Any full timers who home school?

[BrittyBea]

Hello! Within the next several months my husband, kids, and I will be full timers! Our children are ages 5 and 8. My daughter will be going into the 3rd grade and my son will be going into kindergarten. I am a little lost at what all needs to be done. We will not be driving around the U.S. all the time. My husband is a Travel RN so we'll be moving around every 13 weeks or so. Since we're legal residents of GA we're using the GA K12 online school program. My question is this: What do we do about our address? I know I have to send in a Declaration of Intent to the GA Dept of Education and they forward it to the correct county but if we do not have a physical address anymore, what do we do? I'm also lost about what to do with our drivers license and mail! Do we use a family member's address? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!:)

[wannavolunteerF]

A close friend of mine did the GA online K12 program for her daughter from about 3rd grade through middle school. The child did have to schedule and take proctored standardized tests occasionally (annually I think). That was a few years ago, so may have changed. She did well enough with the home school program, that she was one of 30 that were selected out of about 300-400 for a early college program that was part of the county school system for high school. When she graduated high school, she had a full years college credit and a full scholarship at a fairly prestigious small private college. So my advice is don't be scared of the program, I think it is a good thing for kids that can learn that way.

[Curt_and_Marie]

Life Happens we will home school soon. We are raising our 4 soon to be 5 year old granddaughter, Don't think mom (our daughter) will ever get it together to be a mom so here we go. We did not let it stop us from our dream of full timing. I have retired from the Army and taught JROTC for a few years but just cant take it any more. We sold everything and bought our coach and are planning the big garage sale for the first two weeks of June. After that we are gone. I think its important that our granddaughter attend kindergarten but then We will home school on the road. I am 54 my bride is,,,, well a few years younger than I. We will travel as often as we can until social security kicks in then our granddaughter can start attending jr high and high school. We hope to see many home school kids along the way, we can exchange lesson plans and even substitute teach others kids. I have taught in public schools for the last 6 years from Tennessee to Michigan and its a total mess I know our homeschooled kids will do great and be great Americans.

[oneeyesquare]

if you hadn't heard of. Great group!
http://fulltimefamilies.com/
Where they all hang out

[Mootpoint]

We just finished a nine month trip across Canada and then down Route 66 from Chicago to LA. We came across numerous families home schooling. All of them said they were involved in various systems that permitted them access to all the info and technical data required in a coop type system. They were definitely happy families and sure seemed to work for them.

[hitchup]

Before you do anything, go to the nearest UPS Store in GA and inquire on pricing about getting a mailbox. You may need to maintain your GA DL and tags, etc to keep the kids in the GA program.

We've had a FL UPS Store box since 2005. DH has his DL in FL, but to maintain my GA DL, I had to use one of my kids address. We've had excellent service, I email them when we need to have the mail held and we don't have a new address yet. Also, they call DH when he has a jury summons or something comes in that we may need before the monthly mailing is scheduled.

[lj2654]

I think you have a wonderful plan. We have been thinking it over to do the same. My wife and I both have disabilities, I am retired AF and unemployable, have a son (12) in 7th grade. He is apprehensive about doing it, but loves to go away in our RV. We won't pressure him into doing it, he still has 5 years left to graduate high school. Then we are positely going to sell the s&b and fulltime. We are 58 and 56 and want to see the USA by traveling in our DP. Good luck to you and your family and enjoy the time together.

[phil_crouch]

You may want to check out YouTube video's on HomeSchooling.. Plenty info there..

Another website is Khan Academy that has great programs for learning..

[BrittyBea]

Gunship Guy, thanks so much for the link!

[Gunship_Guy]

I think homeschooling is an excellent idea even for people who don't travel.

Here's a mail forwarding company out of Pensacola that has a good reputation and their prices seem reasonable. American Home Base

Here's a family full timing with 2 young kids. Their situation may not match yours but you might get some enjoyment out of watching their YouTube videos. Camp Columbo

[Executive45]

Congratulations on your decision to be with your hubby and kids. My DD was home schooled from the 6th grade through high school. She actually used the internet for schooling and it worked out very well for her. She graduated from high school two years early and recently finished graduating from college with honors. When she was in 6th grade, I had an opportunity to visit friends who lived on a golf course in Rancho Mirage outside Palm Springs. The reason for the visit, on a school day was a golf tournament. My kids got to meet Presidents, Ford, Clinton, Reagan, Carter and Bush. Now that was an education!...

Regarding your mail, you have several options. Assuming you wish to stay Ga. residents, simply subscribe to a mail forwarding service. Since you'll be full timers, you can choose which State you wish to be residents of. We chose SD because they have no income tax. An email gets our mail sent to us wherever we are whenever we choose. You can have the mail sent directly to the CG if they accept USPS or you can have it sent in your name, C/O General Delivery to the nearest PO that accepts it. This is usually better than using a relative or friend. Wherever you choose as your State of residency, make sure you transfer all your bank accounts, credit cards, drivers license, plates etc to your new State....

Again, congratulation on your decision....Dennis

[BrittyBea]

Thanks! My parents, mainly my mother, think that we're crazy for doing it! But I think we're doing the right thing! We always talk about wanting to go places and we can't because of my husband's work schedule or because of school. So now we'll be with him and the kids will get more quality time with both of us. Our kids are actually pretty excited about it!

Do you think that since we'll be staying in one place for 13 weeks at a time that the USPS will let us forward mail to each location?

[Aridon]

Mail forward service if allowed or a family address should work fine.

Good luck, personally I think you're doing a wonderful thing for your kids just be sure to socialize them a bit. We have one on the way, have been FT for 5 years and likely will be doing the same thing.