Homeschooling on a Disney Cruise

[Jessicavoet]

Does anyone on here homeschool? We are starting this coming year. I'm looking for ideas of how to incorporate some of our studies with the cruise. We're going to be studying zoology, and I'm going to plan on focusing on aquatic animals around the time of the cruise, so that we can learn about the rays before we swim with them! I'd also like to work in something else in each port though. Any cool ideas??

 

[Ofinn]

I've been homeschooling for 10 years. Kids are like sponges they are constantly learning, and absorbing the world around them. I don't think you really need to make an effort for them to learn something on a cruise. They are going to learn from traveling whether you want them to or not. If were visiting new ports I have my kids write a research paper on the ports before we cruise. Once we're on the ship it's "fun time".

 

[party-of-five]

We homeschool! I agree with Ofinn that kids are sponges. Not sure what ports you'll be visiting or the ages of your children. Last summer before our Sept cruise we researched the Bahamas; history, weather, currency, natural resources, etc. we read about pirates. We researched stats about the Disney Dream. But once we were on vacation, we were on vacation. When we got home I had the kids write about their vacation. My daughter met another girl her age who also is homeschooled. They still keep in touch.

 

[bumbershoot]

We did unit studies on the ports before one of our cruises. It was a lot of fun. Sint Maarten/St Martin are especially fun to study IMO.

 

[belac]

I don't home school but as part of my DS school work he was asked to keep a journal (we took him out of school for the week). We got creative and put together a journal page or two for each day, each port, and each of the people I thought we would meet on board. For the latter, it was our stateroom host, our head server, our Cruise director, the captain, ect.. Each page had questions as where they were from, what their home country was like, what they day/job was, how they got there and some basic word translations in their language.

For each port we would visit a musem if possible, if not possible we would gather information on an excursion. We researched the areas at home so I had a good idea if a museum was possible. I also picked interesting excursions where he would learn something much like OP said researching Sting Rays.

It is one of the greatest Souvenirs we have. This next cruise, he is not missing any classes but, I am doing it again just because.
I would also take photos of him with the staff at DCL and excursions. He then pasted that on their page in the Journal.
He still talks about the museum and the turtles in GC and the secret river excursion in Cozumel.
He will forever remember our servers and their history and cultural lessons (stories from their country).

BTW the DCL staff actually liked answering his questions and we respected their time, because they have very little of it to stop and chat. Our MDR servers were wonderful and after the first night volunteered new stories, or facts about their countries or studies.

There is a ton to learn on a Cruise, that was my take away.
Hope this helps, and have fun have a great cruise!

 

[mommysaurus]

I don't homeschool but I agree that children are sponges and they are going to learn. We read up on the ports, talked about the animals, geography, whatever else comes up....to me that's not schooling, just learning from our daily encounters, something we do every day!

 

[Jessicavoet]

I'm going to try really hard to study subjects leading up to the cruise, and then during the actual trip we'll take it easy and experience the things we learned about. I'm adding learning about the Bahamian government, and while we're in Nassau we'll go visit the Bahamian government buildings. I'm going to do something with the tides, sand, and waves and we can maybe do a science experiment on the beach or something.....

We'll be in Key West, Nassau, and Castaway Cay

 

[bethy]

I homeschool my teenager. Ditto to the researching each port ahead of time and then just soaking it in and seizing spur of the moment opportunities to learn during the actual trip. My DH is a CPA and he loves teaching the kids about foreign currency. We don't do anything formal though while on the boat as we are on vacation. But if we ever did a long cruise we might.

Also fun is learning about cruising history and culture - it has quite a heritage!

 

[deanimal]

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!

 

[Krissy22222]

Ha ha, I tried to bring school books once on a Hawaiian cruise, not Disney. It was 18 nights, so I felt I should. Didn't work. We homeschool throughout the summer to be able to take the trips during the school year.

 

[MousseauMob]

Port specific, adding to all the great ideas already expressed. In Key West along with all the great history (shipwreck museum was interesting, Truman house etc) there is the Hemingway house. You can include literature, depending upon the age of your children. Also to go with your animal studies - six toed cats.

 

[MarleneP]

I do not home school. However, we travel a lot as a family and my DS (15) has done some trips on his own with student travel groups. I feel that vacation is about fun and relaxation but there are also, always teachable moments. Specific to DCL, my kids were interested in the reverse osmosis water on the ship. On the Magic there is a wonderful explanation of this and once back in school my son did a science project on it.

Have fun on your cruise!

 

[jahber]

We homeschool, but never on vacation. It's MY vacation, too--some of the only time I get to relax and have kid-free time and/or relaxed time with the whole family . But as others have said, my kids have learned so much on cruises! We just don't count it as school in any way. Our situation may be a little different because in Florida we aren't required to track attendance or school days, so I don't have any need to count anything outside of instruction at home as "school." If I lived in a state that required 180 days or a certain number of hours, it might be worth it to track time spent on educational activities as field trips or instruction. I mean, if a trip to Sea World counts as an instructional day here in Florida, I'd say a day on a Caribbean or Bahamian island learning about history or biology would definitely count! But on the other hand....I'd rather just relax on vacation and make up the days in the summer. After 7 years of homeschooling, I really cherish the times when I'm able to be "just" a mom

Edited to add: one time we DID count a day as school, now that I think of it. In Alaska, my daughter did the junior park ranger program across three ports, which totaled about 8 hours of work. It involved a whole lot of writing and researching at museums and exhibits, which she actually asked to do! But other than activities my kids specifically instigate themselves, we just take it easy, school-wise.

