From WDW To DL With Love - January 06, 2011

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

I would love to be able to consider this cruise. But the missing school worries me. Can I ask you all what you are doing about your kids missing two plus weeks of school??

Because they will be 3rd grade and K; we're also dealing with pulling them out of school. It's good to know that there is concern by others and on prior PC cruises there was the homework / study time - we were talking about something along those lines last night. It's difficult to weigh the experience value vs. missing school and the amount they would remember from something like this.

You know, it may be possible for some of us to "take over" one of the lounges on some of the sea days (there are quite a few) for "at sea homeroom", where all of the kids take time to do their "formal" (ie paper and book based) learning, either taken from school, or brought from homeschool. That way the kids can see that others are doing it as well, and it's less painful for them (and and actually motivating for them) to

We have always taken our daughter out of school to go on vacations as we usually choose to travel during part of the school year. We have always felt that what she is witnessing is important to her vacation as well. I always made sure that although the destination might be WDW - we did educational stuff along the way (we drove most often due to my Mom not being able to fly) or educational things at WDW. Now, that being said, my daughter was in a private school so it was pretty easy to get "permission" to take her and her school work.
I am aware that public school is not so easy. She has been homeschooled for the last few years so our vacations have had to become her school days. She is still registered with a private school who has a homeschooling program so we are still accountable for providing what she learned during her school days. We took this trip in 2008 and I truely felt that she was educated learning about the different countries and the Canal. Look at it this way...if you can take them out of school to go...they will get to witness something that most kids only get to read about.

As for the school day lounge - I think that would be a great idea! Although I do not bring books with us...she does have to journal. On our last cruise, some of us got together and created journal pages for the kids (you printed them at home if you wanted them) and you had a ready made journal for the kids on each of the ports.

 

[LovesToRun]

You know, it may be possible for some of us to "take over" one of the lounges on some of the sea days (there are quite a few) for "at sea homeroom", where all of the kids take time to do their "formal" (ie paper and book based) learning, either taken from school, or brought from homeschool. That way the kids can see that others are doing it as well, and it's less painful for them (and and actually motivating for them) to:

1. Have a set time where they do their work
2. See that others are in the same boat (sorry for the pun!), and not feel left out for the hour or two that they have to do their work.

Maybe this was done on previous PC cruises?

Either way, it's an interesting idea, one that I'd be happy to explore with DCL (reserving a lounge, etc.) if there is any interest.

I know that DD(11) and DDs(7, 7) would have a better time of it if they could see that thier friends were working on formal school work at the same time.

Let me know if any of you would be interested.

I love this idea!

 

[Shoshie]

Web site looks awesome!

Are we using the database visible on Jeff's website for an FE list, so there's no need to keep a seperate list? OR should I be getting people to sign up for the FE's seperate? Someone please give me guidance here.

I think we could put the FE list on there so it doesn't get lost... maybe another column on the roll call. Or we can have a separate page that also includes info on when to do the FE exchange and how -- whenever we decide it.

 

[KayR]

You know, it may be possible for some of us to "take over" one of the lounges on some of the sea days (there are quite a few) for "at sea homeroom", where all of the kids take time to do their "formal" (ie paper and book based) learning, either taken from school, or brought from homeschool. That way the kids can see that others are doing it as well, and it's less painful for them (and and actually motivating for them) to:

1. Have a set time where they do their work
2. See that others are in the same boat (sorry for the pun!), and not feel left out for the hour or two that they have to do their work.

Maybe this was done on previous PC cruises?

Either way, it's an interesting idea, one that I'd be happy to explore with DCL (reserving a lounge, etc.) if there is any interest.

I know that DD(11) and DDs(7, 7) would have a better time of it if they could see that thier friends were working on formal school work at the same time.

Let me know if any of you would be interested.

I think that's a neat idea. It will help get the work done, the kids will get to know each other and I am sure every family will be bringing a different viewpoint on the trip in terms of the learning materials that they have.

-Kay

 

[semikat]

The site looks great. Thanks so much for all your hard work on this, Jeff!

 

[Shoshie]

I think that's a neat idea. It will help get the work done, the kids will get to know each other and I am sure every family will be bringing a different viewpoint on the trip in terms of the learning materials that they have.

-Kay

I don't have any kidlets for the school, but I think it is really neat what you all are doing.

History, Spanish, Math, Reading, Science, Geography -- wow!

If you want to add a journalism class, I'd be happy to guest lecture for 10 minutes.

 

[Aunt KatKat]

I love this idea!

I like this idea very much. I will have a third grader and a first grader with me, and both will need "school time".

Katherine

Has anybody else noticed how many "Katherine" and it's derivatives are on this cruise? There seems to be a lot of us.

 

[wideeyedwonder]

Ok, please remember that the only thing that is really active on the site is the Images and Logos. I'm still working on Who is going (The list) and Where we are staying (The map)...If anyone's image is missing, let me know what post # it was and I'll get it added.

Jeff, I like the website! Might was well post a photo of the family (taken with Captain Thord on the Magic), would it be possible to include it on the website when you get our cabin info up?

