More and more families in Australia are choosing to home school their children while traveling around the country. One of the key benefits of home schooling while traveling is that it allows families to adapt their education to fit their unique lifestyle. I chat to Art Club Member Flick about her family’s decision to hit the road in 2023 and home school along the way.

Read on if you’re wondering what life on the road with school and kids might look like!

What motivated you to make the decision to take a year traveling and home school your two kids?

Doing a lap of Australia has been a dream for my husband and I for many years! Since my boys, Blaize and Chase, were little ones we knew when they were older we wanted to take them on the road. Blaize has been registered for home education since late 2019 (He did prep and 3 terms of grade 1 at a school) and what began as a home school trial with him due to health and learning difficulties quickly became his new way of learning. We knew from our experience with Blaize that both boys would thrive on the road.

Taking a year to travel and home school can affect children differently. I love that Flick included her children in many of the BIG decisions including which year to hit the road. 2022 turned out to be an important final year of primary school for Chase (year 6), so 2023 it was.

But I was keen to know, what other preparation did you need to do to make this dream come true? Here’s what she had to say …

Upgrade our vehicle and buy a caravan! The wait on purchasing a Van currently is approximately 13 months. A year prior to leaving the exact van we were wanting came up on facebook marketplace. The last bit of preparation was much easier things like when would we leave, what direction we’d travel
and what would we do with our home while traveling.

Is it possible to maintain a consistent schedule and routine while traveling?

The beauty of our travel is we have no set schedule. We’ve deliberately done this to be as flexible as possible. Our van has off-grid capabilities so we’re trying to free camp as much as possible. (We’re actually doing this
as I type this up). Having older kids is great too, they’re independent so they also don’t have dinner,
showers and in bed by set times. I think for younger kids sticking to a decent bed time and routine of a night would help them settle. We were told it takes about 6 weeks to really settle into life on the road.

Can you tell us about one specific location or experience you've had that has been particularly
beneficial to home schooling?

I honestly can’t pick one particular location or experience, they’ve all been amazing!. We’re approaching the end of our second week on the road and most places we have stopped have provided some form of learning or new experiences for the boys. Some highlights so far have been;
feeding green sea turtles at reef world aquarium, spotting various sea animals the live around Urangan pier at Hervey Bay.

What are the options for home schooling resources while travelling?

There are some amazing free resources available. If you want to have a teacher oversee assessments and school work then you’d be best to look into Distance. Rather than purchasing a set curriculum I’ve found gathering bits and pieces from online blogs better suited to us. Here’s what we love:

• National Geographic Kids
• Hoopla, Borrow Box, Story Box Library
• Art With Georgie Art Club for anything art related
• We also use travel journals they become abit of diary for the kid’s adventures
• A cheap digital camera for photo journal
• Pre-packaged Curriculum such as Euka and Simply Homeschool.

Can you meet other homeschool families on the road?
Most definitely! There are many kids on the road these days they’re bound to make a bunch of
new friends in parks, at the beach or at the caravan park you’re staying at!

What does a typical traveling and home school day look like?

We really don’t have typical days on the road just yet! Each looks really different and largely depends on the weather. I think again it’s important to remember that traveling around Australia will provide endless experiences and learning opportunities away from the books.

Our home school work usually looks like; 10-15 minutes of daily fundamental work (math, language and literacy), additional pages of their math books and then they write in their travel journals for major centres we’ve stopped in or another English based activity

On rainy days we head to the local library, lay back in the van and watch movies or documentaries or
even set out the art supplies and find a fun art project in the  Art With Georgie Kids Art Club.

To follow along with Flick and her family as they home school and travel Australia, hop on over to her instagram feed. 

Home schooling while traveling allows families to create unforgettable memories together! If you’re thinking of hitting the road and need a little help maintaining a creative learning experience then hop on over and checkout my Kids Art Club. It’s an art education at your fingertips, no matter where you are in the world!