Homeschooling/Roadschooling and what works for you! - RV-Dreams Community Forum

KJ · RV-Dreams Community Member

Homeschooling/Roadschooling and what works for you!

Judy the Other · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi,
Our boys have been homeschooled forever! Actually we're unschoolers so can't answer any curriculum questions. The oldest is now 18 and a student at the local community college to knock out those lower division credits, the younger is 14 and will probably start taking some CC classes this year.

I always wanted to hit the road with them but was outvoted cry

but we did travel alot. What a learning experience travel can be.

Just wanted to mention this group Families on the Road
I believe you do have to join to read messages.

Judy

Floridariz · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are not fulltiming yet but we are in the preparation stage (house for sale, getting rid of things).

We use www.robinson curriculum.com as our main thing...it is literature based and costs $125 for all 12 years for all your students. It's on cd and all the books are included on the cd so no heavy books to tote.

We use www.mathusee.com for math.

We keep a nature journal for observations and for writing essays and stories we observe along the way.

The boys started a blog, www.thesightseer.blogspot.com that we will use to give brief explanations of different places we go. They have already done a few entries, check it out!

Let's see...reading, check; writing, check; arithmetic, check....I think we have it about covered! The rest will come from LIVING and SERVING OTHERS.

Can't WAIT!
Paula (dead Florida market....ugh!)

Judy the Other · RV-Dreams Family Member

Very nice blog!

Legos, legos, legos-can boys ever get enough? (can't speak for girls) When our oldest turned 18 just last week, he got yet another Lego set. It's become a tradition.

Judy

Floridariz · RV-Dreams Family Member

Isn't that cute?? 18 and still getting Lego's...I love it!

Paula

mikeway · RV-Dreams Family Member

Legos are often used in college courses. Particularly design and robotics classes. MIT is a big Lego place.

Mike

travelinmama · RV-Dreams Family Member

I homeschooled my two children for a long time. (we are an older blended family) My oldest from 7th grade to graduation and my daughter from 4th grade to our hs Sr. Year. We lived on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and through a lot of talking to the American HS for 6 mo. she entered with all her credits (40) and we took the Spanish course from them at home and was able to get credit for it. She entered in their HS 11th grade 2nd Semester. She had straight A's for the next sememster and her Sr. year, even through Whooping Cough that kept her out of school for 2 weeks, she emailed her school work. I got a job working in the Special Ed. room as a teacher asst. I had two other people that applied for the same job, but because I was a homeschooling mom of 2 ADD kids, I was offered the job after she was enrolled in school.

She graduated Salutatorian with 16 kids in her class. The kids voted me to speak at their baccaulorette service. I was blown away. It took many drafts before I turned the service onto them and what they would be doing in their life.

So, along that journey of homeschooling, we learned a lot together and we learned our strengths and weaknesses, we learned who we were and how each person learns uniquely. My son, did not learn through the normal textbooks, he loved to read about everything! So, we did the stuff we had to do and then he could read for whatever he was interested in. My daughter, loved textbooks and learned well with them, We used Abeka with her. We started out using Rod and Staff and it worked for the first year, then we moved on to A&O and Saxon Math, but that wasn't the right path. My son just didn't get into them. So we used A&O math, Explode the Code, Learning through Literture and a different math program later. Than my daughter and I found Abeka and she loved it. She liked that it was consistant. We found it used and bought a lot of it.

We always wanted to live on the road, but at the time we were military dependants and just never worked out. Now, the kids are grown and gone and I am doing what I have loved doing. I work with ovwer 125 kids on Wed. evenings and 65 kids on Sundays. I am going to school myself for my Masters Degree and look forward to using what I learned homeschooling.

Blessings to you who are still going, enjoy the view and the time you have now. It is gone too fast.
smile

-- Edited by travelinmama at 17:50, 2008-09-15

-- Edited by travelinmama at 17:50, 2008-09-15

Dachiegirl · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have homeschooled for 3 years now. I started before we started fulltiming. We use the SOS Switched on Schoolhouse program. My son tried the book program the first year and hated it. So we bought the computer CD's the next year and have used it for 2 years now. Homeschooling is the way to go when you wanna take off on a trip or move around alot. This lifestyle makes kids appreciate things so much more. Having limited space my son has realized he should only get things he really wants and needs! The kids spend tons more time outdoors than they did in out stick built home! I love it! biggrin

retread · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here's our $.02 on this topic - hope it's helpful!

