Daily Life on the Road
In this post I will be answering some commonly asked questions we get about our 6 month road trip.
How can you be gone from home so long without an RV?
The way we get around not having an RV is by staying with people that we know. We sent out a letter to a bunch of people that we hoped would host us about 6 months before the trip started. Based on those who responded, we planned our route. We knew there would be a few places would settle for a longer time in an airbnb, but for the most part, we wanted to stay with people.
This was not only a financial decision, but also because it aligned with the vision of the trip. One of our goals was to step into peoples’ normal lives and to see friends and family we wouldn’t normally see.
How is this trip different than a vacation?
We are staying with people we know instead of in hotels. We keep eating out to a minimum and pack drinks and snacks in a cooler when we are on the road. We have a daily routine that includes school, work, and alone time. Each day, the kids and I do school in the morning while Mark does DJ work. In the afternoon we go exploring. It’s not constant excitement. There are plenty of boring days and quite ordinary days.
What does homeschooling look like?
I would say my homeschooling style is “eclectic”. I draw from a wide range of different resources and educational methods My comfort zone leans more towards unschooling, but my kids have come from traditional school and will return to traditional school after this year, so I’m trying to keep the subject content similar to what they are used to.
I carry all our school books and supplies in this one bag. We started with a larger tote, but then realized it needed to be small enough to carry in and out of a the van, a library, or a coffee shop.
This bag was originally my piano teaching bag, but now has morphed into my homeschool bag.
A normal day of homeschool includes
✍️grammar from a textbook
🟰math from a textbook
🇺🇸 study of the state we are traveling through (the girls love to guess the state bird, state tree, population, year of statehood, famous people, rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges)
📖read aloud
✍️Spanish.
🩻Science – the human body
If we do all these subjects it still only takes about 2 hours, so we have lots of time for exploring or visiting with friends we are staying with. Malia enjoys looking for tennis courts to play on and trying new recipes.
You must really like each other?
This question cracks me up. It IS a lot of time together in tight spaces. By the grace of God, we are getting along so far. We have been bonding as a family in a way that we wouldn’t if we were back home. I’m grateful for this time to get to know my husband and kids in a new way.
What has been hardest so far?
The kids have been complaining about missing their friends and schools (especially the first week). I worry about if we are doing the right thing and whether we will regret any of this year. I have felt like I am letting down my piano students by leaving them this year. Not having a regular community of friends and jumping from place to place can be challenging. Being away from our families and older kids, especially on holidays is hard.
What are you most looking forward to?
🌊Being by the ocean in Florida and California.
🏠Seeing friends we haven’t seen for a long time.
📚✍️Extra time for daily reading and writing
🙏🏽Time to focus on God with fewer distractions.