How to Homeschool While Traveling

Sadie is sharing tips for how to homeschool while traveling.

There’s a thing called “roadschooling”, which is like homeschooling while on the road. We don’t travel year-round, but we do like to take road trips, so I wanted to share some of my ideas with you for homeschooling while traveling! The key to homeschooling while traveling is to keep things light and fun. The second you break out the strict schedule and workbooks, things can start to go downhill and fast! Take a step back, breathe in, and breathe out, and let’s get started.

How to Homeschool While Traveling

Start planning. While you don’t necessarily want to have a strict schedule, some planning is necessary. I like to plan things out either on an app on my phone or in a binder. Binders are good because you can take them on a road trip, they’re portable, and even if you don’t have phone service, you still have access to the information.

Have the kids help! Talk to them about what they want to learn while you’re on the road. You could divide it up by subjects, or just do unit studies or lapbooks. Lapbooks are easy because they’re portable, and the kids can even work on them while the car is moving! Depending on their age, they can make big fold-out booklets or simple two-page file folder books.

Use Netflix. If you have unlimited data on your tablets or cell phone subscription, the kids can watch documentaries. Instead of having them write a report, they can do a video report! I like to have the kids do a “news report” on the documentaries they watch. It’s more fun for me to watch them play back than to read through pages of an actual report anyway.

You can use YouTube in the same way. If you don’t have unlimited streaming/data, wait until you get to a stop with free Wi-Fi!

Audio books are a good way for everyone to listen to the same story and talk about the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, and why) afterwards. You could stop the story and let one of the kids finish it – lots of skills are used there!

Do a scavenger hunt. This comes back to the planning: figure out where you’ll be going and mark some stops along the way. You could do a scavenger hunt at the zoo, at a rest stop, or pretty much anywhere! Print pages off ahead of time and put them in a folder labeled “Scavenger Hunt”!

Play road trip games. Games are learning, too! Whether you do road trip Bingo, I Spy, or any other classic game, the kids will be learning, especially if you add in words, colors, road signs and meanings, etc.

At the end of the day, just remember to relax! Life experiences are vital to learning, and you’re only traveling temporarily, right? If the homeschooling thing isn’t working while you’re on the road, take a break and revisit next time.

If you are traveling long-term, it might be best to set up a curriculum and schedule. Time4Learning and other online homeschooling programs are perfect for homeschooling on the road.