Road Schooling while you travel Term 1

Can not believe we are in our third year on the road fulltime. It has not been a smooth year with all our plans changing, but that is life!  One thing that is always routine on or travels, is Miss B's education. Here is a rundown on road schooling while you travel Term 1.

It is no secret we love learning.

Luckily for us, so does Miss B and it is a pretty rare day that we have any complaints or challenges from her with regard to her schooling. Of course there are moments of gritted teeth and  an extra coffee or wine required depending on the hour! But that is all part of watching our kids grow and experience the world around them and their journey through it.

Time to mix it up a little 

Due to our diversified travel, there is always something new to learn.  Knowing we were going to be largely stationery (for us 4 months is a long time in one spot) we looked into options to do a set curriculum. We chose Complete Education Australia. We wanted to see how versatile it was with fulltime travel. Also, a chance to see where Miss B was sitting with regard to year level in Australia.

We normally have with us on our travels, Miss B's year level Maths, Grammar and Spelling workbooks from RIC Publications. So we were quietly confident we had covered the basics.  On top of that, we had lots of other online learning avenues at our disposal.  Thanks largely to our efforts to set up the Educational Websites & Resources directory on our blog.  Real life provides a variety of lessons in itself and of course, her assistance and trial of our kids travel worksheets.

We also jump at any chance to incorporate home economics which we both LOVE. Mainly cooking, life skills are important.  Miss B has a sweet tooth, you would never know though??!!  Here is just some of her baking in term 1.

Why Complete Education Australia

Miss B is in her last year of primary school and we really wanted a curriculum that would cover all subject areas and had real life skills learning.  You know what I mean, that is what travel is all about and what is lacking in the educational system as a whole.  Learning something that is actually useful, engaging for the student, so they can see a purpose in learning it.  Which generally results in, more enthusiasm to learn.

We have used various other memberships and have not found them anywhere near as comprehensive a curriculum and the real life learning style of Complete Education Australia.

Worldschooling, homeschooling, unschooling, whatever form of schooling you choose to use while you travel, no one membership, or curriculum is going to cover all bases or learning styles.  This is largely why, I created the educational websites & resources directory. When we need to expand on an area, come across an interest of Miss B's that needs further research, it is an endless supply of knowledge, prompting further questions and answers.

Road Schooling while you travel

Travel is an endless learning experience.  Everything you do, places you go, people you interact with, cultures, languages, food you eat/buy/cook EVERYTHING is a learning experience.  There is no right or wrong way to do it, everyone you meet does it differently.  When we (much younger) and our girls have attended schools, they all do it differently too.  It is not something you compare, the education level of a child based solely on a child's age and what they 'should' know. 

The benefit of road schooling/worldschooling/homeschooling, is you can create a personalised learning experience based on your individual child's strengths. This ensures they are getting the most out of their learning experiences, whatever that is, wherever they take place. Travel does this naturally.

How are lessons delivered

One of the things that can be difficult on the road fulltime, is knowing when you are going to have internet.  Then using it sparingly as possible, particularly if you are also working and/or blogging! 

The whole term work is emailed to you at the one time! You download it as a PDF to your relevant USB, computer whatever works for you.  Then open it data free, anytime you choose.  What a relief. 

Last years memberships were all online and it just doesn't work, mainly because when we were overseas data was in short supply.

There is three, yes three! memberships included in the price of the curriculum. Mathletics, Literacy Planet and Skwirk.  Unbelievable value.  Miss B is actually really happy with Mathletics, not her favourite subject, so that is bonus.

All the parent notes, scope of what you are hoping to achieve for the term and worksheets all arrive at the beginning of the term.  I felt like I was winning already.  I am a planner.

The main benefit of this was I could look ahead, see what materials and where we would be.  Where would be the best place to access materials for the practical work in advance.  If you are not going to be able to access materials, you can watch the video, or a documentary and discuss it then followup later. 

We did not do it verbatim, week 1, lesson 1 ect.  I earmarked the practical work and did them when convenient and materials available.  By understanding what we were trying to achieve for the term, allowed me to integrate some of the learning in our travels. 

What didn't I like

When you travel, you have to do practical experiments and printing of worksheets when convenient. I found it frustrating trying to find the worksheets in amongst the full lesson PDF, when I was in a position to print them out.

At the beginning of Term 2 (yes, we are continuing with the curriculum) they have since brought in separate download links, with all the worksheet or activity sheets in the one download.  This is VERY helpful and we are really pleased they have done this.  This enables you to print off all worksheets and then just bring it out when you get to them.

Did we finish it all

It is not about doing every exercise or completing all the work.  I keep a diary of all learning Miss B does each week, from all sources.  We also made changes to some of the lessons, like changing geography to countries we are going to, but benefiting by using the same lesson format and questions.  

While we travel, irrespective of destination, we continue to use our workbooks, great for travel days and continuity/routine. Really enjoyed the ease of not having to come up with all lessons by myself, easy to follow instructions and allowed Miss B to be more autonomous. 

LOVED the art component and one of Miss B favorite subjects! Great to have the ease of following a lesson plan and have the flexibility to change the theme to what interests your child. 

That is the beauty of having the guidelines and lessons of what their year level should be covering and the flexibility to fit it around your families travel.  Which translates to - less grey hair!! 

What else did we do

Weekly parkrun for physical education, every Saturday a timed 5km run (you can walk).  This event is FREE and held all over the world. A great addition for families who travel and a great way to meet new people.

Lots of exploring and learning about gold prospecting, geology and environment while exploring the Great Western Woodlands. That is 16.1 million hectares of woodlands! Largest temperate woodland on earth. Very cool.

Environmental art and design project. Followed up by a visit to out local Urban Landcare group which will see us help with cleanup and re-seeding activities in Term 2.

Museum visits, library visits and activities and swimming with friends. 

Exploring Kalgoorlie, Boulder and Coolagrdie - so much history here!! Prepared a kids travel worksheet for the area as there is so much to see here! Been very popular - thank you for your support!

Lots more, love to hear what great homeschooling, travel schooling projects you got up to in Term 1