Homeschool + Disney = Quite A Field Trip
Did you know you can take classes at Walt Disney World? I mean, inside the parks?
Okay, there are those of you out there shaking your heads and muttering “Lady, there is such a thing as taking homeschooling too far.” My best friend thinks I’m a monster for taking my kids to learn while on vacation. “Disney World is for fun, and wearing mouse ears, and giant dogs wearing top hats,” she admonished me.
In my defense, my kids are learning all the time, regardless of whether or not we’re on vacation. I certainly can’t shut it off. Their drive to learn doesn’t differentiate between museum visits and amusement parks, even ones in Florida. And – and I think I’m speaking for all homeschoolers here – who said fun and learning were exclusive of one another?
But yes – in addition to fairies, dwarves, animatronics and Mickey-shaped everything, Disney also offers a selection of half-day classes that take you in – and around – the theme parks.
Background:
Offered since 1992, the Disney Youth Education Series is essentially a selection of docent-led field trips within Walt Disney World’s extensive theme park and entertainment areas. A variety of topics are available for study to students grades K through 12 – from science to theater management, they offer something for just about everyone.
Disney’s choice to expose students to the brainier aspects of theme park magic is brilliant in its simplicity. Want to teach physics to little kids? [http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/u6l2b.cfm] Show them roller coasters! Or how about optical illusions? Go through the Haunted Mansion to discuss how light bounces to fool the eye. Theater craft and arts management for high school students? Go on backstage with Cirque du Soleil, easily one of the most successful production companies of the last 25 years. American history? The Magic Kingdom has an entire neighborhood devoted to it.
Normally only available as a package to groups of 10 or more students, an open enrollment Homeschool Days period is offered bi-annually. Families can register individual children for class offerings, with no minimum group required to participate.
Tina Dawson, director of the Youth Education division, heads the program and is primarily responsible for the development of the content. She says seminars are led by “local educators, retired educators, and even people who just have a passion for” an offered subject. Science is the most popular subject, with over 150 individuals on staff.
Setting the Bar
Now, we’ve been to Disney before. I’m no Disney sycophant, but the cast members down in Orlando really do a stellar job in the realm of family entertainment. From the fabulous hospitality to the squeaky clean parks, you have to admit that the whole operation is an impressively well-oiled machine. It rained one morning and ten minutes after the downpour ceased, guys in uniforms were out squeegee-ing the sidewalks. The place is unbelievably tuned to take care of you.
Walt and his crew have set the expectations bar kind of high. Okay, really high. Y.E.S. course offering descriptions highlight their association with professional organizations (“…developed in conjunction with the …American Chemical Society.”) and every course includes a list of “National Standards and 21st Century Goals”. There are even supplemental educational materials available to match certain programs.
Take, for example, this program description from the Y.E.S. website:
“Your students can swirl through G-force motion to test the laws of physics, meet people and experience what life is like on the other side of the globe, and check out all kinds of careers from business to acting. They get to ring a life-size replica of the Liberty Bell and sign their own Declaration of Independence. They research the world of animals in a real, working science laboratory and in the field, test their skills in the art of animation, and so much more! Your group will remember and build upon these hands-on adventures for years to come.”
To a certain degree, you’re being lured by hype. But when an outfit like Disney opens the door and says, “Come in, we’re going to teach you stuff!”, I think it’s fair to go in expecting a high-quality production on the other side of that door.
I set out with my brood to find out: could Mickey’s education group match the expectations already set by the legendary entertainment and hospitality division?
In Class with the Mouse
We signed up for three classes. On day one, I attended Synergy in Science (K-5th) with my first grader, while the older kids went off together to attend Everyday Chemistry (4th-9th).
The Synergy in Science instructor, a former teacher in Florida public schools, announced that kids would learn how different technologies combine “to make something great!”
We began by settling down in a quiet spot at the Innoventions East pavilion of EPCOT center. Given our location, I was hoping the program would touch on some of the great technology located in the same building. Heck, Raytheon has a spectacular section there called Sum of All Thrills, which shows how math, physics and engineering are combined when you design and ride your own roller coaster. That’s totally synergy, right?
No such luck. Innoventions East turned out to be merely a waystation on our journey to… Spaceship Earth.
