Missing school for Disney - How to make it an "Educational Trip"

[Lindsey17]

Need some advice on the how to fill out the paperwork for the Educational trip form for our school. We have to get vacation approved and appears to be up to the principal and based on your child's grades and how the trip will enhance the school's "Strategic Plan Academic Goals" I'm just curious what others have said to their schools. My son is in 2nd grade and gets good grades so I'm not worried about it being approved from that aspect, but not really sure what to write since the more educational things have disappeared from Disney over the years. We're going early Dec so I was planning on writing about learning about how different cultures celebrate the holidays. They also have a section about Home Economics and understanding and applying principles of money management. Do you think stating that he will be in charge of his money and how to spend it on souvenir's and experiences will work? Should I be adding more, is that enough? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[igrsod]

Learning how physics is applied to car design and how your car performs (Test Track). Learning about sustainable farming methods (Living with the Land). Learning about different animals (Animal Kingdom if they still have the Wilderness Explorer Books... those have lots of learning activities in them).
When I went with my kids when they were little, I made activity sheets to do each day so as to take back to their teachers and show what they did and learned. A journal page with easy to answer questions geared to their age. Pages about each country around World Showcase and things to learn there... questions to ask the country ambassadors. Science questions, History questions and activities for each day based on where we were going and what we were doing.
I was lucky that we didn't need to prove it was an educational trip, their teachers just knew it would be fun and educational.

 

[tguz]

IMO....if any principal approves a Disney World trip as educational......the process is basically a rubber stamp procedure. You might eeek out 15 minutes a day of actual educational value but you are there for the vacation and enjoyment. I hope you get it approved. I guess we don't have that procedure where I am from.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Magic Kingdom: The history of our Presidents, carousel of progress can show historical change as well. Winnie the Pooh is in fact the book in ride form. It’s a small world showcases languages of different countries.
EPCOT: Learning about 10 countries and the USA, learning how plants grow and provide for us at living with the land, spaceship earth for the history of our world. Test Track for engineering. If there is a scavenger hunt for a festival that should be able to count.
DHS: if they do lightsaber or Droid building that should count for something engineering wise.
AK: besides from the obvious with the animals, dinosaur can be scientifically relevant (and the boneyard of its open can be good because they can search for fossils). If you do the animation station in radios planet watch that is art. If they do the wilderness explorer badge at AK that alsoshould be able to count for something.
Disney Springs: teaching them about budgeting when shopping? (That was kind of grasping for straws but it could work).
Depending on which resort you stay at, it can be very significantly based off a place or time in history.
Also with the 50th anniversary, that is something big itself

 

[RogueX]

Need some advice on the how to fill out the paperwork for the Educational trip form for our school. We have to get vacation approved and appears to be up to the principal and based on your child's grades and how the trip will enhance the school's "Strategic Plan Academic Goals" I'm just curious what others have said to their schools. My son is in 2nd grade and gets good grades so I'm not worried about it being approved from that aspect, but not really sure what to write since the more educational things have disappeared from Disney over the years. We're going early Dec so I was planning on writing about learning about how different cultures celebrate the holidays. They also have a section about Home Economics and understanding and applying principles of money management. Do you think stating that he will be in charge of his money and how to spend it on souvenir's and experiences will work? Should I be adding more, is that enough? Any help would be appreciated.

From a young age we covered with our daughter: guided identification of countries in the World Showcase on a map. As she got older, usually my daughter would choose one country and learn more about the culture (ex: Berbers in Morocco).

Math through purchasing snacks, learning about animals at Animal Kingdom and a lot of what you've mentioned.

 

[Woth2982]

At the end of the day you could have him write a "What I did today" as a creative writing assignment. It would be 1) educational activity and 2) a fun way to have a trip memory when he is older and may not remember what he did.

 

[kirstyfly]

Can you get time off school for a family reunion trip?

They don't have to know your family is Disney.

 

[Lindsey17]

At the end of the day you could have him write a "What I did today" as a creative writing assignment. It would be 1) educational activity and 2) a fun way to have a trip memory when he is older and may not remember what he did.

Oh I love that idea from both aspects. I have an UP "Our Adventure Book" that's a DIY photo album/scrapbook on his Christmas wishlist and these would be perfect to put in there!

 

[Lindsey17]

Can you get time off school for a family reunion trip?

They don't have to know your family is Disney.

I've already talked to his teacher unfortunately. Plus there's no way he would be able to keep that to himself once he got back to school. This trip is a surprise, but we did tell him about our trip to DL planned for June so that way if we screw up and talk about it in front of him we can quickly act like we meant DL (which we've already had to do), well his teacher already knows about that haha.

 

[Willow1213]

Look at their standards and find things that apply to what they will work on in school this year. I also have a second grader, and he's been working on some US geography. So maybe info about travel, the State of Florida, what route you take to get there, reading the map, etc.?
Non-fiction reading, biography of Walt Disney to read on the plane.
Also, to be fair, my 3rd grade field trip was Epcot so it's educational in the eyes of the Florida school system!

 

[ftbaker1313]

The American Adventure presentation is good. There are cultural and arts exhibits in Morocco and Japan pavilions.

 

[tinkerhon]

The countries of WS in Epcot, used to hand out little cards with fun facts about that particular country-- Not sure if they are still available--- we used to ask a CM at Kidcot

 

[Lindsey17]

The countries of WS in Epcot, used to hand out little cards with fun facts about that particular country-- Not sure if they are still available--- we used to ask a CM at Kidcot

ai think they do.still hand out little cards just not sure if they have facts on them. Either way a good idea!

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

In April, we got a Wilderness Explorer book at AK, and those stops are educational. Also, there was a Finding Dory themed booklet about the different tanks/animals in the Seas section of Epcot. We paid the $8 or so for a Flower and Garden scavenger hunt, which had plenty of plant facts, so I am guessing the holiday one would be educational about holiday traditions. Also, we got a Kidcot postcard at the Mexico pavillion, so I am guessing they still have those around World Showcase, but my oldest is 5 so he wasn't interested enough to check every country for postcards.