wideeyedwonder
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2008
- Messages
- 1,002
Hi everyone, seeing as quite a few of us that are booked on (or are considering booking on) the January 2011 Westbound Panama Canal Repo Cruise are interested in educating our kids while on the cruise, we thought that it would be a good idea to start a thread devoted entirely to educational resources while on the cruise.
On the 2011 WB PC Repo, many of us have the dilemma of having to pull our kids out of "formal" school for 1-2 weeks in order to do this cruise. This thread is envisioned to make that problem easier to manage, as well as to provide exciting ideas to AUGMENT the schools' "formal" education. Additionally we want to make the on board "formal" education process easy and fun for home schoolers. Lastly we want to make sure we don't miss the unique teaching aspects of a trip of this magnitude presents...after all, we will be visiting several countries, and passing through the Panama Canal!
Possible topics:
1. I have school age kids...should I even consider pulling them out of school for this cruise?
2. What do I need to do in order to pull my kids out of school for 1-2 weeks for this cruise?
3. What can I do to ensure that my kids keep up their grades (formal school) and keep up with their coursework (formal school and home school) while on the cruise?
4. What can I do about extracurricular activities that my child/children may miss while on the cruise?
5. What store-bought and on-line resources are there available if I want to augment my kids' education specifically for the cruise (learning Spanish, the engineering of the canal, international commerce aspects of the canal, the history of the canal and the area, culture and history of the other countries we will be visiting, etc.)?
6. What on-ship resources can we use to make on board education easier and more fun for both the kids and the parents? Can we book a resturant or lounge for sea-day "study hall", so that all of the participating kids can do their "formal" schoolwork at the same time (and not feel left out of other activities)? Can some of the parents (or even ship board CMs) help augment the experience by giving short presentations on interesting subjects?
7. Anything and everything else having to do with education while on the January 2011 WB Panama Canal repo cruise.
And, if you feel comfortable with it, please list the FIRST names, and the age and grade level (at time of sailing) of your kids. Again, if you don't feel comfortable with doing this, it is not a requirement...it just makes it easier for other parents with kids in the same grade level to provide resources for you.
We have over a year to go, and I'm hoping that we can collectively come up with some great ideas on how to make the "formal" education process on ship fun, painless, and exciting...and the integration back into the classroom or home school group fun, painless, and exciting as well!
On the 2011 WB PC Repo, many of us have the dilemma of having to pull our kids out of "formal" school for 1-2 weeks in order to do this cruise. This thread is envisioned to make that problem easier to manage, as well as to provide exciting ideas to AUGMENT the schools' "formal" education. Additionally we want to make the on board "formal" education process easy and fun for home schoolers. Lastly we want to make sure we don't miss the unique teaching aspects of a trip of this magnitude presents...after all, we will be visiting several countries, and passing through the Panama Canal!
Possible topics:
1. I have school age kids...should I even consider pulling them out of school for this cruise?
2. What do I need to do in order to pull my kids out of school for 1-2 weeks for this cruise?
3. What can I do to ensure that my kids keep up their grades (formal school) and keep up with their coursework (formal school and home school) while on the cruise?
4. What can I do about extracurricular activities that my child/children may miss while on the cruise?
5. What store-bought and on-line resources are there available if I want to augment my kids' education specifically for the cruise (learning Spanish, the engineering of the canal, international commerce aspects of the canal, the history of the canal and the area, culture and history of the other countries we will be visiting, etc.)?
6. What on-ship resources can we use to make on board education easier and more fun for both the kids and the parents? Can we book a resturant or lounge for sea-day "study hall", so that all of the participating kids can do their "formal" schoolwork at the same time (and not feel left out of other activities)? Can some of the parents (or even ship board CMs) help augment the experience by giving short presentations on interesting subjects?
7. Anything and everything else having to do with education while on the January 2011 WB Panama Canal repo cruise.
And, if you feel comfortable with it, please list the FIRST names, and the age and grade level (at time of sailing) of your kids. Again, if you don't feel comfortable with doing this, it is not a requirement...it just makes it easier for other parents with kids in the same grade level to provide resources for you.
We have over a year to go, and I'm hoping that we can collectively come up with some great ideas on how to make the "formal" education process on ship fun, painless, and exciting...and the integration back into the classroom or home school group fun, painless, and exciting as well!
It's in the links section.
