So we decided to spend a year traveling the United States in our Airstream with our five year old daughter Elle. What an adventure… but what about school? It was time for kindergarten…
Neither of us have a teaching background so I started searching the internet for homeschooling curriculums. I didn’t want anything internet based because we weren’t confident that we would have good internet connections, especially in the National Parks. And I wanted to make sure that Elle was able to enroll into public school when we eventually settled down somewhere. What I eventually settled on was Hooked On Phonics, Handwriting without Tears and Singapore Math. Then we would supplement this with the Junior Ranger programs in the National Parks (and other NPS sites). I’ve discussed all these programs in more detail below.
In addition to us reading to her, Elle listens to a huge number of audiobooks – favorites are anything by Beverly Cleary and the Box Car Children Mysteries by Gertrude Chandler Warner (there are over a hundred of these so we have not yet run out!).
Finally, we are tracking our progress across the country on a giant map so Elle is hopefully picking up some U.S. geography!
We generally spend 4 days a week on school but we don’t have four specific days – it just depends on what fits for our schedule that week. The one thing thing that is non-negotiable is school has to be held in the morning. In the afternoon, Elle is tired and has trouble concentrating and it is fun for no one. Continue reading “Homeschooling”