Educating kids while travelling Oz????
Submitted: Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 16:48
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makintraks
Hi all, I am new to this site and I have read all the info on Travelling with kids in the topic section and done a search but cant really find what I'm after. We are leaving in May to do a 12 month trip of this beautiful country, we have an 8yr old boy and a 9yr old girl.
I would love to hear from anyone who has done, or is currently doing the trip with kids and how they educate them along the way. We know the trip itself will be a fantastic education for them but we still want to keep up with their current years curriculum. I have heard of a few ideas but would really like to hear from as many people as possible who have been there done that. Thanks in advance for any info.
Hado
Reply By: ao767brad - Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 20:01
Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 20:01
Hi, whilst we only travelled with our girls 7 & 9 for 4 months we
home schooled with assistance from their school and teachers. The majority of families we met travelling for 12 months were on distance education. It does depend on the state you are from it would appear as many families are told different things. Journals and keeping up with the time line given by school was suprisingly easy, without library, assembly, and all the other stuff they do at school, you can do a days school work in around 90 minutes with one on one education. Kids had a ball in just 4 months and came back ahead of the rest of the class in text books.
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Follow Up By: Holden4th - Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 20:24
Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 20:24
As a teacher who has also experienced/witnessed
home schooling in remote locations I'd like to back up this post. You will be amazed at how far you can take your kids educationally by yourselves.
Go to your local school and talk to them about it. Provided you cover Maths, English and Science topics your kids will be fine. The tour will easily cover Social Science by itself and the other topics will present themselves on a random basis. I'd allow 90 - 120 minutes each day to make sure those essential basics in the core subjects I've mentioned are worked through.
Distance Education from your
home state is also an option and all it requires is an internet connection. I've been to the LSODE in
Longreach QLD and was truly impressed with what they do. So were the Year 6 students from our school when they visited for a morning!
One thing you do need to ensure is that your children maintain a daily routine and that they know your expectations regarding it.
They are in for the time of their lives and are very lucky children.
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Follow Up By: Member - Royce- Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 08:19
Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 08:19
As a teacher I too think that you will do fine with an hour or two a day... or even every second day.
Make sure that the children take it on as part of the adventure of the trip. Keep a journal.
When I headed off with my 10 and 11 year old for three months I didn't worry about formal stuff, but they both agreed to repeat the year if they came back
home behind the other kids. Their school was a little rural school so it wouldn't have been all that bad. They came back
well in touch.
Enjoy the experience.
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Follow Up By: ao767brad - Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 08:39
Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 08:39
On the days when you have to drive for 3-5 hours as there is nothing to stop and see we would sit in the car doing times tables, spelling, maths and english. On these days we could often get 2-3 days work done which allowed for more time when you were somewhere that you planned intensive sightseeing. Try to roster around big sightseeing days as both the adults and kids are exhausted after a full day out with walking etc. and there is nothing worse than it being a chore. Always let them have at least a day off each week ( not too hard really - hardest part was remembering to restart after a few days off). I must admit that at times the work got pushed to the side when we were in
places that there were other kids as they are still kids and need to play. Nothing beats playing with other kids at the
Devils Marbles, climbing over boulders being kings of the castle.
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Reply By: Member - Josh- Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 22:52
Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 at 22:52
We spent 3 yrs travelling OZ. We
home schooled our girls. They were 3 and 5 when we left. We found doing the schooling first thing was best. They are awake and able to concentrate. Also the encouragement of going and doing fun things after their school work was done was a great reward. Remember school isn't always in a book. Our girls were younger than yours but some of the things we did were: Write maths problems in the sand at
the beach and do a lesson there. Get them to read the pamphlets at information centres. If your going to an attraction like Ayers
Rock, they can do research on it before you go. I know they need formal education but these things are extras you can do but are still fun. The expirience you give them travelling will be with them for life.
Josh
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Reply By: Member - John and Lynne - Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 08:41
Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 08:41
We used Distance Ed when our kids were
young and we were in an isolated area. As said, you don't need much time per day but you do need a routine - it doesn't have to be too rigid but you do need to establish expectations. Don't get too uptight about it - relax and it will be fine. Our biggest problem was settling them back into school afterwards -" You mean we have to say after lunch!?" "They take a whole hour to have assembly and mark the roll!."
