are taken out of class frequently or regularly, and when teachers are the ones who are expected to organize makeup work. Schedules change from day to day. Assembling missed work in advance is near-impossible in many situations. However, I am glad for kids who get to spend time with their families, as long as they are doing well in school with academics and behavior. If a student is struggling, behind, or slacking, I would recommend against taking him/her out of school ... even to beat Disney crowds. So my suggestion (for whoever writes a letter) is to ASK the teacher if he/she has any concerns about an absence. You may even want to ask about very significant events like testing or major projects that are very difficult or impossible to make-up. When taking a child out of school, the least a family can do is plan days of absence for minimal disruption. My school actually has parents who ask (nicely but unbelieveably) that the teachers schedule popular school activities (such as fairs, etc.) so their children won't miss them while they are away on vacation. Needless to say, this is the WRONG thing to put in any letter. Students miss stuff when they are absent. If anything important, valuable or fun is missed during a non-essential absence, students and parents should never demand or expect accomodation. But, assuming your niece has been working hard and this is a rare treat, I say have a great time!
Originally Posted By HyperTyper Sorry ... just wanted to add: You'll get the most cooperation and least frustration if the letter reflects your desire to conform and even adjust your plans to the school's schedule, to minimize the impact, rather than demand or even request that the school accomodate yours. Be flexible with your times. Cut the trip a bit short, or spend the extra fare if you have to. With dozens of students in each class, and individual needs to be met and adjusted, it really is a hardship when families expect teachers to cater to their own schedules. Often, it is the teacher who has to give-up more personal time to honor such special requests (or *sigh* demands). Be very gracious and humble in the letter, and it will go a long way. (Few people love Disney more than teachers!)
Originally Posted By tinafromidaho I simply called my kids's school and told them they would be gone all of next week, and asked how to go about getting assignments for them. They said they would send a paper around with them to give to each of their teachers and the teachers will write down assignments that they will need to make up. They didn't even ask me why.
Originally Posted By mickeynewe The school my daughter attends strongly discourages parent from taking their children out of school for vacations. My daughter is an excellent student so although I do actually feel guilty, I also believe that family time is extremely important!! When planning a trip we always try to do a Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun trip to use the weekend to our best advantage and minimize days out of school. The kids are not allowed to get their homework in advance. Therefore she has to complete all her classroom/homework upon return from vacation. They are also given only 1 day to do their homework for each day missed. Example: Wednesday homework would be do the day afte she returned to school, Thursday's the following day, etc. If you saw my daughter's school schedule, you would understand how difficult this can be!! When writing a note, I don't feel it requires an explanation. I simply state, "Please excuse my daughter, *insert name*, for being absent from school on *insert dates*. If I am particularly friendly with the teacher, I will talk to her about it in advance. If I know a teacher disapproves, they only get the generic letter with no prior conversation. Like I said, I used to feel really guilty about it, and it still bothers me some, but my daughter pretty much pulls straight As, works extremely hard, and deserves a little fun. We are only talking about 3 days out of the entire school year. Family bonding time is just as important.
Originally Posted By ImTinkerbellsfan WOW! I knew I could count on LPer's. Thanks for all the info. Please keep it coming. I'm just going to write a template for her parents so they can use it and pass it around her teachers. Thanks again.
Originally Posted By jodiefra As a teacher and a parent, also, I can agree with a lot of what's been said. Acknowledge that taking the kids out of school isn't something you will do frequently, and ask the teacher what the kids can do while away to help make up the time. Also be willing to have them put in some extra time before and after the trip. I also remind the teachers (and myself) that building strong family ties can make better students in the long run, provided school is still a priority.
Originally Posted By tiggerdis_ It helps too, to give the teacher as much advance time as you can to prepare anything in advance. Here we get two periods a week that are about 45 minutes each for "prep", and if we had one to gather homework, and another to copy homework assignments. Flashcards are always a good thing to take (depending on her grade), so ask the teacher which math concept (+ - dividing or X) that she would like your niece to practice, along with spelling words. Writing a journal is always a good thing, and we used our video camera to prepare a short video of the things we did. (Here's the parade, here's my favorite ride, we're going for lunch, please join us etc). Along with a photo album on our return. Hope this helps, I just had a grade 3 student return from DL, and had a note from her mom on the THursday, when Friday was her last day!ARrgggh, I know how much planning goes into a trip, she certainly knew looooooooong before that. Oh well, she went, and had a nice time. And now she's back, and right back into the swing of things. Good luck!
