Curriculum Aboard The Magic Schoolbus

     I've had lots of questions about how we will do school on the road. We still have a couple of weeks before we actually leave, but here is my plan: Keep things as simple as possible. For the kids. For me. I want this year to be about experience, so I have seriously curbed our pretty rigorous classical studies. I am normally a slave to scope and sequence. I feel very strongly that my kids should know, ummm, all the things, so this was a leap for me. We temporarily left our core curriculum of Tapestry of Grace (TOG), Thinkwell Math, and Apologia Science. Anyone who is familiar with TOG knows it is very reading intensive, which I love. I'd rather give my kids a real book vs. a textbook any day, but all that reading, writing, and discussing takes lots of time.

     Besides the whole time thing, another consideration I have is space. Four kids plus myself in a 26 foot trailer leaves little room for anything else, so a library, stacks of 4" teacher's manuals, and boxes of manipulatives and visual aids are just out of the question. Also our internet will be sketchy to non-existent, so we can't rely on that. 
     Based on those needs and restrictions, this is what I settled on. For the bigs (7th and 11th grades) we are using Switched-On Schoolhouse for math, language, and civics. For my 1st grader, I felt I couldn't compromise on his reading--everything else hinges on this skill, so I went with our traditional A-beka phonics and Saxon Math. I do wish I had chosen the Abeka DVD's, even though that would be a pain while traveling. (You only get so many weeks at a time, then have to mail them back before they send more.) I didn't realize until after I purchased all the cards and visuals that you don't need all that stuff with the DVD's. Hindsight. Bummer.
   

    For Bible, we read the Bible.
    

    I chose a curriculum for our travels called Trail Guide to U.S. Geography. I also bought the optional C.D. that contains templates for notebooking pages on 3 different levels. Perfect for my eclectic group of elementary, middle school, and high school students and perfect for its open endedness. The notebooks are a tool for each student to organize and document what they learn during our travels, each on their own level and according to their own interests.

 Each state has its own section within a divider for each of the seven U.S. regions, which conveniently correspond with each of the “spokes” of our trip. We are covering about a state a week over the course of a year with breaks between regions and on holidays where we are home hanging out with Dad.  Our travels are the backbone of our history, geography, and science curriculum. The notebook covers all three; for example, our trip to Mammoth Cave included a pre-field trip activity where we simulated the formation of a cave with clay and sugar cubes:

  

And a post activity where we used leaf samples we collected to identify trees and to make a graph that helped us see what trees are most common in Mammoth Cave National Park. (Please just ignore the popcorn on the floor.)
 

      I plan on supplementing the big kids' notebooks with human geography studies, like migration patterns in the U.S. and what they mean, cultural perceptions and stereotypes, and how to balance the needs of humans with the needs of the environment. A great resource I stumbled upon is The Learning Network, a blog from The New York Times. Lots of really cool lesson plans to keep the big kids engaged in our studies.

     We are also using Charlotte Mason style nature journals during our trip, where we will record the flora, fauna, and geographic features along the way.

       Notebooking and journaling appealed to me for several reasons. I like the idea of student directed study because it teaches them to be responsible for their own learning. While I will quickly agree some things you just have to sit down and memorize, there are real benefits to giving students some control over what they learn and when. It helps them form meaningful connections that make what they are learning relevant. Student-directed methods fit our worldschool’s already evolving philosophy of education. I will update with part two of this post after we have been on the road for a while. Be looking for our Ohio Post sometime this weekend!