Over the Top Educational Preparation for Grandkids

[MrsPete]

We're treating our families to an Alaskan cruise (mind you that's steerage cabins in the dark) in 2010 and there will be 8 grandchildren along.

 

Only a retired teacher would begin preparing so far in advance but I thought if you could find one good idea from my insane list it might help make the experience even more educational for your children.

 

 

Ours will be missing school so I can justify the 'sailwork/shipwork.'

1. I've ordered from Amazon.com, Alaskan colouring books for evening meals in the dining room for the youngest and Alaskan workbooks for the middle set.
   
2. I've begun to collect Alaskan picture books and novels for quiet moments and long flights to Vancouver. Unfortunately there appear to be NO French novels about Alaska and the wondergrands are all in French Immersion. Wildlife Watch by B. Whittington looks great as does Wildlife Viewing Guide from USDA Forest Service. They study these when they visit us and we'll bring at least one along.
   
3. I've downloaded several maps: ones of Canada, the west coast and the Inland route for adding to their diaries.
   
4. Each child will be expected to keep a diary/scrapbook with daily entries. I'm preparing some entry starter questions or suggestions for the younger one.
   
5. To tart up their diaries I'm gathering appropriate travel/family stickers. Hopefully I'll be able to find time to pick up some Alaskan ones when we're in port. I learned that shipping costs from Amazon.com are astronomical.
   
6. They've already skimmed The Kid's Guide to Cruising Alaska and our copy of Anne Vipond's Alaska by Cruise Ship. I wouldn't waste money on the Kid's Guide if your children are experienced cruisers, but this will be a first for each of our.
   

When the grandchildren visit us during the year, I'll get them started on diary title pages and routing and labelling on maps.

 

I've encouraged the older ones to follow the value of the American dollar against ours and begin to figure out potential costs of purchases in Canadian currency.

 

Any time one of the experts on Cruise Critic offers a good link I mark it as a favourite to share closer to sailing.

 

Crazy eh? But I'm having fun.

I'm a teacher too -- not a retired teacher yet, just a teacher.

 

I've done things like this for various trips we've taken with our children, BUT I'd encourage you to do the bulk of these things IN ADVANCE of the trip rather than during the trip. I'd consider mailing them one activity per month, which would be excellent preparation for the trip and would build excitement. With 8 grandchildren, I assume you're talking about a couple families; you could do a "round-robin mailing" in which Family 1 completes the activities, then mails it to Family 2, then mails it to Family 3, then it comes back to you -- the box gets bigger each time it comes around. That'd allow the kids to see what their cousins have done.

 

Don't forget that these things -- no matter how wonderful -- cannot take the place of what they'll miss in school. They'll have to do that make-up work too (another reason to do the trip-prep activities ahead of time). A request my students' parents make pretty regularly: Let my child skip what you're doing in class and substitute the great cultural experience of visiting _____ instead. That's all well and good, and certainly travel does expand the mind . . . BUT the state still tells me I must teacher certain things each year, and if your child misses class, he has to make up what he missed. To give an example, yes, exposure to the Spanish language is wonderful and keeping a diary is a good exercise, but it doesn't replace learning drama terms and reading The Miracle Worker with the class. The trip has to be AN ADDITION to their lives, not a SUBSTITUTE for school work.

[Been There, Planning That]

Yes, Mrs. Pete, as each family visits us, I'll have the wondergrands get started with reading and organizing diary title pages. (We always do arts and crafts when they visit so this will be with an Alaskan focus)

 

I've already taught the older set Suduko which they now enjoy, and hope to try the newer kenken with at least the two oldest. These could be activities for formal dinners if needed though I hope they'll join in conversations.

 

But you are so correct about happy anticipation of a family trip.

[Martini Mom]

I'm a teacher too -- not a retired teacher yet, just a teacher.

