How We Homeschool and Travel

One question we have gotten a lot is how we get to travel to all the places we visit and keep our kids' education going strong. This blog will aim to answer some of those questions, share resources we have utilized, and offer support for other homeschooling families - and hopefully some of those with children in traditional public or private school settings as well.

Obviously as homeschoolers, we have a much more flexible calendar for our travels. That has been our "best kept secret" to fitting in our adventures. Travel while most schools are in session, and there are far fewer people to contend with for camp spots, parking spots, and views from the trails. For families who are in public and private school, it is worth asking if your school has options for pre-approved educational trips absences. Our school district does allow for a few days a year, and this may be a way for your family to enjoy a little time out of the normal high tourist seasons.

Our well-loved teacher's binder that has gone across the country and internationally with us.

We are currently utilizing Unit Study based learning, after switching from a more traditional school start to our experience. For our family, we have found the best experience with Gather Round Homeschool. With most units consisting of 20 lessons, it is easy to just take the portion of the work you need on each trip, and some even have MP3 files reading the teacher's guide! We also are utilizing math from BJU Press, and our older son is finishing up Fix It Grammar while our younger son is finishing up Explode the Code. All of this is easy to transport wherever we go. We have also utilized a separate study of the US States during our travels called Traveling the States by The Waldock Way. Using this, we had our children learn a new state as we drove through it! (For clarity: None of these links are referrals - all are directly to the sources!) Everything can typically fit into a travel clipboard with storage for each kid and everything else in one three-ring binder. We will also take books and art supplies on most trips.

As I have shared on our main Travel page, we are HUGE fans of the Every Kid Outdoors program. Any time we visited a National Park when our kids were younger, we made sure to grab our kiddo's pass (good for 4th graders or homeschoolers ages 9 or 10 if you're not using grades.) We got free access to many sites such as the Wright Brothers National Memorial in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Some other easy ideas for various subjects while you travel can include using the things around you and the places you have to visit. For art, create things out of nature. Find fallen leaves to create art shapes using various colors or use stream pebbles to create a tower - but PLEASE return them to a scattered setting as friendly critters such as crawdads use them for daily living! For math, make a budget before you go on any shopping trip and have your kids help figure out your expenses and if you are staying within your budget. Need spelling work? Take a set of clothespins (useful on many trips) and write letters on the ends to use for practicing different sounds and word families.

Our alphabetical clothespin set

Hopefully this article has encouraged you to add more travel into your homeschooling experience, or just your family's adventures. Learning doesn't have to be behind a desk, nor does it have to completely throw everything out the window. Be flexible, do your best, and remember that kids do learn from the experience as much as - if not more than - by the curriculum you use while on the trip.