Originally Posted By dsnykid When I was in Elementary School my parents would pull us out of school for 4-6 weeks at a time so that we could drive down to the USA to visit my grandparents in Arizona and to spend time at Disneyland. My brother's Kindergarten teacher was the only one to ever be upset by this as she felt he was already behind. My parents, however, did not ever let us slack off.... I learned more about geography, history, and mathematics on those trips than I ever did in school, and we always wrote a journal about our activities. Plus 6-8 hours in a motorhome in the 70's and 80's didn't leave you with much to do other than read and calculate the time of arrival at the next destination. By the time we got back we were always ahead of our classes so the teachers never complained. In my parents eyes, we were still learning, just not in a classroom setting. If the child can keep up with the workload, a week away from school in the earlier grades isn't going to harm them at all, and most teachers realize that sometimes the opportunity is just too good to pass up. At least that's how I feel when my students go on vacation in the middle of the year. BTW sorry for babbling and going on... just somethying I feel strongly about, I guess
Originally Posted By cindyland If the child is going to be out for an extended amount of time (5 days or more), you may want to ask about Independent Study. Our school district encourages parents to use this if they are taking their kids out of school for this time period. They ask that you put in the request at least 2 weeks before you leave and the teachers will have the work ready on your last day (some are trying to get it together a little earlier). We have also added in a trip to the King Tut exhibit for extra credit for my 6th grader. We have a total of four teachers, and none of them seem to have a problem with us taking our two kids (grades 3 & 6) out for a week. Our kids are good students who will have no problem catching up (especially with a 6 hour drive each way!).
Originally Posted By momof4boys We took our kids out of school for 3 days a couple of years ago for a surprise trip to DL over Thanksgiving. While we were still in the early planning stages ( just a couple of months before the trip- it was a last minute idea) I contacted all their teachers and told them what I was planning to do and why ( it had been a difficult 18 months and I felt like it was important for us to take some time to show the kids how important they were to us and to remind them that family was the most important thing). I asked the teachers if it would be a problem to take them out of school for the 3 days. I told them we would do whatever necessary to make it easier on the teachers. They all gave us their blessing- some gave us homework ahead of time ( which the boys couldn't do until the long car ride there since the trip was a surprise), others gave them special assignments ( journals) and others said for them to make up the work when they got home. Luckily they are all very good students. It was nice for me to know that I had their blessing. Many of the teachers really got into the surprise. Of course, I'm not sure what we would have done if one of the teachers had said they didn't think the kids should have been taken out of school.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal Personally I believe this is the responsibility of the parent to make the decision to take the child out of school and to take the steps necessary to ensure that the work is made up. It seems as though your relationship with your niece's parents (I don't remember if it's your sister and brother-in-law, or your brother and sister in-law) is strained already, but to me it seems kind of strange that you're considering writing this letter for them. I'd take it as an insult if my family member felt they had to do this for me. Although it seems her parents are more than protective, they're still her parents and this whole situation feels to me like you're challenging the way they raise their child. And as a parent I can tell you that challenging the way another parent raises their child is hardly ever a good idea. I'd just wait for their answer on whether she can go at all and then just offer your assistance on an as needed basis. JMHO.
Originally Posted By markcanada We started planning our trip last February, trying to figure out the best time to go to minimize days out of school as well as crowd avoidance. We came up with November this year, when the kids have the 10th and 11th off, so with leaving the week earlier, the kids only miss 5 days of school, but still get 9 days of travel. We also planned to go before our son went into high school, where it is harder to miss days. Plus, my son and older daughter have always been good students, no problems getting them to do homework, so I think they have earned the chance to take some extra days off. That being said, I think it is also our responsibility to advise the school of our plans as early as possible, and indicate that we are prepared to have them do some work in advance, or bring some homework with them, or make it up afterwards. That being said, if my kids were struggling in school, then I wouldn't be taking them our for a vacation.
Originally Posted By Stupid_american If you are sending this note to a teacher, use "writing" and "absence".
Originally Posted By pirategirlscully Our school district, and I believe most ones in Northern CA (public) have something called, "Independent Study" made specifically for vacations during school - the absence must be a minimum of five missed days to qualify and the parent and child sign a contract agreeing to have all the homework completed on the day the child returns to school. So long as the child has good grades and good attendance, they are allowed and so long as the homework is completed when they return, the days missed do NOT count as being absent. (So the school still gets the money and your child does not have those days counted against her/him) We always add two days at the end so they have time to finish all the homework (they get a ton) The fun part is that almost every time one of the assignments is to keep a journal and add photos and I always keep those afterward for trip momentos!
