Road schooling or world schooling, emphasises the idea that most of the learning in life takes place outside of a traditional classroom. While the amount of formal school work done will vary depending on the family, the uniqueness of world schooling is that it provides a learning resource from the environment and societal interactions a travelling child is exposed to.
If you choose to road school your children there are many learning opportunities while out on the road such as:
Geocaching. “Geocaching” is a high-tech outdoor scavenger hunt that involves math and direction finding. “Caches” of trinkets are hidden all over the U.S. and it’s up to you to find them; when you do, you take a trinket and leave another. It is fun for the whole family and costs nothing more than a GPS unit and the travel to get there.
Letterboxing. “Letterboxing” is another activity that can be shared and enjoyed by people of all ages. “Letterboxers” as they are called, hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places (like parks and public squares) and post clues to finding the box online on one of several websites. However, clues to finding some of the most highly-sought boxes are passed around by word of mouth.
There are about 90,000 active letterboxes hidden in North America alone. Individual letterboxes usually contain a log-book, an often hand-carved rubber stamp and occasionally contain an ink pad. Finders make an imprint of the letterbox’s stamp on their personal log book, and leave an imprint of their personal stamp on the letterbox’s logbook. This teaches all kinds of skill including critical thinking and careful direction following.
National Parks Programs. If you have children 13 years or younger, the NPS Junior Ranger Program is an activity based program conducted in almost all national parks, and some Junior Ranger programs are national. Interested youth complete a series of activities during a park visit, share their answers with a park ranger, and receive an official Junior Ranger patch and Junior Ranger certificate.
A sister program is the Passport To Your National Parks program. This travelogue includes color-coded maps, pre-visit information, illustrations and photographs. It includes a list of every national park area in the United States.Which is stamped after you visit and learn about a park. And if you are planning to visit more than a couple of national parks, be sure to buy a National Parks Pass that will only cost you $80 annually. It gives you free admission to the parks as well as discounts on park amenities.
WWOOFING: WWOOF is a worldwide movement linking volunteers with organic farmers and growers to promote cultural and educational experiences based on trust and non-monetary exchange, thereby helping to build a sustainable, global community. Children can WWOOF with their parents and learn where their food comes from and the importance of the work that is required in farming to reap a harvest.
Other Learning Opportunities: There are thousands of museums of all kinds in every city, many of them are free of charge or have days that are free for patrons. The kids and the families can take on internships in fields of interest or study and learn hands on. There are many online groups for road schooling families to meet up and engage in all kinds of activities. Even making time to take the kids with you to the bank, to the store, etc., and all the other things that every adult typically does, but you don’t learn hands on about in school.
Another benefit to road schooling is kids gaining the ability to interact with unfamiliar adults. As many believe most people are out to cause harm, we have forgotten as a society what valuable information we can learn from those we have just met. Everyone has different skills and certainly different stories, allowing our children to socialize with strangers gives them the opportunity to learn unconventional or even life saving skills! Road schooling gives children a sense of adventure while instilling courage, boosting their curiosity and giving them the opportunity to learn at their own pace.
