“How does homeschooling while traveling work?” is one of the most asked questions we’ve been getting since starting this journey. We have homeschooled ‘outside the box’ for several years and have showed how we homeschool while vacationing in the past. But now we’re talking about homeschooling while traveling full time. This is how we do it.
The Start of Our Homeschooling Journey
Bryan and I made the decision that we’d homeschool our children back in 2013. After being in the public school system myself as a preschool teacher, curriculum specialist, and tutor (for about 7 years) – we could see where everything was headed. Instead of subjecting our children to modern indoctrination, we decided to take our children’s education into our own hands.
I wish I could say it was smooth sailing the entire time, but like most parents, I started out with more of a school-at-home approach because I had not yet broken myself from my own programming. It took a couple of years before I’d break out of the box and start homeschooling our way.
Because of this, I spent several months researching and putting together a course to help parents (especially newbies) deschool themselves as well as their children.
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Fast forward ten years and we’re now somewhere between unschooling, child-led, and lifeschooling. Sometimes we sit at the table together, other times the kids are in their own chosen spaces. Sometimes we use workbooks, other times we use YouTube University. Either way, this has been a fun ride, which leads me into the point of this post…
Homeschooling While Traveling
After some time, Bryan and I decided that education was something we wouldn’t try to over-control. Instead of making out a strict calendar and sticking to it no matter what, we allow education to happen all the time. I used to be one of those parents that wanted to take strategic breaks and “not school,” including on vacations.
However, that would all change once we decided to use every aspect of life as a classroom. Below are just a few ways we homeschool while traveling, especially since we’ve become a full-time traveling family.
Each destination becomes a new lesson plan.
Every place we have visited (and continue to visit) can literally become its own lesson plan and every subject can be covered. For example:
- Geography: the kids have to find the place on a map and write about it.
- History: we learn about historical events that may have taken place there.
- Science: we can explore any scientific features it has like caves, natural bodies of water, etc.
- English/Language Arts: the kids can read books about the place and write reports or draw story cards.
- Math: we can calculate the distances between previous places and the current place (as well as the next destination).
These are just a few ideas but there is so much that can be learned this way.
Homeschooling while traveling makes learning fun.
I remember watching many episodes of The Magic School Bus and getting a kick out of all the places Ms. Frizzle would take her students. Homeschooling while traveling allows Bryan and I to do just that for our children. Although we’re not taking trips inside of nostrils or to outer space, we certainly get the opportunity to travel to places that most people learn about in books.
Our children love seeing and experiencing new things and enjoy learning in the process.
Learning on the go is easier than most people think.
Moment of transparency: I used to be a curriculum hoarder. Whew, okay now that I got that out, I must say that was one of the hardest things for me to part with during our big storage pack up. Honestly, I hung on to majority of our books, journals, and curriculum boxes because… well, just because (but whatever).
The point I’m trying to make here is that learning on the go doesn’t require much. Personally, we don’t use boxed curricula, tons of physical books, and the like. Each of our kiddos has a notebook (or 2), a couple of workbooks, and then any supplies needed. Anything extra we use is usually picked up (or purchased) on the fly.
Final Thoughts
I believe that having a relaxed perspective about homeschooling gives us the opportunity to really take advantage of homeschooling while traveling. Instead of seeing learning as something that happens separately than everyday life, we embrace it as something that is happening all the time – because it is!
If you have any questions about homeschooling, large family traveling, or anything in between, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
