Reader’s Corner
This month Harold from Illinois asks:
We are planning to full time RV starting Memorial Day. We will be home schooling 3 kids. This is unusual, I know. Anyone else in this same boat, and if so, can you recommend an on-line, or home schooling agenda?
Also Elmer writes:
This spring I am planning a trip in our new motor home. I want to head out of Indianapolis, head north to Montana and travel across the US and into Canada. I want to see the Calgary stampede and then travel down into California. Is there anyone I may contact to lay out a travel plan for me? I’m interested in seeing points of interest like Yellowstone, Custer’s monument, giant redwood trees, Hoover dam, and all the great things America has to offer.
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I recently purchased a used class A. So far my experience has been great. I have one important comment to any used motorhome buyer and I didn’t know these shops even existed. I found to my dismay that I could have had a buyers inspection done prior to purchase (about $100). There are shops around that do these inspections and they are well worth the money spent. So, on any checklist prior to purchase one should add a buyers/safety inspection. You should know what you’re getting into!
This is to Harold from Illinois who is planning on RV homeschooling.
The first person to write about this experience (many years ago) was formerly a child actress on “Fact of Life”. Now I have forgotten her name. Anyway, she did homeschool her three children in an RV for one year, I think.
Google up RV homeschooling. There are tons of resources.
I live in Montana and would highly recommend going to Glacier National park and the Canadian side, known as Waterton- also we have several famous ghost towns – the Bison range is a wonderful day trip and the big hole is full of great history- enjoy
Harold:
The Calvert School in Baltimore is the best in the business. They have been doing home school programs at all levels for probably over 50 years. You can find them on Google.
Join AAA. Great maps, tour books.They can plot quick route or scenic. We left Houma, LA travelled to Yellowstone in 3 days of easy driving.Must visit Cody WY. A beautiful town and home to the Cody Museum. Took remaining of two weeks to travel home going through SD,(bad lands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse. Too many national parks to vist in one trip unless you have two months.
I have found that the AAA memberships and their trip planning service to be invaluable whentravelling to areas you have never been before. They provide maps, books and other items that highlight sights you might otherwise miss. Also they show many things that may interest you that may not interest me so you don’t get opinions you get choices.
Another resource that i recently purchased is a GPS. Don’t go cheap. Get one that has a bigger screen and a touch screen. Garmin makes a C-250W that has this. The nice thing is the “Points of interest” screen that can direct you to ATMs, Banks, food and RV parks as well as gas stops and other things with vocal turn by turn instructions. You can get a good system ( It’s should be portable so you can take it hiking) in the $2-300.00 range and one that connects to traffic radio in the 5-600 range. It’s money well spent
To Harold from illinois,
I have not homeshooled myself, but I read a lot of cruising stories. The most popular system for people cruising around the world with their children is Calvert School. This is a highly-regarded system which has been around for many years. Check them out at CalvertSchool.org. Good luck.
Harold:
I “boat schooled” for a year cruising down the Pacific Coast of Mexico. I used a great program called Oak Meadow School. It can be a bit pricey for 3, but they are excellent with a “hands-on” curriculum and lots of great personal help either on line, mail, or by phone. Check out their website at http://www.oakmeadow.com, or oakmeadowschool, not sure.
Let me know if you need any more info, be glad to help! You will NEVER regret EVER doing this. Such a HUGE learning experience for the whole family…and a great, fun adventure.
Good luck!
Join AAA they will lay out a custom triptic for you. just tell them your plans and you’ll get a booklet with step by step directin and maps of each state that you go through. They also have campground site books
They just laid out a trip for me from Mass to California. this is a free service to members. The maps alone are worth the membership
Sounds like a fun trip.
Speak to your school, they probably have relevant information and curriculums available to meet grade requirements
This for Harold homeschooling his children. We homeschooled our last child and use Whitman High.It was under Compuhigh.com when we started,I think they also have a elementary program now. Hope this helps.
This is for Harold
I homeschooled my 2 children for about 6 years and we did do some traveling. I definitly set a schedule and try to stick farely close to it. I use many of the destinations that we traveled to as history and gave quizes on those sites such as the mt rushmore memorial. The experiences the children will have will be great. I used the Saxon math and biblical language arts ciriculum. I never tried any of the online sites but had some friends who did.I placed my children back in public school in highschool but the years were well spent teaching them at home. Good luck, remember each child is individual and homeschool gives you the advantage to teach each of them in the way that they best learn. Pam
This is for Elmer.
You will need passports for Canada and don’t bring any fresh fruit into Canada.
I traveled for 3 months cross the great USA, all by myself in my Roadtrek, and you just take it day by day. Plan at night or plan in the morning, use the book Next Exit which is a great help. I learned to fill out post it notes, (hint: start from the destination for the day) post them on the dash and as you pass each landmark by rip it off and toss it. No fumbling into books, relieing on gps, and you will know where to get fuel, food, tourist attraction, and campground. Add phone numbers too if you need them.
