Educational Disney Trip?

[CoolPool]

This sounds so stupid but I'm suffering angst right now because I've found out that while I've been planning vacations, other parents of my kids friends have been enrolling them in Summer Enrichment Programs which attempt to teach math and reading so that their kids have a jumpstart on the next year. (What? What happened to summer? What happened to play?) So now I'm thinking I've got to do some "real world" education at the World. Has anyone ever heard of workbooks that take kids around the parks...ask them to read something or count something, etc. whilst touring? Or do I make it up myself? You know, "How many spires down the Castle have?" (My kids are still young.) Suggestions, recommendations sought. Thanks.

 

[cheapi86]

I say do that now (maybe one workbook activity a day) and then let your vacation be a vacation!

 

[missdramaqueen]

my mom bought my 4 year old brother disney workbooks...they make them for math (money, geometry etc.) Phonics, Reading and plenty more topics
I've seen them in grade levels, K, 1, 2, and 3

 

[briarberry]

I am a teacher and I also have a DD10. We have been to WDW the last three summers. She goes to drama camp for two weeks too where she has fun!!! She has never been enrolled in any educational camps and she never will be. I say let your kids have a fun summer. I can't believe what I read on these boards about kids going for extra schooling in the summer!!!! There is a huge marketing machine out there making sure we all think we are being bad parents because our kids aren't constantly "learning". The workbook publishers are making a fortune! In my opinion doing a workbook page isn't a terribly effective way of learning a new concept. Having your child out experiencing new and exciting things is a much better way to have them learn. Relax and let them be kids. I seriously doubt in ten years time it will matter if they did some enrichment this summer.

 

[crisi]

We have our kids keep a journal "something you learned and your favorite thing" for each day. When they were little they drew pictures and we wrote captions. Is low impact, and they go back to their old journals.

There are always teaching moments for little kids "can you find an A on that sign" - "how many kids are in that stroller." "What color Dumbo do you want to ride."

 

[Stitch'sCousin]

At home, have the kids read some books from the library (or you can read to them) on a daily basis. At WDW, go with the "teaching moments" when they come up. For example, our dinner bill was $80 and our server was great. How much money should we leave for a tip if we want to give them a 20% tip? (just kidding!)
We never had the homework load our kids have now and we turned out fine (I think!). Your kids need some time off. We plan on letting our kids have fun and enjoy themselves during their summer vacation.

 

[CoolPool]

Thank you for the commiseration. OP here. My twins are 5. They just finished kindergarten and did pretty well. They read. They write reasonably okay. I feel like they worked soooo hard. Why summer too? So I think I will make a point of doing reading work which I feel (personally) is important and I enjoy, maybe do some math work from a workbook, and then let it go a bit. I like the idea of letting them to draw pictures of their experiences in a jounal. I like the idea of asking questions as we go along and maybe we will linger a bit more in Epcot and Animal Kingdom this trip to get more of the learning side of things. *sigh* Thanks for making feel a bit better about my choices. I welcome any additional suggestions too!

 

[jcc0621]

I am a teacher and I also have a DD10. We have been to WDW the last three summers. She goes to drama camp for two weeks too where she has fun!!! She has never been enrolled in any educational camps and she never will be. I say let your kids have a fun summer. I can't believe what I read on these boards about kids going for extra schooling in the summer!!!! There is a huge marketing machine out there making sure we all think we are being bad parents because our kids aren't constantly "learning". The workbook publishers are making a fortune! In my opinion doing a workbook page isn't a terribly effective way of learning a new concept. Having your child out experiencing new and exciting things is a much better way to have them learn. Relax and let them be kids. I seriously doubt in ten years time it will matter if they did some enrichment this summer.

I read your response to DH who is amiddle school teacher and he totally agrees with you. Kids need time to just be kids and the best time to so that is in the summer

 

[hippiechicken]

Workbooks don't teach and they probably will get plenty of them in school.
Do fun stuff, like reading books, real world math, like games and cooking, and visit the nearest science museum.
When you get to DW, let them read the maps and write in a journal about their day.

