Homeschooling at Walt Disney World

The last month has been a blur!  The holidays were wonderful as we spent time with family and friends.  We took a few weeks break from our homeschool work and did a bit of traveling.  Now we are feeling fresh and renewed (at least I am…not sure the kids would agree) and ready for some interesting adventures in the new year.

During the month of December we watched the new Disney TV special called “Prep & Landing” (actually, we watched it several times because we loved it!).   In case you missed it “The half-hour holiday special reveals the never-before-told tale of an elite unit of Elves known as Prep & Landing”.  It was a funny look at all of the high-tech work that goes on behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly on the big night of Christmas Eve.

I’m not sure what it says that I found myself inspired by an animated TV special, but one morning during my daily walk with our dogs I decided that instead of calling our homeschool efforts “unit studies” it might be more fun to think of them as “prep & learning.”  In the past I have always tried to do a few activities before our visits to WDW so that we can relate our home learning to a hands-on learning opportunity.  I will still do that, but I’m also going to try to find a few simple things to help us document our learning and experiences.

I may not have all of the high-tech tools and skills that the elves have but I’ve decided to let the internet be my friend as much as possible.  My goal is to find basic materials that I can use to help guide our efforts.  I’ve realized that I am somewhat creative, but I’m actually better at finding resources and tweaking them to fit my needs.  I’ve always been a fan of the expression “don’t reinvent the wheel” (and for those that are familiar with strengths, I’m a true Maximizer) so I’m going to use my talents to find resources that already exist and make them our own.

I’ve mapped out our plans for the next few months – I’ve considered the subjects we’re going to be covering and thought about how we can tie that work in to our trips to WDW.  Here are a few of the topics we have on our agenda – a book club using books with a tie to WDW (Jungle Book, Peter Pan, etc.), plants, animals and their habitats, states, and American history, to name a few.  As we move along I’ll share some of the “prep” activities I find, and then let you know how well they support our “learning” and real life adventures.

…now, if I could just find a few “elves” to do all of my internet searches I’d be in great shape!!!

Yesterday was our turn to visit the Fire Station.  During the month of October the wonderful staff at Reedy Creek Emergency Services has hosted six visits for our homeschool group’s families.  They have graciously spent time sharing information about their operations and general fire safety, giving a tour of their fire house and equipment, and answering many questions from our children (and curious parents too!).

 My family has visited many fire stations in the past, but there was something very special about meeting with the team that provides emergency services to Walt Disney World.  We’ve never been to a station affectionately referred to as “the Dalmatian Station” (take one look at the exterior of this amazing facility and you understand the name)!  We took a tour of the building, one of the firefighters put on his complete suit and talked to the kids so they wouldn’t be afraid if they saw a firefighter in uniform offer them help, the kids had a chance to get inside the vehicles and even use the hose. 

We were reminded to go home and update our family evacuation plans (something my kids told the firefighters that we haven’t done since we moved into our new house…talk about incentive to get it done ASAP!) and replace the batteries in our smoke alarms this weekend when the time changes.  These were valuable lessons and things we will put at the very top of our list of activities for the week!

During our recent visit to Animal Kingdom we received cards from a cast member that included safety tips.  The cards featured Timon and Pumbaa and each of the cards had a cute cartoon depicting a safety tip.

I hadn’t noticed these cards before so (being the researcher that I am) I decided to Google “Disney’s Wilds About Safety” to see what I could find out about the cards.  It turns out that I found a great site (part of the Disney website) that talks all about safety in the Disney parks.

The website includes a section for “Cool Parents” with topics like: Safety in the Sun, Theme Park Travelin’ Tips, Park Symbols and Sun Safety Checklist.  Each topic contains great information for you to review and share with your kids before your next visit to the parks.  There is also a “For Kids Only” section with games and downloads.

If nothing else, be sure to check out the “Wild Tiles” section!  This includes 12 safety tips, along with funny pictures of Timon and Pumbaa that can be printed out as coloring pages.  Talking about safety with your kids is very important and these pictures give you an easy and fun way to emphasize these safety issues.

Whether you are heading to a Disney park, or other park, don’t forget to include these very important lessons as you prepare for your visit!

Here is another great resource!

