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learning
must
never
stop.
finding new ways of doing things should never stop.
my 15 yo Jovan is back to homeschooling this year. because i love to complicate my life. i love to put so much on my plate that i can’t eat anymore.
kidding.
i actually have so much time in my hands being away from my family and friends across the world. i have my obsession with efficiency both in business and in my personal life to thank for that. jovan has done 2 1/2 years of virtual school in his 10 years of schooling so far. this time I wasn’t feeling it.
my gut was telling me this is not going to work while we travel and he’s away from friends and family.
virtual schooling is really boring to say the least, and you still follow a set schedule like in-person school, but without your peers sitting around you. the virtual curriculum is a little better than in-person school, but still dreadful. plus, i had to start all over with paperwork to register him and that one thing alone was making me seriously procrastinate.
i really didn’t want to do it. when i don’t want to do something i look for alternatives. even complicated ones. why not?
i had researched other virtual schools in the weeks before but they were all christian. i purposely raised my kids without any religious indoctrination so that wasn’t going to work.
i took long breaks between searches and finally got back to it while going through the worst week of my panchakarma in india. i had no choice as jovan needed to start school like *now.* i came across a website of a family homeschooling their kids while on the road in different continents. they call it “roadschooling.”
how cute.
i was so fascinated by their story of building their kids’ curriculum themselves instead of paying for one.
paying for one?
ah yes, you can pay for a curriculum. it’s called private school.
i almost paid a private virtual school (again) but that would get in the way of a lot of plans financially. then i remembered that one of the schools gave me an option of purchasing their virtual accredited program or the unaccredited one.
the unaccredited program is more like “old-school” homeschooling. the student doesn’t have to log in at certain times, the parent becomes the teacher, and the school does not track or grade anything; the parent does.
i found out schools can be unaccredited. soooo… you can buy an unaccredited curriculum to homeschool your child that is just like the ones they offer in some private schools! my kid doesn’t have to sit through boring, inefficient classroom time by logging in at a set time. he’s not told what to learn and when. he can build his own schedule.
that’s almost like college and just like self-employment- the things they don’t teach you for free!
i went down a really interesting and fascinating rabbit hole. i found so much information and so many resources that i was overwhelmed. so i dove deeper into traditional homeschooling. i had come across it before when i opted for virtual homeschooling for josiah, isis and jovan back in 2013. it was sounding really perfect for jovan right now during our travels. so flexible, so open, and the best part- so much cheaper than private virtual schooling or purchasing an accredited curriculum.
So i brought it down to two choices: (1) buy an unaccredited already-built curriculum or (2) build his curriculum ourselves from scratch. with #2 we could choose to be in control of his curriculum by giving him a choice to learn things he’s actually interested in. basically creating the curriculum around his interests and what’s happening in real life.
for example, at the time i was researching, we planned to be in machu picchu in peru soon. what better way to learn history than to be right there on location? all those historic sites we’ll be visiting could be part of his world history that is part of the 10th grade. writing essays about them would cover both his world history and his language arts requirements.
efficiency and simplicity at their best.
i thought, perfect! this kills a lot of birds with one stone! it will teach my kid to manage his own time, work according to his energy levels, make real life knowledge his education, and even decide what he learns in every subject?!
what i’ve been preaching and modeling to my kids their whole lives. (except tristan who remembers when i had 8-to-5 jobs during the first nine years of his life).
i went into espresso mode and down into the rabbit hole. i read up on everything from how to build a customized curriculum, to grading his work, to getting accepted into colleges, to skipping SATs (which is only a US thing, btw), and how these parents did it with three and four kids. their kids have AMAZING lives! when i say amazing i mean they became humanitarians and had jobs with a purpose. they got some pretty unique job offers around the world and travel opportunities as part of their mission (work), at minimum.
how exciting! how much to learn and prepare.
my kind of organized chaos.
i forgot about drinking medicated ghee during detox week. i also forgot about only eating unseasoned rice soup and steamed vegetables (i was allow to put salt and black pepper only). my brain was preoccupied, challenged, entertained, and fascinated all at the same time!
what made this even more perfect is that i’m trying to get jovan to a dual enrollment high school his last two years as a junior and senior. this way he can finish college almost exactly at the same time as high school. it fits his life goals and personality. he’s already saying he doesn’t want to go to college so an alternative will do us both good.
i bought and dove into the book The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education by Maya Frost. I have two kids in college as I write this. Well, Isis starts in January 2023. Saving thousands in tuition on the third is pretty much a priority right now. Dual enrollment, which Josiah did his first year of college while attending 12th grade in high school, is such an easy way to save and speed up getting that degree.
this is why i love research and learning. your life becomes exciting and full of possibilities to choose from instead of a one-way road that is paved for you. very possibly leading to death by boredom.
i know. i’m dramatic. or as my genZ kids say “so extra.”
i spent 10 to 12 hours in just a couple of days reading and researching making sure i’m not going to ruin my child’s life and he’ll be scarred forever. but that’s just negative thinking about something that is not mainstream. and for the last decade and a half i love to go where few flock because it almost always takes me on a path to a different kind of life. at least that’s been my experience.
i didn’t go to college. i took the road less traveled and it’s paid off for me so i want my kids to explore other options as i did. i want them to think for themselves and make choices that work for THEM. there are downsides to everything but life is full of trade offs.
jovan replied to my text explaining it and said it sounded really cool. it was a go so I also bought ebook How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy. it’s about choosing the right curriculum and approach for each child’s learning style.
it turns out the curriculum can be as unique as your child and according to your life philosophy. the private online schools i found charge $1500+ and $2400+ to have some kind of freedom in your schedule. what i learned is that with a private school you’re basically buying a pre-packaged curriculum that is different, sometimes better, sometimes not, than the ones in public schools and that’s pretty much it.
aahh! the amazing things we learn when we actually take the time. those hours of research saved me a couple of grand. in this case i wanted to spent more time to save some money.
the resources out there are incredible. there is so much information and there are families doing this while traveling the world. it’s amazing. i’ve only been this excited in the last couple of years when leaving florida four months ago and when i took a technical analysis course in 2020 to learn how to trade in the stock market. at which times it added to the excitement that josiah graduated high school in 2020 and isis graduated a few months ago.
i ended up spending about $350, if that, on the courses i purchased and the spanish tutor app PREPLY. and get this. he’s taking college courses. didn’t even try and he’s already started dual enrollment. spent zero on school supplies because everything is done in the computer. he reads, he writes essays, he watches lessons, he talks to the tutor…all in the computer and phone apps, with the exception of chemistry lab.
i think this will get jovan excited about traveling the world.
that’s the goal.
wish me luck.
