Disney ABC's - not unreasonable, is it?

[rebecca314]

So I finally finished making a set of Disney ABC's worksheets for DD's to do on our trip. I got a Disney font and included some pix - her assignment is to find one thing for each letter during our trip. I'm taking her out of school for a week, so I think this is a reasonable assignment. She seems to think it is cool and wants to take it to share after we get back. (She is in kindergarten.)

I am taking so much crap from people at work about this. They keep telling me I'm one of "those" parents and I should just let her have fun. I think this will be a neat thing for us to do and it is not too stressful.

You know what the kicker is???? I'm a high school teacher and these are other teachers telling me to back off! Then they start talking about a certain boy we all have who will be taking a week off in March and the school shouldn't approve it. He struggles in his subjects and they said that only the 'smart' kids should be allowed to take time off during the year.

YIKES!! This is a new job for me and these people are TOUGH! Just wanted to vent and seek out a little support.

BTW, I made these sheets in a .pdf file - if anyone would like them, just send me a PM and I'll forward them to you.

Peace, Rebecca

 

[labdogs42]

I think they sounds like fun! If your daughter thinks that, too, I think you are doing a great job! I'd love to see a copy of them -- I'll PM you!

 

[Promomx2]

Don't let them get to you. What would you rather have: memories with your family or memories of working? Sometimes, you have to go against logic and the pocketbook to enjoy life.

 

[jennie-pooh]

What a great idea! It sounds like so much fun! It doesn't sound like drudgery at all! Actually, I want a copy for our trip

 

[frtchr]

Sounds really fun to me! I'm a former high school teacher (now SAHM) and I think it is a really neat idea for a little one. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[M&N]

I was an elementary librarian for 35 years. It sounds like a great idea. She thinks it'll be fun. What more can you ask for? If she seems to be getting tired of it, just help her out. It'll be something for her to save as a reminder of her trip. I'm pming you for a copy. Thanks for sharing. Have a great trip.

 

[DreamDelta]

Hi Rebecca!

Just PM'ed you about the worksheets. Love the idea!

 

[DVCLiz]

If you're approaching this from an "I think it will be fun for DD to have something to look for and color during our trip, and it will make a great souvenir for her when we are home", I think it's fine.

If you are approaching it from a "She is losing a week of academic instruction and I feel the need to put something in place that will be an educational enrichment activity to compensate" I think you are totally over the top.

I guess if I got there and it seemed fun and easy, it would be fine, but the first time she is upset because she didn't get to find what she was looking for, or the paper got wrinkled in a backpack, or she decided it was more fun to stand in line to ride Dumbo that it was to be looking for something that began with the letter "Q", I'd think it wasn't accomplishing what it was meant to do.

It's just kindergarten - you have a long, long way to go before she gets to the point that losing a week of school would have more than a minimal impact. Certainly nothing she misses the week of your vacation will matter in the slightest.

I personally wouldn't want to have to deal with that on my vacation - but if she thinks it's fun, like others have said, then there's nothing inherently "wrong" with it.

Just my opinion, of course!!!!

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I always have my kids do a basic journal of their trip. It started out as my (self imposed) make up work when we took him to WDW in first grade. (pulled out of school.) It gave him a reason to sit and do just a little bit of writing. (I think I actually used journal pages from DIS for that.)

The benefit I hadn't thought of- those are a RIOT to go back and look at later! DS, 12, was looking at the sheets he did at 7. He was terrified to go in Hony I shrunk the audience.

I have my guys do them for all our trips now- WDW or not, missing school or not. They balk a bit at them some days (and I'll let my first grader dictate to me every other day vs her writing them.) They're very basic sheets- best thing today, worst thing today, funniest, something I couldn't do at home, something that surprised me... They also draw a picture for the day. PRICELESS souvenirs!!!

I think the ABC book is fine!

 

[jennie-pooh]

My post count is too low for PM, could you email it to me....

jenn

printf.org

You know what sign goes in the middle

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for the email! It's so cute!

DS has been expressing great interest in learning letters and such, and he loves Disney it seems, so what a great combination!

 

[sl_underwood]

I dont have any advice to give, wish I did. I would love it if you sent me the file. I think it would be a great thing to do with my ds.

 

[mickeylove2]

We took my DDs out of school for 2 weeks to go to Disney and visit family. They are in 1st grade and Pre-K...I put together worksheets for them to do and also had gotten some Disney workbooks from the Dollar tree-they were really neat! Anyway, I had this all planned out, they were going to do an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening of work...oldest DD also had to keep a journal for school and had math worksheets she had to complete. Well, needless to say the majority of their "assignments" got completed in the car on the ride home, and over the weekend before they had to go back to school! Good luck with having them do their worksheets! Honestly, it's a really great idea, I thought my plan was wonderful...but it just didn't work out. We woke up at 6:30 every morning, got to the parks a little after 8am and usually didn't leave until they closed, we also never got back to the room to take naps or go swimming, my girls threw a fit when we tried to do that the 1st 2 days! They had so much fun seeing characters, trading pins and riding rides and seeing the sites, we literally spent ALL DAY at the parks!!!

