"Educational Opportunities" - Give me your ideas

[itutorfortravel]

Okay, I just posted a different thread about absences for a cruise next May...one poster gave me an awesome sample letter that listed the different shore excursions and on board activities that her child would be doing and explained how those were 'educational opportunities'...she said she has never had any trouble with her vacation days being excused...so what I am looking for is input regarding the different activities they do in the kids club (for ages 6/7 - 1st grade) and how you see those as being educational - we've never been on a DCL cruise so I am not familiar with the kids club activities...

I also would like to hear about different shore excursions others have taken on the western itinerary and how you would position those as educational...

in other words, I am looking for ammunition with the schools to get our days excused...so go ahead and get those creative juices flowing...what do you think?!

...and THANK YOU!

 

[Mozart]

Maybe the most educational from a teacher's point of view would be the Mayan ruins at Tulum in Cozumel. It's not the most kid friendly excursion, but it would certainly be an educational opportunity for them. If you do an internet search on Tulum, you can find a ton of information on them.

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

The excusions are not the only educational learning experiences. I had my son do a journal to share with his class when he returned from our Nov 07 cruise. Also because the staff is so culturally diverse -you could have the waitstaff write a message to the class in their native language.

 

[lbgraves]

I would highly recommend the tour of the Chachoben ruins by David. He guided our group of 94 DISers with the help of another guide. I emailed him about wanting the school aged kids to get some information that they could learn from so he included interactive things like passing around leaves explaining how they were used and spoke at the kid's level. Also, after the tour he had the bus go to a nearby village where we distributed the school supplies we had brought with us. I have to tell you that it wasn't only the kids who learned alot that day. It was a very humbling experience that none of us will ever forget. My kids still talk about the wooden slide in the playground and how everyone was so excited to be getting pencils and paper.

 

[Skuba2]

There are itineraries on the main board thread for the cruise. The activities vary from age group to age group.

If you can tie in the subjects they are working on now with anything from the cruise, that may help. I know one of the people on our meet boards was planning on taking her son to the french side of St. Martin to get to use his french.

Have you discussed it all with the teachers? What exactly is your child missing? They may be able to give you some insight into the right words to say. Also, if there are no tests or major projects going on and your child has exhibited good behavior and grades, then maybe putting all of that together can convince the power-to-be. Policies are just that--policies. They aren't suppose to be written in stone. This is a once in a lifetime trip. I hope it all works out for you.

How about your child writing a quick essay on the 3 reasons why they should be able to go on the cruise?

Good Luck!

DG

 

[tchoney]

Okay, I just posted a different thread about absences for a cruise next May...one poster gave me an awesome sample letter that listed the different shore excursions and on board activities that her child would be doing and explained how those were 'educational opportunities'...she said she has never had any trouble with her vacation days being excused...so what I am looking for is input regarding the different activities they do in the kids club (for ages 6/7 - 1st grade) and how you see those as being educational - we've never been on a DCL cruise so I am not familiar with the kids club activities...

I also would like to hear about different shore excursions others have taken on the western itinerary and how you would position those as educational...

in other words, I am looking for ammunition with the schools to get our days excused...so go ahead and get those creative juices flowing...what do you think?!

...and THANK YOU!

Animation - Unlock the secrets of Disney animation as you learn to draw "the mouse that started it all" using classic animation tools and techniques. (ART)

Digital Postcards - Place your face, or a favorite vacation memory, on an exclusive Oceaneer Lab mouse pad. (TECHNOLOGY)

Glow Jam - Light up the night when you receive your very own glow bracelet. Then, join us for a glow in the dark party with games and dancing. (SCIENCE)

Flubber - Encounter solid liquids and make your own batch of "Flubber-like Goo" in this activity where you're the apprentice. Take home a sample of your creation. (SCIENCE)

Goofy Files - Test your sleuthing savvy with Goofy's Gum Shoe Investigators. Enter the world of crime solving and earn your investigator's certificate. (FORENSIC SCIENCE)

Lava Flow - Build your own volcano and watch it erupt as you learn about the physics of volcanos. (SCIENCE)

Nestlé® Jr. Chef Experience - Join our Nestlé® Toll House chef for baking fun! Make new friends and bake your own Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. (HOME ECONOMICS)

Piston Cup Challenge - Enjoy good clean sailing fun in the cleanest regatta on the high seas with racers made from bars of soap! (AERO ENGINEERING)

Q & A with an Officer - Find out the answers to all your sea-faring questions from none other than the captain of the ship. You also view the "Making of the Disney Magic." (JOURNALISM & COMMUNICATION)

Sebastian's Musical Sea Search - Gather clues and help Sebastian find his missing instruments, then join the band and perform in the big concert. Learn how to make your own maraca to take home with you! (ART)

Do-Si-Do with Snow White - Kick up your heels and dance! It's non-stop fun while you learn the "Dance of the Seven Dwarfs," and then perform with a special guest. (DANCE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION)

Creatively, you can turn almost everything into an educational experience!