Love those post it notes. Especially since I was alone. I make them large so I can read them and cover the crazy clock so I don’t get the wrong time in my head for the area.
Sometimes the less known sights can be a thrill of a life time. Get that National Park Pass no matter what age you are and see them all. Big and Small. Brings tears to your eyes this great nation of ours.
Enjoy enjoy.
Sally
Go through Iowa and stop at Amana colonies, there is also a great ‘farm’ near Des Moines that is a great place to visit. Go north through SD where you will find a lot of interesting places to stop..Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Dinosaur, Black Hills, Mount Rushmore to name a few. Then go across Wyoming to Montana. Stop at the Ford museum ( great day adventure!) I would suggest you see the Omak Stampede in Omak WA. Stop at Grand Coulee dam and drive across the wasteland to the Okanogan Valley. Going to Canada? Go to Vancouver B.C. and back across the mountains via the North Cross state Highway. Stop in Winthrop. Go down the mountains and stop at Rocky Reach Dam and the Back into the mountains to Leavenworth. You can go on back across to the west coast where you should visit Seattle’s Aquarium and famous waterfront and then to the coast in the Olympic forest! or back East toward central WA Where you should see the Dry Falls. Or over the pass and down again to the Yakima Valley. Follow the Columbia River toward Portland. Stop at Bridal Falls, watch the board sailing on the river, see Salmon at the dam. Check out Mt. Hood in OR. You can go along the OR coast and see the wonderful rock formation overlooking the ocean or take the central route through Bend down to CA. In Ca check out the Redwood forest, Napa Valley, Highway 1 along the coast and cross the Golden Gate bridge into San Fransisco. I think you get the idea. There is a lot to see. Hope you take the time and have the time. I would suggest you study these places with your kids before seeing them. There is a lot of history along the way.
Be sure to take in Mount Rushmore around dusk for a show you wil never forget.
My husband was born in Anaconda Montana. So we know a little about Montana.
After you leave Yellowstone, the best place to cross into Canada is Sweetgrass, Montana. You will go through many beautiful places in Montana. It is worth the stop in Butte, where you can view the Copper mines and taste the “pasty,” a great pastry filled sandwich the miners took into the mines to eat, warmed by their lamplight.These sandwiches are delicious and can be a good habit to buy. The “Our Lady” there, is a statue of the Mother Mary, built on the top of the Continental Divide. One of the miner’s wives was ill and he prayed to the Vrgin Mary that if she lived, he would build a monument to her. He did together with the other miners help. The statue is 90′ tall with her arms outspread. You can tour by bus, the inside of this inspiring monument. You can see it for miles at night. It is worth a small detour.
When you leave Our Country and enter Canada, (at Sweetgrass) you will go to a town just across the border where you can watch the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a Musical Ride. Then make your way to Calgary. We stayed at a very nice KOA there just across from where the winter Olympics were held. While there, make sure to see Banff National Park and Lake Louise. These beautiful mountain towns are awe inspiring. From there we went on to Edmonton.
This is for Elmer who is taking a trip and wants to see all the sites. My husband and I took a trip from Kentucky. We headed West to California picked up highway 101 and followed the coast all the way to Washington State then crossed over into Canada, Traveled for about 3 weeks through the Canadan mountains came back into the states in Montana. We traveled across Montana to Yellow Stone and then headed home. We had the time of our life and saw all the sites. This was the first trip we made across country in our Motorhome so it was really special. We try to go every year now. We belong to AAA and get all the books before we leave and just plan accordingly to what we want to see. We are leaving in May for 2 months of touring in our new Motorhome and again we are headed West. Good Luck and have fun.
This is for Harold:
When you say “full-time”, is that for more than one year? I first think about the kids, that it will be nice for awhile, but, then who becomes their lifelong type friends? What school events and activities do they attend and get involved with? What about a church family? Plus, not much room to have their own room and all the decorations which make it the “kid’s own”, and not just yours.
Most of what you want to see can be done in the summer months, while still giving them a real home for the rest of the year.
Most “full timers” don’t start until their kids are out of school for some time, to see that they are established with some kind of heritage, of which they will have fond memories.
Just a few thoughts from one who moved his kids all around the country while they were growing up, which wasn’t the best experience for them.
Blessings,
Dick Scholl
Cherokee Village, AR
My reply is for Harold who wants to homeschool his kids while on the road:
I have done this myself with three children it is a bit challenging but way fun. How we handle it is we decide how many hours a day we will drive to off set how many hours we need to do school. We need 5-6 hours a day for school so we only drive 5 hours a day. This allows time for eating/cooking and recreation and a lot of stress is avoided.
