When we decided to home school, it was because we wanted to be able to travel with my husband and his job. We wanted to stay together as a family. To make our journey successful needed to follow the mantra for our homeschooling journey, and for our blog/website is “home schooling anywhere and everywhere”. Our home school need to be able to be able to be picked up and taken and done wherever we were. After nine years, I think we have finally found a groove and several things that make this happen for us. Each year it has gotten easier and easier to pack up and go this way and that. There have been five key things that has been consistent over the last nine years that keep us going.
One: Being Organized
This journey would not (and did not for a time) function well being disorganized. Over the years I have learned to pair down the things I bring with us on the road. Having a place for everything and then putting everything back in its designated place when we are done helps us to stay organized. We have things we use daily in the cabinets in our living room, and when we are home these same things are all on a bookshelf in our school room. Things we will need say a month or two from now, but wont use right away go into two file size totes. Right now those are stored under our youngest bed, and when we are home they are stored in an upstairs closet.
For art supplies and things, I have one tub that stays in the camper. It has a set of crayons, colored pencils, a few small paints and extra pencils and lead. We then have a small tote of craft supplies that may or may not go home with us (depends if we will need anything out of it or not). It has our modeling clay and painting supplies along with a few small craft kits in it as well.
I’ve gotten a lot better about not traveling with much, as our storage space is limited. I’ve come to embrace the if we need it we can get it, instead of say well we might need it so lets take it. I found that the things that we might need were things we really did not ever end up using and it took up space that could have been used for other things.
Two: Having a Flexible Plan
I have had to learn to be flexible and not set in stone with plans. A lot of this has to do with the unpredictability of my husbands job. Usually we have a good estimate of how long a job will last, but we often do not know what will happen after that job is done. Sometimes we have a plan, but it can change in the matter of an hour. I was able to embrace a flexible plan when I switched our school year to a year-round school year. This way when we must randomly travel across the country for the next job, or travel to help a family member in need, I don’t feel like we are off track from moving and taking days off.
Having flexible plan, does not mean that I don’t have a plan in mind. Each year, in December, prior to beginning our new school year I sit down and map out a rough set of goals for the year. I think about realistically how much time we will take to complete a set of lessons within each of the curriculums we use. I divide these out into quarters, which then allows me to pack the long-term containers we bring with us. My “plan” allows for us to stay organized in what sometimes can appear as chaos.
Three: Keeping a Routine
We keep basically the same daily routine on the road that we have at home. We usually start our day with breakfast and getting dressed and ready of the day (brushing hair and teeth and general hygiene tasks). I try to have our school day going by 9 am so that we can be finished by 11/12 each day. The routine helps keep the girls balanced and knowing what to expect each day. When we are home we have a few more chores to do everyday (because we are in a bigger space), but even on the road we do several daily chores after school and then I try to allow the girls to have the afternoon to be kids and explore their various interests.
We are usually more active at home, but we try to do things on the road to. Evenings are usually spent with Daddy-o. We eat dinner together when he is able to get home, and enjoy spending time outside with him when he gets home to our camper as well. When we are home the girls usually have to chase their Dad down and follow him around for his various projects. All this to say, we try to stay consistent in a daily routine that keeps us going.
Four: Multiples on Some Things
There are a few things we have multiples of that just make sense so we don’t have to move them from camper to home and back and forth again. As I mentioned before, we have art supplies at home and art supplies in the camper. We have a lot more supplies at home than in the camper obviously. A lot of basic living supplies we have multiples of, but we are slowly working on having multiples of school supplies. An automatic pencil sharpener, hole puncher, and a printer are a few of the “tools” that have just made since to have more than one of.
Five: Not Comparing
Another big thing that helps us homeschool on the road and that is not comparing out journey to others, that even means other homeschooling families that travel too. When I start to compare, I begin this fear of missing out and have a fear that I’m failing the girls, and I then spiral into the what ifs. Our reasons for homeschooling and our journey are different than anyone else’s. Remembering that keeps us on track. Our situation is unique, our girls have a homeschooling experience unlike other people, and I must anchor to that.
As always, keep following our journey on our Facebook Page or Instagram. If you want more in-depth conversations, check out our Facebook Parent Group.