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·Hey i am looking into homeschooling while cruising and was wondering if anyone had any websites or tips they could give me. my kids would be in early elementary school , thanks in advance for any help.
Info on homeschooling
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Once you get 10 posts; send Labatt a PM; his family is cruising and homeschooling.
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Early elementary is a relatively easy stage to homeschool. With a bit of guidance, you could probably devise your own syllabus. But many folks look to organizations like the Calvert School for packaged curriculum and support.
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Great idea! You may also be aware of other alternatives to homeschooling like un-schooling. If not I'd be happy to get you started. Here are some places to start and find inspiration:
Ghostsailors
Sailing Ohana Home Page
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Estrela
Vagabond Heart: The sailing adventures of the Hawkins Family
Welcome to s/v Sereia
Ghostsailors
Sailing Ohana Home Page
New Page 1
Estrela
Vagabond Heart: The sailing adventures of the Hawkins Family
Welcome to s/v Sereia
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7,329 Posts
Lets not disCUSS unschooling home schooling!
If when you plan to return to where you currently are, look at the local district you are in, they may very well have an HS program installed. The district I live in has a LARGE, ie 450-500 student campus for HS students, along with the one my kids are in. Moving my daughters to the district operated HS program was a godsend to them, especially my younger one. She has jumped some 3 grades farther than she was with EX unschooling them! Older daughter still has issues, twin sons overall are doing pretty good.
The owner of a local brokerage, just got back from 2 yrs of a pacific rim sail HS'ing his twin daughters. They spoke at a Jeanneau owners get together a few weeks back with the girls. They are glad to be back in school, but ALL enjoyed the experience.
Out of all this, FOLLLOW some sort of plan, do NOT ust go along figuring it out day by day, ie "unschooling" at least for my kids, experience, I will whole hardidly say, it sucks! one reason for divorce from Ex! I will also note, I am NOT a real fan of HS'ing because of my experience, BUT< I also have seen enough parents that took the job above and beyond on how they did things. to realize, it is the person doing the teaching, time spent to plan etc that makes HS'ing a good experience. WIth me working 12-14 hrs a day to support a family of 6, my time was very limited in most ways.
Be smart in how you go about doing things, and it will turn out well for your kids on trips like this. We did a few land trips for a month or so here and there that were/are unforgettable, as we did them during non summer months, and got to see more because of lack of crowds.
marty
If when you plan to return to where you currently are, look at the local district you are in, they may very well have an HS program installed. The district I live in has a LARGE, ie 450-500 student campus for HS students, along with the one my kids are in. Moving my daughters to the district operated HS program was a godsend to them, especially my younger one. She has jumped some 3 grades farther than she was with EX unschooling them! Older daughter still has issues, twin sons overall are doing pretty good.
The owner of a local brokerage, just got back from 2 yrs of a pacific rim sail HS'ing his twin daughters. They spoke at a Jeanneau owners get together a few weeks back with the girls. They are glad to be back in school, but ALL enjoyed the experience.
Out of all this, FOLLLOW some sort of plan, do NOT ust go along figuring it out day by day, ie "unschooling" at least for my kids, experience, I will whole hardidly say, it sucks! one reason for divorce from Ex! I will also note, I am NOT a real fan of HS'ing because of my experience, BUT< I also have seen enough parents that took the job above and beyond on how they did things. to realize, it is the person doing the teaching, time spent to plan etc that makes HS'ing a good experience. WIth me working 12-14 hrs a day to support a family of 6, my time was very limited in most ways.
Be smart in how you go about doing things, and it will turn out well for your kids on trips like this. We did a few land trips for a month or so here and there that were/are unforgettable, as we did them during non summer months, and got to see more because of lack of crowds.
marty
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Why, because it didn't work for you?
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Labatt's using Calvert, IIRC
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My kids were not the ONLY kids I have seen screwed up by "unschooling". The family's that have done well ALL used a method "OTHER" than unschooling! I have yet to see an "unschooling" family do as well as a "schooled Home schooled unit. Be it thru a local district, Calvert as mentioned or equal.
marty
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Hmmm...my un-schooled nephew got an 800 on his math SAT's. Why don't we let Wassup decide things for himself.
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The un-school vs home-school debate is probably better served over on the politics/religion/etc forum; but I will suggest this based upon my long-term observations of a number of families going each way on this question.
If you are planning on your children returning to the main stream school system after your adventure; you should seriously consider using a standardized program.
If this is going to be a permanent lifestyle choice; you should seriously research both approaches, because either can work depending upon the child and the parents, and their own attitudes and abilities.
