If you have read my blog at all, or even just the description, you already know that we travel a LOT. Our only home right now has wheels and uses them quite frequently! I like to think of it as a Magic HomeSchool Bus, taking us on daily "field trips" as we explore this amazing planet God has placed us on.
The traveling life is definitely an adventure. I love it! My boys love it too. However, this doesn’t mean it’s always easy. There are all kinds of challenges that come with living in a 31 foot long tin box! Since my husband and I got married 7.5 years ago, we have lived in 9 different homes (and also spent a year without a home as we travelled together to high schools across Canada with a motivational presentation). I have lived in an apartment, a couple of town houses, a tiny little 100-year old house, an enormous 3600 square foot house on 84 acres of land. We have lived in town, out of town, on church property, with other families and in hotels. Yet our current home is one of the most challenging homes I’ve ever lived in.
When we first discussed the idea of selling our home and buying a camper-trailer to live in, I was concerned about my boys and how I could possibly give them an education in such a small space. I already believed that by homeschooling I would be giving my children the best education I possibly could. This had been proven to me time and time again in the short time I had been homeschooling. But I was concerned about the limits that would come with living in such a closed space. How could I possibly give my children a complete education when we don’t have a city to call home, we don’t have the same people in our lives on a daily basis, we don’t have access to a library, we don’t have our own yard or even much space in our home for curriculum materials, books, etc.
After dwelling on this for a while I started feeling claustrophobic. I had created a box, climbed in and was closing myself in it. I had CLOSED my heart to what God was trying to say to me and I had CLOSED my mind to the possibilities that surrounded me. I was looking at what I believed to be LIMITS and allowing myself to dwell on these. I was getting stressed out. Finally one day I realized that if I was going to succeed at homeschooling, I needed a big change of attitude.
In order to learn – in any environment – we need to be OPEN. We need to OPEN our hearts to the leading of God’s Spirit. We need to OPEN our mind to His wisdom. We need to OPEN the Bible and start discovering the TRUTH. We need to OPEN a book and allow the knowledge of others to be passed on to us. We need to OPEN a window and see the beauty of God’s amazing creation. We need to OPEN the door and explore this incredible planet we have the privilege of being a part of. We need to be OPEN!!
Instead of looking at the limitations of homeschooling while traveling, I started looking at the possibilities. There are sooooo many!! I decided that this year I will not order a full curriculum, but rather use our experiences to educate my children. This doesn’t mean we won’t be using any kind of guide along the way. We have a few workbooks we use and I recently ordered the Math-U-See math curriculum for my oldest son, but for the most part, we are following God’s leading and the boys’ interests and building on to what we know and love about our lives.
Homeschooling while traveling is an amazing opportunity for me to teach my children things they could never learn while sitting in a classroom or at the kitchen table. While we travel we have the incredible experience of discovering geography – not just reading about it. We learn about land types, environment, culture, and so much more, all without leaving our vehicle! During our travel times we also spend a great deal of time exploring the wonderful world of books and audiobooks! When we stay in other countries our children learn life lessons they could never learn back home. For example, my oldest son asks why so few people in Mexico have washers or dryers. This could be a lesson in economics, weather, work ethics, or even evaporation! When you open your mind, any situation can become a stepping stone to greater education!
One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is that I get to keep learning! My education has not ended, nor will it until my life here on earth has. Then I will begin a greater education – one my body and mind has been longing for all these days on earth! I love learning alongside my children and I love traveling with them. I can’t imagine living the life we live without having these awesome children along to experience it all with me!
"I am not a teacher; only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead–ahead of myself as well as of you."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British dramatist, critic, writer.
MamaTee