Unschooling: Homeschooling As A Nomad

 

By Ashleigh Moss

Welcome to our homeschooling journey! As a family of four living full-time on the road in our RV, we’ve embraced the freedom of learning without borders. Homeschooling has allowed us to create an educational experience that adapts to our ever-changing environment, offering our kids the unique opportunity to learn from the places we visit, the people we meet, and the adventures we share. Join us as we explore the joys, challenges, and tips for homeschooling while traveling across the United States.

Why We Chose to Homeschool on the Road

As a former public school teacher, I am so excited to be able to use my love for teaching for my own children and customize their learning to our lifestyle. Every time we visit a new geographical region, there is a geography and history lesson to go with it. When we meet new people, we learn and practice social skills. Everyday life demands skills like cleaning, cooking, organizing, budgeting and more. Being in control of the kids’ learning means not only do I get to plan the lessons, they get to choose their passions.

My oldest daughter, Lauren, 13, loves technology. She is learning computer science at a college level, which she would not have been able to do at our previous district. 

My youngest, Maddie, 6, is able to spend time with her favorite person in the whole gosh darn world 24/7, me. That’s something public school definitely wouldn’t offer. Her passions are still blooming. Right now, she’s into dolls. 

Another reason we choose homeschooling is the current state of our public school system. It’s my opinion that the school districts, especially the one we were in, have failed to stay relevant and rely too heavily on old behavior modification systems (like humiliation, stern speaking, detention, and so forth).

I witnessed my mentor teacher, who was considered to be the best in our school, use humiliation when a boy lost his password card in his desk. But her classroom always looked perfect, the kids all sat in perfect rows without a paper out of line. No one questioned her and no one is pushing our districts to adapt to the values of parents today. 

After teaching in public school, I do not believe homeschool children are missing out on socializing. They are indeed missing out on school culture, but so few schools foster a healthy sense of community. We are witnessing more aggressive behavior than ever before; punching, threatening and throwing furniture are normal and happen nearly every day. The schools are too busy putting out fires and struggling to understand the source of the aggression. This is a stressful culture and not one I fear my kids are missing, no I’m delighted they’re missing it.

Out of the district I’m able to teach my kids about mental health, self-care, work-life balance, and subjects that wouldn’t otherwise be covered, or aren’t given the time and weight they should be. I’m able to find information I believe is honest rather than pushing curriculum I don’t agree with. My kids and I have freedom to learn. 

Unschooling

Unschooling is becoming a popular term in the traveling community. It’s about learning through real-world experiences, like using fractions while baking or budgeting during a shopping trip. In our family, unschooling means supporting our kids' interests, like my 13-year-old’s passion for animation, through self-guided learning. The beauty of unschooling is its flexibility—there are no set rules. What are your thoughts on unschooling? Feel free to share your experiences or concerns in the comments below!

How We Got Started 

As a teacher, my first step with any lesson is to look up the standards for our state. Our home state is Washington, so I visit OSPI, the state’s office of superintendent of public instruction. This will tell me exactly what the goals are for public education for the given grade level. 

Then I visited the websites whose programs I wanted to use. I cross referenced the states goals with what is being taught with the programs to ensure they’re on grade level. 

I started a spreadsheet for each of my children, keeping track of subjects and progress. At the bottom of the Google Sheets tabs I start a new tab each week. This gives me the ability to show proof of progress, keep track for myself, and ensure we are covering all subjects. 

For the subjects that I decided to teach myself, I wrote my lessons based on the given goals. For example: I teach geography because I want it to be relevant to where we’re are at. When we were in Washington State one of the resources I used was “Roadside Geography” by Darrel S. Cowan and Marli Bryant Miller. Lauren has an online running slideshow with relevant videos, questions, quizzes and facts, but we also talk about the geography as a family when we are out and about. This is natural for us given my husband and I are both nerds and love to learn about the environment.

For math and computer science we use Brilliant.org. Brilliant engages the learning by providing smaller chucks of information with graphics, animations, videos and puzzles. It checks in with the learner for more frequently to ensure graduated steps in learning. 

My youngest uses Kahn Academy Kids App, which was the best discovery for my hyper-active first grader. She isn’t exactly excited to sit down and write, read or do math, but with videos and games the Kahn academy captures her attention and maintains it. She can’t wait to do school and is at grade level with all major subjects.  

I purchased Rosetta Stone for learning Spanish, but neither of my girls payed much attention to the old-school listen and repeat style. They both prefer a game style, so we use Dinolingo. 

