Howdy ya'll! I wanna introduce my family to everyone here. We are Jason and Cindy and kids Rio (13), Aspen (gonna be 4). We are originally from Texas, but live in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. I have been lurking on this website for a couple years, gathering info. and decided today to start posting. We became fulltimers Feb. 2008. We have always enjoyed camping and several years ago (before the economy really went bad) we decided we were happiest camping. So we placed our home on the market and were fortunate enough to sell. We bought a 2008 Keystone Challenger with 3 bedrooms. We felt because of the age and sex of the kiddos, it was a smart move to give them their own rooms, something we DON'T regret! I am a retired nurse and hubby is a Master Carpenter. I home school the kids. We LOVE this lifestyle and with the current economic times, are greatful we live this way! We don't ever want to go back to the rat-race and the stick built home.  There sure seems to be alot of nice folks on here and we appreciate the wealth of information! I hope we can provide some info. on the things we have learned over the past year!

It will be good to hear some of your experiences.  As someone who has recently bought an RV and gone fulltime, I can tell you I learned so much from those who have paved the way before me.  The good experiences as well as the mishaps all help a wannabe come to the decisions that they hope will be right for them.  Welcome to the forum.

gypsy

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you decided to introduce yourself and join in. I'm sure some will be interested in your travels with your kids. More and more people are hitting the road with families these days.

Thank you for the welcome! Yes, we have learned alot this past year. Feel free to ask any questions, chances are, we dealt with it.

Welcome! Glad you decided to jump in and start posting. There seems to be a lot of lucky kids on the forum...I wasn't smart enough to get into this lifestyle when raising our son. The advent of home schooling has opened up a wonderful world for RV'ers with kids.

Yes it has! My 13 year old son tells us when he is ready to leave home he wants to buy an RV and park it wherever we are!! lol Not only does he not want to miss out on any meals but he likes the freedom that this lifestyle has given us.

Sherri and I would like to welcome you to the family here and hope to see you drop in from time to time. We did not start fulltime RVing until three years ago but we did move our kids from Dallas Texas to the country in 1978. We have never regreted doing that I am sure you will never regret doing this for your kids. Life is so much better when your not in the big city. Wishing you all the best... Sherri and Joe

Hey Jason and Cindy,

We are Tom and Marci (aka camper_boy) and we are targeting fulltime June 2010 with our two boys Nicolas (12) and Bryce (10).  We have many questions to ask:

Do you have a Blog yet?
Which Homeschool system do you use? Books or online?
Did you purchase one?
How often do you move sites?
What tow vehicle do you have?
Have you met other young families w/kids?
Which type of campgrounds do you frequent?
How do you finance your travels?

Thats good for now...Welcome to the family...Visit our Blog and comment!!!

Hi Tom and Marci and kiddos! I will try to answer all your questions. Let's see, we don't have a blog yet but I am looking into it, now that I know it's free! lol We homeschool with the Switched On Schoolhouse Alpha Omega program. We did the books, but my son hated it, so we switched to the computer cd's. Very easy to grade (for me) and he likes it alot more. http://www.aophomeschooling.com/switched-on-schoolhouse/overview.php I am guessing you are asking about purchasing an RV? Yes we did. We actually bought it a few months before we sold the house. It is a 2008 Keystone Challenger BHQ Fifth Wheel . It is 38'7 long and has 3 bedrooms. Since we have a teenage boy and a little girl, we thought they needed to be seperated. There are several really neat RV's with bunkhouses since you have the two boys. We wished we could have gone that route. We pull our fifth wheel with a 2008 Dodge 3500 Mega Cab Diesel truck. My husband also uses this for work. I have a Scion Tc (small car) for my running around and follow he and the kids when we travel far distances. I have met alot of families with kiddos in various places. Here is a great website that you can go to called Families On The Road (FOTR) There are bunches of full-timing families on there. Some neat stories to read. We are members there too. http://www.familiesontheroad.com/about.html My husband is in construction for a living. We travel wherever the work is! We call Ruidoso NM homebase. We were living here when we started fulltiming. If you have anymore questions just ask. Good luck to you and may your dreams come true! (I copied and pasted the links to those websites but for some reason they won't show the right way...hmmm....)

Hi Jason & Cindy,

We have 1 child in highschool.  Maybe we waited too long.  We are wanting to sell the house and start fulltiming.  We are wanting to get out of the rat race.  At least part of the year.  We will still need to work but if we fulltime we can get by working only 6 months a year.  I know there are plenty of jobs going through a temp service as a claims adjuster. The problem is our son doesn't want to leave his friends.  Have you had that issue?  We talk about it all of the time and he keeps telling us he doesn't want to leave. 

