sevensailors: Homeschooling Abroad! "books"

Hello, this is Rachel and I'm going to try and answer some questions we've had about the challenge of schooling on the go. It will hopefully be an ongoing addition to the blog. I want to start it off by saying, "YOU CAN DO IT!"

Maggie planning our route

Almost everywhere we travel, the most common questions I am asked is...."How do the kids do school?" It is funny to think back at how many times I have been asked this question. And even funnier to think back to the different responses I have given. I even remember shopping in Costa Rica and being heavily questioned while trying to defend myself and my childrens' education to a man that stocked shelves in a grocery store. I was answering questions about testing, my education, accountability, socialization, college, and PE. Yes, I still shopped there after that incident...hahaha

First of all, it helps that I have been homeschooling since the beginning of our kids schooling. Maggie is now in the 11th grade and has never been to a public school. I have been doing this long enough to know and understand all the "myths" that come along with homeschooling in general. Two of the most common being.....What about their socialization? And (my favorite) What makes you qualified to teach YOUR children?
I must say that all the years I home-schooled in the States have helped as we have embarked on this adventure. Our two oldest have established good study habits and are mostly independent (Maggie and Levi). Which helps because, as you may have guessed, our days are usually filled with "the unknown". This blog is not about whether or not you should home-school at all, it is simply the challenges you might face if you choose to home-school and travel.

The biggest challenge we face as a "LARGE" family, was having the room for all the books I need. When we left for Costa Rica from the United States 3 years ago, I only took books that I was using at that time. Eventually I ran into the problem of what do I do when I needed more books. One helpful idea was coordinating with friends or family who were visiting, or if it is a very crucial book, just 'biting the bullet' and paying the shipping. Expect to pay at least double for the book by the time you ship internationally. But, that situation was very rare.

Now that we are a sailing family, we face the same problem. I was introduced to the "book exchange" that happens among other sailors. We met a family (from England) on a boat in Greece with two small girls (8 & 5) and were given some readers that they had finished. and were told to pass along to others sailors when we were done with them. Staying at marina's is helpful too. Most marinas have a book exchange library. When we wintered in Marmaris, Turkey, the library book exchange was HUGE, and there was even a separate one for kids' books. It was great. I left books I did not need anymore and took ones I could use. Also we have had Erik's parents come to visit us 2 times while we were traveling. Guess what they brought with them?.......BOOKS!! These are both great ways for you to get books, if you are willing to adapt your curriculum as you go. This takes a little more flexibility, but can be done.

When entering into new towns we almost always find used book stores. Guess what books are usually the cheapest?...English! If you have consistent internet (which seems to always be a problem for us :) we have used online books. E-books are an easy way to have books without having to store the actual book. This seems to me the best way to have loads of books without having to tote them around. The only downside to it is if your computer/ ipad breaks, it is expensive to repair and you may have lost time and downloads :( I guess I am old-fashioned in the way that holding a book while you snuggle in bed or read on the deck just doesn't seem the same with a computer. Remember, Amazon is world-wide and ebay will sometimes ship international. We have done both and work fairly well, you just need an address. The marina address will work if you ask.

Remember to use travel books. They are a great resource, and usually are packed with history facts. While we were traveling on our sail boat down the coast of Turkey, often Maggie and Levi were given the travel books and were told to read-up on the towns and tell us what they wanted to see. You could make your kids do reports or pictures (art) on sites they have seen. Although I don't think I ever did this.....maybe I will start:)

That's it for now....I could go on daily about the things we are learning and experiencing but will stop :) I have listed below some of my favorite sites for schooling!! Don't forget to let me know if your coming to visit......who knows I might ask you to bring some books!!

~Rach :) Mom:)

http://www.universalclass.com/

http://www.livemocha.com/
http://www.softschools.com/

http://abcteach.com/

http://www.ezschool.com/EZSheets/index.html

http://www.thewildclassroom.com/

http://heartofwisdom.com/

http://homeschooling.boomja.com/

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.homeeducationresources.com/index.html

http://www.typing-lessons.org/

http://www.atozphonics.com/