Today, I’m celebrating the fact that my oldest turned 22 years old yesterday. He also moved into his own apartment yesterday. In Texas. Well, this momma can’t wait to go see his new – albeit pretty bare – digs. 

That means, I’m gearing up for a road trip, and I’m taking our homeschool with us. Normally, I would probably just drop everything and go. I wouldn’t worry about schoolwork, because it’ll still be waiting for us when we get back. However, with all of the time Emma and I have spent at the physical therapist’s office (due to dance-related hip and knee injuries) and the ER/orthopedist’s office (for a broken wrist), we are more behind than I’m comfortable with at the moment. 

So, she and I will be homeschooling on the road sometime next month. Obviously, our school days will look very different from our typical school days so I’m taking some time over Christmas break to prepare. 

How to Plan for Homeschooling on the Road

My first planning step is to make a list of what’s portable. Obviously, I don’t want to take all of our books with us (and can’t if we fly), but I also know we need to keep up with our studies. There are subjects I want us to finish before the end of the school year, and there are some that are open-ended with no set date to end. For those, we’ll be leaving them at home. We’ll focus on what I consider our “must finish” subjects. 

Utilize electronics. I will have my laptop with me, of course. Since we use the DIVE CD‘s with our Saxon math program, Emma will need to watch the videos on my computer while we’re on the road. She can do this in the airplane if we fly or in the car if we drive. Then, she can get busy with her lessons. 

She will have her Kindle, as well. This will allow her to read some of her online books as well as access the web when we can hook up to wi-fi. She can do that in the airport or at a restaurant on lunch break if we drive. This will allow her to listen to her vocabulary words on Wordly Wise and watch videos for Easy Peasy science. I may even purchase/download a video or two to supplement a lesson or topic we’re studying that week. 

Workbooks are portable. She is using a couple of workbooks this year, and these are very portable. We’ll just drop them in her backpack, and she’ll be all set. If you don’t typically use workbooks, this would be a good time to pick up some inexpensive ones at the Dollar Tree. You can find workbooks to help your little ones practice their handwriting and math skills on the road. You could also pick up a couple of history, science, or geography workbooks if you are in a spot to put your lessons aside while you travel. 

Photocopy text if necessary. I will photocopy the pages we’ll need from her history book. (The copyright allows me to do so.) We can then take the photocopied lessons on the road with us, too. 

Stock up on audiobooks. If we end up driving instead of flying, we will take audiobooks with us. I will pull from a list of books that correlate with our current studies. We both enjoy listening to books in the car, and a 16 hour drive each way will give us plenty of time. 

Plan a field trip or two, if possible. If we drive, I have already planned a few field trips. Memphis is halfway between my house and his, so we will be spending an afternoon at Graceland. It’s not Emma’s ideal field trip, but I’ve never been. I thought it would be an interesting change of pace. On the way home, I’d love to take her to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. We always loved the Dallas Museum of Art when we lived there, so we may spend a day there, as well. 

If everything goes as planned (and hopefully, I didn’t just jinx myself), we’ll be able to keep up with math, English, history, vocabulary, music appreciation, and literature. We’ll be able to add a few field trips to our homeschool portfolio, too. 

Do you ‘do school’ on the road? Or do you leave it alone until you’re back home?