Thoughts on Roadschooling

[holstein13]

Here's the setup. I have two wonderful daughters who are 9 and 12 years old. The older one is advanced and the younger is developmentally behind other kids her age. The younger one struggles to keep up with her class and information usually sails by her without her understanding it.

Although the school was great and the teachers dedicated, I didn't feel as if they could dedicate the time to her one-on-one to make sure she understands each lesson and in particular, math. She would come home every day and we would work with her until she went to bed in order to help her with her homework and understanding. She had zero free time; but she learned enough to advance and keep up with her classmates.

My wife and I have been very lucky to have started a successful business and sold it last year. We purchased a new King Aire MH with bunk beds and have decided to travel the US for the next two years and road school our children.

Why two years? Because it's important for me that my oldest daughter have the high school experience. I realize how important friends are to children as teenagers and I want them to experience the best our culture has to offer.

Here's where I'd like your opinions:

1) Am I crazy? Should I rethink the whole 2 year commitment? Can I stretch it to 3 years?
2) How do I keep them motivated and engaged while on the road?
3) Have any of you tried this?
4) Are there any "best practices" I should follow?
5) Anything I should avoid?
6) What are some areas of the country we should look at in order to decide where to eventually settle down?

I specifically did not post this in the "Family Camping" section because I'd like to hear from everyone, including those who would never consider family camping. So please let me know your thoughts.

[RVMomof3]

1) Am I crazy? Should I rethink the whole 2 year commitment? Can I stretch it to 3 years?

LOL! If your are crazy, then so am I 😉 I think as long as you are enjoying this new lifestyle, then continue it for as long as you want.

2) How do I keep them motivated and engaged while on the road?

If your talking about school work ~> For my kids we use an online curriculum called Time4Learning, which they seem to like better the text books.
If your talking in general~> Just let them be involved. Let them give you ideas on where to go. Or when you have picked a location, learn what you can about it prior, so that the excitement builds. For example: if you are going to Florida, learn about the beaches, marine animals, etc. Then when they are there, it will make the experience that much more interesting for them 😉

3) Have any of you tried this?

I am trying it now 😉

4) Are there any "best practices" I should follow?

Relax and enjoy the experience! It's not about how much you do or how far you go, but the memories that you make together 🙂

5) Anything I should avoid?

If an area or campground makes you think twice, then move on or at least call the local law enforcement to make sure the area is safe.

6) What are some areas of the country we should look at in order to decide where to eventually settle down?

This is a question you have to figure out for your selves. Where one person likes the beach, another likes the mountains 😉

[Harvey51]

Another retired teacher here. I know schools are often very poor at understanding kids who learn a little differently than the majority. My DW can work apparent miracles with kids like that with one on one time in a setting away from the school because she takes the time to understand each one. And classrooms full of early teens can be very troublesome. I would say your plan is excellent and well timed.

In my experience home schooled kids coming into classrooms in grades ten and eleven are often very shy and have difficulty dealing with some teachers and other students. You must try to work in considerable interaction with other kids.

Don't go too long. In the last three grades of school there is considerable specialization and teaching just doesn't work unless the teacher has considerable knowledge and skill in the subject area. You will tend to channel your daughter into the areas you are skilled in.

Public schools do an enormous service to our society by bring all the young people in a community together. I have watched in awe as over the course of a semester a group of 17 year old girls straightened out a boy from a family where the mother was abused by the father. And many other socialization and belief problems are sorted out. I hope you won't deprive the others in your community by keeping your daughters separate for too long.

[CHBurris]

Awesome!! We are in our second year of homeschooling our 4 children, and it's one of the best decisions we've ever made! Government schools have been broken for a long time, and it's only getting worse. I have to laugh when people talk about "those weird homeschoolers". Yes, I'm sure there are some weird ones, just as there are weird public school kids! Goodness! Anyway...I think you should go for it!

[dcason]

Heck no you are not crazy. I think that is just great! I homeschooled our daughter for one year (for fun and there was a local homeschool group she could socialize with).

Go year by year and see how it goes. Get the books from your school (for free) to see what the school would be teaching to give you an idea...doesn't mean you have to go there but for things like math it will be important.

Motivated? The world is their school yard...so much to see, so much to learn, not confined to the classroom, every day will give them many things to learn by doing...way better than any classroom (that I ever attended). National Parks, new evironments (desert, etc) to experience, new flora, new fauna....
JUST DO IT!