If you are planning on your children returning to the main stream school system after your adventure; you should seriously consider using a standardized program.
If this is going to be a permanent lifestyle choice; you should seriously research both approaches, because either can work depending upon the child and the parents, and their own attitudes and abilities.
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2nd vote (or third) for calvert, we used them and were quite pleased, it is comprehensive and was easily accepted by the high school. Abeka is good also, if you don't mind the slant, we had friends who used it and it worked very well for them.
all the best
dave
all the best
dave
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It is also possible that ex-wife choose extreme unschool program, ie NOT books/help etc in how she went about doing things. I am sure one can find extreme ways of doing both, my experience, seeing other families has been that unschooling is not the best method. Like all things, one or two may excell, but what about the rest?
Marty
Marty
Home schooling
Highly recommend Calvert for k-8 we did it for two years... Tried to keep to a 8 am -1 pm daily schedule ...except during passages. All three of my kids came back way ahead scholastically and socially. It was really fun but took time and commitment. Most people we met with kids aboard where doing fine, but there was a direct correlation of success based on how much the parents put into it.
Also seemed that as our older kids starting applying for colleges the experience was a huge plus.
Our motto was "don't let school interfere with their education.
Do it
Tom
Highly recommend Calvert for k-8 we did it for two years... Tried to keep to a 8 am -1 pm daily schedule ...except during passages. All three of my kids came back way ahead scholastically and socially. It was really fun but took time and commitment. Most people we met with kids aboard where doing fine, but there was a direct correlation of success based on how much the parents put into it.
Also seemed that as our older kids starting applying for colleges the experience was a huge plus.
Our motto was "don't let school interfere with their education.
Do it
Tom
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I think the common theme for success is structure, support, reinforcement and recognition.
Have a structured study period, whether it be 8:00 - 1:00, 9:00 -2:00, 9:00 - 11:00/ 1:00- 3:00, whatever, just make it consistent and comprehensive.
Know how to deal with what you don't know- if you can't answer a question, or are unsure about a subject and/or topic, have a support system in place to provide some backup.
Outline with your kids what your goals are for your kids, and reinforce periodically what those goals are. It is easy to lose sight of what you all are trying to accomplish amid the day-to- day of life aboard.
Recognize/ reward exceptional results, and/or exceptional effort. Celebrate the successful completion of each unit of study. Everybody, your kids included, perform better when they get "attaboys" on a regular basis.
In other words, treat it just like a land-based educational experience, without the teachers and administration.
Alternative schooling and the education that comes from a cruising lifestyle can be huge benefits. "Unschooling" just makes me cringe.
Have a structured study period, whether it be 8:00 - 1:00, 9:00 -2:00, 9:00 - 11:00/ 1:00- 3:00, whatever, just make it consistent and comprehensive.
Know how to deal with what you don't know- if you can't answer a question, or are unsure about a subject and/or topic, have a support system in place to provide some backup.
Outline with your kids what your goals are for your kids, and reinforce periodically what those goals are. It is easy to lose sight of what you all are trying to accomplish amid the day-to- day of life aboard.
Recognize/ reward exceptional results, and/or exceptional effort. Celebrate the successful completion of each unit of study. Everybody, your kids included, perform better when they get "attaboys" on a regular basis.
In other words, treat it just like a land-based educational experience, without the teachers and administration.
Alternative schooling and the education that comes from a cruising lifestyle can be huge benefits. "Unschooling" just makes me cringe.
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We are leaving in two years for a projected five-year circ with a kid who will be coming up on 10. Our current thinking is that we will work with his school and our provincial educational system to educate him more or less in the curriculum as it stands, with "enrichment" courtesy of our travels.
Needless to say, we are from a large city and are Canadian. This may not be possible where you live.
Realistically, this means he'll do about 120-130 minutes of fairly intensive schoolwork per day (as it will be "one on one"), which would be the case of a house-bound kid who couldn't physically get to school.
He will submit his work electronically, probably once a week, and will "appear" in class to present topic-specific reports. As my wife is a biologist and I come from a writing and media background, I expect the presentations will be acceptable.
I agree that structure is important, although a gale on passage might count as a "snow day"...or an opportunity for a project on bad weather!
We are already working on him at age seven to develop independent study habits...he's reading a hell of a lot, so that's a start.
This is our current thinking: Keep him "in school" via distance education, but incorporate some flexibility in his daily life. He has a lot of friends and it would be nice if he could keep them as "pen pals with visuals" and it's an irony of the 21st century that social networking, satphones and easy access to self-made video production has to a great degree normalized "distance friendship" between kids.
