ChristusG Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I've been reading about families packing up their homeschooling families and hitting the road and doing all sorts of fun and educational things. What an experience that would be! I'm curious as to how it all works though. What about jobs? Finances? Where do you stay? Do you take an RV? Stay in hotels? Other possibilities? I'd love to hit National Parks and have my kids do the Junior Ranger program, attend all sorts of festivals, see things we've never seen before. As much as I hate road trips, I think this would be fun. Of course, this would all be in the future since I'm in my first trimester of pregnancy and I'm not about to hit the road now or with an infant either. It's just something to think about, I guess. Anyone ever do this? And by extended I mean like two weeks....probbably more like a month or more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elinor Everywhere Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) I've been reading about families packing up their homeschooling families and hitting the road and doing all sorts of fun and educational things. What an experience that would be! I'm curious as to how it all works though. What about jobs? Finances? Where do you stay? Do you take an RV? Stay in hotels? Other possibilities? . Anyone ever do this? And by extended I mean like two weeks....probbably more like a month or more. We do! I'd say we do this fairly regularly. It started almost 6 years ago, when we finished 1st grade & studying the ancients; we went to Italy for a month. Stayed in Rome for a few days, and saw the Forum, Colosseum, and the Vatican Museum (amazing). Went to Pompeii (which was AWEsome), then rented an apartment in Florence for 3 weeks. Saw all kinds of Renaissance art pieces, churches, etc., there. Took a train to Venice and wandered around there for a couple of days, the highlight of which (for my violin-playing daughter, then 7) was the Vivaldi museum. We also took a train to the Cinque Terre region on the coast so the kids could get a "culture break" and play on the beach. For Italy, my dh took 3 weeks off work, and while we were in Florence he worked a week by flying to Paris & Dublin for some meetings. In Rome & Venice we found reasonably-priced hotels via the Rick Steves book, but in Florence we rented an apartment which was much more affordable (and allowed my husband to cook to his heart's content). The following year the kids & I drove 8,000 miles: from Phoenix to Montreal, Vermont, Chicago, San Diego, and back to Phoenix. It took 6 weeks, and was a blast! We saw things en route: the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, the St. Louis arch, an Underground Railroad house in Ohio, Niagara Falls, all kinds of things in Montreal, the wine country of Quebec, the rolling hills of Vermont, Lake Champlain, & museums in Chicago. The rest of the time was spent playing (my uncle's lake house in Ohio for a week, watching my husband race in regattas in Chicago & San Diego). We stayed in the kinds of hotels that had mini-fridges so we could buy food & not have to eat out all the time. In Montreal & San Diego we stayed with friends. My husband took 2 weeks off & joined us in Chicago & San Diego. The next year we moved to Hong Kong - obviously, lots of educational potential! Besides all the HK stuff, we made it to Beijing & the Great Wall, Xi'an (Terra Cotta Warriors), Singapore, and Thailand, where we saw how rubber trees work, rode elephants on a trail ride, watched how monkeys helped with the coconut harvest, etc. We were in HK for 9 months, but it was company-paid. Last year we went to Europe. My dh took 3 weeks off, and we did a combination of B&Bs in France (Rick Steves again) and we rented a house for a week near the Pyrenees and an apartment for a week in Paris. Again, renting was much cheaper. We saw medieval castles galore, old towns, ate some incredible food, went up the mountains, and hit most the must-do items in Paris (Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Versailles, etc.) After 3 weeks, my dh and ds went home, and my dd and I did a 2-week girl's trip around the U.K. Stayed 4 nights in London (found a relatively good deal on a tiny hotel room), then rented a car and drove to Stonehenge, Chepstow (Wales), Bath - museums, buildings, and horseback riding in the Cotswolds on the way to Stratford (Shakespeare, etc). Then on to York and some good historical stuff there, a stop at the James Herriott museum (All Creatures Great & Small), and a last stop in Scotland to visit friends. I picked B&Bs for all the stops between London & Scotland. They had good prices, and the owners were awesome and felt the need to take care of us for some reason. :) My best advice is research, research, research! Get travel books, check out websites like TripAdvisor, figure out your vacation style (hotels, do-it-yourself rentals, etc), and go for it! These trips have added so much to our schooling, and strengthened the bonds of our family. I can't recommend it enough! Edited March 31, 2011 by Elinor Everywhere Detail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flux Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Not as an adult, but when I was 11 years old my parents did this, so I wouldn't really be of any help in working out logistics with you. They had a little $ windfall, bought a used RV type trailer and decided to spend it on a big family trip. My parents didn't have steady jobs, so that wasn't really an issue. We did a 3 month, relaxed, cross-countryish trip from Utah across and up to New Jersey and down to Florida and came back to Utah via the South. I still have SO MANY wonderful memories of that trip. I remember the public school was angry with my parents for pulling us out of school for 2 months of this trip. On my first day back to school, the principal came into my classroom and (in front of the class) demanded to know how our vacation was educational, since that's the excuse my mother was using for her truant kids. I could tell I was being interrogated, but I was also excited to share how awesome our trip was. I couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was to see in person: Fort McHenry and did he know that they still had part of the flag?!, The Mall in D.C. (how tall the Washington Monument was), The Statue of Liberty, The Smithsonian (various), had he ever seen pointillism in person? Amazing!, Various battlefields and reenactments, etc. etc.(I'll spare you EVERYTHING I said) The kids in the class were getting excited and asking me questions, and he finally had to tell me, "That's enough." Which is probably what you are thinking right now, too:tongue_smilie: All that to say that if you can swing it in any form, it's worth it! Even short trips, when something outside of their normal everyday thing, get logged in the brain in a special place.:) I'm curious to see other ideas as well. I would LOVE to travel more with my kiddos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flux Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 My best advice is research, research, research! Get travel books, check out websites like TripAdvisor, figure out your vacation style (hotels, do-it-yourself rentals, etc), and go for it! These trips have added so much to our schooling, and strengthened the bonds of our family. I can't recommend it enough! Yes! My mom researched things for months ahead of time (pre-internet). Yes, to family bonds, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 We're looking at combining a cross country move with this sort of idea. We want to hit the big dino museum on our way out of the province, and other places along the way. I'm actually excited about getting to Toronto, hitting the Zoo, ROM, and Science Centre. Compared to Toronto, the ones here just sucketh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 DH and I had to burn some use-it-or-lose-it vacation time back in 2000. We took 4 weeks off, parked the dog with my parents, and hit the road. Dh, the kids, and I flew to Seattle, got on a train, traveled across country to Washington DC. Spent a week going through the museums and the zoo, then caught the train down to Florida. Caught a different train and went across the country again to Los Angeles. It was an amazing and educational trip for my kids (ages 8,6,4 at the time). We did some school work on the train to keep them busy, but mostly we just let the kids soak up America. Quite an adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skissugar Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) well not really the same.. but the kids and I are packing up and heading to korea for 2 months.. Hubs is stationed there until september so we are going to go explore :) Also anytime the military has moved us.. we have taken our time getting from duty station to duty station all have been driving moves except this last one to hawaii .. stopping at anything educational that we could :) My kids actually LOVE move time because they know that means tons of fun stops along the way :) I would love to rent an rv one day and just take off for a month or two.. :) edited to add: I already told hubs that I hope our kids homeschool their kids because I plan on owning an rv in retirement and will want to swipe the grandkids for long trips across country like this :) Edited March 31, 2011 by skissugar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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