Skoolie with kids

[Illusion]

Does anyone live full time on a skoolie with kids? How do they like it and what is there education like?

[CaptainInsaneo]

I am going to throw this out there. 2 things, 1 the lady friend is a teacher When home schooling comes up she always gets very apprehensive and if you pry she will tell you teaching is a a mix of skill and talent. Talent you have it or you don't. Skill can be worked on, She has 130 kids per year to refine her skills, she has taught thousands of kids, how many kids have you practiced with? Not to mention she has had thousands of hours of schooling on how to teach how many have you had. Let a pro handle it, they have the tools, techniques and experience.

2 I had several friends in college who were home schooled and while they were very smart and had a lot of information they had a real struggle dealing with the environment and the social aspects of higher education coming from home school.

I really find it hard to believe it is in the kids best interest to not have formal education.

I also will say this being a full timer is YOUR choice, your kids have NO choice. While they will see and do thing most kids won't, they also won't learn how to deal with the normal regimentation of modern society. They may learn how to deal with literal wolves but not figurative wolves in sheep's clothing.

Watch the documentary Surfwise. All those kids turned out broken. At the end the lady friend looks at me and says what did they think was going to happen.

[nat_ster]

Formal education is only needed if your going to use it. Otherwise it's a waste of money and time.

A grade 12 is needed by all, unless your going to live in the bush like a animal.

I only went to school for 2.3 years of my life. Then at 19 I went and studied for 3 months and wrote my grade 12 equivalency test (GED).
This allowed me to enter the trades, and become ticketed in the trades I work.
From there I already had 100's of hours of practical experience, so I was able to challenge the first year tests for all trades. In one year I became a fist year in Carpentry, plumbing, and electrical.

Going to public school "Programs" you the way society wants you to act, behave, think and function in their world. Fail to stay within the rules and ways they set out, and you find yourself in prison for a long time.

In the old days, we could remove ourselves from society. You could go to a remote piece of land and do your own thing. Now it's vary illegal, and they will not allow it even for a short time.
Now our only option for "Checking Out" of society is to live homeless on the street, or live in prison for the rest of our lives.

My new son will be home schooled by me. Fock society and all it stands for. I will tech him what he really needs to know about life. He will not be a vulnerable idiot like most, depending on the system to live.

Nat

[Scooternj]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

From there I already had 100's of hours of practical experience, so I was able to challenge the first year tests for all trades. In one year I became a fist year in Carpentry, plumbing, and electrical.

One of the biggest things that Adam Savage talks about when he talks about education is get rid of "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) talk and replace it with "STEAM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, Math). One of the biggest things being tossed from public school curriculum are the Arts- Fine, Performing, and Industrial. I had 4.5 years of industrial arts when I went to Cresskill Jr/Sr High School- 4 years of mechanical and architectural drawing, and a semester of wood shop in 8th grade. Those years of mechanical and architectural drawing helped me immensely in being able to read radio schematics as well as build and read floor plans (for the Air Force).
By pulling out the arts, schools *are* creating a nation of drones who can't think or figure something out mechanical for themselves.

[ol trunt]

CaptainInsaneo, Amen to that!

[EastCoastCB]

I hated every single second of school.
I sort of agree with Nat on this one.

Just look at the "quality" of the curriculum these days. Kids are learning zilch.
But I'm in Florida where educating people is one of the last priorities of the local government. Our schools are among the worst in the states.

[ol trunt]

The Florida situation sounds like a perfect place for parents to implement supplemental home schooling. With a high proportion of retirees such as Florida has it must be difficult to get the votes needed to pay for quality schooling. The situation might even lend itself to a money making endeavor for a person energetic enough to operate an after school school where kids could be tutored in those areas lacking in the conventional schools. Time to think and act out of the box it sounds like to me.

[OMGIBoughtABus]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Kids are learning zilch.

What? Are you saying Common Core isn't good schooling?

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by OMGIBoughtABus

What? Are you saying Common Core isn't good schooling?

Help, I've fallen and can't get up. When my daughter was born I was determined to not have her attend public school. It cost me a fortune(not a small one) to have her go to private school. After that, she went to UCSD. Now she is an adult, a good citizen and more than capable of taking care of herself. My job is done.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

The Florida situation sounds like a perfect place for parents to implement supplemental home schooling. With a high proportion of retirees such as Florida has it must be difficult to get the votes needed to pay for quality schooling. The situation might even lend itself to a money making endeavor for a person energetic enough to operate an after school school where kids could be tutored in those areas lacking in the conventional schools. Time to think and act out of the box it sounds like to me.

You, sir, have hit the nail on the head.

They spend all our money on the old people.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by crazycal

Help, I've fallen and can't get up. When my daughter was born I was determined to not have her attend public school. It cost me a fortune(not a small one) to have her go to private school. After that, she went to UCSD. Now she is an adult, a good citizen and more than capable of taking care of herself. My job is done.

This sounds about right.
We got put into private schooling in high school, thank goodness. It was like night and day. Used to drive my mum crazy to pay 40 grand a year in income tax and have to pay out of pocket for schooling too.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

This sounds about right.
We got put into private schooling in high school, thank goodness. It was like night and day. Used to drive my mum crazy to pay 40 grand a year in income tax and have to pay out of pocket for schooling too.

