Homeschool

One of my proudest moments as a teacher…

When we started telling people that we were planning our move, one of the most asked questions was, “what about Nora’s school?”  It was a reasonable question as Nora would have started kindergarten a few weeks after our move.  Most people were a little confused as to why we would choose to move at exactly such a monumental time for her school-wise.   The answer is that we actually very purposefully chose what would be her first year of school as our time to go.  For one, we wanted her to be as old as possible for our trip so that 1) she would (hopefully) remember the trip and experiences, 2) she would be a little more capable of self-preservation while we were on the road. Let’s be honest, travel is a lot harder (not impossible – I don’t want to deter anyone with younger kiddos from taking the leap) when they can’t at least minimally fend for themselves, and 3) we wanted to go before she started school and formed more attachments and joined activities that she wouldn’t want to leave. 

What most people don’t know is that kindergarten, at least in Texas, is not actually required.  It’s an entirely optional grade.  Which is, in part why, we made the decision to opt out and head out.  

None of this is to say that we don’t take Nora’s education seriously.  Of course, we want Nora to get the best education possible and to have all of the advantages that can be afforded to her.  But first, believe that education comes in many different forms and isn’t limited to chalkboards and classrooms.  We believe that traveling the world and learning about different places and cultures is every bit as beneficial in the long run as learning to raise your hand and how not to eat glue during art class.  Education covers a broad, broad spectrum and we felt strongly that a year across the globe would provide Nora with knowledge and skills that wouldn’t be attained in a kindergarten classroom.  Secondly, we believe that Nora will have plenty of time to focus on traditional studies and that at 5 years old, her focus could and should be on something other than just the ABCs.  Now, I will say here that all of this is because we knew Nora could handle it and would be able to thrive abroad and later at home in school. Had Nora shown any signs of needing additional support or had we felt that she would need more than what we could give her traveling, we immediately would have called off this wild dream of ours.  

Learning the months of the year.

After all this, we get to the point of this post – homeschooling. 

Even though kindergarten isn’t a required grade, 99.9% of all kids start their schooling in kindergarten (not a real fact, I just made that one up based on observation), we certainly don’t want Nora to start behind the curve once we do eventually get back.  It was always a part of our plan to school her along the way.  I’m not sure that it was always our plan that I would assume sole responsibility for that schooling, but once we realized I would not be working over here, the responsibility naturally fell to me.  Now, one day Nora may really wish that hadn’t been how it worked out, but nonetheless, here we are.  I am Nora’s teacher.  I figured I would take a little time to show you what we do and how we have managed to, hopefully – and I am really stressing that phrase, hopefully – keep her up to speed with where she should be on the typical US education schedule. ***side note – I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I am 100% winging this sh%t.  Please do not confuse the following with expert advice. In fact, it may be more of a plea for help. 

