Roadschooling: Homeschool on the Road in Our RV

Today, I’m excited to tell you about some of the curricula we are using for our homeschool turned RV-school. I’m not being paid or compensated for these recommendations. I just want to share what seems to be working well for us, in case you want to check it out.

*If you aren’t homeschooling I hope you’ll skip to the bottom of this post and check out some of our read aloud books. Everyone can enjoy reading aloud! 📚(scroll down & look for the books) 📚

This year B is in pre-k, K is in 1st grade, and S is in 3rd grade. We’re running behind in all of our workbooks. We lost all of our school work in the Camp Fire. When I got the replacement workbooks, the kids wanted to start over at the beginning. Given the circumstances, I figured it was probably better to start over than push forward. We will finish them eventually…

Here are the workbooks we are using for “seat work” time.

I use A Reason for Handwriting border sheets for our weekly memory verse. I choose the Bible verse I want to use for the week and I don’t use the rest of the “A Reason For Curriculum”. The border sheets are so fun. The kiddos write the Bible verse and color the border sheets on Monday. We spend the week working on memorizing the verse. Sometimes we use the same verse for 2 or 3 weeks.

Anyone who is able to complete their “seat work” with a positive attitude earns a sticker for the group reward chart. The 3 kiddos are working together, as a team, to earn a group reward. The rewards are things like a new book or DVD. Not everyone always gets a sticker for the day. It is important to me that they are not competing against each other to earn rewards. If they all earn a sticker for the day, they earn the group reward faster. Yay teamwork!

I really enjoy using kits with all the supplies included in the box. They are just so handy and convenient. We don’t use them every day, only when they fit in to our schedule and everyone has energy for them. Subscription kits are tricky when we don’t have a permanent address for them to be mailed to. Luckily, I can get these favorites through SSCS. Click on the title of the kit to check out the product website for more info.

Kiwi Crate (science)

Ivy Kids Kits (multiple subjects) – sorry I don’t have a photo of this one. We used up our last box of the school year already. My good friend & fellow homeschooling mama, L.R., told me about these. This is our favorite kit! Each box comes with a picture book, crafts, games, and activities geared for ages 4-8.

Groovy Lab in a Box (science)

Another kit I really like is, Raddish. Unfortunately, our current kitchen space doesn’t work out too well for group cooking projects with kiddos. I’ll start using this one again when we settle back into a “normal” house. *The CEO of Raddish, sent me an email shortly after the Camp Fire and offered to replace every single kit we had lost in the fire. Wow! What an amazing company! They replaced hundreds of dollars worth of product to our family. It was one of those amazing and unexpected things that someone did for us after our loss. Please visit the Raddish website and check out their awesome cooking kits!

Of course, we are having tons of fun with the National Parks’ Junior Ranger program for science and social studies. If you aren’t able to make a trip to see a National Park, you can visit the Junior Ranger website and download several workbooks to print, complete, and mail in for a badge.

Reading aloud is a big part of our homeschool. I highly recommend Five in a Row. This program uses a different picture book each week and ties lots of different subjects into each story with the activity suggestions in the teacher’s manual. The goal is to teach kids to love books and to love learning from an early age.

📚 Reading aloud rocks! 📚

We try to end each day with stories and drawing time. I start by reading a chapter from The Bible Story by Arthur Maxwell. Careful with these; they are quite dated. I read over some racist/sexist language and change the words to something that is appropriate. I don’t know of any other children’s Bible series that is this comprehensive. I also really like the realistic illustrations. Thanks to my good friend, L.R. (fellow Camp Fire survivor & homeschooling mama), and her MIL, D.R., for generously replacing the entire collection for us! D.R. give us the entire, 10 volume set, in a smaller-sized “missionary” version which fits perfectly in the RV book/game cabinet!

After the Bible story, I read aloud a picture book for B’s age level (usually a Five in a Row book), another picture book for K’s age level (usually a Five in a Row Book) and a chapter from a book for S’s age level. Thanks to my good friend, L.T from CA, and my new friend, J.H. from TN, for helping us replace so many of these great books. This week we are reading:

While I read the chapter book, the kiddos are encouraged to draw quietly. Sometimes it helps the younger ones stay quieter longer. Sometimes. Prismacolor colored pencils are a splurge, but totally worth it.

Of course, things happen, and some days go better than others. Some evenings, we seem to have mysteriously run out of time, and on those days, we don’t read all 4 books. Sometimes, we only read one book and occasionally, we don’t read any.

Here’s one more book we read recently, I Just Want to Say Goodnight by Rachel Isadora. It’s like a combination of Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Galimoto, by Karen Lynn Williams. It’s so cute.

Check out more of my book suggestions in these previous posts: Camping Books for Kids, Books About Moving for Kids, and 4th of July Children’s Literature.

For more ideas on reading aloud as a family, and book lists for all ages, check out Read Aloud Revival, or The Good and the Beautiful, or visit your nearest librarian and ask!

📚 What was your favorite book when you were a kid?

📚 What is your favorite book to read aloud to the kiddos in your life?

I am always on the lookout for new book recommendations and I would love to hear from you!