Best On Board Homework Suggestions?

[EcoStyleKim]

Veteran cruisers with school-aged children, I need your advice. I want your families' best practices. What time of day or schedule worked best for your family getting a little homework time in while cruising?

 

Yep, I want my kids to stay on track and yes, we'll still have lots of fun. I have two boys: third and fifth grade. We're going on a 7 night cruise, meaning they will miss five days of school. We'll do a little prior to departure and will return to some also.

 

We usually only miss a couple days each year for medical/dental appointments and sometimes have perfect attendance. So, we're not really accustomed to missing school.

 

Thanks for your helpful advice.

[moki'smommy]

Honestly, if you are talking about filling out workbook type stuff, I'd leave it at home. They can do most of it before you leave and finish up when you get back. If it is more "creative" work like writing a report on something related to the ship, the animals, or one of the islands, they obviously do that while on vacation. Of course, this assumes that they are very good students and will have no problem with make up work.

 

On the other hand, I recently returned from a cruise around Japan (not DCL, obviously). It was very common to see Japanese mothers supervising school work for an hour or so each morning up on the pool deck.

 

That also won't work on DCL--you'll need to do your school work in your cabin. There will be far too many distractions anywhere else. If you determine that they need to do it while on the cruise, my recommendation would be that you determine the amount to be done on each sea day and have them do it right after breakfast, before they are permitted to do any "fun" activities. It is much easier than roping them in to do it later. If they choose to "work ahead" another time (like after returning from an excursion), that's fine, but set the requirement that they need to finish a given amount of good quality work before they can "play." Specifying "good quality" eliminates the rushing thru in a sloppy fashion. And specifying the work to be done is far more effective than setting a time amount that must be done. If the assignment is a page of math and the child can complete it perfectly in 15 minutes, why should he need to "work" for an hour?

 

My exception to that is reading--if you determine that each child must read a given period of time each day, consider doing it either before dinner or before bed (they might be too tired before bed!).

 

Finally--have a real reason that they need to do this on the ship. If it is busywork, there is no reason. If the child is already well ahead of the class, you are not in a "keep up" situation. Vacation and family time are important, and taking work along just for the sake of work is a real bummer. You might even talk to them about the option of doing the worksheets in advance at home or taking it along (don't suggest doing it afterward!)

 

There is a lot that can be learned on the vacation that isn't filling out worksheets.

Edited October 14, 2016 by moki'smommy

[cb at sea]

I would have them do as much as possible BEFORE you leave...then forget it. 3rd and 5th grades...easy, peezy to make up. High school...not so much....I'd never have kids miss any HS, if it could be helped!

[ivrier]

Veteran cruisers with school-aged children, I need your advice. I want your families' best practices. What time of day or schedule worked best for your family getting a little homework time in while cruising?

 

Yep, I want my kids to stay on track and yes, we'll still have lots of fun. I have two boys: third and fifth grade. We're going on a 7 night cruise, meaning they will miss five days of school. We'll do a little prior to departure and will return to some also.

 

We usually only miss a couple days each year for medical/dental appointments and sometimes have perfect attendance. So, we're not really accustomed to missing school.

 

Thanks for your helpful advice.

 

We had a college daughter who decided that she could join us for the 7-day Spain-Portugal cruise this year. She was taking on line classes without any video streaming but required internet. She performed her homework on sea days and when we were in port. She missed one port of call and completed all of the homework then. Since the flight was over 9 hours from Washington state to London, she was also able to do some of it then.

[Ex techie]

I would have them do as much as possible BEFORE you leave...then forget it. 3rd and 5th grades...easy, peezy to make up. High school...not so much....I'd never have kids miss any HS, if it could be helped!

 

The OP asked for advice on scheduling homework for their kids.

Not if you deemed it necessary for them to take homework with them or how easy it would be to make up.

 

This post is unhelpful.

 

ex techie

[Ex techie]

I agree, mornings on sea days would be best. After breakfast but before any activities (Character breakfasts aside).

 

Get it over and done with and then the fun stuff! Otherwise it is just something for you to have to nag them about later on during the day and that would spoil it for all of you.

 

Also the comment about the only real place without distractions is spot on. There is no library on any DCL ship, so you are basically left with the Stateroom for a "quiet zone".

If you do this, I would let your Stateroom Host know just so they do not try to clean your room and disrupt the kids.

