santonucci
If you can't laugh at yourself, please allow me to
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2005
I was watching the news the other night, and they profiled this kid who had just graduated HS without having ever missed a day of school. Man, I felt sorry for him...
School is highly overrated by people as a measure of how successful someone will be. I graduated in the top 5% of my HS class, and the bottom quarter of my college class (engineering). I believe that learning is something that is available everywhere, and my wife and I constantly remove our kids from school if travel opportunites beckon.
My son has been to Disney during the school year several times. He tested in the top 1% of students in the country. We're going in January (and three weeks from now!)
The question is not "Should I..." but "How do I do this without impacting the work schedule?"
1.) Tell your school to prepare all of the work they will miss. After a day of running around, spend an hour. (yes, you can condense 7 hours of school into 1 hour of homework...)
2.) Make the trip "educational". Unless your kid is a stump, there are opportunities everywhere around Disney to "learn something". I have found that if you let the kids pick what is interesting to them, they want to learn.
3.) There are different things that school teaches you, but it's miserable at preparing kids for life. Whenever we travel, we encourage the kids to be outgoing, ask questions, and interact with people (since we're right there...). Social skills, adaptability to new environments, and learning "the rules" when they aren't written on the blackboard all trump times tables and outdated history lessons.
Here are a few examples of things we've done with our kids at Disney that I consider "educational":
1.) In EPCOT, there is an African Mask Carver named Andrew. We sat with him and watched him carve for a bit. Then my son told him how much he liked snakes, so Andrew carved him a snake. He let my daughter paint it. The whole time we were there, people came and went. We spent an hour. He told us about his village, toolmaking, the animals they carve...
2.) After dinner at the Floridian one night, we stopped and listened to the piano player in the lobby. My daughter danced. Yes, this is educational, since dance is something that people do long after they forget geometry. I'd like to see more arts available in the schools- and please bring back Shop!
3.) Replace Phys Ed with a day of walking around Disney and swimming- America has way too many fat kids and parents...
4.) Spend time with your kids- education is a parents responsibility, and the school is only a part of it. Best things my kids have ever learned came from me, not their schools...
Sorry for the ramble, but kids need to be kids first. As adults, we know what happens later!
Steve
EWR to MCO on 8/4!
School is highly overrated by people as a measure of how successful someone will be. I graduated in the top 5% of my HS class, and the bottom quarter of my college class (engineering). I believe that learning is something that is available everywhere, and my wife and I constantly remove our kids from school if travel opportunites beckon.
My son has been to Disney during the school year several times. He tested in the top 1% of students in the country. We're going in January (and three weeks from now!)
The question is not "Should I..." but "How do I do this without impacting the work schedule?"
1.) Tell your school to prepare all of the work they will miss. After a day of running around, spend an hour. (yes, you can condense 7 hours of school into 1 hour of homework...)
2.) Make the trip "educational". Unless your kid is a stump, there are opportunities everywhere around Disney to "learn something". I have found that if you let the kids pick what is interesting to them, they want to learn.
3.) There are different things that school teaches you, but it's miserable at preparing kids for life. Whenever we travel, we encourage the kids to be outgoing, ask questions, and interact with people (since we're right there...). Social skills, adaptability to new environments, and learning "the rules" when they aren't written on the blackboard all trump times tables and outdated history lessons.
Here are a few examples of things we've done with our kids at Disney that I consider "educational":
1.) In EPCOT, there is an African Mask Carver named Andrew. We sat with him and watched him carve for a bit. Then my son told him how much he liked snakes, so Andrew carved him a snake. He let my daughter paint it. The whole time we were there, people came and went. We spent an hour. He told us about his village, toolmaking, the animals they carve...
2.) After dinner at the Floridian one night, we stopped and listened to the piano player in the lobby. My daughter danced. Yes, this is educational, since dance is something that people do long after they forget geometry. I'd like to see more arts available in the schools- and please bring back Shop!
3.) Replace Phys Ed with a day of walking around Disney and swimming- America has way too many fat kids and parents...
4.) Spend time with your kids- education is a parents responsibility, and the school is only a part of it. Best things my kids have ever learned came from me, not their schools...
Sorry for the ramble, but kids need to be kids first. As adults, we know what happens later!
Steve
EWR to MCO on 8/4!
Go Steve 
Anyway, I say go for it - we are!
...maybe he/she even has a laminated lime green Mickey from HD attached to their brief case?