 

[twinmommyks]

We also have our children do a journal of the trip (ds7, dd7, ds12).

Other things we do include finding information about the places we are going and studying about the place (geography, history) prior to going there.

This cruise we are doing the Stingray excursion so our research will include some science in learning about the sting rays and the ocean and other fish we may see. We're also renting bikes on Castaway Cay and doing our nature ride (more science).

During our stop in Nassau, we will know some of the history and visit a few of the places on the walking tour. I also get out the map and have them review where we are going so they can learn directions, distances, etc. We hope to get get stamps / coins from Nassau to bring back for show and tell.

We always use travel as a way of teaching our children something new that they will not experience in sitting in a classroom reading about it in a book. I have found that it is very easy to incorporate education into a family fun trip, even to WDW and DL. Trying new foods that one doesn't have locally, easy to do especially when going to different ports (unless you have a picky eater).

Since we live on the plains, there is much for my children to experience when going to the ocean and the coastal areas. It has been enjoyable for my son, while learning or talking about certain places in school, to say that he has been there or done that and teachers have told me that for a child his age he has alot to offer in classroom discussions.

When shopping, they pay with their money and learn to count change, etc. When flying, there are also learning opportunities. For our ds12, we can now incorporate the aspects of "business" and what Walt Disney did and how his dream has created such wonderful, magical places to vacation (vision, leadership, etc).

I could go on and on about so many things one could learn on a Disney cruise. I simply plan what we want to do for fun and then I look at that particular event and see what I can teach my child while they are having fun. They don't even realize they are "learning", but simply think they are helping plan the vacation.

Anyway, hope these suggestions help you out with getting the absences excused. I am so glad our school appreciates family vacations and realizes that it is an educational experience.

Brenda

 

[tchoney]

We also have our children do a journal of the trip (ds7, dd7, ds12).

Other things we do include finding information about the places we are going and studying about the place (geography, history) prior to going there.
Brenda

Great Idea! We also do that. When my son was in preschool, we went to Walmart and purchased two huge wall maps and colorful push pins. We hung them in his bedroom. Since then, whenever we leave our home town for any reason, we mark it on the map with a colorful pushpin.

He has had a fantastic time doing this. We travel a lot with him racing motocross and his map is now colorful! When we did the DCL Mexican Riviera Cruise in 2005, we had fun mapping our different ports, etc..

He enjoys travel even more since he gets to physically see how many different places he has been and how many different place he has left to see!

 

[allears]

One year my middle son's social studies teacher sent him with a world map and asked him to meet people from, I think it was 3 or 5 different countries, color in their country and learn one word of their language. He got 35! He met a lot of cast/crew members. In fact on our CC day folks were waving to him and saying hi as we walked by.

 

["Ginger"]

One year my middle son's social studies teacher sent him with a world map and asked him to meet people from, I think it was 3 or 5 different countries, color in their country and learn one word of their language. He got 35! He met a lot of cast/crew members. In fact on our CC day folks were waving to him and saying hi as we walked by.

What a wonderful idea, I love that. So your son was a real social butterfly onboard, getting to know all those people. That's great!

 

[amy2girls]

Love the map idea! If anyone finds a good one online to print out please post

 

[dursin]

Well, from what I've read in another thread, he might be able to get some Biology lessons out on the verandah in the evenings....

 

[gummyvites]

We printed out a great journal from mousesavers.com and also added some other things like a map of the area so ds (8) could mark our journey and a world map and flag book so that he could mark where people on the cruise ship were from.

We also did the stingray city excursion. Before our trip we checked out library books about stingrays and about other ocean life. It was fascinating! I also had him take his small digital camera and an underwater camera and we practiced "framing shots" and other photography skills. There are some good books for kids about photography.

Karen

 

[lakerz5]

One of our best educational opportunities for our kids on the DCL last year was getting to meet so many people from different places. Our wait staff was from Jamaica and Singapore so I made sure that the kids at each meal learned something about their countries. At one meal, I even told my oldest to ask if it was true that chewing gum was illegal in Singapore.

My middle son hung out with a boy from India and was shocked that this boy's entire family flew to Orlando from India for the cruise. Then he met another boy that only ate kosher from Israel and learned that he couldn't play one of the games since it required eating some items that weren't kosher. I was so thrilled that my oldest just met teens from different states that he could learn something about were they all were from. I believe that there was even a teen that was from South Africa that lived on the ship with his dad.

