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While schools across the nation have transitioned from virtual learning back to in-person classes, many families have opted out of public school and have decided to homeschool permanently. Of those, a growing number are taking their children's education a step further and are exploring the world of roadschooling.
The growing trend toward a minimalist lifestyle and slowing down after the stresses of a global pandemic has families packing everything up and either selling their homes or downsizing to make memories on the road.
What is roadschooling?
Roadschooling is quite simply, homeschooling while traveling. Some families choose the Recreational Vehicle (RV) lifestyle, while others renovate vans or school buses to accommodate their family’s needs. For homeschooling families, the world is their classroom. They spend their time living, learning, exploring, and growing closer to one another through shared experiences in a variety of destinations and situations.
RV rental company, Outdoorsy reported a record number of young families and millennials using the service in the last year and a half. "Despite experiencing a 90 percent cancellation rate early in the year due to the pandemic, Outdoorsy's RV bookings surged in 2020, leading to the company's best year on record, with a more than 4,500% increase in bookings throughout the course of the pandemic," according to the company's 2020 Travel Trend Report released by PRNewswire. If a nomadic lifestyle sounds appealing, here's everything you need to know about roadschooling before you hit the open road with your family.
How to find the roadschooling laws in your state
Homeschooling laws vary so it's important to check your state's department of education website. Roadschoolers typically follow the homeschool laws where they live, but if you're roadschooling full-time this may prove difficult. Some states have strict homeschooling guidelines. For example, regulations in Massachusetts are a lot more stringent than those in New Jersey where there is little government oversight.
Knowing your state's requirements will help determine your family's roadschooling path. The Pro Publica website provides comprehensive, secular, and unbiased homeschool information families can use as a starting point.
How to afford roadschooling
So how do families afford the roadschooling life? Whether you're heading out part-time or full-time or slow traveling via Airbnb, the first step is determining how you'll get around. For roadschooling families, the choice and type of vehicles list is long and will depend on your budget, family size, and goals. GeneralRV.com is a great resource for families just getting started. As far as campsites, KOA and Camp Jellystone provide camping memberships, but there are ways to stay overnight inexpensively, like drycamping or boondocking.
RV families can take on remote work in a variety of fields, freelancing, coaching and consulting are popular options as are social media marketing, remote bookkeeping, and virtual assistant work. Workamper is a job board for RV families with jobs ranging from amusement park assignments, fulfillment center work to working with the U.S. Forest Service.
In some cases, family members can work in trade for a campsite and the corresponding amenities, while other Workkamp jobs pay an hourly rate. Outschool provides online learning opportunities for students. Many public school teachers, professionals, and business owners share their expertise with students covering a variety of topics from Geometry to Minecraft.
"Roadschooling affords the opportunity for real-life learning experiences, going out there exploring, going to national parks together," Gloria Brooks explains on her Facebook page. Brooks travels the US in her Campervan while teaching science to families across the globe from her site, NatureGlo.
Teaching supplies and resources for roadschooling families
With the roadschooling financial and legal aspects out of the way, it's time to consider roadschooling curriculum. Travel in itself is educational. Through national and state parks, museums, cultural events, and libraries your children will be exposed to hands-on educational resources that cannot be replicated in the classroom. For this reason, it's advised that full-time families roadschooling for any length of time travel light and bring with them minimal teaching materials.
There are plenty of online homeschool resources available to families homeschooling on the road. In addition to the aforementioned Outschool site, Time4Learning and Mystery Science are popular for the elementary grades while Whitmore Online High School is great for older students.
If you're planning on visiting National Parks, your children can take part in the Junior Ranger Program, geared for kids age 5 through 13. Through the program, your kids will complete a series of nature, science, and history activities during their visit. Once complete, they share their answers with a park ranger to receive their official Junior Ranger badge and certificate. Public libraries are also a great resource for homeschooling families. You can access digital libraries in the form of ebooks and audiobooks through your main home library through sites like Hoopla and OverDrive Media.
The North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM) allows members access to over 1,170 museums across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and El Salvador. Among some of the participating NARM resources, are historical museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, zoos, and children's museums.
If roadschooling sounds like something you'd like to try with your family, in addition to the above-mentioned resources, there are online groups and forums that can help families get started. The Full-Time Families roadschooling Facebook group is a great place to start, as is following along with full-time roadschooling families like the Akpans.
Karen Akpan, her husband Sylvester, and their son Aidan — who has always been homeschooled — have been traveling the states in an RV since 2019 with occasional stops overseas. "My family and I are currently on an RV trip with no end in sight. We initially decided we’ll be gone a year but we are loving it so much we don’t plan to stop anytime soon," Akpan says on her blog, The Mom Trotter.
“There’s no way we’re going back to a house or careers or anything like that,” Karen recently told CNBC.com. “We love the freedom that working for ourselves, being entrepreneurs has given us.”
