Best way to travel back and forth with homeschool stuff-Help!!

[coralloyd]

Ok, I need help ladies, figuring out how to transport our school stuff back and forth between two homes. We will be living about half the year here the other half in the city, in a townhouse (2 hrs. away). It will not be an equal 6/6 we will have to be ready to pick up and go back and forth when dh needs to. I will probably know a week prior. Dh wants us with him. I am grateful that he is taking us, but I have no way of knowing how long we will be in each place. I can get doubles of household things (like cleaning supplies, toiletries, kitchen stuff, etc.). I cannot get doubles of homeschool stuff. How would you suggest I transport our curriculum back and forth?!

[Laura Corin]

I simplified our curriculum and used libraries where necessary the year we did this.  Two boys' curriculum fit into a single rolling hand luggage case.

 

L

[TraceyS/FL]

A suitcase or a rolling tote. 

Ideally I'd do a rolling tote for each child - but that might be impacted by the space you have in a vehicle. Like, I drive a VW Beetle.... I cannot use my own suggestion! :lol:

But with a weeks notice, you don't really have the need for an urgent, "gotta leave NOW" solution, or one that would be moved daily. 

If you have a laptop you could look into copying the MUS disks to it to view so you don't have to worry about carting the disks back and forth, a tote/plastic shoebox for the manipulative. 

I'm looking at potentially having one day a week of portable school.... which is a whole other set of challenges.

[coralloyd]

A suitcase or a rolling tote. 

 

Ideally I'd do a rolling tote for each child - but that might be impacted by the space you have in a vehicle. Like, I drive a VW Beetle.... I cannot use my own suggestion! :lol:

 

But with a weeks notice, you don't really have the need for an urgent, "gotta leave NOW" solution, or one that would be moved daily. 

 

If you have a laptop you could look into copying the MUS disks to it to view so you don't have to worry about carting the disks back and forth, a tote/plastic shoebox for the manipulative. 

 

I'm looking at potentially having one day a week of portable school.... which is a whole other set of challenges.

 

I am not promised a weeks notice it might be a got to go now situation. I thinking I am hoping for a weeks notice Ha! I like the laptop idea.

[MicheleinMN]

Those plastic milk crates.  My kids use them to keep all their stuff together and while very heavy can be moved from room to room if they want to take their school work up to their rooms.  I would also suggest a couple of pencil boxes, so that you have them somewhere where they won't fall out along the way.

 

 

[foxbridgeacademy]

I was going to suggest the plastic milk crates or a rolling wood box. Each child keeps everything they need in the box. You have a box too, and can just grab and go. If there is no room for the boxes then how about everything on 1 bookcase. Put pencils, paper notebooks in magazine holders. This way you only need a few minutes to grab everything and put in a suitcase.

[Coco_Clark]

I have (from staples?) a plastic milk crate looking thing on wheels fo work (i often work events). Here, I found it. http://t.staples.com/skava/static/product.html?type=StaplesProduct&input=%7B%22url%22%3A%5B%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.staples.com%2FStaples-Expanding-Folding-Crate-on-Wheels%2Fproduct_440122%3Ft%3Dyes%22%5D%7D&t=yes

 

I LOVE it. Folds flat, carries a ton of weight easily, fits in the trunk of my car.

[RoundAbout]

We are in the midst of a crazy year of travel and I have everything in a large rolling briefcase. I think its called a catalog case or something similar. I wanted something elegant enough to wheel into a Starbucks, can reach into easily, and a few separate compartments. We work directly out of the case though and never unpack.

[kiwik]

Use a kindle and/or tablet for as much as you can.

[Laura Corin]

richbasv spam reported.

 

L

[FriedClams]

LL Bean canvas totes. They're nearly bottomless and indestructible. They're more flexible than a fixed size like a crate, and useful after this season of your life passes. They're pricey but seriously - the LL Bean ones last for.ever. My parents have some that are 20+ years old and other than dirt - are perfect.

[SilverMoon]

I've had to take school with me before, though it was a different situation. Make the "home" for each kid's books something portable, like a milk crate, desk apprentice, or even a reusable grocery sack (the sturdy canvas kind, not that recycled plastic stuff). Have them always put their current books back in their container when they're done. Make another easily portable container for pencils, erasers, crayons, rulers, and such, and one (or two) for your current TEs.

[mumto2]

I did a Florida/ Michigan split for years with 3 to 6 weeks in each location. I normally packed in small boxes from Scholastic because I could fit 3 or 4 accross the floor in the minivan. Also not too heavy to lift. I found different school methods suited each location and planned accordingly. One house suited a arty discovery style. Lots of space for supples with a large yard for experiments. The other house had lots of fun outside activities but curling up and reading was really easy there.

 

I would also plan according to my libraries. One house had a fabulous children's library. With their math books and what I considered ongoing programs like language arts we didn't need much more. We did Galloping the Globe at that house with great library books. That house was the art project house too. I kept all the messy supplies there! Because mine are close in age we kept a Sonlight core at the other house and did our normal math and LA. We did SL science there too.