 

 

Don't forget that these things -- no matter how wonderful -- cannot take the place of what they'll miss in school. They'll have to do that make-up work too (another reason to do the trip-prep activities ahead of time). A request my students' parents make pretty regularly: Let my child skip what you're doing in class and substitute the great cultural experience of visiting _____ instead. That's all well and good, and certainly travel does expand the mind . . . BUT the state still tells me I must teacher certain things each year, and if your child misses class, he has to make up what he missed. To give an example, yes, exposure to the Spanish language is wonderful and keeping a diary is a good exercise, but it doesn't replace learning drama terms and reading The Miracle Worker with the class. The trip has to be AN ADDITION to their lives, not a SUBSTITUTE for school work.

 

I absolutely agree. I see it as enrichment not replacement. The state standardized test, which most teachers are forced to teach to, doesn't care about our cruising life lessons. I fully expect to have the kids make up the material missed during our trip. Without starting a firestorm, hopefully, that's exactly why I don't homeschool (my personal choice, that's all). There is so much group interaction that happens at school. I know my kids cannot make up that experience after the cruise, but I can make sure they have learned the abc's of the material.

[drivinontheleft]

You've gotten some good advice here, so I don't have that much to add. I, too, am a former teacher with young children that we've taken on a Baltics cruise and a Med. cruise, and I wanted them to get the most out of the experience. I think the best idea for the older kids is a video blog. The younger ones probably would enjoy keeping an artist's journal (not so much writing, but rather drawing pictures of what they saw). I honestly think simplicity will be best for everyone involved- you will all be having so much fun! Oh and a great place for your travel/family/ Alaska stickers might be scrapyourtrip.com. Good luck and have fun planning!

[Been There, Planning That]

Drivingontheleft,

 

I investigated the site for stickers you suggested, and like most sites the stickers are best for 12X12 albums. I've bought little 8X8 albums, in part so that filling a page with either text or pictures won't seem so daunting. I bought lined coloured 4X6 sticky note pads for the older set to use for text. And given the cost of stickers for 8, I'm wondering if a simple post card bought in each port might be good enough. It's easy and relatively inexpensive to buy general travel stickers locally, but nothing specific to Alaska -- not even Canadian content Yukon ones.

 

Their parents will look after any photos or videotaping for their family.

 

When our own children were young and kept trip diaries, I just remember how all the 'stuff -- tickets and such' they taped in -- made their bound books bulge. I thought a small 3 ringed binder designed for scrapbooking might just solve the problem.

 

Yesterday I began wrapping the colouring and activity books on Alaska ordered from the American Amazon site for surprises for LONG dinners.

 

I'm having fun, doing more preparations for this 7 day trip next May, than a month long one we're planning for the two of us this winter to Israel, Jordan and Egypt! But then I sure won't scrapbook that one.

[calikak]

As a history major, I would emphasize that just because Alaska is a "young" state, that doesn't mean it doesn't have a fascinating history. There is tons to read for all ages on the Klondike Gold Rush, but beyond that, there's also the history of the native peoples of the region, and Russian settlement. Being on a cruise, I would think that learning about the explorers who charted the area might be interesting--thinking about the relatively small ships they used, compared to the giant cruise ships of today, that sort of thing.

[drivinontheleft]

New Beginner,

 

I admire and appreciate your enthusiasm. I'm also trying to put together an Alaskan cruise with my husband, our girls, and my parents. They don't quite "embrace" the planning as much as you do though- which, in my opinion, is half the fun! Good luck on your trip!

[Been There, Planning That]

Drivingontheleft, family humours my planning and often repeats, "Only a retired teacher." So my advice, plan away and family will eventually benefit from all the work you'll enjoy doing. I assume you're a Brit, so for you this would be a grand adventure. Do plan to see a bit of our west coast while in the colonies. Or if an Aussie, plan to visit a similar colony sans the early history of prisoners.

 

Calikak, my husband too is a history buff so I think I'll leave the history chatter to him. It's only a seven day trip and I am over planning I fear.