We also decide ahead of time which days we will set aside for fun activities and exploring the areas we are traveling in. When we are on the road we only do school 4 days a week. How I stay on schedule is when home we work on Sat. to catch up and we do not take all of the school holiday time off.
Our normal school schedule runs from third week of August until end of April. With a two week break at Christmas and a week off at Easter. With extensive traveling it sometimes means we do not end until mid May. Which is still fine with me.
Also I use a set curriculum I order through Calvert School their web page is http://www.calvertschool.org They are a private school in Maryland and if your children are in 3rd grade or higher they can do school on-line and actually join in the classroom via tv screensand your computer. They are accredited so later you will have no trouble if you go back to public or private school.
Safe traveling and I hope you enjoy this special time with your family.
Lisa
hit the nail on the head for sure. We live in Texas and are beginning to make our route plans, etc. for our fishing trip this summer. We plan to go to Michigan, maybe over to Minn and then over into Canada for some fishing there. and we not sure how to co-ordinate our trip. We would like to be able to spend night at a lake so possibly maybe go fishing and then go on our way. We have not a clue as to how to set all this up and places to stop and eat too.(If fishing good, we might just have to spend few more days there.)LOL
any and all help would be great. wonder if anybody else has done this as well and how they went about it setting their plan.
thanks. conniek
If this is your first trip you have a good idea of what you want to see. That is if your first trip is 3-4 years. I use two books: Inside America & Watch it being made in the USA. We also joined Passport America If you belong to the Elks they sometimes have RV parking. When you get West: Dakotas, NE, WY, MT, ETC many of the small towns have City parks for camping. Save money, meet people. No day should be over a couple hundred miles. Use the above mentioned books, take your time, see the factories and sights along the way. Yellowstone will be the most fantastic place you’ll see.
To Harold,
GREAT!!! WONDERFUL!!! I was a public school teacher, now have homeschooled for 12 years (3 blessings ages 12-6). I rode my bicycle from NYC to Montreal and back in my mid 20s. When I applied for a job no one looked at my 4.0 GPA but everyone asked about my bike trip and my sailboat racing from MS to FL. Don’t get bogged down with curriculum! Let them map their journey and journal their days events. You can put their grammar, punctuation, spelling and history into just their journals. Let them journal 3 days a week. One day edit for grammar, next day spelling, etc. Don’t butcher everything they write but let them know it is their education and is better than a workbook page. Veritas Press has a wonderful catalogue for lifestyle of learning books! It is separated into age appropriate bks. Get good books in their hands for reading time. Math can come through gas/mpg, etc, but I would suggest a workbook for 3rd grade and up. They just have to have math in order. We would love to RV HS but where is your income coming from…if I may ask? DO NOT try to recreate the classroom on your adventures! ENJOY each other and don’t worry about socialization!! When in your children’s life will they ever have to work with 30 of their peers. It is best they know how to communicate with any and all ages not just “cool” friends who usually just drive a wedge into the family. May God bless you and draw you all closer! Julie
If you are traveling anywhere near CRAZY HORSE, this is a must see stop! If you are going to visit Mount Rushmore, Visit Rushmore first Then go to CRAZY HORSE afterwards.
Hello Elmer,
If your traveling with a laptop there is a very good software package named “Microsoft Streets & Trips”. It’s easy to use and you can plan day trips or long range plans. We print a map for each day we travel. It also shows campgrounds, museums, restaurants, etc within a mileage you specify from points you select.
For Elmer,
If you’re traveling with a computer, try “Microsoft Streets & Trips” software. It’s easy to learn and you can specify places you wish to visit. We prepare a long range plan then print & save maps for each day we travel. It’s also quite useful in locating campgrounds, museums, restaurants, etc. We have been full timing for 2+ years and have a map record of each RV park, museum, and attraction we have visited. And it’s a lot of fun!
Re Elmers question about places of interest on his trip through Yellowstone and up to Canada, I find that the trip planner on the http://www.randmcnally.com website is really good, it will plan your route and give you places of interest to visit and can also suggest places to stay.
To Harold. I am a public school Superintendent who operates a statewide corresponcence program. I can’t offer our services as we only serve students in Alaksa but I can direct you to one of the online providers we use with our program. We have found OdysseyWare to be a very good online program that you can personally monitor as your childs teacher. It has a very structured format and uses many of the same curricular frameworks that many schools use. I am sure there are many more programs of equal value but we have found this one to be an excellent one. The one drawback is that they have such a large subscriber base that at times it is hard to to get online with them. We recommend our students use the evening time to access them and do their work. It seems to work best then.
For Harold from Illinois re education on the road.
Try Calvert School (correspondence) in Maryland. They have excellent reputation with round-the-world cruising sailors. Frequently mentioned, and favorably, in Cruising magazine.
