Homeschool on the Road

Well, we've been on the road for a month and a half now, fieldwork and photographing in remote areas of Western Australia. The girls are literally skipping through fields thick with everlasting daisies of all kinds.

Schooling is going well. I had to whittle down the materials we brought with us to the bare essentials, and to that end we purchased "Maths Power". It's a great program, and the children cannot progress to the subsequent lessons until they have a 100% (or perhaps 95?) score on their previous work. It also helped me in that it is an Australian program, designed by and for Australian teachers and curriculum. So now I know that Baby No.1 is up with what's happening in her grade regarding mathematics. Not that RightStart wasn't wonderful, just that I was unsure where we were in the scheme of things as far as Australian schooling was concerned.

I think that back home I was getting bogged down by the sheer quantity of material I wanted to cover, and worrying about whether I was doing it perfectly... so being forced to stick to the desert-island-essentials has been a revelation.

For English and spelling, we're continuing with Spell to Write and Read, and spelling is improving every day. Baby No.1 still resorts to more "phonetic" spelling when she's writing in a hurry, but does very well when actually thinking about it.

The girls love traveling and being out in the bush, discovering and identifying new animals and plants... we encountered an echidna and followed it as it nuzzled under logs for ants. I decided to make "echidna" the spelling word for the day, which proved popular: they both now know how to spell it! The girls sketch things we find, too. For long hauls on the road, we've bought Beatrix Potter's Tales on CD. Baby No.1 at first dismissed this as beneath her but now loves listening to them. We all enjoy them! They are such wonderful tales, and use beautiful language.

After much frustration scouring bookstores whilst in Perth, Baby No.1 has found a book to read that appealed to her: The Shadow Thief and is tearing through it. We'll have to get her the sequel when we next pass through town... She's really missed not having access to her books at home (she reads avidly every night in bed; tales and myths, history, anything she can get her hands on.

Baby No.1 is also studying along with the Institute for Excellence in Writing DVDs, practicing writing structure and style. She has a great hold on producing keyword outlines, and is starting to introduce some strong verbs, adverbs etc. I'm going to get her a nice hardcover journal for her to write in, so she can document her adventures.

I also brought along the "Core Knowledge" book for 5th grade (What Your 5th Grader Needs to Know) and we'll be going through it gradually. This material is fantastic for expanding and testing the kids' general knowledge.

We'll be on the road in WA till December, and so far the mobile schooling is a great success. Combined with their daily explorations and discoveries, the girls are having very full days indeed. So are we!