What's educational about visiting Disneyland Resort?

[ktkerber]

So I have to fill out the "Educational Vacation Request" forms to get the kids out of school for our upcoming vacation to DL. I need to list the educational things we will be doing on our trip. Of course, we will be visiting California and that will be somewhat educational especially since we are coming from Pennsylvania. But since we have never been there before, I was hoping maybe some of you could help me out a little. Usually we go to WDW and already have this educational requirement done due to Epcot etc.


Thanks in advance,
Kristen

 

[Disney Dreams]

So, I'm not sure what "educational requirement" you have already done in FL, but if you are trying to tweak a Disneyland vacation into educational value....

Science: velocity, gravity, centrifugal force
Art: animation, optical illusions,
Architecture: Tomorrowland vs. Frontierland vs. Adventureland
US History: Frontierland and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

I'm sure others can think up more,
Dreams

 

[kailuagirl]

not sure what age your kids are, but here are some things I thought of:

drama and theatre: character interactions and watching the characters perform and transform, Alladin and other shows

math: currency, budgeting (you could give them a set gift card amount and they have to figure out how to spend it), time (using the wait times, how long a ride is), they could make graphs and charts for the different rides to compare wait times, ride times, crowd levels

socialization and behavior skills: interaction with people from other countries/states, overcoming language differences, ordering in restaurants, standing in lines and appropriate behavior, learning hotel behavior,

geography: maping out California, distance from where you are to there, learning States you will pass along the way,

 

[DisMike]

Really, you have to get permission.

In our school district we tell the teachers we're going on vacation. Could you get them caught up before going?

Sheesh!

 

[LisainCalifornia]

A study in capitalism at it's finest.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

You know, there is a program offered at DL called Y.E.S. - Youth Education Series.

You can sign your children up for a number of different classes that pertain to science, physics, etc. Visit the site to see the requirements for each course.

http://www.disneyyouth.com/youth-education-series/

If you pick one, print it out for the teacher....

 

[HydroGuy]

Innoventions has many educational aspects.

 

[darph nader]

A study in capitalism at it's finest.

Aint that the truth. Supply and demand,"You supply what they demand".

 

[cyclenut]

Here is something I haven't seen posted yet and we did once.

Energy use at the park. They have a variety of different vehicles that use everything from electricty to alternative fuels, not to mention horses. Have the kids list all the different ways and modes of transportation. I think guest services can help you as well. It's been awhile, but my kids did this for a science project once.

You won't find too many places where you can not only study different types of energy use, but actually experience it. Steam powered locomotives, electric monorail, propane powered parking trams ... the Anaheim Police even have an electric "police car" they use to patrol the plaza area and DTD.

Also, tomorrowland has a little secret. There is a botanical garden of edible plants all around tommorrowland terrace. I think you can get a list somewhere and have the kids identify the different plants and their uses. We did this with our boy scout troop but it was several years ago. The plants are definately still there, just don't know where you can find the list.

There is also quite a bit of history of flight along the queue of Soarin' over California that they can read about.

If you want, you can make a trip over to Knott's Berry Farm's "Independance Hall". That is really an incredibly educational area including an audio re-enactment of the discussion surrouding the signing of the Declaration of Independance and many historical artifacts throughout the building. Free of charge. Yorba Linda (not too far from Anaheim) is also the Nixon Library and Birthplace.

It all depends on how much you want an "excuse" for the letter vs. adding actual educational value to the trip.

 

[mrslamb]

Really, you have to get permission.

In our school district we tell the teachers we're going on vacation. Could you get them caught up before going?

Sheesh!

Yeah, wow! We are taking our kindergardener out for a week to go to to DL, and all I had to do was let the teachers/office know we would be gone!

 

[ktkerber]

Thank you everyone! That gives me some good ideas.



Yes, unfortunately, if we want to take the kids out of school for a vacation it has to be "educational." We have to turn in a "Request for Educational Vacation" form to the principal, which they have to approve for the days to be excused. We are also only allowed to take them out for 5 days after that the days become unexcused. I have 2 straight A students so it gets kinda annoying that I have to get permission to take them out of school. We usually vacation in the winter though because my husband works for the family business which is seasonal with the summer being the busy season and it is difficult for him to leave in the summer months for a vacation.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Thank you everyone! That gives me some good ideas.



