Category:

Roadschool

American History In Williamsburg, Virginia

by Jill January 7, 2019

written by Jill

Years before Scott and I got married we went to Colonial Williamsburg. It was one of those experiences that we felt like would be richer when we had kids, and it’s long been on our list of places to take our family- since before we ever had one of our own.

Once we decided last fall to head south for Christmas from DC, instead of west to the Smoky Mountains, we knew we would try to take the kids to Williamsburg, VA on our way to the Carolinas.

Unfortunately, a huge snowstorm and some sick kids kept us from visiting Colonial Williamsburg this time. It was just too expensive to buy tickets for what would likely be just a few cold, slushy hours.

Plans change, and we know that. We’ve become masters of rolling with the punches and finding joy in the unexpected.

This trip wound up still being fun because:

1. Snow storm! Our kids got to watch big fluffy flakes fall down and build snowmen, and then we got to take them inside for hot showers and baths.

2. Hotel! The Fairfield Inn & Suites in Williamsburg put us up for 2 nights in their biggest suite PLUS an adjoining room. It was HUGE and so much more comfortable a place to be stuck during a snowstorm. It’s a convenient location to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, and there are food options right near by. Scott actually walked across the road to Chipotle in the snow.

3. Jamestown Settlement & The American Revolution Museum! We were gifted tickets to both locations, and we learned SO MUCH at both! They were both really well-done, and the perfect experience for the kids given the limited time we had considering the snow and kids not feeling well.

We didn’t feel bad at all about missing out on Colonial Williamsburg this time. The kids learned a ton and we didn’t overextend ourselves. Hopefully we’ll be able to make it back to visit when we have more time, less snow, and nobody is sick.

If you are on the fence about visiting Colonial Williamsburg, I have to say it’s really an incredible place and fantastic experience from what I can remember. But, if your budget is tight, definitely consider visiting the Jamestown Settlement or the American Revolution Museum.

Ticket prices for Colonial Williamsburg are $26/adult and $13/kid in the winter only. Jamestown is $17.50/adult and $8.25/kid. American Revolution is $15/adult and $7.50/kid. Or you can visit both Jamestown and American Revolution (Yorktown) for the same price as a winter ticket to Colonial Williamsburg.

If we had to choose between Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum, we would choose the ARM. The 4D movie was incredible, the museum was interactive and fun, and the canon demonstration outside was a family favorite. To be fair, though, the snow kept us from seeing Jamestown Settlement in it’s full glory since we were only able to explore inside that day.

January 7, 2019

Roadschool RV Life

Get In the Arena

by Jill November 8, 2018

written by Jill

Earlier this year we had a really awesome profile piece on Lifehacker about “How I Parent” as a Roadschooling mom. I knew it was coming because I’d been interviewed for it, though I, admittedly, didn’t realize how big that platform was when I was quickly and not that thoughtfully typing out the answers to my questions. When people started congratulating me for the feature the day it went live, and remarking how cool it was, I got so excited to go read it. I noticed there were already 36 comments, which is pretty impressive in 2018 because nobody comments on blog posts anymore.

(It appears some of the other comments that originally appeared have been deleted or hidden.)

Listen, I’ve been blogging for over 11 years, and I totally know how the internet can be. I knew not to expect all sunshine and rainbows in the comments, but figured there would be some people who were excited to hear about our adventure, maybe even wondering if they could do something similar.

As we were driving down the highway, making our way toward Yellowstone, I read comment after comment and my stomach sank. Every single one was negative. Not just in the “Ew, I’d never do this” way. Again, I expect that. This isn’t for everyone. This life is many people’s literal idea of hell. I get it.

And, it wasn’t the comments like this that upset me the most:

“My main concern is really that these kids will grow up believing that ‘influencer’ is a real vocation,” and “Basically, they are dragging their kids all over the place so that they can create internet content.”

I’ve been called a shill and a sell-out, and told to “get a real job” more times than I can count. This is a family business, and my kids are very involved in making decisions. I check with the ones old enough to have opinions before I post any video or picture. That’s why there are less of those with my older kids in them.

What completely caught me off guard were the comments like:

“Children need opportunities to grow away from their parents and siblings. This is a highly inappropriate way to raise children who you hope to be fully functional in our society.
Children who move around a lot growing up have been found to have a poorer quality of life as they try to settle as adults and often perform worse academically once they have to re-enter the real world’s education system.
IMO, homeschooling is a form of child abuse. It may seem fun while the children are small but will leave them emotionally and socially stunted.”

and

“Yeah, this is f-ed up. They’re completely denying their children the chance to have friends, let alone be socialized normally. I can’t imagine how devastating this would’ve been to me as a kid.”

It’s rare for internet comments to make me cry. I mostly keep my houses (my blogs and social platforms) troll free spaces, and I welcome constructive feedback and productive dialogue, but I don’t needlessly expose myself to the opinions other people have about me. I don’t seek out gossip sites or click through on incoming links I think will take me to a place where I will read what people would never say to my face.

But there I was, as we pulled into a truck stop in Montana, fighting to keep back the tears, not wanting my kids to see me cry over a bunch of dumb comments on the internet.

And then the absolute craziest thing happened in the bathroom of this truck stop. I went to pee, shut my stall door, sat down, and looked up to see this.

