Last Updated on August 21, 2024 by Leslie Stroud <!– %AUTHOR_NAME% –>

Welcome! Our family has been traveling around the world, full-time, for nearly two years.  I have five children, ages 12-2, and we’ve been successfully homeschooling the entire time.  We have to be as digital as possible as we travel.  I’ve got two other blog posts about our “worldschooling” if you are interested here and here.

My General Tips for Tackling Homeschooling

1. Prepare for a new role. Playing parent and teacher means you have to fill a new role.  You will get plenty of kickback from your children about doing their school work.  All they want to do is play, of course!  Try to stay calm and patient. 

2.Balance. You will be balancing more as you parent, teach and likely work from home.  It will tax you and push your limits.  Therefore, don’t overdo it.  If you are worn out at the end of the day, do less the next day.

3.Have a rough schedule, but be flexible.  Schedule “free time” for the kids and make them entertain themselves.  I always threaten chores if they can’t figure out how to entertain themselves and they quickly find a way to get out of my hair.  Call it recess or quiet time or whatever, but everyone needs a break during the day.  Best is to get out and get some fresh air, if possible, but free-play inside is also a great option.

4.Pull out the devices.  Each of my school-age children has their own Chromebook.  These workhorses have held up wonderfully during our homeschooling!  My toddlers use the iPad when they are doing some of their letter practice or learning videos.  They also work best with their own headphones.  With three kids learning at the same time, it’s easy to get distracted.

5.Step up the chores!  Getting kids to work is important for everyone’s mental health.  This is a perfect time to get them into a hobby with you, teach them how to properly clean the toilet, or get them outside doing some of our yard work.  While our children grumble and whine, we notice how much happier they are when we’ve all worked together on some chores around the house or a project together.

Our Favorite Online Resources

Here are some of our favorite resources we use while digital schooling:

FREE Resources

Kahn Academy:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

 A fantastic free resource with loads of math, science, history and more.  We love this one as it has Eureka Math, our current math curriculum.  Has elementary, middle school and high school age resources.

Scholastic Free Resources:  

https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

Scholastic has offered free resources by grade during this time.  I would classify this as “social studies” or “science” based.  It’s great for learning while being entertained and will keep kids happy and busy!

Xtra Math:

https://xtramath.org/#/home/index

Recommended to us by a follower that is a teacher, this is a wonderful site for math facts.  It lasts about 5-10 minutes a day and drills math facts.  It has helped my children progress wonderfully in their basic math facts.

Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool:

https://allinonehomeschool.com/

Christian based resource that will guide day-by-day and is completely FREE.  You can get printables and work guides and go day-by-day on various subjects: math, reading, history, art, and even Bible study.

Also has Easy Peasy All-In-One High School.  For exmaple, there is Algebra One: https://allinonehighschool.com/algebra-1/

Cincinnati Zoo Live Streams:

While closed for the Covid-19 shut-downs, the zoo is bringing home!  They will do Facebook lives daily so you can watch the animals from home.

PAID Resources

IXL:

http://www.ixl.com

One of our favorite programs that we use daily.  The math assignments can also correspond to Eureka Math lessons.  Includes language arts, math, Spanish, science, and social studies.  Each assignment takes the student from 1 to 100 score and can provide explanations for incorrect answers.  My children used this program in their elementary school before we left as homework assignments as well as in the classroom.

Read Live:

https://www.readnaturally.com/product/read-naturally-live

My favorite program overall in my homeschooling for elementary school age.  This program really has boosted our reading levels immensely.  Each day, the student has a story to read at their reading level.  Each is interesting to the point I enjoy testing them!  They do a “cold test” on their reading, practice and then I test them to see improvement in speed and accuracy.

Kickstart Reading:

https://www.kickstartreading.com/

Best for the 6 and under crowd, these quick, 2-minute videos are wonderful for short attention spans.  

Most Important

My best tip: Don’t stress too much. Kids are so resilient and even if you do nothing for several months, they will catch up quickly when school is back in session. Enjoy some downtime when you need it and think of all this homeschool as bonus material. They will be fine!!

Good luck with homeschooling and know “this too shall pass”!

Leslie