Kids are great learners. Whether they are scaling boulders, climbing trees or collecting ants for their ant farm – they are natural explorers. They dive into games pretending to be dinosaurs foraging for food with a newly met friend – who’s name they can barely recall.
But what about mathematics? Where does grammar and sentence structure come into play? The advice that flies around goes something like this… “learning has to be fun – but structured”, “provide ample motivation – but don’t become reliant on constant praise and prizes”, “keep things fresh and relevant – but make sure you relate it to our past”, “make sure you use the extensive list of resources, i.e, app’s, web links, the newest technology – but ensure learning is mainly in nature and reduce screen time”…ha! Teaching kids is hard yo!
Some times, we get through our work by 10am, while other times, there are tears from everyone, and I mean EVERYONE.
Some days, Felix may not want to write more then one sentence in his journal and huffs and puffs so much that I wonder if there’s any point to all this madness. Then, out of his own free will, he decides to write 5 pages of observations, while driving through – what seems to me – fields of nothing. And I quote… ‘the gold grass fields lay beyond the trees’, ‘the grey clouds roam the sky’, ‘the calves stay close to their mums as the road stretches on and on. The distant hills stay still.’
Kids know how to make you lose your mind and almost instantly, wallop you over the head with greatness.
For those interested in how ‘a-day-in-the-life-of-schooling-on-the-road’ looks, I invite you to read on:
Mornings are for Math and English – while I have them fresh and able! I have some great workbooks which are based on the Australian Curriculum (so they can slip back into school once we return), and we get through a lesson per day from Monday through to Friday.
English ranges from workbook exercises, diary entries, or they might write a report on an animal we’ve seen. This also covers science for that day or art, if an illustration is sketched.
Once a week we read a science book aligned with the curriculum and, when time permits, we get the ukulele’s out for a bit of a sing along. That’s Music ticked!
The informal parts occur when we are seeing new places. This is where the bulk of our History and Geography lessons take place. Most new locations we visit have a rich indigenous history, along with a modern one, or an equally fascinating geographical record.
Being involved in daily activities, such as preparing meals, fishing, organising the camper and setting camp fires, gives the kids a sense of responsibility and autonomy. These in turn helps them with their confidence and problem solving skills.
Our kids love reading, so while this becomes a big part of their education, they don’t see it as school work. We all enjoy coming into a new town and finding second hand book shops and op shops where you can buy/swap books. Who doesn’t like finding a bargain!
Overall, the process is fairly straight forward and you can choose to do as little or as much as you like. There are days when its easy and inspiring, and then there are those, where picking prickles from your foot (while nursing a crooked neck), would be more fun.
I’m happy to report though, the kids are learning and thriving. I suppose all good things are worth the slog!