Hi Dale and Bev! We have had some problems with our son not wanting to leave friends. However, our situation is a little different because we homeschool. My son still maintains one really good friend he had when he was still attending public school but has made other friends he met since we are fulltimers.
We bought my son his own laptop this past Christmas to do his school work and to allow him to keep in contactwith friends. We also bought him a cellphone and he shares our plan, with limits of course, so he can maintain contact with them.
I have to say that for any of us, part of the negativity, is fear. They are unsure of what lies ahead. Kids feel safer with stability. I don't mean our lifestyle is unstable, but it's always changing. I would encourage him to go to the FOTR website. There is a section on there just for kids. No adults can post on there. He can talk to other kids in this situation and get answers. You also need to talk about the adventure. My son has been awakened to a whole new world. While there were times he was unsure and negative, after we reached a destination or whatever, he met kids and all was fine. I think I would focus on the best points of fulltiming, the adventure, always something new to see and learn, maybe include him in some planning of where to go and what to do. Making this jump may be downplayed by some of your son's friends because they don't understand or even could be a little envious. Educate him on what lies ahead.
How old is your son? Maybe there could be contact between our two boys. He tells it like it is and is a real good kid. If he could help in anyway, I am sure he would like to! 
Hope this helps a little!

-- Edited by Dachiegirl at 09:30, 2009-01-27

Jason & Cindy,

Our son is 15.  He has a girlfriend right now.  That could be one reason he doesn't want to leave.  The other issue is sports.  He plays soccer and wants to play for the school again.  He was playing select soccer and he is taking a break from it this spring.  He has played since he was 4.  I am actually burned out.  It is an all year commitment.   I have even asked him where he would want to go.  He just tells me he wants to stay here.  I think he is afraid he won't have any friends.  He is at the age where he could get a job.  He could find friends there. 

With having to work part of the time we could stay here and just travel the months we don't have to work.  Of course I still want to sell the house.  I am ready to get rid of all the stuff collected over the years.  Selling the house we would have no debt  and less stress all around. 

I will show him the website to see what he thinks.  Do you have to register?

Ahhh, the girlfriend! Yes, that is most likely it! (along with the fear) Well, you could always sell the house and move into your RV and stay local and slowly take to your travels. We do have a homebase, so even if we are gone for periods of time, we do come back and Rio gets to see his friends here.
I will lovingly say, my son is a computer nerd! lol He will admit that too. No sports for him. He was never interested in that stuff. So again, the kids are different in that respect. I am always glad that we decided this before Rio reached teenage. It is just a way of life now. He still has his complaints sometimes, but he gets over it pretty fast.
You do need to register at FOTR and so does he. That way he has his own password to get into the kid's only area. It should be a fairly simple thing to get set up. Post that your 15 year old wants an account too, so they will let him post. He can't post with your account, only his.

-- Edited by Dachiegirl at 10:28, 2009-01-27

-- Edited by Dachiegirl at 10:29, 2009-01-27

Hi there!

I love our idea about going ahead and selling the house, living in the rv locally and ease into traveling! That way he gets a "taste" of the adventure and will likely want more. My boys are 13 (14 in Mar) and 11. If you straight up ask them if they want to live on the road fulltime they will say "no" yet we live on the road a good deal of the time and they love it and can't wait when we go! They do have friends here in Florida and they do like to come back and see them as often as possible but we are probably gone more than half the year now and they have adjusted great.

A reminder about our story...we were planning to go fulltime, put the house on the market in Spring 07, got cold feet and took it off (even had an offer!). Meanwhile, hubby's work takes him all over. He flies out on MOn am and home on Thur from wherever he has a contract. If it is a locale we want to visit, we go with him. He left for San Fran today and if all goes well, we will begin to drive west with the fiver on Saturday. We are ALL (even the boys, lol!) very excited! But again, they know we will come home again, at some point, so their excitement is predicated on the fact that it is "temporary".

We have a beautiful farm in central Florida....but honestly, I think I wish we had gone ahead and sold and just bought a piece of property as a homebase here. The debt, the pressure, the economy, the falling hourly rates for computer engineers (hubs work) all combines to be really hard.