 

[Tigfanjeff]

Thanks for all the compliments on the site. I can definitely get a fish extender exchange column set up. I'll probably use the same database table, but I'll create another page that will just show the stateroom # and the number of people. That should make it easier to navigate and plan for.

Feel free to start PM'ing me your details for the main list. (See the who is going link for the info that needs to be there). You can also e-mail me at monorailpilot@gmail.com. At some point I will get the deck plan map up and going, as well as links. The calendar can come later.

I basically spent part of the morning learning google's API for their maps and hunting down some weird display issues. I need to get back to real work for a bit.

 

[Tigfanjeff]

Jeff, I like the website! Might was well post a photo of the family (taken with Captain Thord on the Magic), would it be possible to include it on the website when you get our cabin info up?

Sorry but no. Only Captain Tom is allowed. (Kidding, yes, of course it's fine)

 

[ibouncetoo]

You know, it may be possible for some of us to "take over" one of the lounges on some of the sea days (there are quite a few) for "at sea homeroom", where all of the kids take time to do their "formal" (ie paper and book based) learning, either taken from school, or brought from homeschool. That way the kids can see that others are doing it as well, and it's less painful for them (and and actually motivating for them) to:

1. Have a set time where they do their work
2. See that others are in the same boat (sorry for the pun!), and not feel left out for the hour or two that they have to do their work.

Maybe this was done on previous PC cruises?

Either way, it's an interesting idea, one that I'd be happy to explore with DCL (reserving a lounge, etc.) if there is any interest.

I know that DD(11) and DDs(7, 7) would have a better time of it if they could see that thier friends were working on formal school work at the same time.

Let me know if any of you would be interested.

On the 08 WBPC we had a retired school teacher 'supervise' study time for some of the kids on the cruise. There were a couple sessions and she was compansated by the parents. It really worked well for the kids to have a set time to do their work. I don't know where they set up, but I believe DCL provided an area for them to work (may have been a spot in one of the restaurants...like they did for our scrapbooking class).

.

 

[KayR]

What also might be a good idea is either a separate thread on the different ways we can use this trip as a learning opportunity. (It might all get lost in this thread). I know I would like to do some pre trip work with my kids so that they (and me too!) get as much out of this trip as possible. We are unlikely to repeat this trip again, so I will treat it as our one and only opportunity.

--Kay

 

[wideeyedwonder]

What also might be a good idea is either a separate thread on the different ways we can use this trip as a learning opportunity.

If you start the thread and post a link to it here, I will participate in it!

And maybe Denise can put a link to any such thread at the head of this (any any other) cruise meet thread.

(And Denise, if you read this, there was a "tween/teen only" PC repo thread started a few days back, if you can find the link, can you add that to the first page links as well? Thanks!)

 

[ColoBlu6]

Ok, please remember that the only thing that is really active on the site is the Images and Logos. I'm still working on Who is going (The list) and Where we are staying (The map). I'm probably going to add the "Where we are from" with a map of the US and our hometowns.

I've tested this out on IE 8 and Firefox 3.5. No guarantees with older browsers, but I'll do what I can.

http://www.wonderpanama2011.com/

I need to code my interface for the database for the lists, and once that is done I will start getting things up.

If anyone's image is missing, let me know what post # it was and I'll get it added.

WOW Looks great, thank you for all your hard work..

 

[JenKatt]

Quick question about dining... In '05 we guessed and guessed right for the dining rotation and got the "good rotation" i.e. Lumiere's for formal night and Parrot Cay for Pirate Night. On the other PC cruises, which rotation was the "good one?"

 

[ColoBlu6]

I just had to post this, we were at DLR resort last week (our first stay at the DVC GCVs), and the Halloween fireworks ROCKED. A must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlb_iPg1g7Q



Yea, someone else likes my tagline!

Wow, that was great thank you for sharing.. We would like to go down to Disneyland for the holidays..

 

[Tracyvp]

Are we using the database visible on Jeff's website for an FE list, so there's no need to keep a seperate list? OR should I be getting people to sign up for the FE's seperate?

I think it will depend on how we decide to do the FE gifts. If it's just as individuals, then it can stay on the main database as just one more category. If we do it as groups, then, although having the FE participants listed on the database will still be needed (so we know where to deliver the gifts) you (or whoever is organizing it) will need a separate list to coordinate who's going in what group. It's also fun to see that list so you can see who to credit for your awesome gifts when you get them! Does that make sense?

 

[TDC Nala]

yeah, I'm really not that into reading a thread with lots of posts about how to earn kids school credit for a cruise - a separate thread for parents with this issue would be the way to go IMHO.

I'm holding off on any of the FE stuff until I see how many participate. I pack light both arriving and departing. I think the best gifts may be edible. Or maybe drinkable.

 

[Tigfanjeff]

Or maybe drinkable.

 

[aan1701]

Thank you ver much Jeff. I am sure the site is great. I was trying to check it out on my iPhone. While I was able to conect to the site icould not scroll at all. Once the screen was filled images were cut off, the list of people would not move. Just wonder how the other iPhone users got it to work. Jeff it looks fantastic and I can't wait to see it in all it's glory.