Later, as a teacher, I never saw kids who did not benefit from such an experience. Make sure they keep a scrapbook/diary to treasure in the future and share with family and friends. This is also good for their English and other work! Also encourage them to stay in touch with friends through post cards and emails. They are lucky kids! Lynne
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Follow Up By: Member - John and Lynne - Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 21:03
Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 21:03
You have a choice between
home schooling, with or without assistance from your kids current school, or Distance Ed. For a lengthy trip Distance Ed has some adventages I think. From my experience, the kids loved getting
feedback from their other "teacher". The programme was organised but not too rigid. That took a lot of the lesson planning burden away from me (as the main supervisor, my husband was working) and gave me someone to ask for any support or assistance I needed. It wasn't just me as the girls' mother being the only educational authority on top of everything else! I would certainly consider going that route if I was travelling and away from convenient access to lots of teaching resouces etc. I found the Distance Ed people very helpful and their materials were excellent and it saved me a lot of worry at times.
You do need to organise mail drops etc in advance but with internet these days a lot of that is much easier.
Home schooling is quite an undertaking for a year or more if you want to do it properly and have your kids keep up at their school. This could become a burden if you are travelling and want to do all the tourist stuff as
well! Distance Ed staff do a lot of the work for you and give you a lot of help. You would end up with a report to take back to their school which would make that easier too. Lynne
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Reply By: pop2jocem - Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:02
Monday, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:02
Hi Guys,
As you would no doubt gather from my signature I am WAY past educating my 3 kids, they range from 34 to 39 and now are trying to edjamakate me...lol.
The reason I am replying to this thread is that my son, daughter-in-law and their 3 ranging in ages of 5,8 and 10 would like to do something similar but it looks like they may not be able to get away before the eldest is in high school because of work commitments. Now while my DIL is a primary school teacher they are not sure if it would be practical to do without unduly affecting a high school aged child. Obviously the amount of work a child has to complete in HS is far more intense than in primary school.
Opinions from the learned members of the
forum would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Pop
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Follow Up By: glampergal - Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 at 21:08
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 at 21:08
Hey Pop, just my 2 cents but some of the families in the outback community we lived in in central NT were enrolled in NT Open Ed (NTOEC) for high school. A number of those kids have gone onto further education successfully and I know they really enjoyed their experiences with NTOEC. Whilst they weren't travelling they still had extremely limited access to a school environment with an 'in-school' visit in
Darwin usually once a term or so. As for school time, it was usually 2-3 hours a day but the clever ones would have an intensive day once a week or so giving them lots of time off on other days. I understand that most (all?) states have access to Distance/Open Education programs so maybe that is worth a look? I am not sure about the younger kids but as I mentioned in a post further down we had a fantastic experience with
Alice Springs School of the Air.
Cheers, Kelly
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Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 at 14:45
Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 at 14:45
Hado,
Can't give you any pointers on recent education, while on the road, but our kids all did School of the Air, through Mt Isa.
My wife was pretty full-on with their schooling, so that when they were unable to do lessons, they were always ahead. Try to do a bit each day, so the children remain in a routine, but maybe not to the detriment of the holiday either.
The photo shows our eldest daughter(now a mother herself), doing an "on air" lesson, on
HF radio, south of Urandangie, back in early '80's. Don't need a blackboard and chalk, to educate them in the bush.
Image Could Not Be Found
Hope you are able to sort out a curriculum for them, and yourself, and have a good holiday.
Bob.
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Reply By: glampergal - Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 at 20:57
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 at 20:57
We did school of the air through
Alice Springs (ASSOA) a few years back when were living in a small outback community. What surprised me the most is how little time was needed for 'formal' schooling. We had an internet lesson about 1/2 to 3/4 hour, 4 days a week and an hour max for activities, often done outside or in our 'schoolroom'. We very quickly realised that without the distractions of 24 other kids work was completed at an amazing rate. When we moved to
Adelaide I was pleasantly surprised to see how
well my daughter adapted to mainstream school, both socially and academically. The few older kids (about yr 6 and up) went on to NT open education (NTOEC) . A few of those kids are were successful in earning Uni
places when the time came. I must say though that having access to a teacher, even just over the phone or though the marking of work was helpful to me as it helped to reinforce to the kids that what Mum was teaching was correct! Also as others have said, a routine really does help the kids understand what is expected of them.
As an aside, I also grew up in a beachside caravan park (my parents were on-site licencees) and we saw a number of families travelling Aus. I used to be so jealous seeing the kids do an hour or so of study outside under the awning then hop off to
the beach whilst I was all trussed up in my uniform and off to school for the whole day. I would love to be able to offer my kids the amazing gift you are gving yours. Good luck!
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