Yes, unfortunately, if we want to take the kids out of school for a vacation it has to be "educational." We have to turn in a "Request for Educational Vacation" form to the principal, which they have to approve for the days to be excused. We are also only allowed to take them out for 5 days after that the days become unexcused. I have 2 straight A students so it gets kinda annoying that I have to get permission to take them out of school. We usually vacation in the winter though because my husband works for the family business which is seasonal with the summer being the busy season and it is difficult for him to leave in the summer months for a vacation.

Wow, that is horrific. We have the 5 days and then unexcused thing here but we don't have to tell them where we're going. That just screams of too much info. Ugh.

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Don't forget that there's also historical value in Main Street, which is similar to a living history musem with the replica store fronts and government buildings (esp. the fire station), people dressed in (almost) accurate period costume and participating in historically appropriate activities like making silhouettes and driving a horse-drawn trolley. You can get an entire listing of all of the plants on the resort property from City Hall.

You're also exposing them to a commercial American institution that has had a significant impact on modern American culture, and educating them about popular American culture and how different aspects are blended together to make the resort appeal to all sectors of the American populace, including those with disabilities and from various minority groups (essentially, a fantastic sociology and anthropology lesson).

 

[JennyN]

What happened to kids being entitled to have fun. Do your teachers get long service leave and holidays, do they present to you the parents, how their time will be spent. Why isn't it the parents choice when they have family vacations, not everyone can holiday in school holidays. Why are the parents answerable to the school? Seems very strange to me. Hope both you and the kids have a great holiday.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

What happened to kids being entitled to have fun. Do your teachers get long service leave and holidays, do they present to you the parents, how their time will be spent. Why isn't it the parents choice when they have family vacations, not everyone can holiday in school holidays. Why are the parents answerable to the school? Seems very strange to me. Hope both you and the kids have a great holiday.

To be fair, it wouldn't be the teachers. Pretty sure they wouldn't care. It's generally a district/state policy in this type of case. My mom is a teacher and LOVES when kids get 'experiences'. She says in today's day and age some of her 3rd graders have never been on a picnic, or gone to the zoo, or an amusement park. She has had to describe these type of adventures so her kids could even attempt a project! She also said those kids who go with their families to places like Disneyland are much more well rounded. They see the world. Heck, for that reason alone, Disneyland is educational.

 

[ktkerber]

To be fair, it wouldn't be the teachers. Pretty sure they wouldn't care. It's generally a district/state policy in this type of case. My mom is a teacher and LOVES when kids get 'experiences'. She says in today's day and age some of her 3rd graders have never been on a picnic, or gone to the zoo, or an amusement park. She has had to describe these type of adventures so her kids could even attempt a project! She also said those kids who go with their families to places like Disneyland are much more well rounded. They see the world. Heck, for that reason alone, Disneyland is educational.

I agree with both of you Emmers and Jenny. I think pretty much any kind of travel can be educational. In this case it is a district policy, which I think is influenced by the state of Pennsylvania. I think that the state looks at attendence(along with state standardized testing) when handing out funding. Schools with better test scores and overall attendence get more funding.
Most of the time the teachers are fine with it. It is just this paperwork we have to fill out before we can go.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I agree with both of you Emmers and Jenny. I think pretty much any kind of travel can be educational. In this case it is a district policy, which I think is influenced by the state of Pennsylvania. I think that the state looks at attendence(along with state standardized testing) when handing out funding. Schools with better test scores and overall attendence get more funding.
Most of the time the teachers are fine with it. It is just this paperwork we have to fill out before we can go.

Yeah, you're probably right about the attendance funding. I'm glad everyone here had awesome ideas lol

 

[lalasmama]

We'll be taking DD out of school in Feb for a DLR trip. The teacher had fun pointing out lots of things that are "educational". My daughter is in 2nd grade....

Language Arts: She will be writing in a journal daily. She will send postcards to her class. There will be plenty of signs to read to figure out what ride we are approaching!

