One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is the opportunity to travel anytime during the year, as you not limited to the break schedule imposed by your child’s school. Although your family still may be limited by work commitments, finances, and extracurricular activities, travel planning is nevertheless more flexible when homeschooling, especially if you are able to avoid taking trips during peak travel times. By traveling in the off-season instead, you can take advantage of the best deals on airfare and hotels while also avoiding big crowds when you arrive at your destination.
With more families homeschooling and parents having the increasing ability to work remotely, homeschooling while traveling is becoming more common. In some cases, this travel takes the form of simply driving a few hours to visit relatives for several days. In other cases, families will choose to spend weeks or even months abroad. Many homeschooling families are even choosing to travel year-round, often living out of campers as they do so (this has become known as “roadschooling”).
Whatever form your traveling takes, you’ll need to be prepared for homeschooling away from home. Here are our tips for homeschooling while traveling.
Clarify Your Goals
Whether you will be traveling for a week or a year, your first step should be to clarify what your goals are for homeschooling during this period. In some cases this may be fairly straightforward (“we are going to visit Grandpa for a two weeks but I don’t want Josh to get behind in reading, so we will make sure to keep working on phonics everyday while we are traveling”). In other cases – especially if you will be traveling for longer periods or roadschooling – you might want to think about the deeper values that are driving you to travel in the first place. Perhaps your ultimate goal is to “deeply immerse your children in the history and culture of France” or “help your kids appreciate the majesty of America’s wilderness areas.” Homeschoolers’ goals for traveling are often a combination of the lofty and seemingly mundane: “I want my children to gain a deep understanding of the ecology of the rainforest, but I also want them to stay on track with math.” This is perfectly fine. Once you’ve figured out these goals, write them down and begin making a plan for how to achieve them.
Make a Plan
Whatever your homeschooling philosophy may be (even if you are an “unschooler”), making a plan for how you will help your child achieve the educational goals you desire for them (or they desire for themselves) is always important. What types of assignments and activities will you try to accomplish on a daily or weekly basis? What places are you going to make sure to visit while on your trip, and how will you incorporate these visits into your larger educational plan? Depending on what these goals are, your plan may be fairly general or more specific, and that’s okay. Think about what supplies you will need, and start gathering them. If your travel plans involve visiting family or friends, be sure to let them know beforehand that you will still need to homeschool your children while traveling. Tell them what to expect in terms of your homeschooling commitments, and if appropriate, find ways to involve them in the homeschooling process.
When making your plan, you may also want to think about the resources that will be available to you while traveling. Will your child need to use the internet, and if so, how can you make sure that is available? Will there be nearby libraries, museums, or other attractions that could be useful during your trip? Take note of these needs and opportunities as you come up with your plan.
Use a Computer-Based Curriculum
If you will be traveling frequently or for a significant period of time, consider investing in a good computer-based curriculum. Traditional hard-copy curriculums often include numerous texts and consumable workbooks that can be hard to travel with, especially if you have multiple kids or are traveling by plane. Fortunately, there are several fantastic curriculum options that are either web- or computer-based. You will, of course, need a reliable laptop and/or tablet for your child if you choose this option. You may also need a good internet connection, although some computer-based curriculums include all that you need on a USB drive so that the work can be done even without a web connection.
Consider a Unit Study Approach
In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to approach homeschooling through unit studies. Whereas traditional educational models break instruction down into different subjects (such as science, language arts, and geography), the unit study model considers one topic or theme as a whole unit embodying many disciplines. In families that homeschool with a unit study approach, it is common for children of different ages to study the same thematic unit over a period of time, immersing themselves in the various dimensions of that topic. A unit study on the ocean, for example, might include lessons about marine wildlife and ecology as well as literature dealing with ocean themes, including simple books for little kids like The Pout-Pout Fish and more advanced classics for high schoolers, such as The Old Man and the Sea or Moby Dick. The ocean unit might also investigate ocean-related earth science and chemistry, while at the same time delving into different seafaring cultures in history and studying the present-day impacts of rising sea levels on developing countries.
The unit study model is an especially great one to follow if you want to incorporate traveling into your homeschool in a central way. One way you might approach this is by choosing a unit based around the region you will be visiting. If you are planning a trip to Italy, for example, your family might spend a couple of months beforehand doing a unit study on that country. You might choose to highlight certain topics such as ancient Roman sculpture and architecture, religious life in medieval Italy, scientific advances in the Italian Renaissance, fascism in Italy in the early 20th century, and Hemingway’s novels set in Italy during World War I. You might also study the geological features of Italy, including its frequent earthquakes and the volcanic eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, as well as the ecology and biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea. You may also want to review Italian geography, learn Italian language basics, and cook an authentic Italian dinner. In this way, you can cover many different subject areas while preparing to fully appreciate what you see on your upcoming trip.
This kind of unit study approach could also be carried out while actively traveling for longer periods. Families who are roadschooling through the United States, for example, may want to visit several different national parks as part of a unit study on American wilderness preservation. As with the Italy example, such a unit could encompass many different disciplinary topics, from wildlife biology and Native American history to literature and geology. Other potential unit study topics for roadschoolers include Civil War History, deserts of the Southwest, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, the Continental Divide, the Jazz Age, the Great Lakes, the Hudson River School Painters, and the Gold Rush. Each of these topics could include diverse instruction on history, science, literature, geography, nature, music, and art.
Check the Homeschooling Laws in Your Home State
Finally, as you think about homeschooling while traveling, be sure to check out the laws and requirements for homeschooling in your state. Since homeschooling is administered on the state level, you will probably need to be a registered homeschooler in your home state, even if you do not spend much of your time there (and this means you will likely need an address there too). Don’t worry though – as long as you meet the necessary minimal requirements for homeschooling in your state, there should be no reason why you can’t hit the road.
Conclusion
Homeschooling is an adventure, nowhere more so than while traveling! Whether you only travel occasionally or plan to be on the road full-time, homeschooling is a wonderful way to teach your children about the world through immersive, first-hand experiences. Start by figuring out what your homeschooling goals are while traveling. Then make a plan that will help you meet those goals. Think about purchasing a good computer-based curriculum so you don’t have to lug around heavy textbooks, and consider embracing a unit study approach to your children’s learning. Check the laws in your state, and then hit the road to give your family a truly one-of-a-kind educational experience!