Welcome to The Educating Parent Beverley Paine's archive of articles about homeschooling and unschooling written over a period of 30 plus years

Free download a quick guide to getting started with homeschooling and unschooling by Beverley Paine The Educating Parent in this excellent Resource Directory
Introduction to
Home Education

 

Free directory of Australian homeschooling and unschooling support groups organised by national, state and territories National and State
Support Groups

 

Plan, record and report all in the one document! Always Learning Books planners available in each year level to suit your homeschooling needs, includes curriculum checklists
Yearly Planner, Diary & Report

Let Beverley and friends help you design and write your own curriculum to suit your child's individual learning needs, learn how to prepare lessons, unit studies and more, record and evaluate your children's learning in this series of 3 parent workbooks developed on Beverley's popular homeschool manual Getting Started with Home School Practical Considerations

Homeschool Course for Parents

this Always Learning Year 7 Plan is everything you need to get started a comprehensive collection of curriculum aligned resources and links to activities, lesson plans and unit studies for your year 7 homeschooling student
Homeschool Learning Plans
go back to The Educating Parent home page click here to learn more about what The Educating Parent offers to help you start and continue your awesome homeschooling or unschooling adventure click here to subscribe to Beverley's substack blog with new entries added every other day click here to join the largest Australian online homeschool community The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook group

Living and Learning on the Road

by GUEST COLUMNIST

Kym Fullerton, Great Reasons to Homeschool

Activities:

Our time travelling was spent singing, playing endless car games, reciting times-tables and spelling words and having lots of conversations which allow the learning to take place without the need for writing. We stopped at anything that jumped out at us that would be educational and/or fun (eg: cotton fields, salt mines, Ned Kelly's township, Crystal Caves etc). We did maths in the sand, bookwork in the parks and environmental studies in the bush.

We took one little suitcase of workbooks and stationery, arts and craft supplies etc. After a year we relented and got a DVD player for the car but only to be used in short bursts and even these can be educational programmes. We also kept a diary at all times full of brochures and write-ups at the end of a day.

We would go so far as to have full-on birthday celebrations while driving, making preparations and decorations and having gourmet picnics on our laps. We bought lap trays with cup holders to make eating manageable. We also bought a 'car organiser' that you strap onto the back of the front seats so our child had space to put her reading books and colouring books, pens, crayons, stickers, card games, snacks and water bottle etc (note: take only felt tips or crayons as they don't need sharpening therefore less mess).

Food:

We mostly took our own food (non-perishable, tin meats, baked beans, tuna, etc) in plastic tubs. We would buy fresh supplies of fruit and vegies often. We tried hard to stay clear of take-away food and lollies. Carrot and celery sticks, nuts and raisins, dates and apricots are great snacking food with a lollipop thrown in now and then. Even our coffee stops were self-made. A large thermos flask and cappuccino sachets are the way to go. Or tea bags with powdered milk or mini long-life milks and sugar sachets also. Buying half loaves of bread was a better option than having a full loaf go stale. Vegemite in a tube is so much easier to manage and anything you can buy in little sachets is a blessing. A large breadboard was a must as there were times we would have all the cheeses, olives and crackers and 'platter food' as a special treat.

It was an exercise in itself to balance everything and keep everything in its designated spot. You may be wondering why we didn't just stop at parks to eat. We did often, but some days required very long drives to get to specific locations. We even had a sturdy, canvas rubbish bin that attached to the passenger door handle and we would use dog poo bags (empty of course) as our rubbish bags as they were supplied in parks if we ever ran out and are the perfect size. And paper plates are a must to avoid too many dishes, although we did have a full picnic set with our pots and pans, cups and cutlery.

Essentials:

To save a fortune, we filled another plastic tub with our own washing powder, pegs and even some line wire. A first aid pack, 10 litre casks of water, insect repellent, sunscreen, mozzie coils, toilet rolls, candles, matches, lighters, gas bottles, portable gas cooker, serviettes, camping chairs, camping table, a couple of tarps for multi-uses, hammer, spare tent pegs, torches, radio, spare batteries and all those things you would normally find on an emergency evacuation list. And lots of plastic bags for wet clothing and dirty shoes is vital. We had our Camping Bible - Camping Australia , a great book for all the campsites in Australia. We had fun preparing our stay-overs in advance; firstly looking for animal friendly places (yes we took the dog and guinea pigs), next aiming for free spots, then the cheapest, then ones with drinking water, then ones with warm showers, and so it goes on. This is a great job for the children in the back seat. They can narrow down what type of accommodation is needed if you have run out of food and need shops, or haven't had a decent shower for a day or two or sometimes you take a glorious location in the national parks over a busy caravan park. You take the caravan park if you need to catch up on your clothes washing and dryer facilities.

