LindseyC

We did the Princess World Cruise with our grandchildren, aged 8 and 9 this year. All four of us had a wonderful experience together. Feel free to ask any question at all. I'm more than pleased to share.

Linda

notentirelynormal,

We are doing just what you are thinking about. We have booked the 2018 Princess world cruise for ourselves and our two grandchildren, who will be 8 and 9 by then. We live in California, and we have done quite a bit of planning for the kids' schooling while we are away.

Our kids are in a small private school, and the administration has been very cooperative. We are taking our math and language arts books with us,and will keep up with the class. We are planning to take as many spelling tests, and write as many book reports as we can before we leave so that we don't have too many tests to take on the high seas. We will agree to meet our school's standard expectation for daily reading. In addition, we plan to continue with the enrichment work that we already do in the area of history, because it is directly relevant to our travels.

In preparing to work with our school, I did a lot of research into the law in California as it applies to public schools. I expected that we would use that as a model for our plan, and we mostly have. In California, every public school district will have a policy for "independent study contracts". Essentially, they can let your kids agree to do all of their regular school work, and earn grades and credit just as if they were in class at home. The state agrees to consider the kids present for purposes of school funding.

You might have run into some confusion about needing to call in each week. That sounds like a school-sponsored program for homeschooled kids. That program is generally for kids who are not planning to return to the classroom anytime soon. You want "independent study" rather than "homeschool".

I would be happy to share more, or to answer any other questions. We are excited!

We have used the left-luggage service in the Beijing airport with no trouble at all. You might want to leave some of you extra luggage there.

Request submitted. Have a great time!