Tips for School makeup work??

[GET3550]

I'm looking for your ideas on getting school makeup work done while at WDW. My son is having some difficulties this first year of middle school and after much debate we decided to go forward with our yearly family vacation anyway. He's only 11 once and we don't go every year. He will be getting some assistance for these problems when we return. My hub is self-employed and this is the only time of year we can go.....summer is definitely out for us, so the only other option is missing school. I scheduled our trip over a four day week to lessen the time missed (we will be at WDW 8 nights). The problem is that his teachers assign homework anyway, even over holiday weekends. I think that is terrible but that is another thread.
I always request their work from the teachers before we go, so they can work on it on the drive there and back (about 8 hrs one way) I was hoping that someone would have some other suggestions for getting the homework completed.

Thanks

 

[Ibelieveinfairies]

While my DD was only in Kindergarten and 1st grade the years she missed school, she did have homework to do while we were in WDW. We made use of our resort down time to have her work on her homework everyday...we broke it up into daily chunks so she wasn't overwhelmed and wouldn't have to do it all on the day/evening we returned home. She seemed to actually enjoy the homework...and we would try to find some way to link it to our trip..i.e. one assignment was to keep a daily journal. She would say throughout the day, "I'm going to write about THIS tonight." and we would take a look at the assignments and try to do some practicing while at the parks (i.e counting by twos, fours, tens, etc = count how many people are ahead/behind us in line)

 

[GET3550]

if we could do algebra with the hidden mickeys in line........

We could definitely prove the laws of physical science over and again. Proofread the attractions signs for language arts? Unfortunately, at his age everything has to do with writing.....no skill practiceing on the fly. No multiplication facts while in line etc.

My two youngest are easy (2nd & 4th grade), but I worry about how to fit the middle school work load in. We don't rest when we are there. It is go, go, go.......until it is time to go home. Yes, we are exhausted when we get home.

I guess the best solution would be to go back to the hotel for homework time when the park closes instead of hopping over to Epcot until 9:00. What do you think??

 

[turnlisa]

When we go we generally take a break in the middle of the afternoon to go back to the room. My oldest DS is 7 and my youngest is 3 so this works for us. We break it up by day also so that he is not overwhelmed. It is a nice use of downtime. Last year he was given a journal also so I made a point of keeping one also. This way we were both writing about things at the same time. Just some more together time and my DS didn't feel like he was being punished. We drive to WDW which for us is a 20 hour thing. My DS generally does all of his papers in the car and keeps the journal for while we are there.

 

[tjmw2727]

I try and encourage them to do as much as they can on the plane. It helps pass the time and the girls know the more they get done then the less to do in WDW. I also have spend some time in the AM during breakfast while I shower and get ready for the day.

We always plan one day with an afternoon rest with swimming and enjoying the resort as well as 1/2 hour for homework. We also plan least one late day and one early evening at the resort. As much as we can go, go, go I find some downtime helps us enjoy the go time and they can get a bit of homework done.

I try and be reasonable, I would say they spend at least 15 minutes a day on homework, more if necessary. My older dd loves to read at bedtime so that helps. I do let them carry some work over for the plane ride home.

TJ

 

[Mom to Jordan]

I would try to get as much done BEFORE the trip as possible. Our teachers willl give it early but I know some will not. Also check the policy on when make up work is due on return. Some schools give one or two days for each they have been out to complete the work. We have also came back on Saturday and spent all day Sunday doing homework to get it done. Only one year has DS, now also a middle schooler, had enough that it was a big issue. We also use time down and back to do assignments. Once DS had to read 20 minutes a day so he did all 7 days on the way down. He could also do things like multipal chioce type questions then too. We never have had good luck doing homework at WDW. We like to get an early start and are too excited in the am. In the Pm he is just too tired. We have really pondered the middle school out of school thing but he is really having a lot less homework at middle than he did last year. So we just might have to think about another winter trip. Let us know how it goes.

Jordan's mom

 

[anita36]

my DD is in 4th and the other in K so she is easy. My 4th graders teachers have given her some work this past week she has been working on- also some let her do work ahead of time- like book reports- a poem she had tomemorize and this Monday and Tuesday she will be taking 2 test a day ahead of her class so when she gets back she won't be to far behind.

we will take he study sheets on the plan and she will study and read - then when we comeback we will play catch up until school on Monday . Then we will take each day as it comes .

it is the best we can do. You don't need to explain why and when you take your vacations- dont' feel guilty they are missing school- they will catch up and yes might have a hard time getting the grades up but they will...

My DD was good this year and took working ahead on her own accord so we supported her- now she feels alitlle more relaxed..

 

[laceemouse]

I really feel for you. In our school district by about 4th grade it is hard to miss and make up the work, by Jr. High I consider it impossible. My oldest are both in Jr. High now and they have an hour plus of homework every night, and that is after getting some done during supervised study. We generally go summer or Spring Break, although we are going for a long weekend in October (they will only miss one day of school.) We also go full force all day on our trips, and when we get back to the room we are exhausted. Good luck, but I think it is only going to get harder as the kids get older. Most people on these boards seem to have younger kids or less demanding school districts.

 

[NotUrsula]

We took DS to Europe to visit family over spring break last yr., and he missed 5 days of 1st grade. We left before the actual break, and he went back to school the same day as the rest of his class. His teacher was very willing to give us his schoolwork, but did not send it home until the day before we left. Turns out he had 5 textbooks and a total of 73 pages of exercises to do, and he also had to keep a journal of the trip, w/ photos.

I took the textbooks to the library the morning before we left so that I could photocopy the chapters he had to read; the books were so heavy that they would have made our carryons overweight. We did those assignments in every down moment we had; the old folks were amazed at how much schoolwork a 6 yo had over holidays. We did it on the planes, too. By the time we got home, the jet-lag was beginning to take a toll, so I sent in what we had finished, along with a note saying that I would send the rest the next day, which we did. The first day back was rather busy, so she didn't read my note until the following day.

For the 4 weeks remaining in the semester, DS mysteriously didn't have any homework. I thought that he might be fibbing about it, so I asked his teacher. She sheepishly admitted that she had accidentally given us the paperwork not for one week, but for an entire month, plus the classwork for the the same period. DS was now working completely on extra-credit work.
She was rather amazed that we had managed to get it all done over 13 days while travelling to 3 countries. I wasn't exactly amused.