Road-Schooling: Home School on the Highway
Road-schooling : a form of homeschooling that involves traveling, allowing the places and experiences to drive learning (compatible with, but not the same as, Unschooling)
My husband’s job requires full-time travel, but at the detriment of our family unit. At least, it used to be that way. Three years ago, we pulled the kids from school and hit the road with him! What a nerve-wracking decision!
Until then, our children had no bond with Daddy. He was a stranger that occasionally showed up and “changed the rules.” (Hey – Momma can only pick so many battles alone!) Also, we were struggling with the public schools – in particular, our special needs child was severely falling behind, and we saw no light at the end of the tunnel. Going on the road with him offered a change, and put both of those variables directly into our hands.
Given our experiences, we would now recommend road-schooling to all families.
- Fill the gaps. You may not study NASA in a regular year, but if you’re going to meet an astronaut in Houston, it only makes sense.
- Peak their interests. Most children aren’t interested in architecture, but when they visit the Biltmore House,Overholser Mansion, and Cornwall Iron Furnace, each with their distinct styles, they suddenly want to learn more!
- Learn something new. Two words : Factory Tour. We’ve learned to make cheese, maple syrup, ice cream, chocolate, pretzels…hmm…maybe we should learn about more than food…
- New friends. The kids can talk to anyone, and love to meet new kids! They can also manage a sales table fairly independently. These are life skills.
There are a few caveats, however. If I had to tell myself a few pointers three years ago…
- Know the requirements. Check with Homeschool Legal Defense Association to make sure that you are completing all homeschool requirements for your home state…where you pay taxes.
- Plan ahead. Find the brochures, and learn about the area you’ll be visiting. Check for museums, events, festivals, factory tours, and anything relevant to that specific location. Check our unit page – maybe we’ve already been there!
- Keep records. One day, you’re going to be accountable for that education; you’ll want to show that they learned something from all those field trips. This is one of the reasons that we started our blog – it allows us to document where we’ve gone and what we’ve seen. It also allows us to connect with families in our current location, which is very nice!
- Don’t get a boxed curriculum. These are great in the traditional homeschool, but take up so much space in the car. We use (or create) materials to accompany what we’re studying. I’ll usually share these in a unit study on the blog page. See the record-keeping in action? Also, invest in some tried & true handy gadgets for schooling on the road.
- Relax. We school through the summer, on the weekends, at midnight…pretty much whenever we want. We get more than the required days in, and that’s fine. We have a lot of field trip days, too. Want to know which style helps the kids learn and retain the most? Life experiences, of course!
- Stay the Course. There are days when we are sick of each other and want space; there are days when we’re sick of being on the road and want to be home; and there are days when we’re just plain sick. But seeing the children experience this great country from sea to shining sea, having them enjoy the learning process, and watching them find and follow new passions is worth it all.
Yvie is a roadschooling mother of two active boys. When she’s not travelling, she creates Lego printables, plays her hand at Facebook algorithm roulette, and blogs about schooling, cooking, and life on the Gypsy Road!
Gypsy Road : Our homeschooling travels – complete with unit studies, lots of freebies, and reviews. Come join us!
I plan to do this with my youngest daughter for :gasp: high school!
This is a really interesting post. I had never heard of this term before today.