For Elmer heading West
Stop in Cody, Wyoming -beautiful little town in valley with mts. on 4 sides. Wonderful people. I spent two unplanned days just sitting in public square speaking with local residents, and have great memories.
Approach San Francisco from the North (apparently the direction you will be traveling). Redwoods and Sequoias are found in Marin County north of Golden Gate Bridge accessible from Route 101.
Stop before crossing Golden Gate Bridge. View of Bay and San Francisco is worth the trouble. I went a day out of my way to have that view for my wife on her first trip, and she was thrilled. Wish I were going back with you.
Don “Windjammer” McCoy
You will have snow and most parks aren’t open in early season in Montana and the surronding states, so please be sure to check with the parks you plan to use. It snows into July in Butte Montana, though the highways are mostly open.
We use Mapquest.com and I often put in the “to” place then the “From” place and check the route, then I search surrounding cities I may want to go to, and put in a smaller city so it doesn’t take us straight to our final destination. The straight route may bypass what may be a beautiful drive.
A case in point: If you mapquest Portland, OR to Anaconda, Montana, it will take you through Boise or Spokane. We wanted a more direct, more picturesq drive, so I kept mapquesting until it took us through Walla Walla, Washington and up through the beautiful Clear River on Highway 12 (Lewiston and Orofino IA). We found much to love on this Lewis and Clark Trail. If you keep editing until you find a good drive, you can make your own way and find more beauty.
We have an atlas and several camping books that are common and we used those for reference. I would suggest you use all sources, but don’t narrow yourself to just one agency to plan your trip. Just make sure the roads are travelable. It’s not realistic that a travel agency could give you the experience you desire, because they are promoting their places. No offense to Auto Club, for we belong and do use them to get a jumping off place. As we use Good Sams.
The one writer is right about your children needing a base camp. I traveled as a child, not camping, but because my Father needed to move around. We lived in some beautiful places, but I have no long term friendships as do some people. If I had it to do over, which I did with my daughter, I let her grow up in one city, taking vacations and learning about our country’s beauty.
I hope you and your family have experiences that outshine any you have had up to now.
Hi, About homeschooling on the road. I have been homeschooling since last Nov. with a company called K12. Go to http://www.K12.com and real all about them. Hope this is a help to you. If you have any questions of me you may email me at http://www.eztrvler@gmail.com. I hope I meet you on the road some day.
For Elmer,
We traveled a route similar to yours, except we stayed in Oregon. We traveled through Chicago, Wisconsin, stopped for two days in St. Paul (Mall of America) then went on through stopped at the Corn Palace, went to
Yellowstone ate at the lodge watched Old Faithful, went from there to South Dakota and visited Mount Rushmore. Stopped by Crazy Horse and moved on through to Crater Lake through the Castcade Mountains to Oregon. This took two weeks from Ky. I think a trip to Hoover Dam and Canada would have required three weeks at least.
Cris
Do not miss Yosemite while in California. Worth the trip alone!
For Elmer, Just a note to mention that motorhomes are not allowed across Hoover Dam. With terrorist possibilities, and the possibility of explosives, all large trucks and rv traffic is diverted. It is a beautiful site and should not be missed, but plan on being diverted. Best wishes for an enjoyable trip, John
Harold:
We took 10 months off and traveled with our (2) kids in a 35′ fifth wheel. We home schooled and used the K-12 curriculum: it exceeded our expectations. GOTO our blog http://jamescpaton.blogspot.com/ for travel notes. Good luck. Jim Paton
Elmer
Mitchell Corn Palace, Devils Tower & Wind Cave are MUST SEE’s when traveling West! All well worth the effort to make the side trips! Don’t drive by….GO there!
Elmer:
I live in Calgary and would highly recommend a couple of nights in Banff (1 hr west of Calgary) and also visiting the Dinosaur Museum and Bad Lands in Drumheller which is 1h45min NE of Calgary.
You will not be disappointed.
http://www.banff.ca/home.htm
http://www.dinosaurvalley.com/
want to thank all of you for input on home schooling,,, i have a retirement… and s.s. disability… so i can only drive so long at a time… hope to set up camp stay 30 to 60 days,, see local intrests, and move on… schooling is for kids we have adopted… if we wait til they are out of high school this would be pushing my age up there – lol.
i live in east central illinois, and would like to promote my hometown and our city park which has several hook ups, some with water,, all with elec. near river, pavillion, and has flowing artesian wells, close to village but still in the woods,, (lots of trees). i personally think it is one of the nicest “city parks” that i know of. for information on camping (which is cheap). 217 987 6900 (potomac, illinois) which is the village clerk.. it is on us 136. rt. 1 is 7 miles east and rt 49 is 5 miles west. remember potomac, illinois.
when travelling these are the amenities i will be looking for.