Paula, I think it's all gonna work out for you. They love to travel and that is half the battle! If it were me, I would take the plunge and try to sell the house anyway. But that's just me...You won't understand the relief and the overwhelming sense of freedom you will feel when you do it. (full-timing, that is)

Oh, Dachiegirl, I just KNOW you are right! I guess we will see how this trip goes and maybe we will relist it?

You both give me hope. I have to quit talking to others that think we shouldn't be thinking of fulltiming.  Of course that is my family and friends I talk to every day.

You both are one step ahead of me.  My son has never been homeschooled.  I know I couldn't do it.  I would have to use an internet base homeschool. 

We also need to start cleaning out the home to get ready to sell.  My husband keeps telling me to wait until fall.  He thinks pricing will be up by then.  I am so ready to start now.  It is just overwhelming.  I need to take one room at a time.  And then there are a few things we need to repair.  

Hi.. I seem to have found a thread where I can ask my question... My husband and I are leaving on Monday to start our life as full-timers!! Friday is his last day in the office and I retired last June. I retired from teaching middle school math. I have also taught some high school math with Algebra and Geometry being my specialties. So anyhow, I'm wondering if I bring some of my math books, are there families out there who would like help with math? I don't want to do this for money, but rather as a way to stay connected, meet people, and use my skills. If most people prefer to do it on there on, I won't bring the books (added weight and all). thanks for any input! Loralie

When we decided to sell and do the fulltiming thing, we just did it. Hubby and I had serious talks about it. We didn't rely on anyone else for support. I had found the websites (FOTR) (RV Dreams) and KNEW it could be done. We knew there would be doubters, we knew there would be fear. But the excitement of adventure, the promise of stress relief and just the list of positives to this lifestyle kept us going. Personally, my mom told my husband, she gave me 3 months before I cratered and would want a stick built again. Well, we have been at this just shy of a year and I am telling everyone, I will NEVER go back to the old ways! NEVER! I am just too happy. When considering all this, make 2 lists, one positive the other negative. I would try to get advice on the negative from other fulltimers if possible. You may be surprised. There may be no negative or very little.

Once the home was on the market, it took us nearly 2 years to sell! (Summer 06-Feb. 2008) We had our garage sales and we bought the RV that we had chosen to live in. We were prepared to take our lowest possible offer. We wanted out! lol We had removed all the clutter and the unnecessary junk we had accumilated. We were already starting to feel free. We went on weekend camping trips and we were so sad and depressed to go back to the stickbuilt each time the trip was over. (one of the things I love, is when we go one trips, I never have to pack. We just hitch the truck up and go, we always have what we need! lol Hubby and I would laugh, cause as we were going down the road, were asking each other, did you bring this or that? Of course we did! We have the whole house!! I still chuckle about that)

I have homeschooled since my son was in 4th grade. He is now in 7th. Don't say you can't do it!! Trust me, you can. It is alot easier than you think. You can tailor his schooling to what you think he should learn. He may or may not have to test, depends on the laws in your state. There is a plethora of homeschooling info on FOTR.. even Unschooling.
Loralie, there might be a need for a Math tutor. Virtual Math teaching is what I am guessing you would be doing. Talk to others at FOTR. They can help you with that decision.

-- Edited by Dachiegirl at 09:51, 2009-01-28

Thanks for the encouragement.  I know I could homeschool but my son does not want me to help him at all.  I think he would be better using an internet school.  I also will need to work part of the time on the road and may not have the time to be involved all of the time. 

I know what you mean when you are camping.  We are so relaxed and hate when it is time to come home and start the same routine again.  I am ready to get rid of the sticks and bricks and start travelling!!

Hi everybody! I just wanted to check in and see if there were any updates on you guys and see how everyone was doing. My father passed away Jan 30 and I have kinda been out of touch. ( It's been a very hard month) We are now looking into relocating back to Texas so we are closer to my mom who is alone now. My husband is a contractor and work has basicly died here in Ruidoso, so relocating seems to be the thing to do. Hope everyone is doing well.....