[Steve_B_]

A two year stint would not be the same as home schooling for their entire school career. There are a lot of pluses to getting the kids out in the world. Travel is a great teacher. As an elementary teacher myself for 30 years, I have had concerns about some of the home schooled kids that came in to our district after four or five years at home. They often had trouble fitting in and difficulty adjusting to not having constant one to one instruction and attention. If it is found that your younger daughter is having some kind of learning problem, then you may want to keep her in a school setting where she can get the professional help that they offer.
I would also make one other suggestion. Try to decide where you will settle when this adventure is over, before you set off. That way you may be able to hook up with the local school district where the kids will wind up. They may be able to supply curricular materials so that your kids will be "instep" with their classmates when they enter the district. Many districts have their curriculums on line now, which would be beneficial for you. Core Curriculum may be out the window by the time you are ready to put down roots, so the benefit of it would not be helpful. I'm not a fan of CC, but in theory it would help people like you that may wind up on the other side of the country from you started. Good luck!

[subcamper]

We have homeschooled all of our 6 children. The oldest 2 are partway through college (both National Honor Society), one about to enter college. Three of the boys play travel sports and excel at it.

Each of them have their own personality that would show up whether homeschooled or not. One is shy, one is extremely outgoing, etc. I have noticed this in friends families that are not homeschooled. If a kid is shy, having them in school will not automatically fix the problem. More likely, they may be shunned by groups of others. You need to work with the shy ones to help them feel more comfortable, whether they are in school or homeschooled.

We were fortunate to be able to do things that helped them see stuff in action instead of just in books. For example, attending local town board meetings to see how government works. Roadschooling would be a great situation, but most of us have local jobs that mean travelling only during vacations.

Successful homeschooling/roadschooling is not rocket science. It requires determination more than degrees. Studies have shown that the education level of the parents have little effect on the outcome. For higher-level(high school) science and math, there are many homeschool co-ops that provide the necessary classes if needed.

Good Luck and God Bless.

Steve

[NYCgrrl]

Oh I forgot. Here's an online resource for learning no matter the locale:
https://www.khanacademy.org/about

[Bamaman11]

Our daughter was home schooled, and I don't suggest it except in a few situations. Elizabeth is very, very smart, however she has poor social skills and doesn't accept authority well. She didn't get along with her teachers, and the quality of her school friends was, shall I say, sub-standard. We moved to an area where the high schools were far inferior to her previous school, and just had to home school.

We have neighbors that home schooled their 5 Air Force kids, and they were a smart but very strange bunch of kids. Their mother has a Masters in Education from Harvard, and she was like a drill sergeant in their education. Very few mothers have such educational credentials, especially if the children are brilliant. One just graduated college with a 4.0 in electrical engineering.

Unless both of your children are extremely well adjusted and doing well in school, I wouldn't suggest you home schooling them. It sounds as if one of your kids needs structure of a community and a high quality school. I just hope you know exactly why your younger daughter's having so much trouble keeping up.

My niece just returned from the premier ADHD clinic in the U.S. to have her 12 year old son physically and mentally evaluated. He's been in the top elementary school in the region, but he's just not ready intellectually to move on to the top Junior/High School with his buddies. We know he'll never be a doctor or lawyer, but we just want him to have less anxiety and get a handle on life.

Home schooling parents are going to be positive about the experience. My wife and I saw a "different" group of parents at home school meetings, and few that had the education or knowledge to properly guide their children in a self-guided home school program.

[Alfred622]

Couple of comments from a family that homeschooled two kids from pre-school through high school - both National Merit Scholarship winners and now in top-tier colleges. It can be done but it takes a LOT of effort from the parents: curricula planning, standardized testing, tutoring sessions for advanced work, cyber-classes through Stanford EPGY, etc. There is an excellent resource on the internet for you: www.welltrainedmind.com - look for the link to the forums. Participate in the forums as there is a TON of wisdom there for you (just like RV.NET).

We were fortunate - there are about 800 homeschooled kids in our community with AMPLE opportunities for talent shows, debate teams, special-interest classes, tours, basketball/baseball, speech, choir, handbells, and many other group activities with some of the nicest kids you could hope to meet. That will be a challenge in Road Schooling. If you go to a place and stay a while, look up the local homeschooling organizations and participate in some of the activities! Each State has a state home school association and many communities have a local one.