In case you can’t read that, it’s a speech by Teddy Roosevelt “The Man In The Arena”
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

This came at a time when I was not only faced with these ridiculous opinions about how we were damaging our children while doing this trip, but when I was personally struggling with what “success” on this trip would look like. We were half-way through the year, and nothing seemed “fixed.” It felt like we’d been holding our breath for everything to settle and fall into place in terms of routines and work-life balance. And it was becoming clear that that just wasn’t going to happen at all. Redefining that idea of success was beginning to be ok with me, but I worried a lot about others judging us for doing this and not doing it “right.” Whatever that even means. (Sometimes my brain is a real jerk to me like that.)

So I’m just sitting there, peeing and crying in Montana. I’m having like a weird God/Universe moment in a truck stop bathroom. I feel like I was supposed to read that right then and there. I mean, you guys, I went and checked all 6 stalls, and this was only hanging in 2 of them. The stall I used, and the one Leyna used. I know, right? What. Why is this EVEN IN A BATHROOM STALL??

Anyway, when I got back in the truck, I told Scott about it, and then Kendall wanted me to read it to him, so I began to read it to everyone… and then I totally broke down. And I cried those tears in front of my kids that I had been trying to hide from them. And I didn’t apologize or down play them. I talked to them about how hard and scary it can be to take big risks, and how people may try to tear you down when they don’t understand the choices you make, but that doesn’t make your choices wrong or dumb, even if you fail.

But, I guess we’ll have to see if my kids will be able to function in society after being raised in such an inappropriate way. What a shame they aren’t learning anything on the road.

Also, I wrote this blog in response to these comments and some others.

November 8, 2018

Roadschool RV Life

Why Homeschooling Is Only Temporary For Us

by Jill November 3, 2018

written by Jill

I mentioned in my last post that road/homeschool is probably a temporary thing for us. We don’t envision continuing to homeschool the kids, at least not full time, after we get settled from this trip.

The 2 big kids want to go back to a “regular” school, and we’re open to that. Leyna and Kendall will have completed 2 grades via homeschool by the end of this school year. Actually, it looks like they will finish up their current grades long before May! We’ll still have them work on some supplemental lessons, but I don’t think we’ll push to start them in the next grade’s curriculum. All we want is for them to transition back into a school at the grade level they should be.

Finding a balance between travel, experiences, and schooling has had it’s challenges. Scott and I actually just discussed cutting back on what we’re having them complete each week so that it’s less of a battle of the wills around here, and so everyone’s stress levels can come down a bit when it comes to Acellus. That’s what the homeschooling program we use was called when we began. It’s now technically Power Homeschool, but when we’re talking school around here, we refer to it as Acellus.

There is no point in pushing them to finish x number of lessons a week, and stressing when they don’t, when they will finish well before the traditional school year ends.

Scott is in charge of their school work. He manages their progress and tracks their grades. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be sure they are getting “enough” done, but he sometimes compares it to a traditional school day, and a traditional school track. And that is just SO different than what we’re dealing with on the road. Our kids are immersed in learning every day in so many non-traditional ways.

So yeah, I am campaigning hard for everyone to just chill. The work will get done! And when we stop letting ourselves feel bad or guilty for this path not looking like something it’s not meant to be, I think we’ll feel less stressed.

Homeschooling the kids was the only option for this trip, obviously, and we’d do it again for another big trip, but I don’t think it will be the best option when we settle back down. I know Scott would totally agree with me (and that I’m not throwing him under the bus) when I say that we’re just not great at it, and we don’t love it.

I would really like to find my kids some teachers who actually love teaching them.

I would also like to find them teachers and a school who will work with us to find ways to teach them that make sense, that won’t shrug us off, or tell us “that’s just the way it is, tests are a fact of life, they need to learn to control their energy and sit still.” And I really don’t have a ton of faith in a Texas public school doing that for us, but maybe I’ll be proven wrong, or maybe things will change, or maybe we won’t end up there.

One school model I’ve been researching a lot and strongly considering, especially for Kendall (who will be in 6th grade next year), is Acton Academy. They are growing rapidly, with campuses opening all over, but they started in Austin so there are quite a few central Texas locations. Unfortunately, there aren’t any near Lockhart as of now, which is one Austin area town we leaning toward.

It could be perfect for him if we can find a location that works. Here’s a little bit from a Forbes article about the Acton Academy approach:

At the Acton Academy, kids teach themselves and each other, as they respond to a series of challenges offered by adult “guides.” The challenges are tough, which leaves no one a stranger to life’s best teacher—failure. Talking out of turn and challenging the status quo are commonplace, but laziness and shirking are not acceptable.

The kids are responsible for an astounding number of things, right down to the janitorial work. Students run their own governance and currency systems, immersing themselves in negotiation and conflict resolution. They work part time as apprentices at local architecture firms, bakeries, and dance studios, exploring their personal interest and talents. And yes, they learn reading, writing, and arithmetic using state-of-the-art, game-based teaching tools that have helped them progress at three times the rate of their public school peers.

Best of all, kids are free to be kids. There’s no need to pump them full of Adderall to keep them chained to their desks, as they have the run of the place. Every act of learning is voluntary and self-directed.

Acton Academy locations are all run a bit differently in terms of schedule, it seems, but each campus I’ve researched is very flexible when it comes to attendance, especially as that relates to travel, giving us the freedom to set off on adventures at any time.

Time and circumstances and finances will tell where the kids go to school next year for 6th, 3rd, and kindergarten (we will likely start Lowell in K instead of 1st next year since his birthday would make him one of the youngest in a 1st grade class). I’m fairly confident that we won’t be the ones teaching them, though.

