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Homeschool and Travel Tips

Read these 14 Homeschool and Travel Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Home School tips and hundreds of other topics.

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Benefits of Homeschool and Travel

The benefits of homeschooling are endless, especially to traveling homeschoolers. Traveling is a wonderful way to teach homeschoolers about geography and maps. If you are traveling in the United States print out black and white maps of the U.S. and the individual states you will be traveling through. Have your children label the states in the country map. They can also color the map to show mountain ranges, rivers, desserts, plains, etc. Have your children use a special color to mark the states they have traveled through.

   
I can't check out audio books at the library because we are on the road, do you have any suggestions?

Homeschooling Information at Restaurants

Cracker Barrel - a national restaurant chain - is making it easy to access homeschooling information on the road. They cater to travelers by offering over 200 titles of audio books at their stores. When you visit a Cracker Barrel buy an audio book that your family will listen to on the road. When you have finished the audio book simply visit the nearest Cracker Barrel and return it. Cracker Barrel will return your money, minus $3.49 for each week you had it. Then, use your refunded money to get another audio book. There are many titles to choose from and this is an easy way for your children to gain access to literature on the road without lugging all the books along.

   
How do I get my children excited about places we visit while we are traveling?

Homeschooling Information For Traveling Famlies

If you are traveling and you homeschool, you should know that there is much education to be found in real-life experiences. For instance, if you are traveling through Oregon or Washington, instead of just letting your children read about unique fish in the region such as sturgeon, take them out to fish for one. If you are traveling through Tennessee, instead of telling them about the history of the Smoky Mountains or telling them what a mountain bald is, hike to one. Many states have homeschooling information, tips and guides that families can download. Check out the official websites of the states you are visiting and get your check lists of educational and fun things to do. Using these guides is certainly much easier than having to stop every few hundred miles to ask someone at a rest stop what a region has to offer.

   
How do I make learning fun while we are in the car or RV all day?

Benefits To Homeschool Travelers: Audio Resources

One way to take a break the monotony of textbooks or computer learning while you are traveling is to make use of the many audio resources that are available. One of the benefits of homeschool traveling is you will have plenty of time to listen to cassettes or CDs. Your children can learn their multiplication tables, presidents, parts of speech and more through songs. I'm sure that many of you can remember the “School House Rock” series from the 70s and 80s that educated many of us to legislation, bills, history, conjunctions and more. The School House Rock series is still available, as well as numerous other audio resources.

   
How can I teach my traveling homeschoolers science on the road?

Benefits of Homeschool Travel: Science

One of the benefits of homeschool traveling is how easy it is to teach science on the road. Children who are traveling have access to things that other children will only see pictures of in a book. For instance, if you are traveling in the West you can have your children take pictures of craters, mesas, cactus, tumbleweeds, giant redwood trees, the Rio Grande and more. These pictures can be used as topics your child can research and learn about later.

  • Why are the redwoods in California so big?
  • How does a cactus live in the desert?
  • What is a tumble weed and how does it form?
Science is a wonderful subject to study when you are traveling and you should take full advantage of it.

   
How do I teach my children about the culture of an area when we are traveling?

Benefits of Homeschool and Travel

Your children are at a real advantage if they are homeschooling on the road. One of the greatest benefits of homeschool travel is your children will have access to real-life experiences which cannot be duplicated in the classroom. These experiences will stay in their mind long after they have forgotten what they have read.

The important thing to remember when homeschooling on the road is to not fall into the museum trap. Museums are interesting and memorable ways to teach children about an area. However, many children feel if they have seen one museum they have seen them all. Find interesting things to do that will give them “emotional education.” Instead of taking them to a museum to learn about the culture of an area, teach them to observe the people, architecture and even food preferences of the area. Not only does this teach children about the culture of a region, but it also teaches them tolerance towards traditions and people who are different.

   
How can my children stay in touch with family and friends when we are traveling homeschoolers?

Technology Greatly Benefits Traveling Homeschoolers

One of the benefits to homeschool is that you can travel nine months out of the year if that is what you choose to do. To help your children stay in contact with family and friends, have your children create a travel blog or family website. They can update it daily with pictures and stories of what they are learning and places they have visited. Not only will it go far in keeping those ties that bind, but it will also help your children learn to navigate their way around the Internet and learn important skills about publishing blogs and/or building websites.

