A while ago we asked the question why is families that do long term travel so uncommon? Judging from the feedback we got, school and money are definitely the most common reasons that stand in the way. Well , for most people money is usually the most popular reason but when it comes to families , then school is just as important.
Long term travel offers many real life opportunities for learning - Today the Alhambra, Tomorrow???
This hasn’t been the case for us since we have homeschooled most of the time even when we haven’t been traveling but we can very well understand the worries that may arise since we ran into the same kind of concerns when we started homeschooling our children. Could we do it? Would they learn anything? How about friends? And on and on… Not to mentioned how family, friends and even authorities here in Sweden were questioning our decision.
Being questioned like that we of course had to take a closer look at all these worries to see if it made sense to us or if we were just being crazy. We spent a lot of time, years and years, reading and studying the subject of schooling and how children (well ,everybody) learns.
To be honest the conclusion we came to is that school is probably not the best place for an ideal learning situation. We don’t want to be disrespectful of all the teachers and all the people working so hard in schools trying their best to teach children. It is just that the school system in itself is not the perfect set up.
Learning is a natural ability. We learn all the time from everything that is around us and from all that happens to us. We learn from seeing, doing, hearing, reading, and experiencing things. We learn from our failures as well as from our successes. We learn by asking as well as by answering questions. We learn by free will without even being asked to. We learn all the time without even thinking about it. Learning is a lot of fun and not a struggle.
In my personal opinion , by making school compulsory and forcing children to learn against their will, you start off on the wrong foot. You run into a constant uphill battle where the teachers try to motivate the children to learn by offering rewards or threatening with punishments. A human natural behavior is turned into a forced one and the joy of learning goes out the window. And the sad thing is, I believe, that is what happens when children start school. They start first grade happy and eager to learn and after a year or two the light in their eyes have gone out and learning is boring.
I could see this in my own life. And it was not until we started homeschooling our own children and saw the enthusiasm with which they embraced learning that I rediscovered my own joy for learning.
Sorry if I got a bit carried away there. It’s just that learning has become a subject that is very close to my heart. It makes me happy to see kids enjoy learning. And I also want to inspire others to rediscover their joy of learning just like I did
Am I getting of topic here? Not really because what we also discovered is that traveling is a great way of learning, probably one of the best. When traveling, you are constantly faced with new situations and circumstances. And every new situation is a new learning opportunity. The amount of learning that happens when you are out traveling can never be achieved in a classroom. And the amazing thing is that we have had reports from families saying that even if the children for instance have done no math exercises during their whole 6 month journey their understanding of math have still improved and they have no problem keeping up. Rather the opposite, they have very often moved ahead of the rest of the class!
So what I am trying to say here is: Don’t let school be a reason that stops you from long term travel. On the contrary, let your children’s education be the reasons why you need to go on that journey. Give them a real understanding of the world which I am sorry to say they won’t find in text books in a class room.
Somewhere you can find a lot of good stuff about long term travel and learning is on the Soultravelers3 blog.
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I totally agree with your views. School is not only a learning place for children and knowledge is not restricted to books only…. They also learn a lot from their surroundings and what they notice around them…
I totally agree with your views.Knowledge is not restricted to books only…. Children can also learn a lot from their surroundings and what they notice around them…
yeah its true school is one the most common reason that stops families from doing long term travel.As we can see our own life. And it was not until we started homeschooling our children and saw the enthusiasm with which they embraced learning that I rediscovered our own way to joy for our learning. Thanks for your informative article. More power to your site! God bless
Mary´s last blog ..Holiday Cottage in Cornwall
yaa its right mostly I have to cancel my long tours due to my children bcz most of time there exams or test are going on and don’t wanna to disturb their studies.
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Thanks for the though-provoking read. That’s something I never considered before. It should be a REQUIREMENT for kids to travel as part of their curriculum. The best thing I ever did in life was leaving college to travel the world. It absolutely changed me for the better and opened my eyes to the world.
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I think I agree with you. My wife was home schooled and she knows more than me (public school) so why not be able to combine home schooling with world travel to give an amazing perspective on the world?
I say why not…
I don’t think I’d be willing to home school my kids in order to be able to travel long term, I do think that the ability to have a job which allows for travel during the 2-3 month summer break is essential. Working at a school yourself, or running your own business as I do comes to mind.
Its not just about the school.If I’m doing a job then long term leave is also difficult to get.So every year our family pans a trip during vacation.
Parents also need to work. Traveling isn’t a cheap hobby.
Best traveling is after retirement.
Although we have our kids in traditional schools, your article makes an argument for homeschooling. The flexibility of homeschooling might allow kids to be in school while they travel. It would be a double learning experience. Of course you might not want to set up the chemistry lab on the beach.
Calvin @ beaches, family travel´s last blog ..Summer’s Here – Let’s Hit the Beach
Toni, That is so true.
Its not just about the school.If I’m doing a job then long term leave is also difficult to get.So every year our family pans a trip during vacation.
Does anyone even travel that long anymore?
I really loved this post, Thanks!
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I’d should test with you here. Which is not something I normally do! I take pleasure in studying a submit that can make individuals think. Additionally, thanks for allowing me to comment!
This post not just school or college. If you doing a job then long term leave is also difficult to get … that set ))
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School is definitely a huge factor! I was never allowed to take any kind of vacations while in school though it’s the best time to go.
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What’s up friends, its fantastic paragraph about educationand completely defined, keep it up all the time.