All things “home school”…

By Katie Moor

Easily, the most frequently asked question I get from fellow travellers, and family and friends back home is “…and what about school?”.  It is also one of my common lines when starting up a conversation with new families we meet on the road.   The answers from others are extremely varied and there seems to be a love or hate relationship with educating the kids.  So, in the interest of keeping a good record of our big lap, and remembering our perspective at this time, here’s how we are managing “home school”.

The inverted commas in “home school” are deliberate.  We are not officially home schooling the children and we are not engaged in a formal distance education program through the Department of Education.  We were however, incredibly fortunate to be given a “leave pass” from our school principal who after hearing my plan for their learning, and our travel, was able to see the value in what we were doing, and the overall net benefit this 7 months would be for the kids.  This means, Emily (age 11 – Year 5), Georgia (age 9 – Year 3) and Daniel (age 5 – Kindergarten) are all still formally enrolled in their current primary school, but it was up to us to manage their education.  

Before we left, the intention was for each child to focus on Maths and Literature with the rest – Science, History, Geography, PE, Bounce Back, Library, Scripture/Ethics etc etc to be absorbed into “learning on the road”. I didn’t really know how it would go, but if it all went south, I figured they would catch up next year!

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Now 6 months in, the experience of educating the kids has been one of the most insightful aspects of the trip and one I will value forever.

If you are still with me at the end, I have summarised the formal textbook curriculum work the three kids have been working through.  But it is all the other stuff they do, and the learning I have gained about each of them, which I love.

How their personalities affect their learning…

The strengths and weaknesses of their personalities and the impact this has on their learning has been the biggest eye opener for me.  

Emily is a doer.  A list maker, and a tick the box girl.  Always has been, and always will be.  She is most happy following a plan and getting things done.  This is an amazing strength and she is easily my most diligent and dedicated when it comes to schoolwork.  However, we quickly learnt that this is also her downfall.  She was more interested in finishing the maths unit than ensuring she really understood what she had done, or even… at times, if it was correct!  Our focus with her has been to teach her to learn, rather than just do and to enquire and love the journey of learning – not just the outcome of “getting it done”.  

Georgia is very capable, but also creative and easily distracted.  She shows a keen interest in most things and will delve deep for hours if she wants to.  At the same time, if she is not in deep, it can be hard to get her to focus on something.  I tried at the beginning to get her to write a diary (as Emily was so diligently and religiously doing), but it was like hitting my head up against a wall.  So, I tried another approach – scrapbooking.  Her “Fun Facts” book has become a true work of art, where she recalls facts on a certain topic or tour we have done and does a double page spread.  Each “project” will literally take her hours, but I always love the final product and it is something she will be able to keep forever.  As for her focus, I have realised she likes to understand the context of a particular piece of learning in the bigger picture – and this has helped enormously with her focus on the more mundane school stuff.

Daniel is still a bit young, just starting on his school journey, and, a boy…so my insight into his learning has not been as great as the girls.  He seems to be progressing well with his reading and maths, and clearly responds well when he achieves a new level or grasps a new concept.  However, he is probably the one I am most concerned about when he “reintergrates” back into real school life.   This is because I feel he has missed some fundamentals instilled during Kindergarten, like discipline, routine and waiting for ones turn for help and attention.  I am confident he will be fine after a steep learning curve when he returns to the classroom setting, but I do feel he will likely be behind his peers initially.

All in all, having 7 months to really understand each of the kids learning preferences and challenges, I think, will be invaluable to all of us for the rest of their school life.

On the road learning…

It is really all the “other stuff” that they are doing every day, that I think will provide the greatest base for their continued learning.  

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The girls are now both avid bird watchers and we have an app whereby they can look up new birds by identifying certain characteristics.  Similarly, a star gazing app has taught them about the constellations and planets. 

James has taught both girls how to code, and they love it.   Em is also doing a touch-typing course.

Their general geography and map reading is amazing.  We started singing the song “Go West” when we left the East coast, only to have Daniel tell us, after looking at the navigation system, that we were actually going South West!  

Miss 11-year-old gets excited when our solar panels are doing its thing “Dad, we are drawing 3 amps but the voltage is still above 12.5”.

Georgia hooks up the greywater pipework when we arrive somewhere and loves reading campsite reviews and ratings to decide where we will go next.

Daniel jumped out of the car the other day because his popcorn packet had blown out.  He ran across the car park yelling “the turtles, the turtles!” as he has learnt how ~60% of sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs.

It is not only the nature of our caravan travelling that has allowed a number of these activities to occur daily, but also the time in which James and I have to dedicate the kids all day, every day, that is the truly invaluable aspect of this lifestyle.

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General life skills…

Now I am getting a bit off topic here, but I can’t neglect to mention the life skills they have gained on this trip – and I will argue, this too, is education.

Living in a very space small, moving constantly and being with ones family 24/7 for 7 months does wonders for the little humans and I can’t recommend it more highly.  

They have become incredibly resilient and adaptable.  In the first week we were getting complaints about the water tasting different….move forward five months, and after returning from a Grade 5 hike up a VERY steep mountain, Georgia emerged from the toilets and exclaimed quite loudly and proudly to all around, “those were the BEST drop toilets in the whole of Australia!”… The range of foods they will accept has vastly increased, as choice is often limited in remote towns (would you believe not all parts of Australia stock passionfruit Chiobani yoghurt!).

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The simple life.  They appreciate the little things, have almost no “toys”, but have found a new joy in reading, protecting the environment, helping prepare the evening meal and learning about their surroundings.  It all sounds a bit Utopia, and I promise life in a caravan it is not always glamourous, but I have been loving these changes in the kids – so much so, the “toy room” back home will not be unpacked when we return.

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They are the best of friends.  They only have each other to play with and I honestly cannot believe how well they now get on.  Don’t get me wrong, there are still disagreements, but the three of them packed themselves a picnic the other week (by themselves) and disappeared for about 2.5 hours to go and play in a tree at the other side of the farm we were staying on, to “play Magic Faraway Tree” (the audio book series of the moment).   Georgia was even helping Emily the other day with her coding! I couldn’t believe it, the lovely way Georgia was gently teaching and guiding Em, but more importantly, that Emily (bigger sister) accepted the help…

I am sure they have missed out on certain aspects of the classroom curriculum and perhaps some social development by not being around their peers for so long or being in a formal classroom environment – but I also promise, if anyone ever has this blessed opportunity, as we have, take it with both hands, you will never regret it.

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Again, in the interest of keeping a good record here is a quick snapshot of the “curriculum stuff” they do:

• They have all worked through Maths textbooks
• I give Emily some extra literature tasks occasionally like – write an information report about the Dingoes on Fraser Island or expand on today’s diary entry and make it a recount piece.
• Daniel has online readers, Reading Eggs and I purchased a copy of the formal reading program they use at the school and have worked through that.  He also has his handwriting textbook.
• Georgia has her Spelling Matters and handwriting textbooks.  She and I have been reading books to each other – and both girls read their Kindles almost daily.