Activities You’ll Miss by Taking Your Family on the Road

Taking your kiddos out of the public or private school system and entering the homeschool arena is a big transition. More times than not, extra-curricular sports are not affected. As a matter of fact, homeschoolers can actually make more time for added activities, if desired, because of a more flexible schedule. But what happens when you take your family on the road? Worried about all the things you’ll miss by embarking on this full-time adventure in America’s backyard? Well here’s the take on the subject from the Roadschool 101 crew.

Participating in team sports or being involved in club activities that require being in one location is often a sacrifice for a family that travels full-time. While making friends and learning commitment values are a major advantage to this scenario, such activities usually also come with a rigorous practice and performance schedule. Being on the road, delivers a brand new abundance of family time that can be divided up as little or as much as desired. And, making friends and learning commitment values can still be achieved along with a multitude of other character-building ideals.

If your roadschooler already has a passion for a certain sport, you can usually achieve making it part of your life but it will require a bit more effort for all parties. We’ve found that if we are stationary for any length of time, even for several weeks, this time period can lead to participation in activities offered through city parks and recreation departments. There are many chapters of the YMCA across the country that offer classes and even camps or workshops for different areas of interest. Many times, contacting homeschool groups in an area can lead to resources geared towards a homeschooling schedule will can provide the flexibility a traveling schedule also calls for.

Being in different areas during seasonal times of the year can also create unique opportunities for the roadschool experience. For instance, my boys received the benefits from a pitching workshop and a batting camp not far from a baseball spring training facility in SouthWest Florida. Other season training camps exist all over the country at different times of the year depending on the sport. Many sports can be enjoyed from a solo role and pursued from the road such as gymnastics, dance, dirt bike or ATV racing, or skateboarding.

Being on the road and away from the norm can provide unique other exclusive learning connections such as

• Fencing  – a timeless activity that develops problem solving skills
• Cooking – a great way to mold a child culinarian that often leads to a zest for healthy food
• Golf – a  game that instills patience, good manners, and the knowledge that practice makes progress
• Lego League – an organization that teaches the basics of robotics along with teamwork and good sportmanship
• Music – a whole new area of interest where the sky is the limit once the basics of reading music is learned

Although being on the road may produce a list of sacrifices, our crew believes that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. While we miss participating in previous team sports with old friends, we are grateful for so many experiences with a circle of new friends that has grown with each and every mile of this new journey. Our lifestyle has expanded the horizons and the passion for different interests of all ages aboard our rig and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

This post was written as a springboard for the Roadschool Moms podcast produced on March 8th “What You’ll Miss If You Take Your Family On The Road” available on iTunes and broadcast by the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.