Needless to say, we are from a large city and are Canadian. This may not be possible where you live.
Realistically, this means he'll do about 120-130 minutes of fairly intensive schoolwork per day (as it will be "one on one"), which would be the case of a house-bound kid who couldn't physically get to school.
He will submit his work electronically, probably once a week, and will "appear" in class to present topic-specific reports. As my wife is a biologist and I come from a writing and media background, I expect the presentations will be acceptable.
I agree that structure is important, although a gale on passage might count as a "snow day"...or an opportunity for a project on bad weather!
We are already working on him at age seven to develop independent study habits...he's reading a hell of a lot, so that's a start.
This is our current thinking: Keep him "in school" via distance education, but incorporate some flexibility in his daily life. He has a lot of friends and it would be nice if he could keep them as "pen pals with visuals" and it's an irony of the 21st century that social networking, satphones and easy access to self-made video production has to a great degree normalized "distance friendship" between kids.
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We home schooled and unschooled our two children. My daughter is now going for her masters in education and my son is doing fine also.
You are going to get tons of advise, some of it very passionate that will tell you the only right way is their way. I will refrain from giving you any advise even though I was active in the homeschooling community for almost 20 years because I believe you will find that the best way for your family will be your way. You are welcome to PM me with any questions.
Maybe I can relive your fears, because most new parents are very nervous about taking on this responsibility.
1. You are only responsible for your children maybe 1 to 4. This is not even remotely similar to a full class of 20 to 30.
2. If your child was in public school and could not attend class for a semester how much time would the school arrange for a tutor. The answer is usually just a few hours per week. And yet these home-bound public school children keep up just fine.
3. There are several instances where home-schooled children have not been allowed to compete with public school children in competition such as spelling etc because the home-schooler win every time and it seemed unfair to the public schooled kids.
4. There are several instances where fanatical religious people have messed up their kids during home-schooling. If thats not you it obviously doesn't apply.
5. Some children flourish in a public school setting some do not. In a public school setting if your child is not doing well you have very limited options as the system has limited flexibility. As a home-schooler if something is not working you have the flexibility of doing something else.
6. It is an amazing amount of fun, you will have tons of great memories.
7. I'm not sure homeschooling always took more parent time than public schooling. Public schooling requires a significant investment of supervising homework, parent teacher conferences and volunteering. It's not the same for everyone but I liked the homeschooling part better than the negotiating with the school teacher part. It was almost like the teacher got the fun part and I was stuck doing frustrating management.
8. You will most likely not be happy with textbooks. Plan on spending a fortune on books. It may be different now with the computer but our kids were were pre-goggle.
I have friends who have home-schooled their children in any way you could image. Highly structured like Calvert. No schooling at all just play. Unit study, Subject study, reading focus, math focus, science focus, arts focus, hands-on focus, apprenticeship, all play, all work, Christian, Atheist, Born-Again and just about any combination.
Some did it through high-school and some just a few semesters in grade school. They all seem to do about as well as could be expected. No disasters.
PM me if you want some details on how several families figured things out.
You are going to get tons of advise, some of it very passionate that will tell you the only right way is their way. I will refrain from giving you any advise even though I was active in the homeschooling community for almost 20 years because I believe you will find that the best way for your family will be your way. You are welcome to PM me with any questions.
Maybe I can relive your fears, because most new parents are very nervous about taking on this responsibility.
1. You are only responsible for your children maybe 1 to 4. This is not even remotely similar to a full class of 20 to 30.
2. If your child was in public school and could not attend class for a semester how much time would the school arrange for a tutor. The answer is usually just a few hours per week. And yet these home-bound public school children keep up just fine.
3. There are several instances where home-schooled children have not been allowed to compete with public school children in competition such as spelling etc because the home-schooler win every time and it seemed unfair to the public schooled kids.
4. There are several instances where fanatical religious people have messed up their kids during home-schooling. If thats not you it obviously doesn't apply.
5. Some children flourish in a public school setting some do not. In a public school setting if your child is not doing well you have very limited options as the system has limited flexibility. As a home-schooler if something is not working you have the flexibility of doing something else.
6. It is an amazing amount of fun, you will have tons of great memories.
7. I'm not sure homeschooling always took more parent time than public schooling. Public schooling requires a significant investment of supervising homework, parent teacher conferences and volunteering. It's not the same for everyone but I liked the homeschooling part better than the negotiating with the school teacher part. It was almost like the teacher got the fun part and I was stuck doing frustrating management.
8. You will most likely not be happy with textbooks. Plan on spending a fortune on books. It may be different now with the computer but our kids were were pre-goggle.
