Homeschool with the Whitakers?!

For those of you that don’t really know us outside of our posts here on the blog, or on the Travel with the Whitakers Facebook or Instagram pages, you might not know that we are a homeschool family! What?! Yes. Christian just started FIRST GRADE! (How are these kids getting to be so old?!) He has been homeschooled since he started pre-school when he turned four. I’m sure you’re thinking – this is a travel blog, what does this have to do with traveling?! Well, one of the main reasons that we decided to homeschool was because we love to travel! 

Christian is six years old. Before he was born, we loved to travel just the two of us. After he was born, we loved to travel as a family of three. And now that we have Bella, all four of us love to travel together. When Christian was younger, we started talking about what we would do when he started school. It didn’t take long for us to settle on homeschooling, and then we cemented that decision in when he turned four and was ready to start pre-school. 

What are our reasons for homeschooling? 

We have a few reasons, and none really come in as more important than any of the others. Except for the one – we want our kids to get a good education. Now, neither of us were homeschooled and we both ended up relatively smart. However, those that I know that were homeschooled are way smarter than I am. And this includes those that have done online cyber school. I know that isn’t technically homeschool, because they have teachers that they interact with daily – but it and homeschooling do have some similarities. I digress. We want our kids to get a good education. We know that public school is not the greatest in most school districts, and private schools are EXPENSIVE. So, with that in mind homeschool got a yes vote. 

Outside of that, school has changed a lot since we graduated from high school eleven and twelve years ago. Bullying has changed since then, too. This was another reason. Another, was that there isn’t a chance of a school shooting, or any other horrific event. 

Next, we knew that we would be moving eventually. As a military family moving is part of life. We have at least one, if not two, or even three moves left before we say goodbye to the military life. Homeschooling allows us to have a constant, and not have to change schools every few years. 

The last reason – travel. We love to be able to travel when we want to travel. Travel during summer break and school holidays is extra CROWDED and more expensive than outside of those times. We love to do Disney World or a Disney Cruise in the late fall or winter, and taking a kid out of school to do that seems to get harder and harder as each year passes from what I’ve seen online. 

So, now that you know our reasons let’s talk about how we incorporate travel into school, and school into travel. 

Travel Related Material in School

In Spring 2019 we started getting ready for a road trip between Texas and Pittsburgh. Since Christian was at the end of pre-school, we decided to take our road trip planning and bring it into school with fun worksheets. Each week, starting 12 weeks before the trip, we learned about one of the states that we would be driving through on the trip. We learned about the state capital, that state’s nickname, their state flower or animal, and the state number. We also colored the state’s flag, and we ate a food that each state is known for. 

When we started, we only planned on learning about the states that we would be driving through. However, after we got back from the trip, he said that he wanted to keep going and learn about all of the states. That’s what we did! We finished learning about all 50 of the U.S. States in February, and from there we started learning about countries around the world! We have a World Map in our kitchen that Christian picks a country from each week. So far, we have learned about fourteen different counties. We learn about the capital city, the number of states/provinces/regions, the population, when the country became independent, and the language that they speak. We also research and eat a food that is popular in each country! This past week we learned about Ecuador and we had empanadas! Each week we also listen to traditional music from each country. 

It may not be traditional social studies, but gets the kids to learn about new places! It also helps him to learn about places that some adults don’t even know are countries. We have all, also, been exposed to new music and new food through this! I look forward to learning and teaching about all of the remaining countries. 

School While Traveling

When we traveled to Pittsburgh last spring, we took all of Christian’s normal school stuff with us. This was purely because we knew that we would have time to do it all, and since he was in pre-school the work only took about 30-40 minutes to complete. 

Our combined road trip, Disney World, Legoland, and Disney Cruise trip at the beginning of this year was little bit different. We knew that we would not have as much time for school work on the trip, but we wanted to make sure that he kept reading and writing especially. So, we made up worksheets with questions about each day – where we were, what we ate, if we met any characters, etc. We also continued learning about states throughout the trip. 

For our future trips we plan to do something similar. To condense the workload, but to make sure that learning is still happening! 

A lot of the time, like with these last two trips, we take a road trip to get to our destination. Along the way we try to stop at places that are both fun and at least slightly educational. 

On our trip to Pittsburgh we stopped in Little Rock Arkansas where we saw “the Little Rock.” In Louisville, Kentucky we walked across the Big Four Bridge which took us into Indiana! While in Pittsburgh we visited Kennywood (first opened in 1899!), the Children’s Museum, and Fall Run. In St. Louis, Missouri we visited the Gateway Arch. We made a side stop in Baxter Springs, Kansas to see Ft. Blair. 

Gateway Arch 

Big Four Bridge

Little Rock, Arkansas

On our trip to Florida this year we visited the Cattail Marsh in Beaumont, Texas and the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. 

We try to make it so that the kids are just learning, but seeing, playing and experiencing. Not everything has to feel like learning. We learn about history, science, art, nature, music, geography, and so much more! 

What we have seen from others during our travels. 

We have seen that some families, especially those with slightly older children, have their kids do their homework on sea days. We also saw some kids doing work in the dining rooms while they waited for their food to arrive. Christian did that on a few nights on our last trip. 

Obviously, the way that we work things will change at least slightly in the future depending on the state that we live in. Also, more advanced topics will be learned about, and the workload while we are traveling will increase. As for now, though, he’s only in first grade! 

The current situation in the world will eventually come to an end, and when it does, and you’re ready to travel again I’d be happy to help you plan and book your next magical vacation. For your FREE quote and to get started contact me at miriyawhitaker@worldofmagictravel.com. For more Disney and travel information follow me on Facebook!