Homeschooling on the Road: Starting a New Year While Far From Home

With the Labor Day weekend behind us, it was time to get back into the school rhythm and start high school. We knew that exploring and travel days would disrupt finding our rhythm.

After an overnight at a farm with some Highland Cows (BJ got some great photos of them, and others, you can get from our store here), we returned to Thousand Trails Oceana on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, for a quiet week right next to the beach.

We had visited there last year and explored, and just loved the quiet, cool summer weather and easy access trail directly to the beach. (Check out the blog Exploring Washington’s Olympic Peninsula for more on the campground and what we explored in the area).

We gave him a few month’s break to decompress from middle school and be ready to transition to high school. He had been doing all virtual courses, but the week we went to sign up for the new classes, he let us know that he wasn’t crazy about all online work for some of the courses since he didn’t feel like he was learning.

After some guided conversations, we figured out which he did like, which he didn’t, and what his vision and goals were for learning those subjects. We signed up for the virtual courses he did want to do through their program, then, I spent a few days talking to home school friends, scouring resources and reviews, and coming up with a plan for us that we all liked. Luckily, they were subjects that BJ and I not only did well in, but had taught in a classroom and had degrees and certifications in, so it definitely worked out.

As the Primary Chaos Organizer in our home, I created a schedule and progress tracking and documentation method that wouldn’t be time-consuming or take up a ton of space. We’ve got a binder for each grade level that also has a place to track his community service hours and travel experiences. We also have a weekly plan sheet that consolidates the subjects into a quick glance of what is due and what resources we are using for it. All the resources fit into a basket that has a home to be out during the week, or in the cabinet when traveling.

He logs what he does each day and we make notes about the learning progress at the end of the week. These will then get filed with the grade level tab, along with the work samples, just in case we ever need them (Florida Unschoolers doesn’t require it, but we want to be prepared for college applications or institutions that may want more than just a diploma and grade transcripts).

With school our primary objective, the week was pretty laid back. We got our day started with morning routines, we worked while he did independent work, and we walked or ran on the beach several times. We ventured into town for ice cream the day before we left, but otherwise, just enjoyed each day.

For those curious about our curriculum and methods this year, here’s a quick breakdown:
1. Biology, World History and Spanish 1 via Florida Virtual School
2. Geometry via home school using the Math U See curriculum
3. English via home school using a novel-based curriculum with vocabulary, grammar, and writing support from Teachers Pay Teachers products (This method uses novels, poems, short stories & plays as anchors and based on travel locations and people or times of year, but work in the needed skills around the theme)
4. Religion via home school using teen-based devotional books

It’s a work in progress, and I am sure we will adapt it, but for now it works. Luckily, we have a teen that does well in the self-guided learning and has gotten really good at front-loading both his day and his week, and he is good at asking questions when he has them.

We also checked off some community service hours since it was time to replenish our Blessing Bags. We always have a stash of them with us, and with winter coming, it was time to add hand warmers and thicker socks!

Our schooling doesn’t take up the entire day, or the entire week, so we will still have time for our travels and exploring, we will just move at a slower pace, staying places longer and focusing on flexibility.

Our next stop is further north in Washington, nearly in Canada, and we’ve got several things on our wish list, so we’ll be there for a couple of weeks before we start working south and exploring more of California and some bucket list stops and some recommended places–let us know your favorites to add to our list!

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Thanks for being here, we’ll see you out there!

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