1. Schedule – we do school every Monday- Thursday.  I’ve given her (and me!) Fridays off.  I also have to admit that very little schooling takes place on travel days.  Travel days can be hectic and grueling for everyone and trying to teach number placement or noun/verb usage on top of travel is just too much. So, at best, school on travel days consists of Spanish videos or all the Numberblocks (great show!) she wants. 
2. Subjects – Obviously my main focus with a 5 (now 6) year old is learning to read.  Here’s tip #1: hit up your local dollar store! Before leaving the US, I scoured our neighborhood dollar stores and picked up quite a few lightweight schoolbooks (time, money, sight words, phonics, etc.). These sight word books and games have been great. But I’ve found the phonics lessons most helpful.  — Although, can I take a second here to talk about what bullsh#t our English phonics system is?!?  I mean, why the hell do we even have a C when we already have the letters S and K?!?  Seriously, someone please tell me what good a C is if we already have letters that cover both of its sounds? I can’t even with all the rules that have just as many exceptions as they do actualities. In additional to daily reading and writing lessons, we spend time every day on math.  This one has been a bit of a struggle for me. Not because Nora isn’t good at math. Actually, it’s the opposite. Nora is extremely gifted at math. She always been able to add and subtract way above her age-level.  From early on, I could tell her the time and she could immediately figure how long it was until her bedtime. She always amazes me with her mind for numbers.  The conundrum came when we started practicing flash cards. She just completely panicked when I started her on flash cards. I think they make her really nervous and she can’t focus on the numbers in front of her.  Tip #2: if one method isn’t working, try something else.  My biggest fear was taking the joy out of math for Nora. As someone who abhors anything with numbers, I personally know what it feels like to hate math and I absolutely do not want that for my daughter.  So, I had to come up with other ideas on how to teach her math without making her so anxious she wouldn’t want to do it.  Enter blackjack!  Look, I’m limited in my materials and we always have a deck of cards on hand.  I figured as long as she could add up to 21, we were probably meeting most kindergarten standards.  Enter my dad and his extensive blackjack knowledge. It was right around the time I was reaching my wits end with trying to teach math traditionally when my dad showed up over here for a visit.  I handed G-Pa a deck of cards and said, “teach her to play.”  We busted out a piggy bank full of pennies (money math as a bonus!) and away he went teaching my little girl that “scared money never wins” and “always split aces and 8’s.”  You gotta see this kid with cards!  She can figure out hitting and staying and doubling down faster than half the 40-year-old men out there. 
   

   The strange hat was not part of the school lesson.  Just an invention a la Nora.

   Yes, I know that she will eventually have to face traditional math, and we do still sparse flash cards into the mix, but I think one of my main jobs as her teacher is to set her up for success long after our adventure is over and keeping her love for math, in all its forms, alive is exactly what will help her be successful in the future.  In addition to our daily math and reading lessons, I pick one lesson each week and focus on that.  It has ranged from nouns and adjectives to months of the year to facts about our solar system. Like I said, I’m totally winging this, so hopefully I’m hitting all the basics.  If not, hopefully she’s a quick study once she gets into real school!

   The planets
3. Supplies – as you can imagine, toting around a bunch of school supplies like books, pens, markers, flash cards, maps, and on and on, is just not feasible when you’re traveling isn’t exactly feasible. So I have had to be creative with what we can use for school.  First, and let me just put it out there, we depend on the iPad heavily!  I have no qualms about Nora using screens, especially for school. Honestly, thank the good lord for YouTube.  If Nora has to rely on my memory for facts about things like weather, the universe, or the human body, oof.  She would be in trouble!  Not only do we find lots of interesting lessons on YouTube, but there are tons of great learning apps that help us out. 
   

   Made the mistake of trying Schoolhouse Rock – y’all it does not stand the test of time.  Nora asked to turn it off because “this is weird.”

   But here is the main stars of our homeschooling show: clear plastic sleeves, two pieces of paper and some dry erase markers.  This little combo has carried us through many a lesson in many a country.  We slip school worksheets or blank paper in and it gives us an unending reusable workspace.  If you plan to do any teaching on the road, I’m telling y’all this is key.  It’s like having the world’s lightest chalkboard in your backpack.

4. Summary – I suppose we won’t really know the results of this little homeschooling experiment until we are back in the states and Nora is in first grade.  That’s when we will find out if I have significantly failed to prepare her. But in the meantime, I will say that even though there are days I tell Paul that I am severely underpaid and am strongly considering retiring as a teacher, I am actually glad I’ve had this time with Nora. I’m glad that I’ve spent time helping and watching her learn. I think we’ve achieved some milestones together and hopefully have some milestones ahead.  But more importantly, I feel like this time will serve us well in the future.  As her mom, obviously I know my daughter very well, but becoming her teacher has given me insight into her strengths and weaknesses in the classroom that I don’t think I would have had otherwise and I’m hoping those insights will help me help her grow and succeed in her future studies. 
   

   Another math lesson.  And those sweet little fingers.