What's educational about Disney Cruise?

[tvguy]

Traveling to unique and interesting locations and international travel are absolutely educations. Vacation first/ educational second sure, but imo any child lucky enough to see the world as they grow up is going to have a better understanding of how the world works.

And those trips are just as educational if taken during one of the 14 or so weeks a child is out of school.

 

[Numtini]

For me, I live in an area where education isn't valued and I grew up in an area where education wasn't valued. For our family, what concerns me is that pulling a child out of school for a vacation sends the message that education is less important than Mickey Mouse. That's not a message I want to send and that's the message that schools have to fight against.

And yes, world travel is very educational and valuable, but this isn't the grand tour. It's a Caribbean cruise. You spend a lot of time on the ship and when you do hit ports, it's usually a very curated experience designed largely to keep you from actually having any real contact with the country and culture.

 

[FigmentSpark]

When I was small, we used to drive every year from Manitoba (just above Grand Forks, N.D.) to Miami to see my grandparents. It was a 4 day drive. By the time I was 7, I knew every state between N.D. and Fl. and most of the cities along that route. I knew what those places looked like and what to expect when I looked out the window. I knew the sharp turns in the mountains and the lazy drive through the towns of Indiana. I saw the endless fields of oranges and knew we still had a long way to go before reaching the Everglades. We picked oranges at roadside stands and tasted just fresh fruit like I'd never get anywhere else. I read books, colored, cut out paper dolls (no ipads back then, although I wondered how great it would be to watch TV in the car) and played with my sister. I learned Spanish words from my cousins and compared them to the French words I'd learned at home. I saw Flipper first hand and learned the best way to crack a fallen coconut. I also learned about red ants and to avoid stepping on their hills and to beware of the snakes down south.

All these things were part of my education and were possible because my family took a 3 week vacation to Miami every year. Yes, there was usually a week of school vacation, but the rest was time out of the classroom. I had to do school work, but I learned so much more than just the worksheets by looking around, listening and experiencing.

When I was 8, we moved to Saskatchewan, only one province or 6 hours away. I had no idea where or what that would be. I couldn't imagine what that place would be like or even where to put it in my young brain. I could map out the whole trip to Miami, but had no idea what was just west of me. Yet, it was part of my Canadian education, not the states I knew so well. So I learned about the states between my home and Miami before any schooling taught me about my own country. I learned because I experienced it.

Even now, I can remember names and dates and events, but the things that are ingrained in me, that I really know, are the things I've experienced. There is a lot to be said for experience. But yes, school and the skills it teaches are crucial for getting by in the world today.

 

[Spork24]

And those trips are just as educational if taken during one of the 14 or so weeks a child is out of school.

You just took a comment about travel being educational and replied with a post about schedule. Insinuating that travel isn’t good for a child’s educational experience is what I was commenting on.

Life is complicated, it’s not up to me to preach to someone about their life schedule.

 

[tvguy]

You just took a comment about travel being educational and replied with a post about schedule. Insinuating that travel isn’t good for a child’s educational experience is what I was commenting on.

Life is complicated, it’s not up to me to preach to someone about their life schedule.

But OP's post is about taking kids out of school. Not complicated at all, truancy in many school districts. And unnecessary since kids have weeks and weeks and weeks off.

 

[bigAWL]

But OP's post is about taking kids out of school. Not complicated at all, truancy in many school districts. And unnecessary since kids have weeks and weeks and weeks off.

But it's not truancy in the OP's school district as long as they justify it -- to the satisfaction of the school district, not to the satisfaction of us on this discussion board. Apparently, the school district DOES think that vacation travel can be educational. Even educational enough to justify absence from the classroom.

 

[tvguy]

But it's not truancy in the OP's school district as long as they justify it -- to the satisfaction of the school district, not to the satisfaction of us on this discussion board. Apparently, the school district DOES think that vacation travel can be educational. Even educational enough to justify absence from the classroom.

It is truancy in the OP's district if the OP does not demonstrate before the trip the educational value and have it approved.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

And those trips are just as educational if taken during one of the 14 or so weeks a child is out of school.