 

[CarolinaGirl86]

Not sure how old your kids are, but if they're rather young (kindergarten-ish maybe?) How about a coloring page like T is for Tigger....color Tigger's stripes orange; C is for Cinderella, color her dress blue?

Example: Big letter T (maybe to color as well) and then a picture of Tigger to color?

That way it'll be fun...and sort of educational, but not over the top educational?

 

[Colinsmom]

They can learn how to navigate a public transportation system by reading the signs (with help) to figure out which bus to take or which monorail to hop. These are life skills, skills that many suburban and country kids never learn!

Read a few kids' books about a couple of the animals (giraffes, zebras, lions whatever) so that they can learn some little-known facts. Then visit those animals at Animal Kingdom. Or, just visit AK, but take note of which animals really catch their attention, and visit the library for some books on those animals when you return from their trip.

 

[Tikicampers]

I teach Kindergarten, and I believe in play based learning for young kids. Your kids do not need to be doing workbooks, or be in an enrichment class for the summer. At WDW, you will have tons of teachable moments (all of Epcot for example).
Read signs to your kids, or have them read to you if they are able. Like you said, count the spires on the castle. Kids need a huge amount of background knowledge to comprehend what they read, point out things that might be new to your children so they learn new vocabulary words. One thing I suggest to parents is to have a letter or number hunt (would be good for long lines). Pick a letter or number to have your children look for, when it's found, you or they pick another one. The number one thing is to read to your kids. I'm sure they'd love to take some Disney stories and read them at night after they've been on the rides ("remember, we saw the crocodile trying to eat Captain Hook").
For anyone with young kids this is a great book, Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn--and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less. Learning that is play based sticks with kids, and what better place to do it than WDW.

 

[eliza61]

This sounds so stupid but I'm suffering angst right now because I've found out that while I've been planning vacations, other parents of my kids friends have been enrolling them in Summer Enrichment Programs which attempt to teach math and reading so that their kids have a jumpstart on the next year. (What? What happened to summer? What happened to play?) So now I'm thinking I've got to do some "real world" education at the World. Has anyone ever heard of workbooks that take kids around the parks...ask them to read something or count something, etc. whilst touring? Or do I make it up myself? You know, "How many spires down the Castle have?" (My kids are still young.) Suggestions, recommendations sought. Thanks.

Humm sounds like a case of keeping up with the Jones. Hey go with your parenting style. If you think your kids would benefit from a summer break (and I'm a big fan of letting kids be kids, especially since I have great memories of summer fun) let them play. The only suggestion I would make.
1) Monitor tv time, some times kids veg out on tv, videos, game boys etc.
2) make them read a book. I make my kids read a fun book of their own choosing.
You can always incorporate learning into play, it doesn't have to be regimented,or a formal worksheet etc. It can be fun. One summer my kids spotted some red birds in our back yard, I didn't know what they were and we had a blast trying to find the answer on the internet (polished up their research skills, internet skills and a little biology on the side. without them even knowing)
We drove down to disney one year and did the old "I spy" game with license plates. When we saw a really unique one, from a place they have never been we looked up that place on the net. They looked up places to vacation from Texas, Louisiana and Quebec. All the plates we saw on the road.

 

[barbmouse]

Another teacher here :I also say have them read, review math facts, etc but on vacation enjoy time spent as a family. My dks will be entering 5th and 9th grade and are great students but we don't do a lot of academics in the summer. They do continue to read but they really need a break.

 

[squirrel]

On my first trip to WDW and Universal/Sea World with my cousins 9 + 11. I had them write a journal every evening. Their teachers didn't even want them to do any school work. We left the day after Labour Day. My sister and I also kept a journal and it was fun comparing what each of us had written. Everyone had different things they remembered about the day.