[Ducky61]

I am going on my 6th Alaska cruise in about 2 weeks, it will be my 2nd trip with a nephew, a special trip I take them on when they turn 12. For preparing for the trip I have been doing searches on the internet for free print outs / activities - word searches, crosswords, and puzzles on Alaska items (cities, animals, gold rush, white pass railway, totem poles). I have also seen connect the dot and colouring activities, as well as educational lessons on Alaska. I also printed out information on glaciers and animals of the north (i.e. eagles, whales, bears) to put in nephew's activity booklet. If you would like any of these site addresses send me an email (ducky_1961@hotmail.com).

 

For a free kid activity in port that is worth checking out if you are going to Skagway is the National Park Headquarters Junior Ranger Program where the kids can complete excercise booklets (based on their age group) and then earn their Junior Ranger Badge. They now also have the booklets available on line so kids can start ahead of time. The kids also get a stamp imprint for their booklets (or journal)

 

When my 1st Nephew went there was a swearing in cermony and he got to wear a ranger's hat for cermony. This park office is excellent it offers free guided walking tour of town, ranger talks, film the on gold rush has a small museum and hands out hiking maps.

 

Some of the cruiselines also have a ranger come on board if you visit Glacier Bay. The ranger I saw brought information on glaciers, animals and had a few animal pelts. (Can also get another stamp)

 

Juneau and Ketchikan also have some good museums.

 

As far as shore excursions, I print out the cruise line options and go thru them with my nephews to get their interests as well as read the reviews of their choices on cruise critic, helps determine which port to go with if similar excursions offered. I also give them a budget to work within. Both nephews were interested in panning for gold and whale watching. 1st one wanted to take the White Pass & Yukon train ride (I love the ride scenery and klondike history), where his brother wants to do dog sledding (it has to be the on wheels version as the heli trip does fit the budget)

 

Have fun planning!

[Been There, Planning That]

Thank you Ducky 61, what a great aunt you are, and how fortunate your nephews to get to enjoy such an educational treat.

 

I just hope others get to benefit from your postings.

 

Downloading is attractive to this fellow Canadian as postage from American sites sure raises costs.

[trixie54]

This thread made me fondly remember homeschooling our DD; we'd spend a whole semester studying the various subjects related to our next destination: reading authors from there, history, culture, language, geography, geology, etc. It was so much fun for all of us, & culminated in great after-trip reports & presentations :):)

[gummyvites]

On both of our previous cruises I had grand intentions for our kids that I wasn't able to carry out. But one thing I've always thought would be interesting would be having each kid carry a folded up photocopy of a world map (maybe in a lanyard pocket) and marking on it the home cities of people that they meet. Usually the crew hails from all over the world and love to talk about their countries. I bought some little pocket size atlases and a pocket sized book of flags from around the world, but we usually were so busy that we didn't end up using them. :rolleyes: We did trace out the ship's route on a map and talked about the areas we would be passing. My 9 year old was fascinated by the fact that the ship steered wide around Cuba. We pointed it out as we went by and had long talks about freedom and different styles of governments.

[Been There, Planning That]

Gummyvites, I like your world mapping idea, and perhaps I'll print off a world map for the oldest two. I have a fanastic map of the inside passage from Anne Vipond's Alaska by Cruise Ship and was going to concentrate on it and a map of Canada. I thought I'd get those colourful arrows from a business store and have them stick them on with a day number.

 

Your comments help me set realistic goals for this family celebration.

 

From the number of hits on this thread we're not the only ones who see travel as a significant learning opportunity.

 

Thanks for this idea Gummyvites, and enjoy future educational travel with your children.

[Ula]

G

 

From the number of hits on this thread we're not the only ones who see travel as a significant learning opportunity.

 

True story, my mom on family vacations took us to every historical marker and place within range. We went to Arizona every thanksgiving to visit senior family. She was trying to find some Native American things and was asking at the front desk. The clerk finally said lady they do not live in Tipi's anymore.

We ended up going to Montezuma's well which was part of the ancient Anasazi ruins. Granted as a kid was not as enthused, but am now happy she was into that. She also took us to old cemeteries. You can learn a lot about places visiting those.

So I do not think one can prep to much for a vacation with things to do,see and learn.