I have friends who have home-schooled their children in any way you could image. Highly structured like Calvert. No schooling at all just play. Unit study, Subject study, reading focus, math focus, science focus, arts focus, hands-on focus, apprenticeship, all play, all work, Christian, Atheist, Born-Again and just about any combination.
Some did it through high-school and some just a few semesters in grade school. They all seem to do about as well as could be expected. No disasters.
PM me if you want some details on how several families figured things out.
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Well
When my daughter joined Ballet Chicago at 14 and lived with a host family we used and internet based school that looked at all her work and graded it as living in NY made it tough to look at much of it
I was not really that happy with it but it worked out
Are school gave me so much CRAP i had to write a letter that she no longer lived in NY and it was none of there concern and F-OFF
When she moved to CPYB in Carlisle Pa there dance program was done to work with the local High School and was able to enroll there as a Senior and she finished with a REAL degree (believe me it can be and issue)
If she had moved home without finishing high school in PA it would have been a huge problem as NY is and was a total ass about the whole thing
So for the happy ending we be driving to Buffalo to watch her graduate in May from SUNY Buffalo and she is working on getting into a masters program
My daughter lived the life with home schooled children for 3 years and while many may get that perfect SAT many are far from well rounded and have serious problems going mainstream
And do not discount the misery the local school my try and give you
When my daughter joined Ballet Chicago at 14 and lived with a host family we used and internet based school that looked at all her work and graded it as living in NY made it tough to look at much of it
I was not really that happy with it but it worked out
Are school gave me so much CRAP i had to write a letter that she no longer lived in NY and it was none of there concern and F-OFF
When she moved to CPYB in Carlisle Pa there dance program was done to work with the local High School and was able to enroll there as a Senior and she finished with a REAL degree (believe me it can be and issue)
If she had moved home without finishing high school in PA it would have been a huge problem as NY is and was a total ass about the whole thing
So for the happy ending we be driving to Buffalo to watch her graduate in May from SUNY Buffalo and she is working on getting into a masters program
My daughter lived the life with home schooled children for 3 years and while many may get that perfect SAT many are far from well rounded and have serious problems going mainstream
And do not discount the misery the local school my try and give you
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Here's what I can say... our kids will be (are being) homeschooled for two years. We did a lot of research and selected Calvert for two reasons. First, it's the predominant home schooling system used by cruising famililies. Why does this matter? When we're at an anchorage with other kids, the possibility exists for us to share schooling duties since we're working from the same curriculum. Second, they were the only system we could find that offers a completely offline curriculum - you do not need Internet access for any part of the program.
Here's what we've found over the past several months. If you completely follow the curriculum to the letter, you will spend 6+ hours every day on schooling. The kids hate it, you get frustrated, and it's just way too repetitive. What we GENERALLY do (especially for math) is one of two things - we have the kids take the end of chapter tests, and anything they get wrong they have to go back to study, or we have them only do a few problems from each section of each test, and if they get any wrong they have to do more.
A lot of people say that you need to follow your local school's curriculum and requirements to the letter. Ask yourself this question - does anyone ever move in from out of state or out of the country? How do they place these people? Generally, they take competency tests to determine at what grade level to place them. If you don't follow your localities specific guidelines, chances are that they would just treat your kid as an "out-of-stater" and make them take a test for placement.
I don't think we'll be buying Calvert next year. Instead, we'll put together our own program covering math, science, social studies, etc. Calvert has been great for the first year in teaching us what we need to do for homeschool, and we're very happy we bought it, but we feel that we can put together a good program on our own for next year.
Here's what we've found over the past several months. If you completely follow the curriculum to the letter, you will spend 6+ hours every day on schooling. The kids hate it, you get frustrated, and it's just way too repetitive. What we GENERALLY do (especially for math) is one of two things - we have the kids take the end of chapter tests, and anything they get wrong they have to go back to study, or we have them only do a few problems from each section of each test, and if they get any wrong they have to do more.
A lot of people say that you need to follow your local school's curriculum and requirements to the letter. Ask yourself this question - does anyone ever move in from out of state or out of the country? How do they place these people? Generally, they take competency tests to determine at what grade level to place them. If you don't follow your localities specific guidelines, chances are that they would just treat your kid as an "out-of-stater" and make them take a test for placement.
I don't think we'll be buying Calvert next year. Instead, we'll put together our own program covering math, science, social studies, etc. Calvert has been great for the first year in teaching us what we need to do for homeschool, and we're very happy we bought it, but we feel that we can put together a good program on our own for next year.
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