 

ex techie

[moki'smommy]

If you do this, I would let your Stateroom Host know just so they do not try to clean your room and disrupt the kids.

 

ex techie

 

Stateroom hosts do rooms from ??? in the morning till about 2pm. At that point they have a break. They are incredible at watching when people leave and getting the room done while you are gone. If they see you leave for breakfast, they will attempt to get the room done then. If that doesn't happen, just put the "do not disturb" sign on the door and spend your hour on school work (OK, I still vote for doing it before the cruise, but....) Remove the sign when you are finished and start having fun.

[Ex techie]

I was just thinking along the lines of going to breakfast, and other rooms also leaving, then coming back to find your room being serviced and having to go hangout somewhere else until it's done, and disrupt or get into something, then have to go back.

 

Just mentioning to the Host that you would prefer a later servicing due to homework in the mornings may work better.

Or you could leave the do not disturb on from when you leave until you finish the study time as well.

 

ex techie

[moki'smommy]

Ah, that makes good sense, Techie.

[niccikatie]

We saw many kids doing homework at the tables by the pool on the Panama Canal trip. They also did it in the chairs in the atrium area. Personally, the stateroom hosts were so eager to get into the rooms in the morning, that I wouldn't have done it there. I agree there will be distractions everywhere and morning is best, but you may want to find somewhere other than the room.

 

Oddly, our stateroom host missed his morning service of the room one day because we forgot our do not disturb sign out while we were out for the whole morning. When we returned he met us and asked about it, we told him it was fine and he could just do the room in the evening at that point. It was seriously no big deal to us at all. We never even mentioned it to anyone else. I got THREE calls from his supervisor apologizing, asking us for our side of the story, etc because of the missed service. I felt awful for him, clearly they took this missing service seriously. I don't know if he was on some kind of performance plan or what (we didn't have any problems with him or his service). I made sure to mention him by name on the rating cards and give him a 10. It was so over the top that I'm now super paranoid to ask them to skip a service/delay service.

[moki'smommy]

The Panama Canal and TA cruises are very different in terms of homework issues because there are not many kids who can get 2 weeks off. You won't see much schoolwork on a 7 nighter.

 

Yeah, the hosts are really funny about not doing the rooms. They have to do a log of each room as it is completed. We did a B2B and I suggested to my host that he not do our room on changeover day since he had so much to do. He did it anyhow.

[xlxo]

IMO... sea days a great for homework time. Save the port days for activities.

[niccikatie]

The Panama Canal and TA cruises are very different in terms of homework issues because there are not many kids who can get 2 weeks off. You won't see much schoolwork on a 7 nighter.

 

Yeah' date=' the hosts are really funny about not doing the rooms. They have to do a log of each room as it is completed. We did a B2B and I suggested to my host that he not do our room on changeover day since he had so much to do. He did it anyhow.[/quote']

 

True about the PC - although most of the kids that were doing homework were homeschooled. The kids that were in public/private schools weren't doing a lot of homework. Maybe a project here or there. It was the homeschoolers we saw out in the same spots every day. My DD didn't do any homework during the cruise itself and her friend did a very limited amount - about 2-3 hours total during the two weeks other than evening reading time.

[Ex techie]

True about the PC - although most of the kids that were doing homework were homeschooled. The kids that were in public/private schools weren't doing a lot of homework. Maybe a project here or there. It was the homeschoolers we saw out in the same spots every day. My DD didn't do any homework during the cruise itself and her friend did a very limited amount - about 2-3 hours total during the two weeks other than evening reading time.

 

How have you managed to make any kind of determination if public/private schoolers were or weren't doing a lot of homework, and those that were in public spaces were home schooled?

 

Why wouldn't you perceive a parent like the OP teaching and guiding their children in their lesson, or helping them with their homework, in a public space as a public/private school child, and assume they are home schooled?

 

ex techie

Edited October 15, 2016 by Ex techie

[niccikatie]

How have you managed to make any kind of determination if public/private schoolers were or weren't doing a lot of homework, and those that were in public spaces were home schooled?

 

Why wouldn't you perceive a parent like the OP teaching and guiding their children in their lesson, or helping them with their homework, in a public space as a public/private school child, and assume they are home schooled?