Good luck! What a marvelous opportunity for your children - but what a huge effort for you if you really want to do it well!

[holstein13]

Campfire Time wrote:
You are not crazy.

Just traveling together and seeing things most people never get to see will create strong family bonds and memories that will last forever. For that reason alone you should do this!

That said, we've know a number of families that home schooled their children. There seem to be 2 types, those who do and succeed, those who do and fail. The failures are due to lack of dedication. They thought it was going to be easy. It's not. We considered it and realized it wasn't for us. It certainly seems like you are clearly thinking this out. I think you're going to be successful

Thanks, we've been homeschooling the kids all summer this year and you are correct, it is difficult. But public school was difficult as well. we would spend about 4 hours or more each day with our youngest just to keep her up to speed so it's turning out to be about the same amount of time now except that once she's done for the day, we are free to do everything else.

[holstein13]

michigansandzilla wrote:
I guess I will be the odd man out and be the only voice of opposition here.....
I don't think it's a really good idea. My kids are 11, 9 and 5. I feel very strongly that I want to show them what Amereica has to offer and I want to travel with them. Our jobs really limit the length of time we are permitted to take off and how far we can travel. But even if we were rich and never had to work again, I would take trips on school breaks. We have several breaks during the year and the entire summer to consider.
There is value in traveling but there is also value in having roots and staying put. There are many activities that are also important to kids that can't happen with constant travel. How about scouts, athletic teams, etc? You can do these things even if you homeschool but not if you are constantly traveling. Travel is a great way to educate kids but I feel your kids would be missing out on a lot of things that can't be found by moving so much. And friends aren't only important in highschool, they are also important to gradeschoolers. Your daughter that struggles with math may very well always struggle with math and being out of the system for 2 years may be more of a disservice for her than you realize. Two years of travel is a VERY long time for kids. Maybe do 3 months in the summer, 2 weeks at Christmas and a week at spring break. Sounds like the best of both worlds to me.

Thanks, that's good feedback. I worry about those things as well. For example, my girls and I participate in Indian Princesses and we'll have to fly back to Fort Lauderdale at least two times per year so I can appreciate the comments.

[Campfire_Time]

You are not crazy.

Just traveling together and seeing things most people never get to see will create strong family bonds and memories that will last forever. For that reason alone you should do this!

That said, we've know a number of families that home schooled their children. There seem to be 2 types, those who do and succeed, those who do and fail. The failures are due to lack of dedication. They thought it was going to be easy. It's not. We considered it and realized it wasn't for us. It certainly seems like you are clearly thinking this out. I think you're going to be successful

[Kidsgone]

Isn't wonderful that we have soo many opportunities to teach our children today! Our kids are grown, but no doubt that were I to do it all over again, I would homeschool. We just left Tallahassee (FL) campground where a family with 5 children were a few sites over from us. The family took two years to homeschool on
the road...went to every national park. But they felt that now was the time to settle in one place as the oldest is starting high school. By the way, the kids loved it.
No doubt there are a lot of RVschoolers out there, we have seen many. And...I betcha there are groups that meet on the road.
Best of luck and whatever your decision, keep us up to date. If you don't do it, you'll always wonder...

[michigansandzil]

I guess I will be the odd man out and be the only voice of opposition here.....
I don't think it's a really good idea. My kids are 11, 9 and 5. I feel very strongly that I want to show them what Amereica has to offer and I want to travel with them. Our jobs really limit the length of time we are permitted to take off and how far we can travel. But even if we were rich and never had to work again, I would take trips on school breaks. We have several breaks during the year and the entire summer to consider.
There is value in traveling but there is also value in having roots and staying put. There are many activities that are also important to kids that can't happen with constant travel. How about scouts, athletic teams, etc? You can do these things even if you homeschool but not if you are constantly traveling. Travel is a great way to educate kids but I feel your kids would be missing out on a lot of things that can't be found by moving so much. And friends aren't only important in highschool, they are also important to gradeschoolers. Your daughter that struggles with math may very well always struggle with math and being out of the system for 2 years may be more of a disservice for her than you realize. Two years of travel is a VERY long time for kids. Maybe do 3 months in the summer, 2 weeks at Christmas and a week at spring break. Sounds like the best of both worlds to me.