It was one of the reasons besides all the wonderful things a DCL experience involves that we booked again. So I did have all my kids do the stingray experience, since they "learned something", but I felt the interaction with others from elsewhere was even better

 

[gummyvites]

One of our best educational opportunities for our kids on the DCL last year was getting to meet so many people from different places. Our wait staff was from Jamaica and Singapore so I made sure that the kids at each meal learned something about their countries. At one meal, I even told my oldest to ask if it was true that chewing gum was illegal in Singapore.

My middle son hung out with a boy from India and was shocked that this boy's entire family flew to Orlando from India for the cruise. Then he met another boy that only ate kosher from Israel and learned that he couldn't play one of the games since it required eating some items that weren't kosher. I was so thrilled that my oldest just met teens from different states that he could learn something about were they all were from. I believe that there was even a teen that was from South Africa that lived on the ship with his dad.

It was one of the reasons besides all the wonderful things a DCL experience involves that we booked again. So I did have all my kids do the stingray experience, since they "learned something", but I felt the interaction with others from elsewhere was even better

Yes!!! This was what we enjoyed, too. I loved talking with the kids about these other countries. We also talked with our kids about what it must be like to be away from their families for so long, what it must be like to work on a cruise ship, etc. We even found a website (sorry don't remember the link) that showed what it was like to live on a DCL ship -- their dress code, crew quarters, etc. My kids were fascinated by that stuff. I wanted to make sure our kids viewed our servers as real people -- not people just here to "serve" us.

Karen

 

[itutorfortravel]

Thank you! Your ideas are great! I love reading them You're enabling me to make a very convincing argument to the school!

 

[dday2022]

When we pulled our 5yo DD out of school for her last cruise, we sent a letter to the teacher and principal explaining what we were doing and asked for any homework or extra assignments that they may want to give. We also explained to them that we felt traveling was an excellent way to expand our daughters horizons.

During the trip our daughter did the following things.
a) Kept a daily journal of her activities onboard or at the various ports.
b) We had each castmember she came into contact with write a greeting to her class in whatever native language they spoke. This we kept in a Disney Character autograph book.
C) She also had to mark on a map the location of the ship each morning and evening.

This seemed to keep the educators off of our backs for taking her out for a week.

 

[go2cindys]

Yes!!! This was what we enjoyed, too. I loved talking with the kids about these other countries. We also talked with our kids about what it must be like to be away from their families for so long, what it must be like to work on a cruise ship, etc. We even found a website (sorry don't remember the link) that showed what it was like to live on a DCL ship -- their dress code, crew quarters, etc. My kids were fascinated by that stuff. I wanted to make sure our kids viewed our servers as real people -- not people just here to "serve" us.

Karen

There are experiences from a cruise cast member in training (about 6 parts) is on allears.com. Very interesting. Those people really work hard!!! Another good reason to tip well for great service.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

We have managed to do DCL about every 18 months, so not yearly or more as some on the DIS; but that had us there in K and 2nd grade for my DS and K for my DD. We introduced to my son the dollar/peso exchange in Mexico on our Western, he was 2nd grade then.

When he came back and talked about "how his parents had an argument about bringing Flubber through Customs" (I tell you, the details they add you have to love them); his teacher said it sparked a much detailed conversation about customs and what it is and how it differs country to country. She said they went on to disuss why some items may be prohibited. I think that is an educational opportunity in itself. This is a concept some adults do not get.

When we were in Mexico they were still rebuilding and a lot of evidence of damage was still there. We went on to discuss with my then 4 yo and 8 yo how they are not govern under the same requirements as here in the US, so the McDonalds in Cozumel would not get in trouble that the sinks did not work in the bathroom because the plumming was not full restored. How is that for learning.

My DS is a geography geek and he started to compile a list of how to greet people in every language one cruise and that list has exspanded over the years. He started calculating others' distance from their homeland to PC. This year he caluclated it in notical miles. This past cruise he was now upset because we did not get pictures of all of the different flaggs from the nations on the last night, so he could play "name that country later".

This past March we had a lot of people from Canada on our ship, (talk about French Emersion....). My DS-4th and DD-K came home with more French words in 1 week than some get in a year of school. We also then went on to teach them about the exchange rate with locking in to rates for vacation and letting him know how the US dollar is so low right now. So this goes on to discussions about the economy.... So I tell you, traveling is far more knowledge than one can imagine. So let it be a Disney Cruise or any travel, your kids learn so much. I remember in college, so many kids had major cultural shock..... So many kids grow up not realizing how large the world is, yet so small and that there is a world outside of their world.