Homeschooling on the Road
When my husband got military orders to move across the county from Washington State to Virginia, we decided to take full advantage of the fact that we homeschool and make a long road trip out of it. We planned an epic journey that would take us first south and then east to visit family and friends in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Kentucky before finally making it to Virginia.
We were super excited, but I was a little nervous about my oldest losing some of the knowledge and skills he has gained this school year. He has grown leaps and bounds, and I didn’t want it to stop! I came up with a plan to continue his education on the road (and a backup plan in case it all went downhill… back to that in a bit). I made subject “kits” that included all of the materials we would need in nice, compact containers (because seriously, there is only so much room in one car when you are moving your whole family across the country!). I organized a “homeschool bin” to keep the teacher’s manuals and workbooks we use. I was all ready to go and prepared for anything! Haha, just kidding, famous last words, right?
We started our adventure on November 20, 2021. Right away I knew I was in for a rather uncomfortable ride. To homeschool a 6-year-old non-reader, you kinda need to be next to him. That meant squeezing into the middle seat between two bulky car seats. Did I mention that there are actual children in said car seats with pokey elbows, loud voices, and constant needs? Add in the lack of legroom thanks to the luggage and snacks (and for some reason, kids need ALL THE SNACKS when on a road trip!), and I had a feeling I was in for a long journey.
Back to the actual schooling part:
What I Had Planned:
Continue Logic of English, Foundations A lessons
Continue Kindergarten Math with Confidence lessons
Introduce US Geography by learning about each state we went through
Continue Passport to More Adventures Literature Curriculum using both audio and physical books.
Continue Earth Science lessons and learn about the different types of rocks, minerals, and land formations found in each area we stopped.
What worked:
He LOVED learning about the different states. We used a set of free state coloring sheets along with the National Geographic Kids Ultimate US Road Trip Atlas and portions of the Traveling the States Curriculum from the Waldock Way . I made up my own questions (such as “when was this state founded”, “did we stop in this state?” etc.), and we watched videos as we traveled through the state we were studying.
Math actually worked pretty well thanks to how the Kindergarten Math with Confidence curriculum is set up. I added in a few extra addition worksheets and tweaked a few games to make them work in the car, and he did great!
We were able to continue our literature curriculum, Passport to More Adventures, thanks to utilizing the audiobook version of the Merlin Missions books by Mary Pope Osborne. I tend to get carsick when I read too much in the car, so I had the book available to show him the photos, but I let the audiobook do the reading for me. We got lucky in that the 6 books we covered were all included in one bundle, which meant I only needed to use one Audible credit for the whole journey! We utilized the coloring sheets and videos from the curriculum, and I had him narrate his favorite parts of the book. It worked beautifully!
What Didn’t Work:
Attempting to continue the Logic of English Foundations A curriculum. I abandoned that pipe dream early on and decided to keep up his skills by playing review games that he enjoys. It may have thrown off my schedule of when we would finish the program, but we were both much happier with the decision!
Even though science is our favorite subject (former science teacher here, I may be biased!), we ended up getting little to no science done on our journey. By the time we were finished with everything else, we were both too exhausted to continue!
Lessons Learned:
Lower Your Expectations: I went in with a “best-case scenario” plan, knowing full well that I would need to tweak things along the way. I may have needed to tweak a bit more than I originally anticipated, but going in with the mindset that “any lessons are better than no lessons” helped me be okay with that.
Audiobooks are a Life-Saver: I was able to get through more material than I thought I would thanks to audiobooks. We ended up adding some books at the end and utilized the Libby app with selections from our library, so it didn’t cost a thing!
Make Learning Fun with Games: Bring along some learning games to keep up with math, reading, science, and other skills while still having fun on the long driving days. We played games that came with our phonics and math curriculums along with card games and science trivia.
Teachable Moments are Everywhere: We learned the value of kindness and generosity when someone paid for our meal in a fast-food drive-through. We learned to reserve judgment when we witnessed a burley, scowling biker drop everything he was doing to help a tiny elderly woman at a gas station. We learned to find beauty in every place we visited. These are the lessons that will stick with my boys for years to come, and I found them to be far more rewarding than gaining phonics or math skills.
Enjoy the Moment: The whole point of taking a family road trip while moving was to visit family and friends we hadn’t seen in a while and make some new family memories along the way. I had to learn to put the lesson plans away and live in the moment with the important people in our lives, and even though we are a little behind, I don’t regret it one bit!
Reflecting back, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out, and I learned some valuable lessons for the next time we homeschool on the road. Because let’s face it, there WILL be a next time with this crazy, beautiful homeschool military lifestyle!