8th Grade Washington DC Trip

[DisneyLoverUSA]

For 3 nights that is more than $500 per day. That's a lot. If he has already been to D.C I wouldn't pay that. I can take myself and 3 kids to D.C for 5 or 6 days for that much money.

 

[indimom]

My daughter is going on her 8th grade DC trip in May. Four days. They bus there from Indiana. Four kids to a room. Total Price: $800. And they do fundraisers during 6th, 7th and 8th grade to earn the money, so we will pay nothing out of pocket. This amount even includes a small amount (given to the student in cash) for souveniers.

 

[eeyoremum]

I went twice in highschool. We bused from Ontario and spent March break visiting Gettysburg, Williamsburg and Washington. Now this was 20 some years ago so don't recall the price. I think it is a fabulous opportunity for the kids to experience a bit of freedom for the first time and have fun.

Being Canadian our grade 8 trip was Ottawa or Quebec City. I went to Quebec and still remember the fun and freedom for the first time in my life.

 

[Kellydelly]

No way in heck would I fork out $1700 for my 8th grader to go out of state for a couple of days when I could use that same amount to take my family of 6 to the Gulf for a week. The kid would not be going .

 

[DeaverTex]

Good grief. $1,700 is a bunch of money for a school field trip. I think that my DS would be staying home under similar circumstances, and I suspect he'd have a LOT of company.

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

I'm blown away by this whole thread! That sounds more like a senior class trip! Our 8th grade trip was to NYC for the day. After 9/11 they switched it to Baltimore for the day.

 

[herdtoDisney]

That does seem like a lot. My ds went 2 yrs ago-and current 8th grade ds will go this spring-and it was $400. But we're only 5-6 hours away. I wonder if it's the airfare that makes it so high.

If my ds' trip was $1700...we'd have to pass. That is a huge cost expectation for the parents! If my ds' school offered that trip, there would probably be low to no participation.

 

[rszdtrvl]

We are doing a lot of group fundraising. Plus, as individuals, we are doing fundraising as well.

It is a lot of money, but there is so much my son will get to see, and this will truly be a "once in a lifetime" trip for him (and for me too!).

The fact that the entire trip is planned down to where we will eat, is great! And there is no way that we would be able to see even half of the items planned if I even attempted to plan the trip on my own (and I was a travel agent years ago!).

 

[sparklynails23]

That's way too much money. Almost everything in DC is free. Even if you go on the Duckie tour or the tourmobile, you can't get anywhere near that amount. I'm guessing it's a 100% markup, meaning the cost is about $850.

 

[goofy!]

It is common here for eighth grade students to go on a trip to Washington DC. When I taught middle school I chaperoned several trips and I think it was a good experience for the students. One of the teachers "sponsored" it by organizing it with a reputable tour company and got other teachers (usually) to chaperone. We always went for six days/ five nights and it was over Spring Break. The kids (parents) paid under $1000 to go and it included airfare/food/hotel/transportation and any entrance fees.

So fast forward fifteen years and now I have an eighth grade son. He came home very excited about the eighth grade trip to Washington DC, even though he has been there with us. I'm thinking we will probably send him anyway, since I think it is a good experience and memory.

Then I read the information about the trip... 4 days/3 nights in early June and for quadruple occupancy they are charging $1700! I realize prices have gone up in fifteen years but wow! And that is for only 2 full days in DC. I was expecting about $1200.

The tour company is Worldstrides. I haven't researched them yet but wondered if anyone was familiar with them. I'm not sure if we will send my son or not.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else does the eighth grade Washington DC trip and how long it is and how much it costs.

WorldStrides has been handling our middle school's 8th grade DC trips for several years. Our son went during 8th grade spring break (March of this year.) We have also had numerous friends with older kids that have done the WorldStrides trip.

Like your situation, one teacher organizes and has a couple of other teachers go with him. He has nothing but good things to say of working with WorldStrides for several years. They accomodated all his special requests including assigning the particular bus driver they had worked with before and wanted again.

DS's trip was DC, Jamestown, Mt Vernon and usual DC sights, all packed in 4 days. They got up early and crashed in the hotels late at night. The trip was extremely well planned, down to giving the kids meal money in the airports, providing snacks on the busses, etc. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly and well organized the whole trip was. I would recommend WorldStrides to anybody thinking about doing a trip with them.

Ours was the same price. Denver to DC - however, our kids took full advantage of the 4 days. They had an early flight from Denver, landing in DC at noon. No downtime for them, they toured the Smithsonian and some of the memorials until 10pm - so pretty much a full 10 hours after getting off the plane before they even saw the hotel. Up at 5 the next morning for more touring. Late flight coming home (got back in Denver at midnight), and they toured from early morning till they had to go to the airport.

