Traveling More: Could We Homeschool?

It was the summer of 2009, my boys were nearly 4 and 1, and August was coming up fast with that ever-looming question for moms of babies:

“Where will you send your kids to school?”

I honestly didn’t know the answer to that question, and none of the options felt right. My oldest would need to start Pre-K in August, and I had no idea where to send him. My teacher friends advised me to keep him at home one more year and let him learn through play since he had an August birthday and could either be the youngest in his class or the oldest. But I couldn’t let that be – my nerdy, teacher heart just wouldn’t rest until I had a plan that involved some sort of learning.

He wasn’t ready for a classroom. He was loud, active, wild. He was excited, bossy, passionate. His questions were innumerable, but his speech wasn’t articulate in the least (and actually wasn’t even understandable to very many people just yet). But he wanted to learn. He wanted to show us his “inventions” and conduct his own “experiments”. He wanted to visit places, write, draw, and color. He wanted more than the 100% unstructured play days we’d been giving him - or maybe we wanted it because we couldn’t contain his energy. Either way, we needed at least a little something.

So, I started homeschooling.

I didn’t know how, and I had very little money or resources.

I just took $50 to Barnes and Noble and came home with a twinkle in my eye.

Ten years later, we’re still homeschooling, and it’s been the source of some of the most fun we’ve ever had as a family.

In fact, homeschooling was a major catalyst to our decision to travel full-time as a family.

As we learned about new places, we would say, “What would it be like to live there?” and our wanderlust hearts would soar. So when it came time for us to think about full-time travel, we already had the school part figured out.

I talk to a lot of moms who see our travels and say, “That would be so amazing, but I could never homeschool.” In fact, I have a very close friend who said the very same thing.

“I don’t even like to read books,” she said. “And I’m horrible at math and social studies. It just won’t work.”

My response was, “Hey – homeschooling isn’t for everyone.” (And truly, it isn’t.) Then I followed up with, “You can totally do it, though. You’re actually one of the smartest people I know in all sorts of ways – you don't have to love reading books or math or social studies. If you ever want to try it, I have about 10,000 books and games I could pass on to you.”

Then her daughter’s school had a near-tragedy and she found herself thinking about homeschool. She decided she would try it for one month, then another, then another.

And now, she’s a homeschooling pro – doing it completely different from the way Ido but 100% what her daughter needs.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to travel more but don’t think you could homeschool, I have a rabbit hole of information for you to explore.

Here are a few books and articles I wish I had read in the early days:

How Does Full-Time Family Travel Work?

My Family's Podcast Episode "Chasing Family Time Through Full-Time Travel"

How to Homeschool, Roadschool, or Oceanschool in 2019

Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie (my favorite book about homeschooling - it's especially good on Audible)

The Read-Aloud Family (my second favorite book about homeschooling- also GREAT on Audible)

The HomeschoolSisters Podcast (my favorite homeschool podcast - it literally changed our homeschool for the better 2 years ago)

Podcast Interview with the Curren Family - "FamilyAdventure, Homeschooling,Travel, and More" (more family adventure podcasts coming soon!)

Podcast Interview with Kara Anderson from The Homeschool Sisters(one of my homeschool mentors) (more homeschool podcasts coming soon!)

Read-Alouds (they're a superpower Read-Alouds in homeschool)

The Best National Parks for Family Adventures

Stay Sharp ThisSummer: Kissing Summer Slide Goodbye For Good

Want to know exactly what homeschooling looks like for our traveling family?

Check out these posts for more info:

Still have questions?

Hop into our email group and send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Traveling More: Could We Homeschool?

So, if you’ve ever wanted to travel more but don’t think you could homeschool, I have a rabbit hole of information for you to explore.

Here are a few books and articles I wish I had read in the early days:

Want to know exactly what homeschooling looks like for our traveling family?

And check out the rest of the "Traveling More" series: