Homeschooling in an RV sounds like fun, but how hard is it? I follow Katie Fox of Family in Wanderland for her family’s fun homeschool adventures traveling the country in their RV. I love her honesty and insight she provides for new homeschoolers. The Family in Wanderland Instagram account is a beautiful display of the country’s national parks and natural wonders.
I asked her how she homeschools on the road and tips for those who want to try roadschooling or simply add more regional travel into their homeschool. They spend about a week in each scenic part of the 48 states and attempt to experience as many national and state parks as they can. This is part of the ongoing Roadschooling Q&As and How We Homeschool series.
What inspired you to start homeschooling?
I actually never thought I’d homeschool my children. It wasn’t until my partner and I decided to travel fulltime in an RV that the concept of homeschooling even entered my mind. While, it wasn’t something I dreamed of doing, it is such a wonderful experience and one I hope to continue whenever we decided to settle down again.
I dove into homeschooling with an Instagram-perfect mindset. That it would be magical and my children would just enjoy the learning experiences I created for them. It isn’t that way at all.
What made you decide to start traveling and HOMeschooling in an rv?
I’m not sure when I first noticed that family RV life was a thing people did, but when I stumbled upon it, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. My husband is a computer person and at the time my job was already remote. I did some math and if we didn’t treat each week like a vacation in a new city, then we’d save a lot of money and travel the country. It was hard to give up familiarity and our loved ones, but it’s absolutely been an adventure I’d choose again!
What are some of the benefits you have found with homeschooling?
The biggest benefits in our family have hands down been the freedom to travel consistently and the immersive learning opportunities our travel adventures organically provide. The learning that happens without any sort of curriculum or workbook. Being able to spend 15-30 minutes each day learning to read or doing a math activity and then spend the rest of the day hiking, exploring a city, or playing outside have provided so many amazing experiences.
I’m not sure what happened to the question having to do with what was unexpected…but here is what I think answers it. Hahaha.
Honestly, how much push back I receive from my kids. I think I dove into homeschooling with an Instagram-perfect mindset. That it would be magical and my children would just enjoy the learning experiences I created for them. It isn’t that way at all.
It’s hard and some days we don’t get much done. I’ve also had to adjust my expectations and my approach a few different times. The biggest thing for me is using workbooks. My 6yo really likes using workbooks. He needs to see what he has already done and can gain motivation to move forward to get closer to finishing the book. This is pretty much the opposite of how I saw our homeschool happening.
Any tips for new homeschoolers or those on the fence?
The biggest tip I can offer is to go into homeschooling with an open mind and remember that every child learns differently. What you have in mind may not jive with your child’s learning style or it may not even hold their interest. Also, if you look at Instagram for inspiration don’t compare yourself to that homeschooling moment. I guarantee that moment wasn’t as perfect as it looks.
What curriculum do you use or have used that you enjoyed and why?
We’ve used a couple nature focused curricula in the last couple years. I’ve loved them all for various reasons too. Exploring Nature with Children adaptable to a broad age range and introduced our family to so many different ways to see and experience nature. Wilder Child’s Kid’s Moon Club was also so much fun and really enabled our family to follow the moon’s cycles and again just explore that element of nature in ways I’d never done before. We also use Blossom and Root and Wild Math.
Both are so well done and enable us to meet our educational goals while focused on nature and being outdoors. Which was one of my goals when we set out to travel. I wanted our family to explore as much nature as we could across North America, so finding curricula that aligns with that goal is a huge plus.
What state do you live in? Can you offer tips for homeschooling in your area? Any good groups you can share for our readers who may be moving and/or live in that area?
Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions and what links you would like to include.
Could you link to my instagram (www.instagram.com/familyinwanderland) and my website (www.familyinwanderland.com)