We're just completing our 9th year of home education. We've altered our curriculum choices over the years but settled on our own variation of classical education about five years ago. For our new mobile lifestyle (needing to minimize weight as much as possible), we take one unit's reading materials (about 3-4 months worth) in the 5th wheel and leave the other three units in the storage unit. We also trade out pleasure reading books in this same way to give the guys fresh material from time to time.

The specifics for each subject:
History and Literature - Tapestry of Grace
Math - We use MathUSee (MUS) supplemented with Teaching Textbooks for our 8th grader. MUS teaches the concepts well, but Teaching Textbooks provides opportunity for more practice problems to reinforce problem solving techniques.
Science - Apologia Science
Language - our 8th grader has assignments from a combination of Tapestry of Grace or our own assignment based on our current location with particular unique historical, biographical or nature themes
Language - our 2nd grader uses Rod and Staff language and readers
Spelling - 2nd grader also uses Spelling Workout

We intend to investigate purchasing a Kindle to help with book alternatives.

The challenge for us is not the curriculum as much as balancing time spent on academic studies and sight seeing opportunities. We certainly don't want to miss out on the unforgettable experiences to share together, but the kids have a certain flow and momentum in basic studies (especially Math) that needs regular infusion of lessons and practice. Riding in the car doesn't provide the best environment with 2 dogs adding to the potential commotion and distraction, so that means at least part of our time spent at various locations in an RV park must be spent on nothing but our studies and laundry!

Camper_Boy · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is a great thread, and I love seeing the various solutions to schooling. My boys are just finishing up 5th and 7th grade (last day tomorow!), and as much as I love their school, we can't wait to take their education into our own hands! We've got the house for sale, and hoping to hit the road June 2010, or sooner!

I think that minimizing the number of books/materials we carry with us is key (obviously, due to weight and space issues), and both boys have laptops, so I think we'll try to do as many online or CD based curriculum as possible. I looked at Abeka, and it seems promising - I think we're going to do the free trial this summer. I also recently got an email from homeschooling.com about another online curriculum (can't remember what it's called), that you can try over the summer for $19.99/month for all subjects. I might check that out, but I don't want to overload my kids too much this summer. Their school decided to implement a mandatory summer program (workbooks), so they've got that to do, too.

I belong to the FOTR yahoo group, and get lots of good information from that, too.

Kerri · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi! We are not on the road yet, but have been homeschooling for 14 years. We started out doing "school-at-home", but my son - in his infinite 8-year-old wisdom - asked WHY we were doing things the "same way" as the school we had left. Out of the mouths of babes! Why recreate a system that didn't work for us?? hmm

Sooo... we have been unschoolers for many years now (my daughter since birth) and wouldn't change a thing. My son is a junior in college, my daughter just turned 9. We've always used our travels as learning experiences, and I am hoping that our new lifestyle on the road will offer many opportunities to learn and grow. I think that unschooling will lend itself quite nicely to roadschooling, since we won't be carrying around those heavy textbooks! lol!

My daughter is already plotting points on a US map of places she wants to visit, is reading and researching points of interest, and is helping me in searching for an RV to buy and refurbish. We talk about it every day, and it has become a part of our lives already, even though we are not yet on the road. We are already implementing this in her education and we haven't even started yet. I can't wait until it is the "real thing"!!!

One of the many beauties of homeschooling is being able to do exactly what is best for our families, right now. Being aware of what works for us, and what doesn't, being willing to be flexible and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves, and the desire to spend time together enjoying our lives will all come together in the full-timing lifestyle, and I can't wait!!

-- Edited by Kerri on Monday 25th of January 2010 03:24:37 PM

Ravenlotus · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is a question for all you Unschoolers. How do you get around all the requirements of what the kids have to have? I'm sure you have to meet some kind of requirements from a school district or something. Do you have to have a base state to claim. Like we are in Utah. Would we have to follow Utah regulations for homeschooling? Or what? I understand that unschooling is child led learning. So I guess my question is how do meet those requirements and still unschool?