DS loved every minute of it! Part of the fun was the rooming with his friends and sleeping in chairs, in the bathtub, one slept on the ironing board. I snuck an air mattress in his suitcase and he was MORTIFIED. It never came out off his suitcase. Then again, I don't think most of the clean clothes he packed got used either

The price was so well worth the experience he got! Sure I could have done it cheaper myself, but like the old mastercard commercials - getting his first experience at traveling independently was priceless.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

I live in the DC area so can't really help with prices, but I wanted to commiserate on the school trip costs. Sometimes they are ridiculous. DS's chorus is going to a music festival in NYC in the spring. They are going to bus to NJ on Friday then go into the city for a show, sing and sightsee on Saturday, then home first thing on Sunday. $750 and I still have to pay for his food.

I'm getting off cheap though. The Japanese students are going to Japan at spring break to the tune of $4000.

 

[sparklynails23]

I just remembered we took the boyscouts to DC this summer for five nights. It was $170 per kid, which included all food. Just posting for comparison.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

they switched it to Baltimore for the day.

They didn't switch it. You were being punished.

 

[bumbershoot]

Our Middle School stopped offering the overnight trip to Washington DC back in the early 2000s. They had a particularly rowdy group one year and that was all it took. My son did a day trip with his class (I was called in at the last minute to chaperone a group too) and it went fine. But I could see why it must have been hard on the chaperones when they did it overnight. Many of those kids refused to listen to directions.

If my kid had a trip that was over $1000 in eighth grade, I highly doubt we would have had him participate.

I think it's too bad that ONE group a decade ago ruined it for the rest of the students to come.

When I did my 8th grade trip to DC it was nearly 1K just for the plane ride from San Francisco ($800 round trip on TWA)...

Plus, there are guards outside the kids rooms at night for added safety.

That would have been great for my trip! So many of the other kids were out roaming, and our chaperones were too busy smoking and drinking elsewhere to really care.

I sure wish my mom could have afforded to be a chaperone. Your son is very lucky!

 

[dennis99ss]

i am going to piggy back on sparklynails.

My oldest son's (current 8th grade) class is scheduled for DC as well. He is not going for two reasons. One, the cost is somewhere around 1500. (don't know the details because my mind is made up due to my second concern)

Second, the trip has only teacher chaperones, 2-4 for 45-55 kids. In my mind, the number of adults does not meet the requirements of an adequate child to adult ratio. I think, at a minimum it needs to be 1-10 or less. Further, it is very difficult, and, in my experience, somewhat scary, to have kids in a hotel, in their own rooms.

case in point, when we traveled over 600 miles for boy scout camp this year, we opted to stay in a hotel room on the travel day, so as not to bother with the equipment in the trailer. We set up fire watches, had a room key for each room, and made bed checks, following YPT principles. I highly doubt chaperone teachers are going to be concerned enough about the kids to set up a fire watch to ensure they don't decide in the middle of the night to run the halls. In DC, the kids have much more opportunity to be in harms way, than, say, at a summer camp, where they have freedom, because of the closed and contained environment.

Personally, I don't believe these trips follow the safeguards that I trust, i.e. BSA, and, as a result, he is not going.

I agree with the cost issue as well. With some planning, a family of four could go to DC for 3-4 days, flying, and sdtay at a holiday inn, for darn near the same cost, exclusive of meals.

Finally, I don't understand why schools seem to feel compelled to offer, and sometimes, assume that parents actually want 8th graders to travel across the country on a "field trip".

 

[dennis99ss]

Sparklynails:

Did you go to Blue Ridge Scout Reservation, and make a side to DC, or did you you go to a camp in the DC area?

 

[coneeny4]

My daughter is in 8th grade and she told us a DC trip was approved.
So far I heard is it will be April vacation week and they are renting a bus. It will be 1 day in NYC and 4 days in DC. And the cost per child is $500.00 but they are planning fundraisers that will bring the price down some.

 

[mkel34]

That's way too much money. Almost everything in DC is free. Even if you go on the Duckie tour or the tourmobile, you can't get anywhere near that amount. I'm guessing it's a 100% markup, meaning the cost is about $850.

This ......

Someone should start a thread on what a single adult(not 4 kids to a room) can do for $1700 a week. I would imagine one could stay at an all inclusive in the carribean or go on a cruise for 7 days for this price. Like someone else posted I could probably take my family to DC for 5 days for an amount close to that.

 

[bumbershoot]

Finally, I don't understand why schools seem to feel compelled to offer, and sometimes, assume that parents actually want 8th graders to travel across the country on a "field trip".

Because it's been a traditional thing across the country since before '82ish, when I went on my 8th grade DC trip.

 

[kerstfan1]

This ......

Someone should start a thread on what a single adult(not 4 kids to a room) can do for $1700 a week. I would imagine one could stay at an all inclusive in the carribean or go on a cruise for 7 days for this price. Like someone else posted I could probably take my family to DC for 5 days for an amount close to that.

for 1700 dollar i can almost go to disney for 10 days 11 nights have the deluxe dining plan and park hoppers

too bad no intercontinental flight but still