Homeschooling on a Disney Cruise

[Hundredacre]

We try to make the experience educational as well. We also do histories and cultural studies of the places we go. Sometimes we also do trivia questions for various ports/destinations with token prizes. Older ones- we have them research destinations as well and have them tell us what they want to do there. We do not always do their suggestions but it is interesting to see what they come up with. We only home school one child but the others get into the "projects" too, maybe even more.

 

[bumbershoot]

I remember going on a (non-Disney) cruise once and there was a lounge that was nearly empty in the daytime where we'd sometimes go to relax. A few times we saw another family there gathered around a stack of workbooks with the dad drilling the kids on different subjects. The kids looks absolutely miserable

Of course, the likelihood of that family being a homeschool family is very low.

Or you saw them in the first 5 minutes of it and the family is like mine and the first minutes are reserved for complaining. A moment in time so to speak.

OR sometimes the work just has to be done! Kids in ds's dance program are prepping to go to Thailand for a cultural exchange trip. It's two weeks and one week is during the local school district's spring break. Alas we have many private schoolers and some out of district ones as well. And some kids have learning issues. One, whose grandpa is taking her, will miss two weeks of school, come back to a week of school, and then has her spring break. This year her school took her off her IEP and won't put it back and she is struggling and doesn't have the protection of the IEP. She WILL be doing homework or she will likely fail 7th grade science and math. Sometimes it's just got to be done. Vacations don't have to be 24/7 of brainfree activity.

"Remember when we finally learned long division on the balcony on that sea day?"

 

[Ofinn]

Another non-homeschooler here but I find that doing some fun learning activities related to our destinations can really enhance our travel experiences. One thing I do is theme meals based on places we'll visit. I search the library for cookbooks and we go out seeking new ingredients and we'll have "Jamaica night" or London night" to get ready for a trip. Movies and books are also a great way to learn a bit about places we'll visit. We also keep a map on the wall in the family room with our next trip destinations marked and the kids have learned a lot of geography from it.

Just one quick thing. I remember going on a (non-Disney) cruise once and there was a lounge that was nearly empty in the daytime where we'd sometimes go to relax. A few times we saw another family there gathered around a stack of workbooks with the dad drilling the kids on different subjects. The kids looks absolutely miserable. I'm sure the lovely people on this board who homeschool would never do a thing like that to their kids, but it was a good reminder that the "learning on the road" thing can be taken too far!

Probably not a homeschooling family. Probably a family missing school. As a homeshooler who also works full time I cant imagine doing any kind of work when I'm on vacation. Most homeschoolers I know take a more relaxed approach to learning.

 

[bumbershoot]

As a homeshooler who also works full time

Impressive. Most impressive.

(confession: I always bring DS's math with us on trips. we don't always bring it out, but it's always there. he actually loves math, so when we can catch both of our attention and sit down and do a bit, it's always fabulous)

 

[JW9DVC]

I use the time to vacation with my family. Not to work, so they shouldn't be expected to either. I don't think one week is going to hurt so much.

JW