 

[aprincessatlast]

Another non homeschooler but have family who do. I would say we always look at travel as part of my childrens education. A very important part!! I am always surprised by how much they learn naturally while on a trip. As a mom I do some research about things I would want to bring to my kids attention. My oldest ds always wants to get currency while on an island or different country. In Jamaica our tour guide stopped to get us cane sugar and gave my kids (and us) a whole lesson on cane sugar and Jamaica. Gave us language lessons on how to speak Jamaican. I found this type of occurrence with even cab drivers in foreign ports.

We ask lots of questions on whatever tour we are in or even the stores we visit. I would say just do your homework and bring it out to the kids naturally they seem to retain that so much more and talk about it years later. My kids even write stories on it years later for school writing projects.

FWIW If you have a chance to sail Princess cruises in Alaska the amount of education in the kids programming is amazing! I believe they do a similar program in the caribbean as well. The whole program is focused on conservation and marine biology. Highly recommend it.

 

[cindyzig]

We homeschool our 8 year old son. When we travel, we like to relax and he is a very self-direct learner (although I do use a curriculum when at home), so he soaks in everything. We were recently on a 5 night Disney cruise with ports in Cozumel and Castaway Cay. We participated in the Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel which was so exciting to him. One can't recreate that in a brick and mortar school very well. In Castaway Cay, we had a cabana, so he had lots of beach to explore and the ocean, but we are going to do the rays excursion on our 2016 cruise we just booked. We felt a little isolated in the cabana with an active kid who wanted to see everything.

He loved the kids club and really enjoyed the cooking classes and the flubber class. He also loved the Avengers Academy and did both of them. In fact, he would have done every single class if he had time. There was learning involved with everything there. On a side note, we brought his Mac and he collected video with his iPhone from the trip and worked with his video editing software. He also created a play with us as his characters and filmed that. I could go on and on...

We are also DVC owners at Aulani and he loved the kids club and learned so much about Hawaii and Hawaiian culture with little required by us. That is one of the beautiful things about homeschooling to me. You can move into an unschooling mode to some extent by showing your child the world. We have a 7 day cruise booked in December to Key West, Nassau, and Castaway Cay. Next year, we are gong to sail the Med with my father-in-law joining us, so he will get to see Europe. The next year we plan on Alaska, and I would love to sail the Panama Canal cruise at some point too. So, I would agree with researching ports ahead of time as well as everything else. But, I think he most enjoys the experiential learning on our vacation with the freedom to have some choice and explore. Have fun!

 

[Kerrigirl]

I homeschool my three boys (4th grade, 2nd grade, and Kinder). For the cruise they will keep a daily journal of their experience, and then buy postcards at each port to send their friends (writing skills). Previous to the cruise we will do a short study on each of the countries we will be visiting, and then have the kids engage in cultural experiences (food) at each port (social studies). We are also going to study aquatic ecosystems so their snorkeling will be observations of the aquatic ecosystems (we may also fo the anatomy of fish prior to the cruise) (science). The swimming, snorkeling, and 5K at Castaway Cay will count as their PE...During the cruise each child will be given a souvenir budget, and managing their budget and making purchases will count as math. We are considering this a week long field trip and immersive experience. They are going to take much more from this experience than the "semi-formal" schooling activities that they will be engaging in. *If your kids are into art/photography you could also have them take pictures and create a scrapbook/photo journal of the cruise after the fact. (I will have my 4th grader do this and write a reflective essay of his experience). We homeschool through a charter, and as long as we have work samples they are counted as school days.

 

[Sytrace]

My two teens are homeschooled as well. We are on our break right now and for our next cruise to Tortolas and St. Thomas (one week from today, right now we will be on the Fantasy )
Anyway, I have them research the ports before we go and then when we do excursions, there is an element of education mixed with fun in each one. This trip, I am giving each one a disposable camera to take as many photos of whatever they want. And then they can put a journal together of everything when we get back to "school"

Vacations are our relaxation time, BUT they can still be used for taking things in and learning.
One of the best things about homeschooling is that life, whether traveling or at home is a lesson and it is ongoing.
Have a great cruise!

 

[sager1969]

One of the things we have done in the past is come with about 5 questions to ask cast members from different countries. Then, my son wrote those up. He wound up having some great conversations and learned about several different countries. I only required 4 and he chose to do several more because it was fun. This was a land and see trip. I might do it again on our Panama Canal cruise. He is older and could have more in depth discussions on culture.

 

[phinz]

Does anyone on here homeschool? We are starting this coming year. I'm looking for ideas of how to incorporate some of our studies with the cruise. We're going to be studying zoology, and I'm going to plan on focusing on aquatic animals around the time of the cruise, so that we can learn about the rays before we swim with them! I'd also like to work in something else in each port though. Any cool ideas??

I've spotted flying fish from the verandah on every cruise we've been on, so you can incorporate them into the discussion.

 

[phinz]

Port specific, adding to all the great ideas already expressed. In Key West along with all the great history (shipwreck museum was interesting, Truman house etc) there is the Hemingway house. You can include literature, depending upon the age of your children. Also to go with your animal studies - six toed cats.

There's also the Key West cemetery, which is the final resting place for the crew of the USS Maine, which blew up in Havana Harbor. It's a beautiful memorial.