Sorry about your dad!!! That is very hard and it is sweet of you to relocate near your mom. Will you stay in your RV? There are lots of great RV parks in Texas. We lived in San Antonio for 6 months and liked the area. We also loved the Hill Country. Texas is a COOL place to live and visit. Hubby continues to be out of work since Tgiving. We still have two homes. I love both our homes but right now it would be nice to be free from all of it...not sure how things will work out but we have faith it will work our just like God intends. Paula in snowy NC

Thanks Paula. Yes, we need to be near mom, there is no other family in Texas so we are the ones to do it. We don't mind though. My husband and I both grew up there and so we know it's always been home. The Hill Country is great. Hubby has applied for jobs all over the state in places we would wanna live and got two hits this past week. We hope to know for sure this week and get to choose between the two! If so, we will move immediately. Yes, will will still be full-timing, that is why I asked about parks around Nacogdoches on another thread. Mom is in Corpus, but as long as we are in the same state and can get to her fast that is good with her. She is very excited to have us back! Hope something comes up for your hubby soon. These are some tough times. But I agree, faith in God is what we have and he does know what is best for all of us!

Please, please, do not discount your teenagers feelings and desires to stay in one place when you are dreaming of hitting the road. I was a teen in a similar situation. I was a freshman in HS, had many friends, played sports and had a girlfriend. My Dad was being transferred to another city and I wound up having to move (same effect). Yes, I would make new friends. Yes, there would be new adventures. I didn't care about that. I was putting down adult roots. I was learning how to build my life. I wound up moving to another city at the end of that school year. I was PISSED! I was miserable and I made sure my parents knew it. No new adventure or new friends could replace what I had. Yes, I made new friends played sports and got new girlfriends, but I was angry and bitter on the subject for decades for the loss I was forced to suffer. It took me a long time to forgive them. My point here is that you are talking about dismantling someones life here. Yes, they may be kids, but they are people too. Be very careful and listen to them. If you don't, you may regret it for a long, long time. Wait till they are grown if they don't want to go. It's not forever. Would you do this to your spouse? It's just a few years and it's OPTIONAL.

Fluffykitty wrote:

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Please, please, do not discount your teenagers feelings and desires to stay in one place when you are dreaming of hitting the road. I was a teen in a similar situation. I was a freshman in HS, had many friends, played sports and had a girlfriend. My Dad was being transferred to another city and I wound up having to move (same effect). Yes, I would make new friends. Yes, there would be new adventures. I didn't care about that. I was putting down adult roots. I was learning how to build my life. I wound up moving to another city at the end of that school year. I was PISSED! I was miserable and I made sure my parents knew it. No new adventure or new friends could replace what I had. Yes, I made new friends played sports and got new girlfriends, but I was angry and bitter on the subject for decades for the loss I was forced to suffer. It took me a long time to forgive them.
My point here is that you are talking about dismantling someones life here. Yes, they may be kids, but they are people too. Be very careful and listen to them. If you don't, you may regret it for a long, long time. Wait till they are grown if they don't want to go. It's not forever. Would you do this to your spouse? It's just a few years and it's OPTIONAL.

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Yep, I agree the kids are people too.  However, they are kids, not parents.  I went to 5 different high schools my freshman year.  If I had tried to make my parents miserable because they had to move to make a living, the first thing would have been an invitation to strike out on my own while I still knew everything.  Second option would have been to shut up and sit down.  No third option offered.  By the way, on graduation, I was in the top 3 percent of the class, so poor education is not an argument.

It ain't all about having your way.  It is about being part of a family that tries to do what is right for the family.  Your job is to be a part of the family and do the best ytou can with the lemons you have been offered.  If you don't have sugar to make the lemonade, use honey.

Sorry if I show my value programming here, but I seem to have a differing opinion.  Making the kids a part of the family, showing them the wonder of the country and offering different options for learning is also an excellent way of life.  That is what Rv'ing and full timing is all about. 

  I see both of your points.  We are waiting to full-time until our son graduates from high school, b/c it is completely optional.  If it were necessary for our welfare, to have a decent job, etc then we would just do it.  However, since we are really doing it b/c we think it would be fun we are waiting.  We did 8 months full-timing when our son was 12 - he hated it.  He wants us to have a big expensive looking house (sorry - not aligned w/ my goals), a big bedroom, and stability.
  Our family is not a democracy - more of a benevolent dictatorship.  Parents make the decisions, but we weigh everyone's happiness before we make decisions.
Heidi 

-- Edited by Pinon on Monday 21st of March 2011 02:56:26 PM

Thank you Heidi. Well said. My point exactly. 53 Merc, I respect your opinion. As far as chasing work, as a 52 year old father of two, I agree with you. I wasnt saying I was right to make my parents miserable, I just did. However, I was young and dumb and full of myself at 14. Had we moved into an RV at that time, knowing it was an OPTIONAL lifestyle change for us, I probably wouldn't be alive now to have this discussion. I just didn't want this to happen to any other families if it could be avoided. Peace.