Khan Academy is used for history and biology.

In our family I encourage both traditional and non-traditional methods. It’s important that my children be sufficient writers, readers, mathematicians, historians and scientists, but their creativity, sense of relevance, and goals for themselves are just as important. 

We practice and teach the importance of pursuing your passions and talents. Lauren is a computer whiz, an artist, has a vivid imagination, oh and she is a writer!! We encourage her to pursue it all in a way that benefits her life both financially and personally. 

A Typical Day of Homeschooling & Unschooling

Homeschooling starts with programs on the tablet. Lauren is always excited to log on to Brilliant for math and computer science because she earns daily points for checking in while competing with others on the platform for prizes. Her math and computer science take 40 minutes combined. Then she takes 20 minutes each for U.S. history and biology on Khan Academy.

Maddie spends 10 minutes on Khan Academy.

After electronic time both girls have reading. 30 minutes each. 

Then Maddie gets to work writing. We have kept the same notebook since she started homeschool. I love comparing the start and current time of homeschooling. Her writing is better than some of my previous 3rd graders. She is still learning to read so we practice those early skills. She is also learning to add and subtract. Her math skills are excellent, her attitude about doing math is another story. 

Lauren starts writing her essays on the computer based on what writing week it is (persuasive, informative, or entertaining). I would make her practice her handwriting, but she already fills one journal a week doing that. 

Unschooling varies day-to-day and depending on what we feel we need to work on. The focus for Maddie has been self-care; she practices getting herself dressed, brushing her hair, teeth, and chores. Lauren’s main job is learning to self-entertain and self-soothe without electronics! Are you doing this with your teenager? Let me know in the comments below. It’s been so much fun- I’m saying sarcastically, as you can imagine. 

Part of my philosophy on unschooling is that subjects that need to be taught/learned arise naturally. One example is a trip we took to Walmart. Lauren, as any teenager would, wants to buy everything she sees. I have to teach her budgeting as it relates to our groceries and self-control in purchases. Given that Maddie is younger different learning applies. An example of a naturally arising situation for Maddie: Maddie wants to eat only sugar. Don’t we all? So, we talk about what sugar does to your body, the effects over time, and the importance of eating healthy. Does that mean she doesn’t throw a fit and argue to death? Lord no. But we do our best to enforce the learning and talk about. Someone please let me know if you’re dealing with this too, because I’m feeling at a loss of what to do next. 

Homeschool Curriculum

Brilliant.org

Brilliant.org offers an interactive and fun platform in all things computer science and math, plus AI, data, programming and engineering. Not only does Lauren us is, but I have been using Brilliant to further my education and keep up with new technology. It’s easy to understand with graphics, videos and puzzles. Lauren especially loves it because there is a social aspect to the platform; when you log on and learn you earn points and compete with others for prizes. The annual subscription is $180 per year, or $24.99 per month. If you’re a teacher you and your students have access for free. 

➡️ Visit Brilliant.org

Khan Academy Kids

When I was first introduced to Khan Academy I was in college needing help with statistics. I loved the platform and its main content creator. While looking for curriculum for Maddie I was excited to find Khan Academy had a program for younger children, and it’s free! The app teaches reading, writing, math, counting, ABC’s, addition, subtraction and more. It’s also supported by free printables. Maddie is tech savvy for her age and had no trouble learning how to use it. 

➡️ Visit Khan Academy for kids.

Khan Academy (for Biology & History)

Khan academy covers many subjects, including history and biology. Part of why I love Khan Academy is the pretext they offer at the beginning of any subject. They can mark off subjects/sections that you have already mastered by giving you the assessment. They also break the learning up into nice segments.

➡️ Visit Khan Academy.

Dinolingo

This game-format website, combined with a dinosaur theme, is a super fun and engaging way for kids to learn Spanish. When Lauren started to learn Spanish we used Rosetta Stone. Lauren didn’t like the way words and phrases were just given in a flash card and picture style. She preferred the game—style that Dinolingo offers. Maddie loves Dinolingo and uses it intuitively. 

➡️ Visit Dinolingo.com

Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT)

This is a website I found while teaching. The search function is excellent in narrowing down by subject, age, and standard. Many of the resources cost money, but many are also free. I use TPT for Maddie; the website has great resources for early readers including games, worksheets, flashcards and more. 

➡️ Visit teacherspayteachers.com

Hands On Resources

In addition to worksheets and workbooks there are three resources that I used for hands on work, especially for Maddie given her age.

