There are people out there who equate a mountain of teaching materials with a good education. However, experience has shown that you can provide an incredible education for your children with relatively few materials. For driver’s ed families with limited space, this fact is a blessing.
While I’ll be the first to admit that a good variety of teaching aids can make a teacher’s life easier (much easier!), I’ve learned from my 21 years as a classroom teacher that they’re not necessary.
One year I walked into my new classroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico and quickly discovered a scene straight out of one of those horror movies: it was empty. I had an empty teacher’s desk, a bunch of empty student desks, and a bookshelf filled with 200 copies of old fifth-grade science and social studies books. I was teaching Grades 2 – 5 Special Education. I had nothing usable, not a single pencil or paper, no reading books or math books. Any. No. Zippo. goose eggs
And yet I look back on that year now and marvel at the education my students received. I pulled out all the stops in that creativity box in my brain and we learned, a lot.
I scoured the city’s travel agencies and collected travel brochures from destinations around the world. The children and I cut out images of the seven continents and made collages. We write stories based on the images and use them as reading material. We sing songs and recite poems about various parts of the world. I went to a furniture store and gathered refrigerator boxes to make dioramas. In short, those children learned much more than they would have if I had had that mountain of teaching materials at my fingertips.
As roadschoolers we have the advantage of being in unique locations and we can take advantage of that fact. When visiting national parks, take time to listen to ranger talks and read the information posted at visitor centers. As you drive down the highway, stop and read the historical markers. You will find that a large part of your children’s education can come from simply taking advantage of your local environment, wherever you are today.
There are some materials that will make your life easier on the road. Each family will choose different items, but this is what we take with us on our bikes as we travel the world on two wheels:
- kindle – best purchase ever. Our children can download books in English no matter where we are.
- math books – For younger children, everything they need to know in this area can be easily incorporated into their daily routine, but for older children who are studying more advanced mathematics, it is not so easy. We got some math books from a school that had bought new books and was throwing away the old ones.
- Laptop – We have a notebook for each child. They use them as journals (if we are camping and don’t have access to a computer) and math paper. We buy small notebooks and replace them when they are full.
- Calculator/Thesaurus/Dictionary/Translator – One machine does it all. It is about the size of a normal calculator, but it is much more.
- maps – We carry maps to know where we are going, but they are also excellent teaching materials.
- Computers and various CDs – a computer is a great tool! We have a wide variety of educational programs for our children, from a comprehensive Earth science book that has been scanned to geography programs and math exercises. There is no end to what you can find for the computer.
- Creativity – This is the most important thing to take with you! By thinking outside the box, you will find that you can provide an amazing educational program for your children, no matter where you are in the world!