 

ex techie

 

Because I talked to them. I talked to A LOT of people out on the pool decks and one thing that was almost always small talk was about our kids/school situation. On a 14 day cruise with lots of sea days, you get to know people pretty well. People develop patterns/habits and friendly people talk. Of course it was a generalization based on my discussions/observations, but it seems like you're implying something negative about my generalization? Absolutely nothing negative was intended or implied on my end.

[moki'smommy]

The other thing is that the way the timing of the PCs usually work, most kids in government schools can't take off for 14 days. WB is toward the end of the school year when they are getting into their end of year testing and EB is at the very beginning of the year when many parents wouldn't consider taking them out.

 

When we did the EBPC, there were a total of 14 teens on board, the vast majority being educated in other than a traditional school situation.

[niccikatie]

The other thing is that the way the timing of the PCs usually work' date=' most kids in government schools can't take off for 14 days. WB is toward the end of the school year when they are getting into their end of year testing and EB is at the very beginning of the year when many parents wouldn't consider taking them out.

 

When we did the EBPC, there were a total of 14 teens on board, the vast majority being educated in other than a traditional school situation.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I think there were about 200-250 kids total (0-16 or so) on our cruise.

[Ex techie]

Because I talked to them. I talked to A LOT of people out on the pool decks and one thing that was almost always small talk was about our kids/school situation. On a 14 day cruise with lots of sea days, you get to know people pretty well. People develop patterns/habits and friendly people talk. Of course it was a generalization based on my discussions/observations, but it seems like you're implying something negative about my generalization? Absolutely nothing negative was intended or implied on my end.

 

Its possibly the way you worded your post as generalizations instead of in your experience.

Generalizations really do not work well on ships with a 2000+ occupancy as they become assumptions.

 

No I'm not implying anything negative, just that this was your experience, and not true to everyone aboard.

 

ex techie

 

ex techie

[snoopy5386]

Honestly a lot of it is going to depend on how much homework your children's teachers give. We have taken our kids out yearly since K and it really fluctuated wildly, some teachers are happy to give work ahead of time and others prefer to wait until the student returns. This year my 5th grade daughter had a fair amount to do and she still managed to bang most of it out in a hour one afternoon and the rest in bits and pieces when we were otherwise hanging around the cabin - before dinner or bed or before breakfast. Usually I try to get as much done as possible on the flight out, but we had a late flight this time so she mostly slept. 1st grader had no work.

[the_dylaness]

Would your teachers be able to give the homework for that week out a week or two in advance so they could be working on it at home before departure?

 

Then, on the ship, there are still lots of things to learn!

We taught my 5 year old about math last week by giving her $60 to spend on extras for a 1 week cruise ($30 from her piggy bank and $30 matching from us...) her 6 year old niece had the same arrangement. We told her any money she didn't spend, she could keep. She was very stingy and chose her gifts carefully.... her niece spent and spent... my daughter learned a lot watching this and still has $28!

[Pitzel]

To add my 2 cents in...

 

You will know your child better than anyone here on these boards. Some kids will do best getting their homework out of the way in the mornings, while others would do better with a mid-afternoon "quiet break". You will know when your child is the most focused or when enforcing homework time would be a battle.

 

That said -- In our experience, we had our son work on his homework for 30 minutes a day in the late afternoons both on sea days and after we got back to the ship on port days. He would set up his "desk" in the room and brought along every possible supply that he thought that he might need (including glue, scissors, colored pencils, pens, etc.). Our son thrives on routine, so it was easiest for us to create a routine from day 1 that he could rely on and plan his afternoons around.

[carterd2002]

In the last few years we have done a couple of 3-night Disney cruises and a 7 night Barcelona trip during the school year and we found that it was easiest for our daughter to do her schoolwork in the late afternoons in our cabin/hotel room after sightseeing. Also we eat earlier in the evening when we travel with her so she has time in the evening after dinner to spend on the schoolwork.

[Cel_cruise]

I have a 1st and 4th grader. They both do atleast one hours worth of work on our plane (we have 2-3 hours in flight) and then they do reading every day and we carve out 2-4 times for non-reading work during the week when we travel.

 

My son reads best first thing in the morning (like he does at home) - so he reads when he wakes up before breakfast (readers light or on the balcony). My daughter is not a morning person but a night owl - so she reads before bed. We pick one or two times in the week to do any other assignments - sometimes when we need to get out of the sun or sometimes when they really want to go somewhere - tying that to completing a homework assignment before hand works..

 

 

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