Just tell your mom it was money well spent. Tell her that you might have turned to be a hippie...oh wait. Just kidding.

[EastCoastCB]

Hippie > Thug

[CaptainInsaneo]

Being a full time nomad/ bus dweller is a subversive lifestyle, this is not up for debate. You need to make sure you kid see it as a subversive lifestyle before you take them on Mr. Toads wild ride living a subversive lifestyle. I will be the first to say I don't agree with the system and the "American Dream" but I understand it and why I don't want it.

You asked how the kids like it. Do kids like vegetables? Going to the doctors and getting shots? Cleaning their room? What kids like and what they need are two different things.

My folks would take me an my brother and my grandparents (moms folks) on a month long trailer road trip in the summer every year. So I have seen a glimpse of it. As an adult with hindsight I would never take my kids on the road full time. Now that said live in the rig at a trailer park, take them to school and come may leave and roam until august. That sounds fine. If you want them to go to college or a trade school they need to have at least a couple of years in high school so they can relate with others who didn't have such an untethered experience.

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Hippie > Thug

Second!

Originally Posted by Scooternj

By pulling out the arts, schools *are* creating a nation of drones who can't think or figure something out mechanical for themselves.

So the lady friend also runs some clubs one of them is a gamers club where they play MTG, D&D, board games, and have some video games on the projector. I have gone in to help a couple of times and it is really scary watching some of those kids play first person shooters, the fluidity and ruthlessness they have is just, wow. Not only have we created a nation of unthinking drones we have trained them to be mindless killers.

[daddyoften]

We have home schooled our 8 kids from day one! We get complimented on how well our kids behave everywhere we go and people guess they are homeschooled because they behave so well. We were asked "aren't you concerned about there social skills? " I reply "yes! That's WHY we homeschool! " It's not for everyone, but if you can do it then DO IT! I know a lot of employers who prefer homeschool over public education. I find that most people who are against homeschooling don't understand it. It is a huge blessing for the kids to like to learn and actually learn, not just memorize it for a test. Oh, and another thing, traveling with homeschool kids is like one huge field trip! They soak it in like a sponge!
God bless,
Eric

[marbury]

Originally Posted by daddyoften

We were asked "aren't you concerned about there social skills? " I reply "yes! That's WHY we homeschool! "

This is exactly why I don't trust homeschooling. It's limited to the knowledge, experiences, and mindset of an extremely limited number of people. In public or private K-12 schools a student will (usually) spend time with over 100 educators and (usually) many, many thousands of students. Of course this may be a one-off grammar mistake, but parents who homeschool are limiting their child's potential to what they can provide.

Perhaps it's because I've seen the most homeschooled kids in the deep south, but it seems to me that most parents choose homeschooling so they can filter out anything that goes against their very narrow view of religion. I find that extremely harmful. Children don't have choices when they're presented with one 'truth' and never allowed to question, discover, or grow on their own.

Mind you, the home schooling atmosphere and the style of learning are probably far more engaging to a child than most public schools in the USA. Plus traveling all over as a mobile family would have been wicked fun for me as a kid, but like others have said; what is fun and what is best may not always be the same thing.

And as others mentioned, kids who live on a moving bus may struggle to fit in with peers that don't live on a moving bus. There is a stigma. Kids can be sensitive to being 'different'. Some may embrace it and LOVE it, some may resent it and look back on it with embarrassment.

[Illusion]

Thanks everyone for your opinions. My wife and I are gonna Pursue buying a house and converting a bus over time as a recreational vehicle instead of a full time living vehicle.

[nat_ster]

Sadly, as long as your in debt buying that house, you won't have money to build a bus, or have any time / money to enjoy it.

Good luck living in the rat race.

Nat

[The-Breeze]

School/homeschool ...I don't really care which way you choose. Just so long as they learn enough to survive in the "real world".

I loved learning/I hated school but I survived it.

I ended up working in a Corporate environment for 27 years. I promised myself that I would leave after 5, being there for the money and all. That didn't happen. And all that after being a full timer for a couple of years. I bucked the system for those 27 years and was lucky to be able slip by the "others" and earn enough money to enjoy life now that I'm older.

I love the FT life, coming & going as we pleased, doing whatever you fancy at the time. Meeting new people, going new places. Trying new food, cultures & ways. Everything that goes with being a full timer.

I somehow in my life became a hippie & spent almost all my life being different. But....there's no guarantee that things don't change. It was pure hell when you find yourself having to fit in to the "real world".

If you plan to take your children deep in the woods and far away from civilization their "whole life" then raise them as you feel best.

But remember that at some point in their lives, they get to choose how they want to live. Or even, they find themselves in a situation where they don't get to choose. Please make sure you've prepared them for that.

I think the best any parent can do for a child is to teach them the skills needed to get along, make friends & enjoy life. Cause when all is said & done, it's not how smart or rich I am that matters to me. it's how well did I enjoy the life I had.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by Rentfree

Thanks everyone for your opinions. My wife and I are gonna Pursue buying a house and converting a bus over time as a recreational vehicle instead of a full time living vehicle.

And...run like hell from the crazies on this forum.