[AmyontheFarm]

Set up a place at both where you can just leave your writing materials (crayons, markers, extra paper, etc) so you don't have to tote that back and forth.  I'd also suggest you make one place a "messy" art location and the other an artist study location.  Sort of split things up like that.  Get library cards for both places BUT create a mandatory library book shelf where you always keep the library books that way you can drop off any books on the way out of town, no use having to pay fees.

 

I'd also make a notebook up with a list of everything you need to tote back and forth.

EX: 1. Medicines

2. Laptops and CORDS! (ask me how I know)

3. Math - student A's book

4. Math - student A's solution manual

etc.

 

That way when you have to leave quickly, you can just start on the top of the list and work your way through without fear of losing/forgetting anything.  Also, you can put into this notebook, turn off water, tell Mary to water plants outside, whatever it is that needs to be done at each place that will make your transitions smoother.  Another suggestion, take a quick walk through with your digital camera and photo graph what is in each room as you leave.  This is two fold.  If something happens to one location you have documentation of how many books, tv's etc you had for insurance purposes, second, if you can't remember if you left something behind, you might spot it in a picture and know where it is.

 

This could be an awesome geography year for your family.  Get a binder and blow up a map of the route you will normally take in 100 mile sections (or something like that).  Three hole punch it and let the kids write on the map what is at each exit.  Teach them about the symbols on the map and use the car time as geography on the road.  You could also print out a map of the states and every time they see a license plate from a state you aren't living in, they can mark it on your map also.

 

If you can put it into your driving time, stop at those quirky landmarks and odd shops that you see signs for and take pictures of your kids there.  Then later they can put copies of these places into their map binder as a keepsake of your fun times on the road.

 

If you have kindles/electronics add charging those things up as #1 on your list.  You are going to have so much fun!  Make sure you play tourist at each place you stay at, and take some "field trips" in each town.

[OK Family]

I have been in the same situation for years. There's alot you can do to make it portable. My goal was to have everything we need always. First each of my children have a binder. Any pages that could be tore out of a workbook, ( our abeka math) for example, i would do several weeks at a time, would be placed in the binder with dividers. They each have a zippered 3 hole pencil case for pencil, glue stick, scissors etc. My oldest also has a milk crate with hanging file folders for each subject. The light items are placed in the folder while heavier books or binders goes just behind the hanging folder. This is where school things are kept at all times. When it's time to travel I make sure I have enough pages, schedules put in the binder and we are good to go. I hope this makes sense...

[Hunter]

I'm tutoring, and not homeschooling, but have had to adapt to suddenly being much more mobile. I had to dump things that I liked and that were working, to try new things. I still don't have it all figured out, but my new stuff is coming together and I'm getting excited about it.

 

I'm going to be doing a LOT of reading aloud from my iPad mini and cell phone. I'm going to be using some AO suggestions and a lot of vintage books as well as ebook versions of SOTW, Mr Q, and LOE. I have a few apps, but other than the LOE flashcards students won't be using them much. I have a dictionary app, and a concise encyclopedia, and a BIble study app, but those are for me.

 

I'm trying to whittle my hardcopy books down to SOW (Students of the Word) just 3 5x8" binders and MOTL. This is light enough to carry in a bag and not be hampered with a bag on wheels, and I don't need it all with me all the time anyway, just access to them. If you do need a rolling bag/cart, it's imperative to pick one with the biggest wheels possible, or you drag instead of roll it when moving fast.

 

For supplies, I'm just using regular notebook paper, mechanical pencils and Crayola regular and twistable crayons. I can restock at a 24 hour CVS at any time. :D

 

I'm planning on using a lot of CM, Waldorf and other vintage methods, in which the students don't really have any books, and definitely no workbooks. I can e-mail the ebooks I do want students to read on their own to their own devices. If I had kids of my own, I'd need a couple tablets for them. Since I got the mini, I personally am able to do without a computer and would rather the kids had wifi tablets, so I could just e-mail books to their devices instead of side loading from a bulky computer I'd rather leave behind. All my ebooks are stored on a card in my cell-phone, and so far I have students with cell-phones, but I'd really prefer tablets for any student that was really reading much. Mine aren't.

 

Good luck. Tutoring is different, so this might not help at all.

[coralloyd]

Thank you everyone! You gave some great ideas. I got each of the kids a collapsible crate with a hanging file folder organizer placed inside. They are longer than regular milk crates so there is still room on the side for bigger books. I am going to take the rest of our stuff in a rolling cart. AmyontheFarm thank you for the master list and geography lessons on the road ideas! Yes, I will have doubles of paper, pencils, markers, etc... I do not plan on toting those back and forth. Ok Family, I am going to do the tearing out of workbook pages and putting them in a note book. If any one has anymore ideas I am open to them!

[Sobeknofret]

Milk crates or Sterilite/Rubbermate totes. I use them to tote stuff back and forth myself and they work a right treat.

[Vida Winter]

We had to homeschool at a hotel (going back and forth to a hospital) for a month last year -- I packed books in a rolling duffle bag (cheapie wal-mart brand). It worked out *very* well. I loved being able to have it all in one bag, no loose papers anywhere. By the time the month was over the bag had holes in it (rolled over rough pavement quite a bit) but we still use it for travel.