Homeschooling on the Road

Being a busy travel family sometimes means homeschooling on the road.

We have covered starting early in the year, making the most of every day and making the most of every outing.

Today, we will talk about homeschooling on the road…

The dreaded “take the curriculum with you because you have been that busy” scenario.

As we talked about previously, I do love to just learn as we go, learn from our current surroundings and make the most of every daily opportunity to discover new things.

But, realistically, the books must get done and the curriculum must have some attention.

No matter what your method of homeschooling, there is always some kind of “curriculum” that you are supposed to be working from during the school year.

For a busy family who is homeschooling on the road, it can be extremely hard to follow the curriculum and “get it all done” in the course of a school year.

For us, that meant choosing a curriculum that allowed all my girls to learn the same things at the same time.

The topics of science, history, Bible, geography, foreign language and art can all be combined and made to fit all my girls’ ages and grade levels. That makes traveling with curriculum much, much easier.

Whether it’s a long car ride or schooling at Grandma’s or taking the books to church with us, sometimes homeschooling on the road means bringing the curriculum with you.

It means being flexible, looking for learning opportunities and letting the day lead your learning.

It does take a few tips, good resources and planning to make it happen in a successful, fun way.

Tips for Schooling on the Road

1. Be prepared. Plan ahead. Look over the books and choose lessons that don’t need a lot of supplies or extra materials.

2. Homeschool Bag – Have a bag or rolling suitcase that will easily transport your books and materials. Keep this bag stocked with basic supplies so it’s always ready to go!

3. Get outside the car. If you are traveling in the car, take into consideration that reading or learning in the car can make some children carsick. Find ways to get “outside” the car for learning by playing a game, listening to audio books or learning songs. Plan fun stops that can be learning experiences like small town museum, nature walks or free parks.

Car sick? Try these. They’ve helped our daughter a lot. Also, have mint candy or gum ALWAYS ready! Worst case… keep small trash bags in the glove compartment.

4. Think ahead. Do you have some real, hard schooling to do? You’ll need to think ahead when you are traveling. Try to choose places to do your schooling in a place with little distractions. Plopping yourself down in the middle of a playground will not be conducive to book/curriculum learning. Can’t find somewhere without distractions? Create a space with a tri-fold presentation board. These are easy to travel with you because they fold flat and can really help creating a small learning space in a hotel room or library or park.

5. Don’t forget the simple stuff. It’s easy in the crazy of traveling to forget the most basic things. Have pencils sharpened before leaving home. Bring extras. Make sure you have mechanical pencil led or a highlighter or a tablet charge cord. These little things can disrupt a whole day of learning if you aren’t careful.

6. Parent ahead! Prepare your kids that you are bringing books and tell them that they will be working on school during this outing or trip or car ride. Making sure you kids know this ahead of time helps them process and be ready to go when learning starts.

7. Prep family or friends ahead of time. If you are bringing homeschooling to Grandma’s house, make sure they know you will need time/space to do school. If you’re meeting friends at the park but have something to work on, tell the friends ahead of time.

8. Look online. Look online before you leave home {or while you’re on the way} to see if there is anything in the area where you are traveling or visiting that has anything to do with what you are learning. A zoo, a museum, a monument, a park, a store… that will keep what you are learning fresh in their minds and help keep them focused on what you are learning in your curriculum at that time.

Homeschooling for a busy family often involves schooling on the go and sometimes that mean bringing the books with you. I hope these tips are helpful for those times that you must bring the curriculum away from home.

You might also appreciate these resources!

Coming up next in this 5 days series?

Keep it Simple!