November 3, 2018

Digital Nomad House & Home Roadschool RV Life

So You Want To Travel With Your Family Full Time? Here’s Where To Start

by Jill August 24, 2018

written by Jill

I recently got a message on Instagram, and it’s like many I’ve received in the past that I keep meaning to answer in a blog post because there’s really no way I can fully answer it by typing out the words with my thumb.

I’m so eager to start my family on this type of journey but desperately seeking guidance on how to even go about beginning to think in life on the go mode! My soul is burning to get out there- but I have so many questions! Any suggestions for a wayward wannabe traveler like me to get my foot out the door on an exciting family adventure?

Whew! This is kinda like asking me to share the secret of life with you. (Kidding.) I’ll do my best to cover as much ground as I can here, where I have full use of both typing hands. This is coming from the perspective of traveling throughout the US full-time with children. No advice for Europe or hoping all over the globe… yet.

First, I think it’s SO IMPORTANT to say that we were not accomplished travelers or campers or hikers before we committed to this. The most we had traveled with our kids was a flight or two to Disney, and a cruise, and lots of road trips to see family.

We had never stepped foot in a national park as a family. Scott took the kids camping in a tent a couple times and I stayed home because so much nope to me camping in a tent with kids. (And also I really did have other work commitments those weekends, I swear!)

So if you want to travel with your family, but you don’t feel like you do that enough to jump in and do it full time, stop. There are no prerequisites for this life.

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It’s Go 🍌🍌🍌 O’clock, aka the hour before bedtime. (More mayhem in our stories. This is Wallace’s fav game!)

A post shared by Jill Krause —RV Family Travel (@happy.loud.life) on Aug 16, 2018 at 6:14pm PDT

Also? We are not camping. We live in an RV with a bathroom and an air conditioner (and a dishwasher and washer and dryer, even!). It’s totally different. So if you also “don’t camp” you could still totally live in an RV.

Where and how will you live?

If you are looking to travel in an RV, there are two different ways people can approach this. Many choose to buy their RVs with cash, opting for older models which can be found pretty cheap. It’s not unreasonable to expect to pick up an older travel trailer with a bunkhouse for less than $10,000. Many times you can negotiate a truck and trailer together for cash when other families are wrapping up their full time journeys. The upside to this is, of course, no payments while you travel, and that gives people a lot of flexibility when it comes to income.

The downsides, in my opinion, are you are spending a lot of cash on your setup, and that can seriously deplete your savings account. Older used rigs don’t come with warranties, and they could have mold. You especially need to be careful buying RVs from flood-affected areas.

The other option is to finance. That’s what we chose to do so we could get a new truck and nearly new (one owner for just a few months) RV. We wanted peace of mind that our RV and truck were in good shape and the chances that either would need repairs on the road would be small. That meant selling our house and dropping that mortgage payment, then filling our savings account with what we made off the sale of the home. We used a small portion of that for down payments on the RV and truck, and were able to keep the rest in our savings account.

We do have payments to account for on the road, but they are much less than what we were paying for our house, truck included.

What if you don’t want to deal with an RV?

If you intend to travel at a slower pace than a new place every few days to a week, and if you’re okay traveling without all your own personal conveniences, it may make more sense to stay monthly in VRBO or similar rentals. You can also checkout Sublet.com or Craigslist in areas you intend to stay to search for short-term, furnished rentals.

How will you work?

Scott worked remotely for the first few months at the job he had for the last 15 years, and now he works with me on my business, but mostly helps plan our route, school the kids, and keep the RV from becoming a biohazard.

I run another blog, which is my full-time income. I am a book author, and I speak and consult. I am also actively working to grow this platform and monetize our site, our social channels, and our YouTube channel. In addition to all that, I recently launched a side-hustle where I sell my photos from our travels.

Glacier National Park in ONE DAY- We Did It!

I made a little shy of 6 figures last year. That is not a humble brag. That is me being transparent about what we are working with. It’s possible to travel full time with much less, though. It all depends on your pace, and your budgeting skills. As a freelancer, we’ve had some lean months, and have been able to make it work by staying at our campsites longer, not going out to eat, and relying on lots of free entertainment. There is plenty to be found!

It’s unrealistic and I wouldn’t suggest for anyone to decide to embark on this life with plans to fully support it by blogging or with a YouTube channel if they don’t already have one that’s supporting them. So that’s not a viable means of income for many, but there are many other ways people make money while working from the road. These can include, but of course aren’t limited to:

Fulfillment By Amazon – already established businesses
MLM businesses that are already established (for example: essential oils)
Online tutoring (VIP Kid is a popular one)
Traveling photography business, also already established
Travel nurse
Oil field work
Seasonal harvest jobs
Workamping (many times this is working at an RV park in exchange for a site hookup and sometimes a paycheck, but this also includes many other exchanges of work)

The key to many of these is that they are already established and reliable sources of income. You could certainly try to launch a new business from the road, but I would strongly recommend you, at minimum, have a very healthy savings account in case it takes longer than you intend to become profitable.

Along with this piece of the puzzle, you need to figure out things like insurance and what kind of access to the internet you’ll need.

What about school?

If you have school-aged children, you’ll need to look up the homeschool laws in your home state. As Texas residents, we really lucked out. It just took a letter to our children’s school to notify them we intended to homeschool. Everything else is entirely up to us. Some states require more documentation, or that you use specific types of curriculum. It doesn’t matter what state you’re staying in at any given time, you go by the laws of your home state, meaning the state you have a permanent address at.