   
How can a homeschooling family have continual access to the Internet?

Travelers Can Access Homeschooling Information Via Internet

Technology is always making strides which greatly benefits homeschooling families. If you are a traveling homeschool family, you can take advantage of the Internet on the road. There are connection kits available which enable you to hook your cell phone up to your computer for instant Internet access. You can also access your homeschooling information through Wireless Fidelity. Most new laptops come with Wi-Fi capabilities. If yours does not, you can purchase a card that can be plugged into your computer which will enable you to pick up and send Internet signals.

   
How should a traveling homeschool family go about choosing an umbrella school?

Umbrella Homeschooling Information For Travelers

Parents who homeschool on the road should be selective when choosing an umbrella school to enroll under. An umbrella school which requires monthly testing or insists that their families follow a particular curriculum may not be a good match for a traveling homeschool family. Thoroughly read through the homeschooling information of each umbrella school before enrolling. Make sure your family can meet the criteria. It would be unfortunate to fall out of the “graces” of your umbrella school and find yourself not legally covered to homeschool.

   
My child enjoys coloring, play-doh and other crafts, how can I use these hobbies to teach my child about art?

Art Appreciation, Up Close

Planning and preparing a large art unit for your homeschool curriculum can be an overwhelming endeavor, especially if you have little or no prior knowledge of art history or famous artists. However, don't let this lack of familiarity with art hold you back from presenting it to your child within your homeschool curriculum.

As you begin to outline and prepare for your homeschool art history unit, include in your plans two or three visits to the local art museum and neighboring art galleries. If you open your homeschool art unit with an afternoon visit to the local art museum, you will provide an introductory visit to the concepts and ideas that you intend to explore in the upcoming weeks of study. While many children have experience with crayons, markers, watercolor, Playdough and child-size easels, each of these basic concepts will become much more appreciated when standing in front of art pieces that are hundreds of years old.

   
Social studies often seems to abstract for my son, how might I make it more real?

Social Studies Comes Alive Outside Your Front Door

A wonderful learning extension for the homeschool curriculum are local business visitations within your own community. Planning visitations to local community businesses is a wonderful way to familiarize your child with community business leaders, the sociology of your own community, career choices and an overall sense of how the city operates.

Some businesses enjoy the opportunity to share their knowledge and business practices with youngsters. Some exciting destinations include local newspapers, print shops, bakeries, police stations, factories, fire stations, hospitals, and restaurants.

   

Technology Greatly Benefits Traveling Homeschoolers

Your children can still receive the homeschooling information and the teachings they need to complete their educations by using books and instructor's guides while traveling. While in the car, your children can work on multiplication problems or study Shakespeare while you are zooming along Route 66.

   
What is a fun, educational game for traveling with homeschoolers?

Homeschool Information And Travel Games

Your children will not be doing their schoolwork the entire time you are traveling. We all know how challenging it can be to travel in cramped quarters. Here is a fun game which will tap into your children's homeschooling information base without them even knowing it.

Most children who homeschool and travel are pretty well educated on various cities and towns. This game will keep their geography skills honed while allowing them to have fun in the process.

  • The first player starts by naming your present location. (We will pretend its Austin.)
  • The second player takes the last letter and has to come up with another location that starts with that letter. (The second player might come up with Nantucket.)
  • The third player continues the game. (The third player may say Tampa or another city, town or location that starts with a T.)
It is important to note that geographical features are possible answers. These could include deltas, swamps, mountains, rivers and more. The game continues until you arrive at your destination, a location is repeated and the players go out one by one, or everyone is stumped.

   
How do I get my sports minded children interested in school?

Benefits Of Homeschool For Traveling Sport Fans

Are you a traveling homeschool family? Do your children love sports? If so, you can use sports while you are on the road to help your children build their math skills. One of the benefits to homeschool is you can easily supplement or personalize your child's math. As you travel to different places take your children to sporting events. Contrary to what many people think, watching sports is not a mindless activity. Teach them about strategies and planning and how it is such an important part of sports. You can have your child record the stats of their favorite players and teams. Also, have them make comparisons between players and teams. I assure you that a sports minded child would much rather work with these numbers than generic ones found in a workbook.

   
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Guru Spotlight
Sherril Steele-Carlin