Math: Rounding up on prices. Adding prices together for anything we buy. Guessing how many steps we take (I'll be wearing a pedometer, because I'm interested in this as well!). Also, budgeting, since I'm cheap!

Social studies/geography/science: We'll be looking at maps. We will discuss the "original center" of DLR and how it's changed over the years by looking at old maps and new maps. We will look at a map to see where we will be flying over in the plane. They have been studying bridges in class, so we can look at the monorail to see the bridges it travels on. We'll also talk about Sleeping Beauty's castle, and how they made each tier smaller, to make it look very tall and very far away.

Life Skills: Packing. Dressing for the weather. Planning. Time management.

Her teacher was so excited for her to get to go!

 

[Eeee-va]

In Disney California Adventure, Paradise Pier is inspired by the old seaside parks; in fact, Mickey's Fun Wheel is modeled after the 1920 Wonder Wheel on Coney Island. So you could get into any amount of history about that.

The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in DCA looks mildly educational (though also fun for kids).

In Disneyland, the Penny Arcade has 1900s-era entertainment items. You can see 1920s (and maybe early 1930s?) Mickey Mouse cartoons in the Main Street Cinema.

Big Thunder Ranch has live animals, which I'd consider educational. The Sailing Ship Columbia may or may not be running during your trip, but it is a replica of the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and below deck there are numerous displays of cabins, sleeping areas, etc. The Mark Twain is a replica steamboat named after Mark Twain, so you could work that in too. You could use Splash Mountain as a jumping off point for the folklore/literature of Br'er Rabbit and company.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to make a compelling argument that Disneyland is INHERENTLY educational, but depending on how much research and work you and your husband put into it, it could be VERY educational. If you need a detailed "lesson plan" maybe you can find something that interests you and your family and all learn something?

 

[edna mode]

Hi, We just wrote a new book called The Mother's Checklist of Drug Prevention: All the Little Things We Say and Do. In part 4, we wrote a chapter called: "Everything I Ever Learned About Parenting I Learned At Disneyland" in this section we included several sections about educational opportunities. Here's one of the sections - I hope this helps you:

Lessons Learned: Education is Everywhere

Disneyland is famous for their lines. Waiting in line doesn’t have to be an exercise in bored shuffling of feet. Memory is enhanced when it is coupled up with a sensory experience, and the wide variety of environments created by the Disney Imagineers provides great opportunities for learning, practicing, and memorizing. Learning doesn’t just happen at desks—all those amazing kids you see in the national spelling bees are famous for learning in different venues.

Keep in Mind: You can memorize poems, learn geography, practice spelling words, and go over math facts while in line at Disneyland. We’ve practiced spelling words by making up sentences on the Haunted Mansion ride—every sentence had to have Jack Skellington and the spelling word in it. Our daughter howled with laughter the whole time, and she got 100% of the words right on the test. We do math by adding receipts, figuring out gratuities, and counting things like characters in parades. We have also practiced geography while riding through Small World. All of Disneyland, or wherever you go, can be used as a classroom.

Youth Enrichment Programs

People who homeschool their children know something that few others do—the YES (Youth Enrichment Series) programs at both Disney parks (California and Florida) are fantastic. They offer classes ranging from science, physics, leadership and art to history, animation, music and performing arts. These are educational and competitive programs.

Another fun way to learn with Disney is The Kingdom Keepers Quest, which is based on a book series that involves problem solving, visualization, observation, creativity, math skills, language arts and critical thinking. We encourage all parents to review this educational series. If you are a pass holder, the additional cost is very reasonable. http://www.disneyyouth.com/

The Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure at Epcot is another way that kids can learn geography and history while learning to defeat bad guys using information from the different country pavilions at Walt Disney World. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/attractions/kim-possible/

Lesson Learned: Teach Your Children Respect for Other Nationalities

Teaching your children respect for people from other walks of life will allow them to appreciate the differences and embrace the similarities found in all nationalities. It will also increase their knowledge of geography and history while it enhances their skills at interacting with other children and adults.

We have more about theater and respecting nationalities, let me know if you want me to post it. Good luck, Kelly