We have a roof-top tent so we felt like tortoises. Setting up camp everyday, then pulling it all down again and putting everything back in its spot. Organisation is the key, trying to keep the chaos at bay and feeling like the 'housekeeping' is still under control. Involving the children at all times, teaching them to be helpful, useful, resourceful and cooperative while having fun at the same time. And if it's not fun at times, they need to learn that also.

Writing this has made me feel incredibly restless and I feel another adventure coming on. I love being a gypsy (now) but was always a home-girl at heart. I know now how much fun it is camping, exploring, homeschooling and keeping the family unit together while having so much fun. And, as a special bonus, you will save more money than you can imagine. No rent, no mortgage, no furniture and no real housework!

PS: We also had a little black bag with our passports and emergency contacts, address books and bank accounts and any official paperwork. We stopped at friend's places to leave the car and/or animals when we went overseas or a couple of times we took the boat to Tasmania. Which reminds me to remind you, if travelling with animals to be sure they have their up-to-date vaccinations cards should you need them to board planes, trains, boats etc. And it's always a good idea for all humans to have up-to-date health checks and carry any medical supplies you need or use regularly. And make sure you have all your internet details, memory sticks, mobile phones with chargers, cameras, laptops and gadgets if you need them and power supply units for the car if going bush. My partner needs his computer for work, so there were times we had all sorts of gadgets connected to the car lighter for internet reception and power. So remember EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE and you can HAVE IT ALL even when travelling away from home. ENJOY!

Great Reasons to Home School

Welcome Home! A place to discuss anything relating to Home Schooling. A place to share ideas and brainstorm with each other. A place to encourage and support the many different methods of Home Schooling. A place to provide feedback for any questions that arise without judgement. To share our opinions in a respectful manner. To provide knowledge, to help overcome some of the challenges that present themselves. To hear from the Students not just the Teachers. We can learn from many. "School is not your whole world - the whole world is your school". Let's unite, share, learn and grow. Visit https://www.facebook.com/educationideas

see also: Travelling and Homeschooling

Browse our comprehensive library of articles!

keep up to date with new posts to this website daily by clicking here to subscribe

Support Groups: National SA VICWANSW QLD TAS ACT NT
Registration Guides: VIC NSW QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT

Looking for support, reassurance and information? Join Beverley's
The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook

Need a ready made homeschool learning plan in a hurry for your homeschool registration? Try one of ours!

Need a ready made homeschool learning plan in a hurry for your homeschool registration? Try one of our Always Learning Books homeschool year level learning plans, packed with links to FREE lesson plans, unit studies and activities for each curriculum subject area, hundreds of suggestions, use what you want, only $18

Want to learn how to write your own education plans to suit your unique children's individual learning needs?

itap into Beverley's four decades of home educating experience and learn how to write your own homeschool curriculum and learning plans to suit your child's and your family's individual needs, a complete how to homeschool course for parents in 3 self paced workbooks each focusing on a different aspect of home educating, planning, recording, evaluating and creating lesson plans image shows 3 workbooks, plus samples of pages, and 3 children walking in bushland

The Educating Parent acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present.

click here to become a Fearless Homeschool member giving you access to all past summit workshops as well as exciting new content and webinars, online discussion platform, and more

Twinkl downloadable Home education resources helping you teach confidently at home

say goodbye to home education registration stress with this ultimate rego bundle from Fearless Homeschool

make homeschooling a lot easier, zero to homeschool's excellent course is here to help

go back to The Educating Parent home page click here to learn more about what The Educating Parent offers to help you start and continue your awesome homeschooling or unschooling adventure click here to subscribe to Beverley's substack blog with new entries added every other day click here to join the largest Australian online homeschool community The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook group

The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.

The opinions and articles included on this website are not necessarily those of Beverley Paine, The Educating Parent and April Jermey Always Learning Books, nor do they endorse or recommend products listed in contributed articles, pages, or advertisements on pages within this website.

Without revenue from advertising by educational suppliers and Google Ads we could not continue to provide information to home educators. Please support us by letting our advertisers know that you found them on The Educating Parent. Thanks!

Affiliate links are used on this site that take you to products or services outside of this site. Beverley Paine The Educating Parent and April Jermey Always Learning Books assume no responsibility for those purchases or returns of products or services as a result of using these affiliate links. Please review products and services completely prior to purchasing through these links. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question before purchasing or signing up.

Text and images on this site © All Rights Reserved 1999-2025