 

[DVCLiz]

We took my DDs out of school for 2 weeks to go to Disney and visit family. They are in 1st grade and Pre-K...I put together worksheets for them to do and also had gotten some Disney workbooks from the Dollar tree-they were really neat! Anyway, I had this all planned out, they were going to do an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening of work...oldest DD also had to keep a journal for school and had math worksheets she had to complete. Well, needless to say the majority of their "assignments" got completed in the car on the ride home, and over the weekend before they had to go back to school! Good luck with having them do their worksheets! Honestly, it's a really great idea, I thought my plan was wonderful...but it just didn't work out. We woke up at 6:30 every morning, got to the parks a little after 8am and usually didn't leave until they closed, we also never got back to the room to take naps or go swimming, my girls threw a fit when we tried to do that the 1st 2 days! They had so much fun seeing characters, trading pins and riding rides and seeing the sites, we literally spent ALL DAY at the parks!!!

Yes, this has been my experience as well. DD14 has had a few assignments to be completed over a break, and they have been done in the car on the way home. Last Christmas we went to WDW with another family, and both kids had some schoolwork to do - they both did it in the car on the way home!!!

It does seem like a good idea ahead of time, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way...

 

[DevilDuckie]

Because God forbid your child actually LEARN stuff on vacation! We all know if it is educational it spoils all the fun.

It is an excellent idea to get children in the habit of "if you miss school we will be doing something to make up for it". It is also an excellent idea to get them in the habit of associating learning with fun. This is the sort of thing my parents would have had us do even during the summer- because learning is an ongoing process, not something we only do between 8 and 3 180 days a year.

 

[belle&sebastiansmom]

I think this is a great idea! Especially for the trip there and back. I'll PM you for a copy (if I can figure it out!)

 

[mickeylove2]

Because God forbid your child actually LEARN stuff on vacation! We all know if it is educational it spoils all the fun.

It is an excellent idea to get children in the habit of "if you miss school we will be doing something to make up for it". It is also an excellent idea to get them in the habit of associating learning with fun. This is the sort of thing my parents would have had us do even during the summer- because learning is an ongoing process, not something we only do between 8 and 3 180 days a year.

My children learned more/experienced more on their vacation than they normally would have learned those 2 weeks in school. They learned all about horses, the different breeds, what they eat, they watched a farrier put new horseshoes on 1 horse, they watched a foal nurse from it's mother. (We visited an uncle who owns a throughbred farm)They also took a boatride up Silver Spring and saw alligators and wild monkeys, yes wild monkeys in Florida...neither of their teachers believed them at 1st, they didn't know that there were wild monkeys in the U.S. Also, our whole family learned 3 phrases from about 10 countries in Epcot. My oldest learned how to make change from spending her money, youngest tried to catch on too. My oldest learned how to spell supercalifragilisticexpealidocious, from asking Mary Poppins to write it on paper for her. They both learned how to approach adults and hold a conversation...they couldn't get out of it while we were there, normally they say the minimum, yes ma'am, no thank you, hello and goodbye..while we were in Disney they held "adult" conversations with strangers. Asking for autographs isn't just can you sign this please? The characters engage the kids in whole conversations sometimes, pin trading isn't just can I trade with you please? and then you walk away. No, the Cm's ask, how are you enjoying AK? what's your favorite ride? who's your favorite character? what are you looking forward to today? During our Tea Party with Aurora, my children learned a new song in ASL, (they already new some and actually taught the hostesses a few of the ones that they knew.)

 

[iheartdisney]

That sounds like a good idea, something fun to do together, and a great keepsake! (i already sent a PM!)
When my mom took us on vacation, it was always commando-style, so I make sure when I take my kids, we stop and smell the roses. This sounds like a fun way to encourage that (and oh no- learn something too!)

 

[DVCLiz]

Because God forbid your child actually LEARN stuff on vacation! We all know if it is educational it spoils all the fun.

It is an excellent idea to get children in the habit of "if you miss school we will be doing something to make up for it". It is also an excellent idea to get them in the habit of associating learning with fun. This is the sort of thing my parents would have had us do even during the summer- because learning is an ongoing process, not something we only do between 8 and 3 180 days a year.

We don't have the habit of doing something to make up for missing school because we have the actual work they missed to make up. Sometimes we can get it before a trip, and sometimes we have it when we get back, but I don't think it's anything more than busywork that makes a parent feel better to make up random worksheets, which to my way of thinking are the least effective ways of educating a child anyway.

My children have learned plenty on vacations of all types - but they didn't learn it by doing a worksheet in the backseat of the minivan on the way home. We choose interesting vacation destinations and have fun as a family -they can't help but learn if we offer something as diverse as WDW, but occasionally missing a week won't hurt any child under the high school age. High school is a different story, I think. Most high schoolers can't miss school and expect to catch up.

Jst my opinion, of course!!

 

[DisneyArk]

We took my sons out of school when they were in kindergarten and they enjoyed making Disney ABC sheets. They also drew a picture to represent each day and wrote a few words to go with it. After we got home I put the pages into a notebook.

The boys are now 7 and 9 and they both love looking back at those books! It was something that they created and they are proud of them years later!

So I think it's a great idea for so many reasons!!