We spend on average about 10 hours a week doing lessons and reviewing materials, and the rest of the time we supplement with our experiences on the road. Don’t feel like you have to cram in 7 hours of sitting kids down in your RV or rental every weekday for lessons.

How can you have a permanent address and where do you get mail?

If you’re selling your house or leaving your lease, you’re going to need an address in the state you’d like to be your home state. For us, we knew we wanted to stay in Texas because of the homeschool laws and for tax purposes. Luckily, we were able to change our address to my mom’s address. She also receives our mail for us. She could send it to us, but most of it is junk. We do all our bill paying online.

If switching your address to a friend or family member isn’t an option, or if you want a different home state, there are services that help with that. Since we haven’t utilized them, I’m not knowledgeable enough to talk about them, but here’s a top-level Google search to get you started.

How long can you do this?

Some families travel for a stretch of a few months- maybe over a summer break or in between jobs or moves. Some families, like ours, set out to see as much as they can in a pre-determined time period. We’re aiming for between 12-18 months. Other families decide to jump in and make this their lifestyle for as long as it works. There are many full-time traveling families who’ve been happily doing this for years.

I think it’s important to have a plan, but to also stay flexible. We know that if it suddenly becomes uncomfortable or unrealistic for us to stay on the road, we can head back to Texas and stay with family while we figure out next steps. And if this lifestyle keeps going well for us, we have plans in place to stretch it out a little longer.

What about pets?

Many full-time RV travel families travel with their dogs and cats. It adds an extra layer of coordination, but it can be done.

We opted to have our 2 dogs fostered while we are gone. For us, the stress of dealing with 4 kids in the RV was such that adding young and active dogs to the mix was just too much. Also, we personally felt it would not be a good life for the dogs. We are out of the RV a lot. Many days we are gone for more than 8 hours. When we are traveling from one site to the next, we stop at a lot of places that don’t allow dogs, and we would have to find a safe place for them to stay because the RV can be way too hot when it’s not connected to electric, or sometimes very cold.

Again, many successfully manage these obstacles with some planning ahead, and their animals are just fine. I’m not saying it’s not a good life for all dogs and cats, just that it would be difficult for ours (one is a very large English mastiff.)

And there’s also the issue of space when we travel. Our truck cabin is already full with 6 people. We would have to put them in the RV to travel, which we don’t feel is a safe or comfortable way to go.

I have to stress that this particular decision was THE HARDEST thing to figure out. We love our dogs like family, and when we got them, this trip wasn’t even on our radar. But life changes, and we did everything in our power to be sure they are well taken care of by people who love them as much as we do. We pay all their vet bills, have food shipped to them, and take care of them in any other way that they need while we’re gone.

Their foster moms text us pictures and videos often, and occasionally they upload them to our @ArloAndRosie Instagram account.

What should you sell and purge?

This is going to end up being a whole other post that I hope to dig into soon. The short of it is you could sell everything, but if you don’t intend on living this way forever, I wouldn’t advise it. We didn’t sell everything. We sold and gave away a lot of stuff, for sure, but we have enough in a 10×10 storage unit and in family’s homes that we could easily furnish another house sparingly again.

We also kept our 2 other vehicles. One- a sedan- was paid off already, and my cousin now drives that to college so it’s not sitting while we’re gone. Our other- an SUV- we only had a year of payments left on. It didn’t make sense to sell it when we were so close to owning it. My sister is driving it while we’re away.

There’s a possibility we’ll rent out the RV and truck together when we settle, and this will still leave us with 2 cars to work with.

What if you hate it/ something breaks down/ you run out of money?

Before we launched, whenever we started to feel anxious about any number of things going wrong, we talked out what worse case scenarios were and then what we would realistically be able to do. Barring anything super crazy, we have a solid plan for every one. This meant having a bare minimum that we didn’t want to drop below in the savings account. This also meant having a place to fall back to (family) if we needed to get back on our feet and figure out our next move.

Some resources to get you going:

I could write so much more, but what’s more important than reading what I have to say is starting to do some real research. If you’re reading our story and thinking your life is nothing like ours and wondering if that means you could even try this, please know that this lifestyle looks different for everyone. There are so many ways families are making it work.

So to start, I would highly recommend joining the Facebook group Fulltime Families. This is what I first stumbled upon when I was wondering if we could even do this… if this was even a thing people do. Indeed, there are thousands of families already doing THIS right now, and many of them are in this FB group. It’s a wealth of information.

Additionally, they have a website, and a membership program for $45/year that is especially helpful if you’d like to meet up with other fulltiming families on the road.

Another website I found helpful was Ditching Suburbia. They also have a podcast. (I was interviewed for an episode.) Speaking of podcasts, you should also check out RV Family Travel Atlas.

If you’d like to explore RV site memberships, look into Thousand Trails. We have an annual camping pass with all the zones. There’s no way we could have afforded California without it.

I’ve also heard good things about supplementing TT memberships with an RPI membership. We haven’t done this yet so I can speak personally about it, but @ThoseByrnesGirls has an IG story highlight “Travel Costs” where she lays out their experience with it.

Finally, speaking of Instagram, check out the #FulltimeFamilies hashtag to find lots of other families making this lifestyle work. In my experience, this whole community has been so helpful and is always willing to share their highs and lows and tips and tricks. We are @Happy.Loud.Life there!