I would write a journal for your children (if they are too young) -have them tell you the highlights of their day. It may be more important to them in a few years then an autograph book.

 

[Tikicampers]

On my first trip to WDW and Universal/Sea World with my cousins 9 + 11. I had them write a journal every evening. Their teachers didn't even want them to do any school work. We left the day after Labour Day. My sister and I also kept a journal and it was fun comparing what each of us had written. Everyone had different things they remembered about the day.

I would write a journal for your children (if they are too young) -have them tell you the highlights of their day. It may be more important to them in a few years then an autograph book.

I think this is a great idea! If your kids are too young to write, have them draw a pcture of something from their day and then tell you what they want it to say.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Preschool director here... Life ( and WDW )is so full of educational experences for young children that you do not have to try too hard!!!! Leave the workbooks at home! TAke a story book or two and read during travel and at night, and let your child print a line or two on a post card to grandma but other than that just take full advantage of all the educational things at WDW.

MK- hall of presidents-
Disney Clasic Story rides- Peter Pan etc.- Let it spark an interest to read the books.

Eppcot- EVERYTHING is Educational and FUN. Spend time at the living sea, inovations, Spaceship earth, Energy ride, the entire WS, Living with the land!!!

AK- It's full of animal information. Pochohotis show, Flights of Wonder show, the zoo exhitbs, the learning station and petting zoo.

MGM- Visit Cronicals of Narnia and promise to read the book when you get home. Look at movie history with the great movie ride. Learn about illusion and production at just about everything!!!!!!

If you really want to go futher...
Give her a budget for spending money
Research the countries at Eppcot
Keep a dirary of the trip
teach her to read the park map

JUST HAVE FUN !!!!!

MsSandra

 

[Mommy Poppins]

If you want her to do something, but not necessarily school work, try the printouts from:

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/kids/journal.shtml

Besides the actual journal pages, you can print out the question pages and have your kids find the answers to the questions while touring the parks. My kids had a great time doing this. They also did the journals (we went during the school year) but I printed two sets of the park question pages so that they could take one set along with them and then have a good copy to keep with their journal for the teacher.

Have fun! While we do get our kids each a workbook at the beginning of the summer, we don't demand that they sit down every day for a certain amount of time and work on it. Summer is a time to regroup and recharge their batteries. They need to be outside playing, running around, getting lots of exercise, etc. I firmly believe kids need to be kids. As a society we've gotten so into our kids being involved in so many activities that our schedules barely leave time to breathe. Enjoy your summer!

 

[MiniGirl]

Slacker mom, here Now, my girls are young, but we will not be doing enrichment classes during the summer. We don't have time. Too many other things to do -- like swim classes and free movie mornings at the local theatre, and yes, DISNEY!!!

My oldest just finished 1st grade. She loves school and was easily one of the strongest students in her class, but she hit the wall BIG TIME about 2 or 3 weeks before school ended. I wouldn't want to push her during the summer and risk making her not like school anymore. Now, that's not to say we're not doing anything. She always has her nose in a book, so we have signed up for every reading program within a 10 mile radius. I actually did buy a workbook the school was recommending because my dd does enjoy these. However, she got a hold of it and finished it before school was even out, so we won't be doing that. Like others have said though, there are teaching opportunities all around. We just need to be mindful of them, and they are really everywhere at WDW.

Go and have fun and don't worry about what Suzy's of Johnny's mom is doing.

 

[mariettadisney71]

Kids get plenty of schooling during school. If your kids get a head start, they might be bored while the teacher is showing the other kids. Let them have fun during summer. But since you asked:

1.We brought flash cards to do in line while waiting for a ride.
2.We had him help figureing out the bill/change
3.Played the alphabet game (Try to find an A,B,C... in a sign)
4.Played when I went to Disney I packed ...(something A, then something B....)

Have fun on your trip and just be a kid with your kid. The kids will get enough teaching in school, don't worry about the summer programs.