How to Homeschool in an RV
Otherwise known as roadschooling, homeschooling while traveling fulltime in your RV is probably your only feasible schooling option, and a big reason why a lot of families say “no” to this lifestyle. While we just have one young kiddo in kindergarten (that we just successfully completed!), this year of homeschooling while traveling gave us HOPE that it’s not only doable, but FUN and a really great option for our children.
Not only do we homeschool, but we also run our businesses every day, and love plenty of down time to explore, learn, and adventure together as a family. While some days it’s sheer chaos, most days it’s wonderful, and we feel so blessed to live this lifestyle.
Homeschool State Laws
While most states don’t require you to report kindergarten homeschooling, I was still very nervous about my state’s homeschool laws and making sure what we did on the road counted.
This was my favorite resource for finding my state’s laws on homeschooling (thanks, sis-in-law!).
What about my domicile?
Deciding what state to use for our homeschooling was tricky. Technically we’re still residents of Colorado and where we spend the majority of our time, where we also pay our state income taxes, and it’s where we still have our licenses. BUT we also have our second residency (or domicile) in Florida through the Good Sam Mail Service. That said, we felt that we needed to check a few more boxes (such as registering our vehicles in Florida) to really claim it as our primary residency, so we stuck with Colorado’s state laws to be safe.
Thankfully, now being in Wisconsin, the state homeschool laws are much more homeschool family friendly, and all we need to do is file an intent to homeschool before our son starts first grade. We own land in Wisconsin, and will be filing our state income taxes in both Colorado and Wisconsin, so we can take advantage of the homeschool laws in Wisconsin.
Homeschooling and “roadschooling” IS legal in every state. Just do your research to know how you need to document your schooling with your children!
Our Top Tips for Homeschooling Successfully in Your RV:
Be flexible.
It’s the theme of this lifestyle. But I had grand plans and a vision for homeschooling that simply needed adjusting (almost daily). Our son was resisting homeschooling, and given our full and busy days, we felt like we were simply forgetting to do book work. So we regrouped. We evaluated what we were doing, what was working, what wasn’t, and how we could change it up. This evaluation has to happen almost weekly and the flexibility in homeschooling from the road is truly key to success or failure.
Lead with grace and a spirit of learning.
Grace for everyone. Yourself included. I used to get so upset when I wasn’t that picture perfect homeschool mom with the educational posters and rigorous schedule. I didn’t even give myself the room to learn how to homeschool. And then I didn’t give my son the room to learn how to be homeschooled. He was used to traditional schooling through his preschool, and struggled with mom being “teacher.” Grace. Loads and loads of grace.
Also, leading with a spirit of learning will help you define what schooling even is to you and your family. Sometimes I’d press to get bookwork done, and interrupt something my son was doing where he was already learning!
Tailor your schedule and your curriculum to your specific child.
This is truly the beauty of homeschool, and something I most often forget. You don’t need to do it exactly like Mrs. Jones because she has a different life and different children than you. Go back to the rule of flexibility. If Language is just a struggle for your child, ask yourself why? Change the curriculum, or simply the time of day that you’re doing that particular subject. Make it conducive to the way your children learn. It’s so much better that way.
Use your travels as your best learning tool.
Leverage the places you go to be some of the BEST learning experiences. Think of it like a fieldtrip (x 10)! Do a little research ahead of time and find printables that coincide with your adventures. Read some materials to your kids on the drive to the site you’re about to experience as a learning opportunity while it’s quiet and their focus is on you. We always read the placards at historical sites, but the kids are usually running around and having fun. So hearing about some of it ahead of time is helpful!
Plan ahead of time.
This is the hardest part, but the part that makes your days the easiest. We created a printable that details exactly what we’re doing. This is helpful for both of us to be able to teach our son, and know exactly what was going on. I like to sit down on a Sunday evening and plan the week ahead. However, I do only plan out a few days for the week since something is bound to change (repeat with me, flexibility is key).
We are also mindful of our 2 year old daughter and what she’ll be doing while we’re focusing on homeschooling our son. So we also think of a few fun things for her to do during that time.
Here’s our simple daily schedule in case it’s helpful for you!
Homeschool Schedule
While we remain flexible, we do try to find routine in our day since we know our children (and quite honestly, us) thrive on a little consistency.