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Hi 👋🏻 We are the Krause Family, party of 6. We live in our RV full time as we travel the US. We’ve visited nearly half the states so far and over 12 national parks and monuments. We love WiFi and movie nights and Starbucks with parking lots big enough for our rig when we are traveling from one site to the next. We are not perfect at anything. We get stressed and yell at each other. We sleep in and stay up too late. We have too much junk still, even after purging and selling a 5 bedroom house. We really don’t know what we will do when we are done with this. We took a leap, and while I’d love to tell you this life has been like a movie, the truth is it’s messy and complicated. We are learning to trust our capes. 📷 by @jaimienicolekrause

A post shared by Jill Krause —RV Family Travel (@happy.loud.life) on Aug 13, 2018 at 3:51pm PDT

And we’d love for you to subscribe to us on YouTube!

August 24, 2018

Roadschool RV Life

Stability

by Jill August 14, 2018

written by Jill

What about their friends? What about school? What about sports?

What about stability?

When we announced our plans to sell it all and move into an RV to travel the country to our close friends and family, they were all, at minimum, supportive of us. Many were OVER THE TOP SO CRAZY EXCITED for us. Sure they had questions- totally valid ones. We couldn’t answer some of them, but they trusted that we’d figure it out, that we had everyone’s best interest in mind.

I realize now how very lucky we were to receive that type of response from the people who matter most to us.

Earlier this summer we were profiled by Life Hacker for the How I Parent series, which was an honor. It’s such a big platform, and I just saw it as a fun place to tell our story. The comment section was a major downer. I am still sitting on my hands, holding back from replying to any and all of them because I know it won’t do a bit of good.

Sometimes people just have their minds made up about what they don’t know. And there’s no arguing with them in the comment section that’s going to change that. I’ve been around the internet long enough to learn this lesson.

One theme in the comments was how we are “abusing” our children. Yes, you read that right. Our fed and clothed and loved and educated children are being abused because… we took them away from their friends. We are forcing them to live in a small space. They don’t go to a traditional school.

Like, what about stability?

I’m a member of a few groups on Facebook for families traveling full time, and this topic comes up quite a bit. Someone wants to know how to respond to a loved one when they express that they are concerned about their family doing this. It always comes down to that word- stability.

I was thinking about this when our daughter Leyna took off riding her bike with no training wheels a couple weeks ago. There she was, so strong and stable, but only because she had the freedom to fall and learn. Only because she had wide open spaces to practice. Because her parents guided her and gave her the tools she needed, while also watching on from a distance to make sure she stayed safe.

This is the same girl who went from not reading to reading chapter books from the time we launched until this summer. But, you know, her education is a concern, right?

She also mastered swimming this spring. She went from swimming with Puddle Jumpers to passing the deep end test in Palm Springs in only a few days, and was happily jumping from the diving boards with her big brother. But it’s real sad she “doesn’t have friends.”

Stability can look like a house, and a bedroom, and a school, and weekly playdates, and a soccer team. Stability can also look like an apartment with a room shared with mom and siblings, and daycare, and weekends with grandma while mom works a 2nd job. Stability can look like moving every year to a new military base. Stability isn’t about the place you live, and how long you live there, or where you learn.

If what really matters in life keeps showing up for you- the people you love, the space you need to grow and learn, safety, shelter, then I believe you can feel stable. I say this as a former Navy Brat and child of divorce who moved more than I can count on both hands.

Every day, our kids wake up in a place where they know they will find love, guidance, discipline, encouragement, food, clothes, and a roof over their head. Where that place is parked makes no difference. That’s their stability.

August 14, 2018

Roadschool

How We Roadschool

by Jill August 8, 2018

written by Jill

As recently as a couple years ago, we NEVER imagined we’d be a homeschooling family, and we didn’t even know what ROADschooling was. We’ve had to do a lot of learning this year about how to teach our kids while we’re on the road, and we’re still changing things up and evolving. I think we always will be.

We’ve settled into a great routine that seems to be working well for us for now, though, and I know a lot of you are hungry for more details about how we handle roadschooling, so I’m partnering with Ask, Listen, Learn, a program of Responsibility.org, to share all the details with you.

When we first jumped into homeschooling, before we were on the road, we tried to put our own curriculum together. We pulled together online resources, podcasts, and workbooks, and we created these homeschooling BINGO sheets for the kids to use each day. It was fine for a few months when we were transitioning, but we decided we needed more structure and less pressure on ourselves to create weekly lessons once we hit the road.

Shortly after we launched, we started using Acellus Homeschool (the name recently changed to Power Homeschool) for both Kendall and Leyna. It was only $10/month/kid up until very recently. We just received an email that it will now be $25/month/kid, and while that’s a significant increase, it’s still a good value to us because it truly took a huge burden off our shoulders when it came to coordinating and planning the kids core lessons.

We currently use ABCMouse.com for Lowell at the preschool level. You can get your first month free through this affiliate link.

Acellus gave us a base to work from. We knew the kids were learning and being tested on math, social studies, language arts, and science. They progressed through each subject, and earned certificates of completion for each, along with a certificate of completion upon graduating the entire grade level. It was nice to have that so that we knew they were staying on track and they could see their hard work paying off in a tangible way.

Knowing that these core subjects were handled, we can reach out in a lot of fun and unconventional ways to fill in the rest, and one resource we’ve touched on, and that I am looking forward to digging into more this coming year is Ask, Listen, Learn. This is an underage drinking prevention program that is all about having conversations with your kids. And besides that, they also have videos made specifically for kids all about how alcohol affects their developing brains.

