Homeschooling for Academic Reasons - Hittin' the Road

"Hittin' the Road" gives resources and ideas on how to take your homeschool on the road.
"Our Travels" documents some of the places we've traveled and also how they enhanced our studies.
"Armchair Tourist" is a collection of great reading and other resources for when you just can't get there in person.
Our Travel Log The link to our blog spot, also our essays and other writings about homeschooling on the road.

If you camp, you know the smell. The one that grabs your nose when you air out that tent and unpack those sleeping bags. If you stored your gear correctly, it's not mildew. No this smell is adventure. The campfire, the orange blossoms, the sea, the wonderful scents you encountered the last time you hit the trail.

At our house it starts with an idea from a book, a video, junk mail, a movie a photo. It goes something like this. "Let's go to the Amazon." The look. "Well, how about a remote island that you can only get to by boat?" Google is our friend. I have a travel budget. I fund that pot early in the year, so if this sort of request comes early enough in the year, we may end up in the Amazon or Bora Bora. If this suggestion comes when the pot is almost empty, we may end up on a local lake. We have travelin' feet. It doesn't take much to get us on the road.

We're good a planning and packing. Sometimes we forget things and necessity is always the mother of invention. I have found some really good resources on the road, I am sure you have too. Pass those resources along. Explore the ones we've managed to record here:

 

 

 

Topics Items to Explore

 

 

 

 

Good Places


North America
& Caribbean

Roadside America - Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions
RoadsideAmerica.com is a caramel-coated-nutbag-full of odd and hilarious travel destinations -- over 7,000 places -- ready for exploration.

Our list of really good places to go when you take your homeschool on the road, organized by region. (Places you'll walk away with good memories and maybe something you didn't know!) With Contributions from other homeschooling families.


Bed and Breakfast Inns ONLINE - Bed and Breakfasts, Country Inns. Locate A B&B by choosing from over 5,200 B&Bs with more than 20,000 color pictures and 4,000 special packages!

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store - Really. Heard any good books lately? Nothing makes a long trip go by faster than a good book to listen to. That's why you'll find a great selection of over 200 titles at every Cracker Barrel Old Country Store location, including many New York Times best sellers. If you’re a fan of audio book rentals, check out our Books-On-Tape program.

International


Teacher Educational Cruises offers group-cruises to teachers, administrators, their families and friends! We also book homeschooler special excursions with FANTASTIC off-seaon rates.

www.kidscantravel.com is an emergent website for families intent on making the most of the their leisure time together. Whether you are planning a family vacation or weekend break with the kids, kids can travel offers inspiring editorial content and the tools to get your there. Not only do we believe that kids can travel, travel with kids is fun and it is a great opportunity to introduce children to the world beyond their backdoor. Outstanding family vacation ideas and the tools to get you there. Get tips and advice for travel with kids. Find great child-friendly destinations and attractions. Discover fun things to do with kids."

Inspired travel starts at Concierge.com from Condé Nast Traveler. Travel and Vacation Ideas at Concierge.com

Don't want to be herded around on a guided tour? Don't want to do it all on your own? Untours - European Vacation Home Rentals and Packages.

Vacation Rentals by Owner -68,500 Vacation Rentals - Rental Homes by Owner

International (Need to Know)

 

The US State Department issues travelers advisories regarding certain regions of the world. Remember to keep your passport current and make a copy of it and give it to a friend before you leave home in case you need to send for a copy. Losing a passport in a foreign country can be a real hassle.

 

Health

When traveling always pay attention to health issues. Nothing can ruin a trip faster than illness abroad. For our trip to Central America we went for travel immunizations, we also took malaria pills since were going to the high country, and we brought Cipro along just in case -for that intestinal bacterial infection sometimes associated with travel!

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta is a great place to find out what you may need to know about travel and health issues.


Photography

See the photos we have posted from some of our travels [here].

Photosharing

The first photo sharing sites originated during the mid to late 1990s primarily from ... Some photo sharing sites provide complete online organization tools ...

Flickr.com - almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world - has two main goals: 1. We want to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them.2. We want to enable new ways of organizing photos.

Slide delivers your favorite digital content to your desktop or Web site in the form of a simple, sleek Slide show. Slide delivers digital content from any source directly to you according to your interests: images, text and video created by you or your friends, the Web's top news and entertainment sources, the blogosphere and the most popular online merchants... anything can be watched in Slide.

Shutterfly - Develop, Print, Share Digital Photos: Create Photo Gifts Online.

 

 

Communication & Cyberspace

Most public libraries have free web access although the hours of operation are often limited.

Cybercafes are popping up all over the world. Along with food and coffee, all of these places serve up computers with Internet connections at an hourly rate. Find a Public Internet Access Point Near You - Cyber Cafe Search Engine

Q. What is WiFi? A. Wireless Fidelity - Otherwise known as Wireless Networking
"WiFi is the wireless way to handle networking. It is also known as 802.11 networking and wireless networking. The big advantage of WiFi is its simplicity. You can connect computers anywhere in your home or office without the need for wires. The computers connect to the network using radio signals, and computers can be up to 100 feet or so apart. " from "How WiFi Works" by Marshall Brain at howstuffworks.com.

WiFi on the road

Secure Wireless Services & International access.

Your Tips & Tales...
...from the Road. Do you have a blog spot? Post it here. Do you have tips you want to share with other homeschoolers on the road? Contribute them and we'll post them here!

Our Tales
I have found that even though I put the locations and dates on the backs of the thousands of images I have captured, as I get older my memory fails and the notes I keep when we travel are now becoming more and more treasured. What you'll find here are the notes I have kept while we homeschool on the road.



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