We always have breakfast together as a family. We feel like this is an important piece of getting our day started well. We also usually start our mornings with devotionals and time in the Word.
We start our homeschool time together. For our son, it was important to have a routine start to schooling. This is an important cue to stop playing, calm down, and mom becomes “teacher.” We start our time with “Pledge and Prayer.” Pledge of Allegiance, and then we pray for our time togther. Our daughter does this and Bible time with us.
Bible comes first. Mostly to show our children that just like we start our day in the Word, we start our learning time with the Word. This includes scripture memory verse and usually some other sort of memorization (days of Creation, 10 Commandments, etc.).
English, History, and Art come next. English is the “struggle bus” for our son, so we knock it out while he’s fresh. History is usually associated with our travels and sites, but we also use a book we like. Art is usually painting of some kind, and our daughter loves getting in on it.
Math and Science with dad. This is important, because mom usually needs to move onto work at this point, and dad is really good at math and makes science interesting! We love this team effort, and Emerson does, too.
Prep “special lesson” and printables/coloring pages for what we’ll be exploring that day. And get ready to head out after lunch and nap time! We find that if we explore in the morning, no formal schooling happens because we’re all exhausted in the afternoon. So we prefer a slower, intentional, routine morning and adventurous afternoon.
Homeschooling on Travel Days
Travel days. While there’s more days we’re stationary than traveling, we don’t like to lose our pace with homeschooling, so we have alternative “travel day” lessons that keep us on course.
Here’s what we tackle for schooling on a road trip:
Reading. This is a great independent task our son can do in the backseat.
Writing with a pad/traveling desk. This is hit or miss since sometimes the truck is just too bumpy. But it’s an enjoyable activity, so we attempt it!
Bible verse memorization. This is always easy for me to teach from the front seat, and I usually have verses written on index cards that are easy to grab.
Math flash cards and English phonics cards. We use The Good and the Beautiful phonics cards that come with the Language set, and just some basic addition and subtraction cards.
Mom reads aloud. It’s so important for our kids to use their imagination, and listening to a chapter book being read is a great way for them to develop that part of their brains. I love reading the Imagination Station books and think our son will enjoy reading them someday.
Activity science books. We usually pick these up at Visitor Centers in National Parks. Sometimes they have stickers and come with some fun supplies. But of course, review it ahead of time to make sure your child utilizes critical thinking, and compares it with the truth!
State fact book. I read this book to the kids any time we cross into a new state. I’ll read it a few times since there are SO many facts and hard to cover it all in one sitting without them losing patience.
Our Homeschool Curriculum
As a family of faith, we value that our children are educated through the Biblical lens of truth vs. a secular lens. So our curriculum follows Biblical values closely.
Sonlight Curriculum (I like their history for kindergarteners books)
Etsy for seasonal and supplemental studies (I like to teach units that coincide with what’s happening in life):
I also research free coloring pages of historical events on Pinterest, then plan for the child to color while listening to the historical stories or while we’re waiting to arrive at various sites.
This is my favorite resource for Preschool age ideas. We love to have our daughter partake in fun activities, too!
Don’t forget about life skills
Get your kids in the kitchen cooking with you, have them help around the house and learn how to clean, build, and fix.
Let them get their hands dirty, their feet muddy, and their hair tangly. Let them be kids, and never be hesitant to cancel a day of formal schooling for exploration and experiences.
Keep them by your side. They want to be just like dad and just like mom anyways! Take the time to slow down, explain what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, and let those precious spongy brains soak it all up.
The Most Important Thing about Homeschooling While Traveling
The experiences you’re giving your children are the number one way you’re teaching them.
Remember that learning happens through every experience your child encounters. And your child, traveling full time, will learn so much being on endless field trips than they ever will behind a desk.
Traveling full time means exposing your children to different cultures, foods, and history DAILY. We found that while traveling the east coast, every day was a massive history lesson. So we did the “must dos” in the morning with Language and Math, and let our son soak up all of the historical sites as his primary source of education for the day.
Homeschooling in an RV is possible as long as you tailor it to your specific needs and traveling schedule. It can be overwhelming to start, but as time goes on, it gets easier and you learn what works (and what doesn’t). Don’t scrap the idea of RVing full time because of the idea of homeschooling. Maybe try it in your home before transitioning to the RV to give yourself time to adjust.