Kids Off The Couch.com offers a free, weekly e-blast that takes what kids love — good films, books, music and digital media — and uses it to inspire family adventures. From art and architecture, to nature and sporting events, we connect families to each other and to the world.

I really like this new Disney inspired blog post from the folks at Kids off the Couch:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs + Apple Picking = Kids off the Couch

Brain Pop is one of my family’s favorite education websites.   It doesn’t have anything to do with WDW, but we use it so often I thought I’d share…

My professional background is in corporate training so I learned a long time ago that people retain more when information is presented in a way that is simple and easy to understand and it’s even better if it is a little bit entertaining!  When I found the Brain Pop website I knew these folks were on to something great.

From their website –  Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content that supports educators and engages students.

The Brain Pop website offers tools like lesson plans, activity ideas, and graphic organizers, but their greatest offerings are their short, informative videos.  These videos are hosted by Tim and his robot Moby.  Each video is only about 3 minutes long but they do an excellent job of highlighting the main points of the subject.  Videos are offered in a variety of categories including science, social studies, English, math, arts & music, health and technology.  At the end of each video a quiz is offered for review.

Over 20 videos are available for free, with many more offered through an annual membership fee.  I discovered this site a few years ago and I have figured out a way to include our subscription into our homeschool budget ever since because we use it so often (we sign-up under that family subscription option).  My kids love to learn with Tim and Moby!

Did you hear about Buzz’s latest adventure in space? 

Buzz (Lightyear that is) recently returned from a 15 month mission aboard the International Space Station.   While on the space station Buzz supported NASA’s education outreach program. 

To help welcome him home, a ticker-tape parade will be held at WDW on Friday, October 2^nd.  During the parade Buzz will be joined by his space station crew mates and astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

On October 2^nd NASA will also announce the details of a new educational competition that gives students an opportunity to design an experiment for the astronauts on the space station.

Visit the NASA website for more information about Buzz’s adventures (make sure you check out the “Buzz in Orbit” video!)

And don’t forget to check out NASA’s other amazing resources for students and educators.

Have your children found the Club Penguin website by Disney?

Mine have been playing Club Penguin with their friends for almost a year now and they really enjoy it.  They try to convince me that it is educational – they have to care for their puffles, manage their money and make decision about what things they buy, and socialize with others.  The site offers free memberships, however there is an option to purchase a membership which offers different features than the free membership.  My boys spent several months playing with the free membership.  When they decided they wanted to “upgrade” to the paid membership we talked about it and decided that would be something they could use their own money to pay for.  We pay monthly for the membership using Paypal, that way we continue to evaluate whether or not they are still using the site and if they want to continue with their paid membership (another good money management lesson).

Maybe it is educational, but that’s not really the important thing for us.  What I find so special about this site is that it is very safe for the kids.  Like most, my kids love being on the computer, but I worry about which websites are appropriate and safe for them.  I have been extremely pleased with the material on the Club Penguin Website and the support they offer to parents.  This has site has given my boys an opportunity to use the computer, develop some keyboarding skills and begin to understand how to use the internet/game sites responsibly.

Although Club Penguin hasn’t yet made a major appearance at WDW you will see some of the toys and games available for sale in each park (they recently released a puffle pin collection that is very cute).  Earlier this year “Rock Hopper” the pirate penguin did make a brief appearance at Hollywood Studios.  My son was thrilled to have his picture taken with him.  I sent the folks at Club Penguin and email telling them how happy we were to see them in the parks.  They responded with a very cute email about how much the characters enjoyed their visit and thanked us for our support of Club Penguin.

What do you do when you are at WDW waiting in a long line for a ride, waiting for a show to start or sitting in a restaurant waiting for your meal?  Many of us parents might enjoy the chance to sit down or stand still for a few minutes, but probably not the kids.  If you are looking for something fun to pass the time why not quiz everyone on Disney trivia?

I found some great downloadable Disney trivia at The Mouse For Less website.  They have created 10 pages of trivia, each page has 10 questions.  Don’t worry, in case you aren’t up on all of your Disney trivia they provide downloadable answer sheets as well.

These would also be great for use in the car or for a family game night.  I think I’ll keep a few of these worksheets in my bag for the next time our Disney Schooling group is together in the park…we’ll see which family knows their Disney trivia!