Do you take kids out of school for a Walt Disney World vacation?
From Magic Maker® Amanda Thompson
You have visited the Walt Disney World® Resort in the summer and love it! And then you see the pictures and hear all about the special events going on in
the fall and winter. How it is so much fun to dress up for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and trick or treat at the Magic Kingdom® Park. You see the pictures of the Christmas decorations and Very Merry Christmas Parade and all the extra magic that’s enjoyed at Walt Disney World® Resort around the holidays… but the kids are in school. It’s the great question, “Do I take the kids out of school for a Walt Disney World® Vacation?”
I have recently had to deal with this myself. The answer for that question for me was “YES”. I have two children in school, in sixth and ninth grades. For our September trip, the kids were absent for five days. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is important to me, but I did not want the kids’ grades to suffer. What did I do? Both kids had to be approved with the school principal to be out on Educational Leave. They did not get counted absent, and even received grades for what they had learned. It may be called something different in your area, but chances are you can get something like this approved for your child as well.
The educational experiences at Walt Disney World® Resort are endless! If you have never heard of such a thing, go to your child’s principal and plead your case. Epcot® is enough to fill any child’s mind with knowledge. Spaceship Earth teaches all about communication and how it has evolved from the beginning of time and how it will progress in the future. Living with the Land is a boat ride that shows crops being grown above ground. Is this the way of the future? It’s amazing! You can even sample these crops as many of the restaurants in Epcot® actually get their produce from there. Don’t forget the World Showcase! Where else can you visit so many different countries in one day? Shop in there authentic department stores, learn all about the culture and talk to people from that country. Sample all kinds of different foods from Japanese to German. A learning experience like no other! At Disney’s Hollywood Studios™ the kids learn all about how movies are made, how stunts are done, and may even get picked to help! Take the kids to Africa on an authentic safari with real animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park.
Those are just a few of so many educational things to do. You can even add your own. Give the kids an allowance to spend, let them learn to budget their own money, and there is your math class! Give them the maps of the parks and let them try to get you to the next ride, for a geography lesson! When they return to school they can tell the teachers and principals how much they learned. One of my children was required to do a one page report and the other was required to keep a portfolio of our trip, much like a scrapbook. I collected extra maps while there, and he used them in his portfolio to show where we had been and what all we had done. It also makes an awesome souvenir of your trip.
The Walt Disney World® Resort is a perfect combination of fun and education. Even I still learn new things each time I go. For me, I feel the lifelong memories of such a trip and life experiences we have while there is worth the time away from school. As long as the teachers and principals are understanding and allow me to do this, I will.. and, of course, if the kids’ grades stay up. What better motivation for good grades on that next report card than a trip to the most Magical Place on Earth!
Tell us what you think. Have you taken your kids out of school for a vacation? How did it work for you?