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

I didn't unschool, but I did homeschool. We weren't full-timing then, but lived in NC. In NC the homeschooling requirements are pretty simple. There are a lot of suggestions, but the only requirements are to register your homeschool with the office of non-public education, keep attendance records, take a nationally graded test, like the CAT every year, and send copies of the attendance record and test scores to the office every year. Oh, and send in a postcard declaring your intent to run a homeschool for the coming school year each year. At least when I was homeschooling, the local schools had no authority over us.

As you can see, there are no specific requirements as to what you teach, or how learning takes place. I think it really does depend on what state you are in as to what the requirements are. Some states have more than others. If your domicile is Utah, I would think that you would have to adhere to their laws. You might see if you can contact homeschoolers in your community. They would know what the requirements in Utah are. If you are looking to change your domicile, you would want to find out what the requirements are for any state you are considering.

Ravenlotus · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ok, thank you!

richard luehrs · RV-Dreams Community Member

well hello all i am richard and my wife is glena and our son is alexander and he is 4 and we have been on the road for the last 3 years and have been doing a lot of driving all over and last summer i started looking for a school for are son to go to and i have to say we desited to go to washington state in everett and the schools upher are grate my son is doing thing faster better then ever but i will say i have to upgrad are camper we are in a jayco 29hbs and ther needs to be morea lot more room dose any one out there have any good idea on what is a good 5th bunkhouse

retread · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Susan,
We were Texas residents when we started our adventure, so we had no problems. Texas is a very friendly to home school families. In TX, a home school is defined as an unaccredited private school and thus enjoys the same privileges and freedom from reporting requirements as any private school in the state. I strongly suggest joining the HSLDA, a nationwide advocacy group for home school families. They should help you if you run into any sticky situations as you travel the country. We never had any one question whether we were appropriately educating our kids as we traveled, but you never know when you might run into someone with some strong feelings about school attendance, etc. This area of their website allows you to check into current laws for any state in the country

http://www.hslda.org/hs/default.asp

We currently live in Tennessee and continue to home school our kids with an umbrella school. I believe we would be fine traveling with our kids since we would 'count' their attendance as any day with lessons, regardless of physical location. The vehicle tax and vehicle registration is less expensive here than in Texas. Tennessee has an income tax on dividends and interest, not salaries or pension.

Best wishes on your journeys!
Linda

Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Sunday 6th of January 2013 08:21:53 PM

RVfun · RV-Dreams Community Member

We just joined the forum today. We plan to go full time during summer, 2013. We live in NC & discovered that if you travel outside of the state for 30 or more, you have to close your homeschool until you come back to the state to live. I even talked with someone from the NC Dept of Non-Public Education about it & she confirmed this requirement. We are looking for a "home" state that offers good financial, tax, & vehicle registration options that will also allow us to "roadschool" out of state with penalty. Anyone else find good answers to this dilema? Thanks for your help!

Steve & Susan Weber

RVfun · RV-Dreams Community Member

Meant to say 30 DAYS or more... Also, "withOUT penalty." Sorry, I usually proofread my typing better than that!

Susan Weber

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Susan,

I moved your other thread down into this same category on the forums, so you can see answers now in both places but both under one category.

While I can't answer any of your questions.....our kids are well past that age.....I know that there are some here with good knowledge of these things. So, just hang around and see what answers you get. As for taxes, Texas, South Dakota, and I think, Florida may be states without state income taxes. However, with some people, state income taxes isn't the deciding factor. Some states are worse about taxing dividends and interest from investments, so keep that in mind as well.

Good luck with your research and planning.

Terry

RVmomof3 · RV-Dreams Community Member

I know this is kinda an old thread, but I figured why not add to it anyways ;)

For are kiddos we do most of our learning online with Time4Learning as our core curriculum. We also like these free sites VSC for spelling and LGFK for games :)

phiberoptik · RV-Dreams Community Member

rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t52156276/road-schooling-question/