The class did have a basic format: the instructor would offer a brief discussion of a scientific principle, and then take us on a ride. We discussed eye convergence and how optical illusions are created, and then rode on Figment’s Journey Through Imagination. Before riding Spaceship Earth, we discussed animatronics. At the end, our class wound up again in a back corner of Innoventions, where our guide distributed large laminated cards to the children with the promise of “a really cool surprise”. (It turned out to be a group exercise in putting together a photomosaic of Mickey Mouse.)
We met up again with my older children, who had been taking a chemistry class. Their guide had also taken them to three rides, with stops in between for discussions and some hands-on experimenting (they mixed polymers and explored surface tensions). Verdict: “Mom, we did this same thing at the Port Discovery sleepover.” [PD sleepover: http://www.portdiscovery.org/portdiscovery/uploads/File/Program_Descriptive.pdf] But the kids did say they learned something (“I didn’t realize these three different materials were all classified as polymers”) and enjoyed hanging out with other kids their age at the park.
Day two: Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In the “Wild By Nature” class, the objective is to “inspire students… by taking part in an interactive survival game throughout Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park.”
We arrived and met our guide, who ushered us through the park gates prior to the official opening. It was nice to be able to tour the park with our docent for a bit prior to the rush of the crowds. She also acted as a walking pass into all the short lines for the most popular rides (every one of which formed wait times of 45 minutes or greater almost immediately after the parks opened.)
Unfortunately, the “interactive survival game” turned out to be less game and more moderately paced exercise. The majority of our “class” consisted of visiting the live animal exhibits, where the guide would point out the inhabitant and then turn to us and ask, “So, how does this animal survive?”
We did pick up some interesting trivia about wild animals and took a walk around the massive Tree of Life structure, hunting for different animals. Also, the group stopped several times to discuss and model animal behaviors, learning how they tie into survival skills. Class concluded when our guide dropped us off at the It’s Tough to be a Bug attraction.
Final Evaluation
Every description in the Disney Y.E.S. course brochures includes the following:
“Trained and knowledgeable Disney Y.E.S. Cast Members facilitate this high-quality and educationally sound program, while never forgetting that fun is a vital part of learning.”
Talking informally with other homeschoolers I met in the park, most parents were generally unimpressed with the program. One mother admitted that her primary reason for signing up during homeschool days was for the massively discounted park tickets – they didn’t bother attending class at all. Other parents said they felt the programs were fairly dry and lacking in imagination. [I wondered if our Wild By Nature experience was characterized more by the quality of our instructor than the content of the program but apparently not.]
I think the special problem you face is this: because they are the industry gold standard in certain areas which you’ve probably already experienced, when you sign up for a program bearing the Disney label, you’re likely to walk in expecting quite a song and dance.
The thing to do before you go, therefore, is to manage your expectations – downward. I recommend you treat these courses as a cool way to provide your students with some context about the theme park around them.
Yes, your experience is going to vary with the quality of your instructor – the same as it would with any tour, or even any classroom. (Our Wild By Nature guide did quietly insist that we were looking at Kimono dragons. True story.) But we did learn and model animal behaviors, and the kids did start to think about survival issues for wild animals. Yes, the chemistry experiment was one you could probably re-create in your kitchen. But my know-it-all eldest child did admit she learned something new, even if what primarily attracted her to the class was the opportunity to ride Test Track – again.
As an expanded teachable moment, the Y.E.S. program succeeds. And this is the beauty of the vacationing homeschooler: taking advantage of that teachable moment. When you’re standing in line at the amusement park and you hear some woman talking with her kids about inertia and why you don’t fall out when the roller coaster car goes upside-down – that’s us. But perhaps not wearing the mickey ears.
Details:
Disney Y.E.S. Homeschool Days typically take place twice a year, in January and September (generally the slowest months of the Disney calendar.) Watch the WDW website for announcements regarding enrollment periods.
At the time of our program, we were given the opportunity to purchase heavily discounted multi-park tickets which included one class per passholder. Additional classes were available for $25 per person.
Classes are offered in morning and afternoon sessions, although your class time may get switched depending on how many people sign up. Disney will reschedule you to a different time slot if there is insufficient enrollment. Each class took us no more than 3 hours, leaving us plenty of time to enjoy the parks for the remainder of each day.
Amie Beal writes Helping to Homeschool for the Washington Times Communities.
This article originally appeared in Helping to Homeschool, my column at communities.washingtontimes.com
