RVing with children? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVing with children?

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi, This is my first time ever using a forum. My husband and I have been wanting to go full time RVing for a couple of years. I quit my job and he has been retired for some time. We have a for sale sign up, but I don't have a lot of hope that it will sale anytime soon in our area with this economy. This is my question. We have two adopted children.. currently both are 12 years old. We have home-schooled for 3 years now. Our daughter is handicapped due to AFS. She will possible never live on her own, but is sweet and not really a problem as her handicap is not physical. Our son has no issues.. except for being lazy! I am interested in knowing about RVing with children. Is this really a working possibility? The kids have no ties so leaving friends, etc is not an issue. They are very outgoing and love to travel as much as we do. I am just looking for pros and cons in doing so.

Thanks,
Liz

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Cherie,

I have enjoyed looking at the web sites you suggested! Will continue to do so. We are not of the younger generation as my husband is in his early 80's, however, in excellent health. So some of the adventure to get out and do is a bit beyond our ability at this stage in life. We are a bit more laid back and enjoy the museums, walks and will have to avoid the more active activities. We do have a list of places to go and see. We have started to sell and give away years worth of "things" so they don't hold us down, but the sale of the house is holding us back. It is encouraging to see so many families with kids that are making this work. One of my concerns is meeting the requirements for homeschooling. In AR we have to have the kids tested once a year, then there is medical concerns to get required meds. Will continue to look at your suggested sites.. so good to know is do-able!

jbarrett72 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Liz,

Welcome to the forum! My husband Jay and I also have an adopted daughter (she's actually our grandaughter) and we also have our house up for sale waiting to full time. We thought we had it sold, and bought our 5th wheel a couple of weeks ago, only to find out yesterday that the sale has fallen through. Our daughter is 2 and we think full timing is going to be great for her! Think of all the things these kids will be seeing that they wouldn't have had the opportunity to see if we weren't full timing! Full timing itself is educational!! We're not sure if we will continue to full time once she reaches school age. Our new motto is "Our plan is to have no plan!"

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

From what I understand from friends who homeschool, being domiciled in Texas seems to give families the most amount of flexibility in that regards. Probably worth researching further to see if that's an option for you (most of us full-timers end up domiciling in the state that has most advantages for us.)

- Cherie

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Jill & Jay, We, too, believe that full time RVing will be very educational for the children. We love to pick out places to go and study on them. Now we just need to be free to go see them! Sorry about the sale of your house falling through. That has to be disappointing. We are looking for a 5th wheel that will better suit our needs with 2 almost teenagers. So much to choose from. We have the truck, bought it about a year ago and have it all set up. So some progress is being made.

Cherie, Will look into Texas. We have talked about what state gives us the best advantages for all of our needs and just haven't come up with one to settle on. I get impatient. Wish all the research was behind us and only the open road before us..

Speedhitch · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sherri and I just adopted our grandson and we too are homeschooling him. We will be traveling next year and will spend time learning history where it actually happened. We are retirement age and know that we have cut our places to stay in half but we really don't care. Some of those places we wouldn't want to stay at anyway.
Good luck to you on the sale of your house and we know that you will be free to go soon.

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Joe, It is good to know that we are not the only older ones who will be on the road with children. The two we adopted are my sister's grandkids. It will be good for the kids to meet other children who are traveling also. Hope to see you down the road. I do think they will understand more history than any child gets in the traditional classroom. Thanks for your note!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Elizabeth,

There is also a forum category here on the RV Dreams forums related to full timing with children. Here is the title of that category as well as a link to that part of the website.

Full-Timin' With Young 'Uns

Terry

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Terry,

Thanks! You made it easy for me to find. I know what my nightly reading will be tonight!! Appreciate it!

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here is another family on the road.

http://countingfireflies.com/home.aspx

Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Friday 13th of July 2012 08:22:24 PM

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks, Jim.. checking it out!

Trabuco · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome to the RV Dreams family Liz.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Terry!
(me linking ability nowanna work)

Pinky-AzNative · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks all for your comments and links. We can't wait to join you that are on the road already. We have a 5th wheel but realize that it may not be ideal to live in it full time with two teens. We have shopped around at a couple RV places and spend hours looking at floor plans on line. I finally drew up what I think would be ideal for our family and we continue to look for something close to it. I know it would be next to impossible to find one that fits our drawing!. I figure if we plan to live in it for an unknown amount of time then we need to get something that meets our needs to start the journey with. Love this Rv-Dreams site and feel like part of a new family!