homeschoolers who cruise

[MNfamilycruiser]

My dh and I just took a cruise, alone, last month to celebrate our anniversary. Thankfully my parents watched the kids for almost 2 weeks so we could do this. The kids are now dying to take a cruise after hearing all of the fun we had.

We have been researching and found a great cruise, but it is 15 days next April. It leaves SC (where we live), goes all over the Caribbean and ends in Boston. We would rent a car and take another week to tour the east coast as we drove home. The different leaving and ending ports make the cruise cheaper =)

I am thinking huge homeschooling project as we research the places we will be going before the trip, etc. By then my sons will be 9 and 5.

My question....have any of you homeschooling families been on a cruise and been the only family with kids?

I am not concerned about my boys behavior (we will make sure they behave!!!), but I want them to have fun on the cruise as well =) The Kids Camps, when you are the only kid, could not be that exciting right?

Thoughts? This cruise is with NCL BTW. We looked at a Carnival 7 day, and this NCL jumped out. So we are investigating it first.

TIA!

So far, my kids have been pre-school age when we have cruised, but there have ALWAYS been some kids aboard of various ages. Especially if you are choosing a line such as NCL that is family friendly and has kids programs. Different schools across the US and Canada have different schedules, some go year round and have different breaks etc. BUT - a 15 day cruise is likely to have less kids than a 7 day cruise. The impact of having other kids along will be less if you have a lot of port days - the kids will be doing things with you. If it is a lot of at sea days, they might have less fun. Does NCL keep track of the number of children aboard, and would they be able to tell you how many were on the same or similar cruise at that time?

[whale-watcher]

As homeschoolers, we tend to travel during off-peak times, but there are always other kids on board -- including kids from overseas (my daughter made friends with girls from India and the Phillipines, and she keeps in contact with them via e-mail) and other homeschoolers. IMO, my kids seem to have more fun when there aren't huge numbers of other children; they always find a few new friends, and enjoy the individualized attention in the kid's center.

You will be amazed by all the educational possibilities for the Caribbean -- these islands have lots of history, and many of them have unique natural ecosystems as well. Our kids learned so much...and so did we!

[MommyInSC]

Does NCL keep track of the number of children aboard, and would they be able to tell you how many were on the same or similar cruise at that time?

 

Yep. I just found out there were 100 kids from ages 3-17 on the same 15 day cruise last week, that we want to take next year. So I guess we will be ok with the kids on the ship.

There are lots of ports on the cruise, so we will not be "cooped up on the ship" for much of the time.

Thanks!

[Deb in Cali]

Mommy in SC

 

Your cruise sounds great. Since you are disembarking in Boston will you have a day or two to see that area. That place just reeks of American history.

 

Listen my children and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Rever.....

 

 

I almost wish that mine were young again so that I can do it all over. :eek:

What am I saying? LOL

 

Deb

[islandchicklet]

We currently homeschool (boy - 8th grade and girl - 3rd grade) but I will be putting them back in their private school in August. Our cruise falls in September so they will miss a week. I am hoping there will be homeschoolers on our cruise (AOS 9/11/05) so they will have kids to interact with.

 

I will get them to keep a journal each evening before retiring but that will be about all. It is really neat to watch them "learn" when they don't even realize they are learning. But I am fortunate, they both actually seek out opportunities to learn.

 

And we too have 2 cabins - that connect.

[familycruzer]

Can some of you homeschoolers help me out and tell me how to start the process to homeschool my son? I am debating about it and have no clue where to start.

[islandchicklet]

All states have different guidelines. You can find worlds of info online. But you first need to find out what your state's guidelines are. Some states make it a little difficult and confusing.

[heymom32000]

Do a search for HSLDA and that should help you get on the right path to homeschooling.

[suzsummit]

from a mavelous 16 day Panama Canal cruise with my 3 children. It was amazing! We did less paperwork learning and more out in the field learning. It was Great! Planning a Med cruise for next spring. I put a little review of it in the Family crusing section.

 

I highly recommend for any family that homeschools take advantage of the opportunity to cruise. Even if it's a short one... I think the kids learn a lot just by being on the ship. We had discussions about unexpected things (viruses and how they are spread, calculating how many meals are served, seeing kids who lack funds for clothes and collecting my kids extra clothes from the cabin and bringing them onshore to give to the children in need, and just the whole lookingat other cultures and understanding without being judgemental) It was a great teaching opportunity for so many things that I never expected.

 

-s

[HSCruisers]

I just found this site, its cool!!! We took our first cruise without the kids then quickly realized that they were missing out on a great learning opportunity. Now we take them with us on all of them. They are old pros at it now so we can pretty much let them go and have fun and we still get a ton of "Alone time". We already have 2 more cruises booked. Have you checked out the site www.homeschooladventures.com? They are a homeschool family owned travel site specializing in putting together group travel for homeschoolers. This year in Feb 05, they had a huge cruise to the caribbean (200+ people) and they took along noted Homeschool speakers Dinah Zike and Maggie Hogan who did workshops onboard and they even had a homeschool bookstore on the ship. Next year they are offering a trip to Williamsburg VA in May and also a cruise to the Caribbean on Royal Caribbeans New ship Freedom of the seas in Sept (already booked it). It was really neat to talk with Homeschool cruisers from around the nation.

[cc cruiser]

What great ideas! I have cut and pasted lots of your suggestions to a document I titled "Cruise Schooling." I am going to email it to my daughters who are getting ready for their first cruise with the children. One is a home school mom, one a special ed teacher, and one is researching the possibility of opening a university model school. Each will cherish your ideas for making the most of the cruise with their children!

 

We are going on the Vision on Jan. 15. I hope there are other home schooled children on board as well.

[Steamboatin]

These parents and their children on one of our cruises have been taking a minimum of 3 cruises plus additional land trips each year for a long time.

 

They do at home schooling for their children. Wife has a Degree in Education.

 

The parents said they even go so far as to write off the cost of the entire cruises and land trips they take each year off of their income taxes as educational expense deductions.