How to Homeschool on the Road
This is a short one, as we are trying to get on the road to avoid a windstorm!
When I was in my early twenties in Chicago, all I wanted was to be in the woods. I knew I wanted to grow food, as that was what I had been freelance writing about. (One of my favorite article assignments was about the rise of urban farms.)
I looked like a regular city-dweller, I supposed. I rode my bicycle to my full-time, depressing office job that I hated, bought clothes at thrift stores, went to bars and restaurants with my friends, shopped at Whole Foods. But buried deep was a mountain woman, one that wanted to just grow plants and make medicine from them, to use a root cellar as a refrigerator, and build a home from old logs. Of course, I had no idea how to do such a thing. Cities and suburbs were what I knew.
Homeschooling is something I had also always been interested in doing, but as I had always done public school, also knew nothing about. In college, I had picked up a book called The Teenage Liberation Handbook at the local food co-op; this book detailed the childhood learning I wish I had had. In it, it talked about about self-directed learning and learning in the real world, an education beyond the four walls of a classroom. I was fascinated by the idea of instead of going to school, you could work on farms (it talks a lot about wwoofing, what I would do in my twenties, and of course what we have done now as a family!), create your own curriculum, and your own field trips.
I am not dead-set on homeschooling forever. In fact, my plan had been to likely enroll them in a school when we settle down somewhere. Like I’ve mentioned, I didn’t still think we would be travelling and on the road for this long. What I have found is that whether in a stationary situation or one on wheels, it is easy (ish) to facilitate an ever-growing education.
Like everything, there are pluses and minuses (a little math pun for you) to homeschooling. The hardest part has been socialization; making friends and then having to get on the road again is not easy, especially for our youngest son. Some people might have figured part out; I just never have.
One of the best parts is igniting their curiosity and letting it guide us. They are voracious readers. (Actually, not having a stable library is a downside. I am constantly looking for library used booksales. Luckily we live in the age of the kindle and the e-library!). They read books that interest them; River is our animal lover and wants to go be a wildlife biologist (“or a zookeeper”, he says). Huck is very interested in cooking, crafting, and building small things out of clay or little pieces of wood. While we were parked in Virginia, where Alex is from, outside his parents’ house, Huck and his grandma started an epic dollhouse build, complete with tiny miniatures made of cloth and other materials.
We do a few non-negotiables everyday, like math. We do workbooks, but also do a Montessori-style hands-on approach. There are also tons of free online programs, like Khan Academy.
We have been to both state parks and national parks, and have gotten Junior Ranger badges at almost every one. (We might have finally exhausted this, as the last Junior Ranger badge we got at Arches National Park in Utah was met by a lot of groaning. It has been a good run, though!). Junior Ranger programs are at most all state and national parks, and are free—a small workbook that must be completed in order to get a badge. Some of them are beautifully drawn and packed with good information and great science activities.
I do believe that things that seem not very school-ish can be. Hiking and rock scrambling can be, I think, part of homeschool. Even if it is a quiet hike, letting the boys be in their own thoughts, later asking us questions, has helped encourage a sort of Socratic method of teaching.
Working on farms has—hopefully—also been a homeschool plus.
Writing assignments are my favorites, and assignments have ranged from book reports to writing about museum visits (we have found plenty of free museum days) to creating their own folktales or fables.
Some homeschool days are fun, but some are definitely not. The boys get frustrated, or I get impatient. What is nice is that I feel that even if I enroll them in school, we can always supplement with this “lifestyle”. We never have to stop hiking or talking about books together—it will just look different. Maybe sometimes not as good, and maybe sometimes better—just like everything else.
On the Road:
We are leaving Colorado today, which, did I say Utah was my favorite state? I meant Colorado. Actually, I have a few favorites, but Colorado really is so lovely. We had to take a roundabout way to bypass the Rockies, so we went down to New Mexico, through Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and up through Colorado. We saw friends, which was so fun, as sometimes this way of life can be kind of isolating. Anyway, I basically want to move to every state we visit (almost—sorry Nebraska), but Colorado was really one of my top faves. We are now heading east. More on that next time!
In the Tiny Kitchen:
I have really been phoning in meals lately, as we have been just going going going, and have been eating a lot more meals out, which is not my preference, as you might know! I have been making my quick egg/veggie tacos and, on the side of the road one day, I made the fastest stir-fry I have ever made in my life, as I tried to navigate the landmines of bike pedals and crates full of kitchen gear on the floor (everything is moved to the floor when we drive). I just cut-up tempeh and got a package of frozen mixed vegetables out, put it all in my pan with ghee, then added tamari, rice vinegar, and a dash of sesame chili oil. For some reason it was a big hit, even though I felt, energetically speaking, it was full of panic. (Maybe that is the secret ingredient, along with enough salt.)
I loved reading about the pluses and minuses of home schooling.
What a well written report of your adventures. And the pictures added more than the usual 1,000 words each