We’ve been talking to the kids about responsible alcohol use for years, and the easiest way to convey this message to them has been to come at it from a science angle. Adult brains are physically able to handle alcohol better, but overuse of alcohol can even damage adults. It’s that simple. These videos do a great job of breaking that down and illustrating it for them in a very direct and shame-free way that doubles as a neuroscience lesson! Plus they are short and sweet—only about 2 minutes each.

AskListenLearn.org has resources beyond these videos, too, for parents (homeschooling not required), kids (they have games!), AND teachers! There are lessons about peer pressure and healthy living, and also some great conversations starters for parents. Plus, it’s free, which is always a bonus!

If you’ve been following us for more than a day, you probably know we ALWAYS get the kids involved wth Junior Ranger programs at national (and some state) parks and monuments, and those have been a fantastic way to supplement their roadschool lessons. They usually consist of workbooks with activities that scale up in difficulty depending on their age. 90% of the time, they are HARD and take a few hours to complete, and the kids really have to observe their surroundings in intentional ways before earning those Jr. Ranger badges.

You’ve likely seen me mention how much we love listening to podcasts with the kids while we roadtrip. Our current favorites are: Circle Round, Wow In The World, and Brains On. Scott and I also enjoy How I Built This, which isn’t really a kids podcast, but I think it’s great for kids to at least overhear stories of entrepreneurship that include personal accounts of failure before success! It’s so important for our kids to know that failure is an important and valuable part of life.

Finally, we keep it old school and ask them to write journal entries a few times a week. Sometimes that can look like creative writing, sometimes we just ask that they describe what we did that day. We don’t stress over spelling or sentence structure too much. We really just want them to have a good relationship with writing down their thoughts and feelings and ideas, so we try to keep this enrichment activity low stress.

Beyond what I’ve already listed here, we are simply always on the lookout for learning opportunities. Sometimes it’s a spontaneous “let’s Google that” family session when someone asks a question that nobody knows the answer to. Sometimes it’s relying on a 10 year old to read a paper map and help you navigate when GPS isn’t working. One of the many beautiful facets of this lifestyle is you can’t help but learn something new every day.

Thanks to Ask, Listen, Learn for sponsoring this post. Be sure to check out their site for science-based digital resources to help you have powerful and effective conversations with children ages 9-12 about underage drinking.

August 8, 2018

Roadschool RV Life Uncategorized

What We Bring When Hiking With A Baby

by Jill June 8, 2018

written by Jill

Wallace, our nearly 18 month old, LOVES hiking. When he sees the backpack come out, he literally cheers. (Seriously, you have to watch the video at the bottom of this post if only to see how happy he is in it.) We have not always been so excited about hiking with a baby, though. It seriously overwhelmed us in the beginning.

Then we got a few good experiences under our belt, and once we learned that as long as we have some essentials with us, and the art of not overpacking, it got a lot better.

So I thought I’d share what those hiking essentials are for us. One of those items is a Baby Jack & Co. Learning Lovey, and they are sponsoring this post. Such a natural fit because Wallace loves his and has for over a year.

We don’t do hardcore hikes with the kids. We’re usually only gone a few hours. But we do need to try to prepare for what we can without bringing too much!

We start with a hiking backpack. Hands down, one of THE BEST investments we made before launching. We have the Deuter Kid Comfort Air child carrier. We purchased it and the shade from Amazon. The shade has been essential because Wallace refuses to wear hats for longer than a couple minutes.

We LOVE this thing. We did a review of it for our new Happy Loud Life YouTube channel last week. The video is at the bottom of this post.

We add a Baby Jack & Co. Learning Lovey by clipping it onto the side. This thing serves so many functions! It’s clearly adorable and soft, and great for snuggling or for playing. The ribbon loops are sewn shut, so no need to worry about them snagging on anything we brush against, or little fingers getting stuck in them. The designs are fun and educational. The sewn in teething toy link is super strong, keeping it attached to the backpack with no need to worry that it will fall off and get lost.

In addition to it being a source of snuggles and entertainment for Wallace, we’ve used this lovey to cover cold toes while he napped, to play peek-a-boo while we wait for meals or busses, and wipe up a dirty face and sticky hands a few times. It’s also been a small changing pad a couple times in a pinch. (It washes beautifully.)

GET 30% OFF BABY JACK & CO. WITH CODE WALLACELOVEY

We always bring a bottle with water. Though Wallace is able to drink from a sippy cup, he does better with a baby bottle on his own still, and that can be key when we’re hiking, and he’s thirsty, but we don’t have the extra hands to help him. We actually got a great stainless steel bottle from Walmart, of all places, for less than $6, and it’s been perfect. They don’t seem to carry them at many stores anymore, though (we’ve been looking for a backup). One of these from Amazon would do the trick, too.

As you can see in the photo at the top of the post, it fits perfectly in a side mesh pocket of the carrier.

We try to never forget a spare pacifier!

We pack a few diapers and wipes in a large plastic bag, in case we need to pack out a dirty diaper or two.

We bring at least 1-2 fruit/veggie puree pouches. They are simply the easiest snacks, and honestly, what did we ever do without this invention? I can’t believe I parented one baby before these came to market. My last 3 babies have sucked down a metric ton of puree pouches.

Finally, we never leave home without sunscreen and bug spray. Pictured here: Burt’s Bees Baby Nourishing Mineral Sunscreen and Badger Anti-Bug Spray.