Honestly, I look at it like this. If the child is interested in learning and wants to learn and excels at their studies, then a few days out of school isn't going to matter in the long term scheme of things one way or the other.

If the child is disengaged from school, uninterested in learning, doesn't do well then a few days staying in school instead of the cruise isn't going to suddenly put the spark of education in there.

There is a grey area between those two for kids who are interested in school, do okay but that a few days out can have an honestly detrimental effect. Obviously this partly depends on WHAT few days are out - for example right before an exam.

Every child is different. Only the child's parents having an honest discussion with the teachers (not the grandparents) would know where their children fall in these lines.

PERSONALLY, My son is in that middle grey area. He likes to learn and wants to do well in school, but he fights daily against his Aspergers. For him, missing school can be detrimental, so I make the choice not to take him out.

If the children the OP is discussing fall in either of the 2 main categories above, it makes no dang difference if they pull them out for a couple of days. If the parents and teachers approve, I don't see why any of us should have an opinion - those two groups know best where the children fall.

 

[tcufrog]

I'm of the personal opinion that not all trips are educational and that's okay. This December we're going to a ranch in Montana for 4 days. While we will probably visit the visitor's center at the Lewis and Clark National Park I'm under no illusions that sledding and skiing will teach them anything. Contrast that with the trip to Boston we took last summer. During the trip, my kids earned 8 National Park Junior Ranger badges plus they helped out on a lobster boat and attended the largest US Revolutionary War reenactment. They learned a ton during that trip and their trip journals are evidence of that. I wouldn't try to justify the Montana trip as an educational trip because it isn't and doing so would serve as a bad example to my kids.

 

[bigAWL]

It is truancy in the OP's district if the OP does not demonstrate before the trip the educational value and have it approved.

I think that's what I said. Isn't that what I said?

 

[cadien]

It is truancy in the OP's district if the OP does not demonstrate before the trip the educational value and have it approved.

And if the school district already believed that "all travel is educational," they wouldn't bother to require explicit details on each trip. They require it be primarily educational. Which is not the same thing.

 

[cadien]

Honestly, I look at it like this. If the child is interested in learning and wants to learn and excels at their studies, then a few days out of school isn't going to matter in the long term scheme of things one way or the other.

If the child is disengaged from school, uninterested in learning, doesn't do well then a few days staying in school instead of the cruise isn't going to suddenly put the spark of education in there.

I'm in the "take them out whenever" camp, but I do think that if the child is currently disengaged, letting them take a few days off for a trip is going to send a message that it's fine for them to stay disengaged.

 

[tvguy]

Honestly, I look at it like this. If the child is interested in learning and wants to learn and excels at their studies, then a few days out of school isn't going to matter in the long term scheme of things one way or the other.

If the child is disengaged from school, uninterested in learning, doesn't do well then a few days staying in school instead of the cruise isn't going to suddenly put the spark of education in there.

There is a grey area between those two for kids who are interested in school, do okay but that a few days out can have an honestly detrimental effect. Obviously this partly depends on WHAT few days are out - for example right before an exam.

Every child is different. Only the child's parents having an honest discussion with the teachers (not the grandparents) would know where their children fall in these lines.

PERSONALLY, My son is in that middle grey area. He likes to learn and wants to do well in school, but he fights daily against his Aspergers. For him, missing school can be detrimental, so I make the choice not to take him out.

If the children the OP is discussing fall in either of the 2 main categories above, it makes no dang difference if they pull them out for a couple of days. If the parents and teachers approve, I don't see why any of us should have an opinion - those two groups know best where the children fall.

It is the oldest topic on the DIS boards. People who live in districts that prohibit it sometimes are surprised. Some feel it is within their paternal rights to decide what is right for their child. Some opt for Independent Study or home schooling temporarily. Some do that and discover the child has lost their "slot" in their school And more and more school districts are prohibiting it.....and private schools too.

Bottom line. Check with your school district to see what your options are.

I'd be a hypocrite if I said I was cool with it. Some how both my kids managed to only get sick on weekends all during High School, and DW and I managed to book all their orthodontic/doctor/dentist appointments before or after school or on school holidays, so neither missed a single day of high school for any reason.