Traveling with a school-aged child - studying on the go

We are often asked how it is possible to travel for so long with a school-aged child. Our seven-year-old Fa actually attends second grade at school, but is exempt from school between Christmas and Easter holidays. We teach her during this time. Together with Fa's teacher, we have discussed exactly what Fa should learn during this time, and so various teaching materials came with us on our travels. This allows us to travel for three months and have a lot of time just for the five of us as a family. At home, we have a demanding family model where the kids mostly see their dad only on weekends. Having so much time together as a family of five is pure luxury for us.

With our plans, we have found open ears with Fa's school management and teacher. They share our opinion that Fa will learn, experience, and gather valuable impressions and experiences for life during this journey. We know that it strongly depends on the school management whether such an exemption from school is approved. And often enough, these are strictly rejected. We are very happy and grateful for the open-minded attitude of Fa's school principal.

Since self-directed learning is practiced as a school concept at Fa's school, learning on the go also works quite well. The children also learn across different grades (1 & 2 grades together) and each child determines their own pace. This now benefits us, as Fa is always very diligent and ambitious. However, a few rules ('school first, then pleasure', peace and little distraction) still have to be observed while traveling. As a parent, one must be aware that enough time must be scheduled for this as well. In the first four weeks, my mother-in-law (retired primary school principal) is also traveling with us, providing us with professional support. Fabi thinks that her dad is much stricter as a teacher. Much stricter than her teacher ;-)

In a great Bed & Breakfast accommodation in Bloemfontein, we discover an old school bench that both children love. With the Zahlenfuchs calculations, it practically runs by itself. We would have loved to pack this bench in our suitcase for the next leg of our journey.