And that’s pretty much it! I mean, of course we will pack a jacket if it’s chilly, or extra snacks if we’ll be out all day. But those are the basics that we always grab. It’s routine now, and we have a place in the carrier for all of it. We just stuff pockets, clip on the Baby Jack & Co. Learning Lovey, and go!

Remember, you can get 30% a Baby Jack & Co. Learning Lovey with the code WALLACELOVEY at checkout. Thanks so much, BJ & Co., for sponsoring this post!

What are some essentials that your family can’t hike with baby without? Would love to hear from you!

And, as promised, here’s our review of our baby carrier.

June 8, 2018

Destinations Roadschool RV Life

It Just Matters That We’re Doing It

by Jill May 23, 2018

written by Jill

Let’s be totally honest. It’s a lot of work to get out and explore nature with our kids.

Despite the beautiful pictures, and the incredible video, in the moments you don’t see or hear, that I don’t always share, our kids are whining about no WiFi and no video games and how they really can’t possibly walk another 10 steps. And trees are boring, and they never want to see the desert again, and a canyon is just another canyon to them.

In other words- they are still the same. We didn’t all morph into the embodiment of a L.L. Bean commercial when we took off on this adventure.

Taking our kids to national parks and state parks and other very nature-y places is an intentional choice that we know will require a lot of effort. No doubt, it WILL pay off in the long run, and we do see glimpses of that already, but in the short term, those days can feel very long and not always very gratifying.

I talk about this exact topic in our weekend YouTube episode here. Have you subscribed to our new channel yet?? We would LOVE for you to!

Not to mention that it’s exhausting- physically and mentally- keeping them safe while we are there. We are always balancing restrictions for their safety with giving them the freedom to explore and experience places in ways that feel fun and natural to them.

If you’ve followed me over on Baby Rabies for any amount of time, you probably know that I fight anxiety most days. That anxiety can make taking kids to spaces like these 10x harder. That’s a topic I hope to cover in depth a lot more, both here and on our YouTube channel over the next weeks and months.

The short and immediate answer, though, is YES, it absolutely affects how I parent them even more now that we are on the go and visiting places like national parks often. I have to be very conscious of how easy it is to helicopter and overcorrect them, and how it feels sometimes like all eyes are on us when we are out when in reality we aren’t bothering many people.

Sometimes Scott and I catch ourselves feeling like we’re doing this wrong- we’re nature-ing wrong, national park-ing wrong, we’re parenting kids through adventure wrong. Not because we aren’t trying our very hardest to give them incredible experiences that they will remember and learn something from, but because it is SO very hard to do that. And it’s very rarely magical in the moment.

There are probably families out there that can’t relate to this at all. Their kids find a deep connection with the outdoors, they play and magic happens before their eyes. I envy them, but I don’t resent them. I also think, though, that there is a place for the families like ours in this life. The ones who have to work harder to make these experiences happen aren’t doing anything wrong, I’ve finally come to believe. We are just starting from a different place, and magic looks different and comes at it’s own pace for us.

That’s what I remind myself. It doesn’t matter that sometimes it feels like we’re doing it wrong. It just matters that we’re doing it.

advice for taking kids to national parks

May 23, 2018

Destinations Roadschool RV Life

Schlitterbahn- THE Texas Waterpark

by Jill March 13, 2018

written by Jill

When we finally got our house on the market, it was in pristine condition. It was GORGEOUS and SUPER CLEAN and OMG we had to get our kids out of there before they destroyed it.

It was the beginning of the school year, but still hot as heck in Texas. It felt like a great time to take advantage of our first year of homeschooling/roadschooling by taking the kids to Schlitterbahn during a school week. Low crowds and lots of sunny fun to be had!

I reached out to the Schlitterbahn team, and they were so kind and generous. They hooked us up with an adorable 2 bedroom Riverbend cabin right above The Falls – think not-so-lazy river- (and steps away from many other attractions) for 2 nights.

Yeah, if you’re from Texas, you probably know of the awesomeness that is Schlitterbahn. Heck, we had our senior class trip there. But did y’all even know they have cabins? Because I had no idea!

For those not from Texas, Schlitterbahn is THE waterpark. In our humble Texan opinion, it’s not just the best in the state, but probably the entire country. It’s 70 acres and over 51 attractions because you know how we do things BIG here in Texas. And that means it’s a lot of bang for your buck.

The cabin was ideal for life with a baby at a waterpark. We were steps away from that lazy river down below, but not so close that I had to worry about the kids accidentally falling in. Our balcony had a great railing, and Wallace and I hung out on the patio and watched the kids and Scott float by below just before naptime.

This river wasn’t exactly “lazy.” It’s actually the world’s longest waterpark ride, with lots of waves, drops, waterfalls, and a ride up a conveyor belt! Our 4 year old wasn’t a huge fan and insisted on riding only with his dad, and we did not feel comfortable taking the baby on it. But the older two LOVED it and rode it over and over. And according to Scott, it’s the best “lazy river” in the history of water parks.

We made lunch in our kitchen, and at night we had access to the pool, which was just a short walk away after the park closed. I would say that was Lowell’s favorite part. He loved late night pool swims, and so did the baby!

For dinner, we ordered takeout from Underground Pizza, which was a quick drive from the resort. Their cheese wurst, anti-oxidant salad, mac & cheese, and margarita (pizza) pie were all huge hits with the whole family. Since we had a kitchen with a microwave and a refrigerator, we were able to order more than we needed for one meal and stretch it over 2 days.

And when you’re this close to Gruene, you must visit the Gristmill, so we did that the last night we were there.