1. Flashcards with phonics for reading. I got mine from Amazon, here. What I love about this deck is the framework provided to facilitate reading. Everyone knows flashcards are not enough to learn to read; there are other resources you must pair with flashcards.  But most people don’t know the basics of reading and where to start when it comes to teacher their little ones. Following the “levels” in this set gives you the example of what to do. This is 100% necessary for new readers. Get them here. 
2. Having the right books for a new reader makes all the difference from learning to read or becoming so frustrated they abandon reading all together. Starting with a program that aligns with the flashcards (which any beginner book program would) increases your child’s chances of success and ensures they learn to read well. Both my kids have loved “Pete the Cat” so we started with this set for Maddie: Pete the Cat early readers
3. As a teacher and a mom I love having math and reading activity games so engage younger ones. This spelling and math game from Temu gets traffic even to this day. For $6.99 I’d day it’s a win. 

Socializing while Homeschooling

Making New Friends

Since hitting the road I’ve been pleasantly surprised how many friends my kids have made. The only effort I have to make, similar to when I was a teach, is to send my girls outside to the playground at the RV park. Inevitably there are children there at one time or another during the day. The girls now have friends in multiple cities and states throughout the country. 

Group Dynamics

What is magical about the traveling RV lifestyle are the parties that happen at RV parks. Within the Thousand Trails system there are club houses at each campground that offer group activities. Since the RV lifestyle has become so popular in the last four years it’s not uncommon to have many families with kids at the events. 

Not only are my kids still attending group activities, but I have the edge to facilitate healthy interactions since I am with my children while they navigate these skills. On the contrary, public school students are alone on the playground without healthy examples around them. Sure they have recess teachers and they do the best they can, but at the end of the day it’s up to the kids themselves wether the interaction is an appropriate one, and often times it’s not, at least at school. 

Peer Competition

There are circumstances where competition could benefit a child. For example: giving your child motivation to push themselves harder with the goal of winning against their peers. I have found ways to replicate competition at home. Brilliant.org is one example. When Lauren logs in each day she earns points, and she is compared to others earning points. She often expresses wanting to logon and do work simply so she can stay ahead in the rewards. 

Navigating Authority 

Many of my peers have expressed to me their concern that public school is nothing more than learning to do as you’re told, rather than think critically, creatively and with a healthy sense of skepticism. Indeed, there is little room to truly get outside of the box. Teachers aren’t given the time to explore knowledge, we are given books, books that have all the “right” answers, books that we test our students on and expect them to commit to memory. That’s scarcely a creative and critical environment. 

Parents should be challenging the schools authority and methods of instruction if we are to hold society to a standard we are all expected to adhere to. I do not believe teaching my child to obey orders is a healthy concept for navigating authority. 

What is important to our family is to teach respect, kindness, empathy and patience. Respect is simple and can be learned outside of the classroom. In fact, it makes more sense to practice respect in a real-world setting where you’ll approach the need in scenarios that aren’t staged. All leaders need kindness, empathy, and patience since we are part of a collective direction that can blindfold us to a persons individuality. 

Likewise, I teach my children that the respect should go both ways; people of authority should respect others. 

College and Beyond

Lauren wants to be an animator. She has a deep passion and understanding of technology and incredibly talented with her imagination and art. College may be necessary for the goals she has for her career.

To prepare her we practice standardize testing. The tests she will take to get into college will circumvent the lack of experience and grades from public schools, as I learned when I got into the University of Washington.  

Beyond testing, the most important value is hard work and persistence. College, we all know, is not easy. You don’t get in and learn by simply listening to the professors lecture. No, you read book after book, write paper after paper and for multiple classes. For many people life gets in the way of completing or even attending college. The solution is to be resolute in completing your degree. 

As a homeschool parent I can teach that those values now with every goal the kids have. Although, my kids are so indefatigable I’m not sure I need to. 

Thoughts from You

At the end of the day I’m sort of making it up as we go, like a lot of people are with life. I do my best given the information I’m given and my experiences, but I could be wrong. I also don’t have the perspective from someone who was homeschooled. 

Your feedback is important to me. Without you, I would just be talking to myself. And I can only laugh at my jokes for so long. 

Maybe you were homeschooled and would like to share your experience. Maybe you have ideas on how we could improve? Let me know in the comments down below. 

If you want to connect with our family more, visit our website and sign up for our newsletter. We can’t wait to build community with you!

➡️ Visit our website here… Snarky Nomads.

 AND

Comment down below to share your experience and advice. ⬇️