Roadschooling Too
When we last discussed the issue of roadschooling, we were considering working with Learning Community International, a Maryland-based organization that initially seemed excited about working with us.
But when the time came to put together a course of study, we felt their interest in working with us had waned (to put it charitably), and we decided to look at other options.
We considered a broad range of possibilities:
- Nonschooling (probably the best idea, but it’s hard to make the leap);
- Unschooling–I swear, this is a legitimate movement;
- On-line schooling presented by Maryland’s Department of Education (sadly, ironically, the county we live in does not yet approve our state’s online curriculum);
- Making up our own customized “curriculum” to reflect the places we would be visiting;
- Purchasing the Montgomery County curriculum and administering it ourselves, figuring out how to manage the legally required periodic reviews by homeschooling office personnel (fly them to Thailand?, Budapest?);
However, none of these options would put us in the best position to accomplish Caroline’s ardent wish: To graduate high school with her peers.
It’s important to her, and we didn’t want our wanderlust to put her ability to graduate with the class of 2012 in jeopardy.
Ultimately we settled on the most “conventional” of the unconventional choices open to us. We enrolled Caroline and Conor in online private homeschool programs that have been accredited by Montgomery County, Maryland.
Both kids are enrolled in Griggs International Academy’s online homeschooling program. The school provides a comprehensive, county and state accredited curriculum and will supervise and grade schoolwork and provide transcripts at completion.
We also registered Conor in a math class at the impressive Calvert School.
One thing we learned so far in this process: The text book industry is far, far behind in the digital revolution.
We have had to dedicate one piece of luggage to text books. There are no online or CD-ROM versions of books the kids will be using in their studies.
At some point, not long from now, I imagine text books as we know them will be a thing of the past. But for now, they represent about forty extra pounds we’ll be hauling around the world.
7 comments
Looks like you’re set, but I thought I’d just mention http://www.apologia.com. Their science texts are available on CD – apart from journals, one Bible and a maths textbook, that’s all we’re taking with us on our trip (will read novels aloud from the laptop, but the kids’ personal reading will be limited – I have mixed feelings about this coz we are all such avid readers, but maybe it will help them relate to those in the world without access to literature). Anyway, the apologia stuff is great.
I didn’t realize there were so many options. I was actually homeschooled for one year (freshman year of HS)– I later begged to return because I missed my friends and was terribly bored. But, I finished my entire year’s worth of english in just 6 weeks. I think what you’ll be surprised with, is how quickly you can move through 1 year’s worth of education when you don’t have the distraction of a regular school.
I can’t belive your country won’t accept a program accepted by your state. So strange. I agree with christine- I think you’ll fly through the cirriculum. I mean I taught a homeschooled kid in Bangkok and we went at a much briskier pace.
I’m not particularly surprised that Montgomery County has different standards than the rest of the state of Maryland, although that’s definitely frustrating. It seems like you all made a good choice though, and I can understand Caroline’s desire to graduate with her peers. I’m sure she has some mixed feelings about leaving. I know I would have.
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Unbelievable how hard they end up making it for families to home school while away. The school district should send a sherpa along to carry that 40 pound bag.
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