It was just the kind of laid-back vacation we needed after the stress of getting the house show ready. Though we did try to weave in some roadschooling by listening to Stuff You Should Know’s “How Waterslides Work” podcast episode.

Now the kids keep bringing Schlitterbahn up, wondering when we’ll go back, and we definitely will when we are back in Texas. Kendall could spend all day at the Boogie Bahn Surfing Ride.

If you’re traveling through central Texas, it’s 100% worth a day or two of your itinerary! If you want to check out the cabins and other lodging options, head here. If you’re going to be visiting in your RV, there are many RV parks in the area. Here’s a list with reviews.

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Thank you to Schlitterbahn for providing the lodging and park admission in exchange for blog and social media coverage. All opinions and photos are my own.

March 13, 2018

Roadschool

Homeschool BINGO

by Jill September 28, 2017

written by Jill

I never intended to homeschool the kids. Not when they were babies, not when they started public school, not even after we announced that we were going to sell the house and hit the road.

Homeschool was never what I envisioned. We were going to ROADschool. It’s totally different, okay? (I actually have no idea.)

Roadschool means we’d have to be on the road, though, and since we’re still NOT on the road and still living in a house, and since I can’t just have these kids sitting around playing video games all day, I had to come up with some version of homeschool.

A lot of seasoned homeschooling/roadschooling parents have told me to chill out and go slow as we ease into this new normal. I find myself being cool about the whole thing one minute and then freaking out that my kids are going to fall behind the next minute.

So I had to come up with something that made me feel like we had a routine, and some expectations were set. It’s for me as much as it is for them. In an effort to give them some control over their own day and get them excited about learning, I came up with Homeschool BINGO for each of them. On school days, all they have to do is do 5 tasks that make a BINGO on their own sheets. It takes them about 2-3 hours, usually.

After I shared a bit about it on our Instagram and Facebook page, a lot of readers asked for more details. Here they are!

Each BINGO has 25 squares. They have to get BINGO by completing a row of tasks (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) or 4 corners and the center. Some tasks are repeated a couple times. I came up with them by first seeing what we had on hand in the house already. We’ve purchased some fun workbooks from Usborne (that’s my friend Ashley’s link). I also noted which apps we already have that the kids love. I incorporated a few physical activity tasks. The center square isn’t “free” in this case, but 30 minutes of outdoor play. Then I put in a big order with Amazon to supplement the rest. (All Amazon links are affiliate, FYI.)

This is Leyna’s, 1st grade:

2 Brainquest worksheets
Create a LEGO structure
Write a postcard– I ordered blank postcards, and they can draw a picture on the front, then write a message on the back. They must also address it to the person they are sending to. We have a few samples with addresses for people like their grandparents, cousins, and Rosie (our pug, living with a foster mom).
45 minutes Cool Math app
30 minutes reading
45 minutes ABC mouse app (get your first month free with this link)
Color a United State page – We also talk about what’s written on the page.
Math flashcards
Listen to a podcast- We like Circle Round for Leyna.
20 jumping jacks, 2 runs up the stairs, 1 run around our (huge) yard
Color a human body page – Like the US coloring book, we talk about the page she’s coloring. It’s very informative!
Watch a Kids TEDX talk
30 minutes of outdoor play
2 page journal entry- For Leyna, this is a 2 page picture with a sentence written below it. This can be about anything, but sometimes I ask her to do this about the podcast or TEDX talk or nature documentary she watched.
2 pages in Adding & Subtracting Activity Book
Watch a nature documentary (usually something on Netflix)
Wikki Sticks for 30 minutes
Outdoor observation journal- go outside, find something cool, come in and research it, write a couple pages about it, draw a picture of it
Spelling flashcards
2 handwriting workbook pages
Draw an animal, list 3 facts about it

And for Kendall, 4th grade:

3 Brainquest worksheets
Write a postcard
Create a LEGO structure
45 minutes Cool Math app
45 minutes reading
1 Engineer Academy activity
45 minutes BrainPOP app
2 Mad Libs
Listen to a podcast- We like Wow In The World for Kendall.
30 jumping jacks, 2 runs up the stairs, 1 run around the yard
45 minutes Bloxels
Watch a Kids TEDX talk
30 minutes outdoor play
2 page journal entry- For Kendall, this is two written pages.
2 pages in Write & Draw Your Own Comics workbook
45 minutes Khan Academy (I replaced “watch a nature doc” with this recently)
2 pages in the Creative Writing workbook
Outdoor observation journal
Vocabulary flashcards
Read 1 entry in the Boys Best at Everything book
Multiplication flash cards
Minecraft Math workbook
Read 1 entry in How Stuff Works
45 minutes on Prodigy

We’ve been using these for a week and a half and they’ve been a great solution. I have them saved as .PSD files so I can easily make changes, move things around, and substitute tasks. I’ll probably change them up next week.

A few of you asked if you could download the template, so here’s one that’s blank. You can print this and handwrite your own tasks… (link here to full-size original)

Or you can download the .PSD version here if you want to add your tasks in Photoshop.

I’d love to know how you end up using this and what tasks you put in yours! A few people have told me that even though they don’t homeschool, this has been a great way to get kids to do chores and homework.

For those wondering why we aren’t signed up for a specific curriculum, we’re basing most of what we learn, day to day, on where we will be and the places around us once we hit the road. The basics- math and reading- will be something we focus on, for sure, and I imagine a lot of that will happen in the RV in our downtime. The rest will come together on it’s own as we go.

September 28, 2017