To take DC out of school for a year and travel

[ShillyShallySherbet]

Having a moment of madness I think after watching race across the world but interested to hear whether anyone has done similar to this and the pros and cons.

Both myself and DH’s work contracts are coming to an end in September. DC will be going into year 3 and year 5. We are currently looking for new contacts but if nothing comes up we have enough saved up to get by for a while. Or we could take advantage of the fact there’s nothing tying us down and just throw caution to the wind, take the girls out of school for a year and travel. AIBU?

I’d 100% do this if we could afford to. Go for it!

Oh I would. Its tricky in year 6 due to secondary applications but why not if oldest is shifting to year 5?

Well, we can have differing opinions in the same profession

As a teacher who has also homeschooled, SO much time in school is unnecessary. Register; assembly; playtimes; transitions to and from PE; handing out books etc. Then some is unnecessary for a particular child - the Maths can be geared to what your child needs next, not attempting to meet 30 different needs. Some is unnecessary in terms of recording in writing - the child has told the adult the answer, no need to ‘complete a worksheet’. And some can simply be done at different times - audio books while travelling; addition of money while shopping; science during a stop off in a town’s botanic garden or while watching the stars at night.

I HE’d one child, covering more than the NC both in breadth and depth, in the 2.5 hours each day their sibling was at pre-school, and tit could easily be done in much less with today’s interactive learning tools.

Sounds bloody amazing. I think all kids should have the chance to do this! Travelling the world for a year! 😄 Not sure how the practicalities would stand, and they would have to be pretty smart academically. We had a 5 week trip to Canada and America when DD was 9, mid Feb to Mid March, so one week did include half term, so she officially only lost 4 weeks.

The school allowed it - and called it authorised absence, because she was quite academic and had the Maths and English skills of a child of 12-13. (Sorry for stealth brag!) This was 20 years ago, not sure if it would be allowed now. By the time she was 12-13 the secondary school was very strict, and got really shirty with us when we took her to EuroDisney for 4 days - when she was 12 (with her 9 y.o cousin,) and she only lost 2 school days then!

DD still talks about her amazing trip to America and Canada though, and she absolutely loved it. She spoke to New York cops, and taxi drivers, and went to many New York sights (Manhattan, Empire State Building, Macys, Bloomingdales, Plaza Hotel, Times Square, Central Park, Queens, Brooklyn, all sorts.) And she experienced American life for 2.5 weeks.

We also spent 2.5 weeks in Canada.

We saw Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest, and Montréal, Toronto, and Quebec City. It was such a wonderful memorable time for us all. But it was only 4 weeks lost schooling. Not sure how taking children out for a year would work. But some do it, so I guess it can be done!

I think this sounds like a great opportunity for your kids, especially at this age. They can learn about history, geography, and science implicitly through all the travelling. You could get them to write a journal entry everyday about things they've learnt. Just set aside some time to keep up with the curriculum every day; I think someone else has already mentioned IXL. I can't remember many maths concepts nowadays, but whenever my son needs help with his homework, there's always a YouTube video or a module on IXL that re-explains it to me so I can help him, especially at this age.

You could invest in some kind of online maths tuition? I taught in one private school where two children were off on the family yacht half the year and we provided some work for them. They weren't academically behind when they came back (very able, dedicated students) but socially it was hard for them.

My daughter's fiance's Mum did this with him and his stepdad when he was 8 - they went all across the US and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. He talks really fondly about it all, and it's given him a life long love of travelling. He and DD have been all over the place since they've been together, and he wants to do the same when they have DC. I would love to have done it with ours.

Absolutely do this, especially after reading your update that your children don't like going to school. A year away will give everyone a break, an adventure, bonding, freedom. The children will miss a year of curriculum education, but they will learn so much in other ways - social skills from meeting so many new people, language skills, confidence, social and cultural awareness, independence. I do know people who have done this, one with older kids than yours, none of them have ever regretted it.

I’d love to do this and had planned to in similar school years but eldest is autistic, our school is over subscribed and I’ve separated from their dad. But from what you’ve said it’s really ideal circumstances for you to go. I think lots of the negative people on here haven’t travelled long term. 2 friends are doing it at the moment in different places and have met loads of other families to hang out with.

Oh my gosh you absolutely must do this. We have just done the same with our DS and it’s been the best year of my life. We combined backpacking in Central America with a campervan trip across Europe. Insurance, school places, are just details you will figure out. Life is so much bigger than that. Just do it, go, you will never regret it.

I follow a family on Instagram who travel and live with their kids abroad. They have a ton of useful information on this topic on their blog!

travelynnfamily.com/

I was about to make the same points. It would be interesting to count up how many minutes per day are actually spent learning. As others have said, keep up with the maths, read lots and learn from the environment. Do it!

@skeggycaggy if you don't mind me asking, why is dc3 not already in his chronological year group? And have the older two remained with their chronological age groups?

Totally unrelated to travelling really, DC3 is a summer born and we deferred his entry. For various reasons it seems best to move him into his chronological age group (don’t want to go too far off topic!), he’s finishing Y3 now and going into Y5 in Sept.

anyway my point was that in my opinion there is very little of primary learning that is cumulative - maths is obviously the big exception, you want your child to have learnt division before they are faced with long division. But as long as they are reading lots, it really doesn’t matter if they don’t learn about Romans in Y3 because they are in Indonesia visiting Yogyakarta sites. They can learn about Romans later in life.

And in addition to @skeggycaggy post above.

Even children who attend school have no guarantee that they will have learnt the skills taught to them. Division has been taught in school but division hasn't been learnt (neither has multiplication, addition or subtraction)

Meaning each year child has progressed and been taught that year curriculum without knowing the skills they require to learn harder math. Which has caused so much anxiety and destroyed self esteem. This is why we have removed from school as the necessary support just isn't available

If I had been in a position financially to do this, I absolutely would have. I’d have needed to know I had a home and school places to come home to.
with your kids at the age they are, I really don’t see a big problem with missing some school. In year 5 & 3, my kids were in the covid/home school days. A bit of BBC Bitesize English & Maths every day was adequate. You could do that and also encourage reading every night.
Your travels will be the education - geology, science, geography, humanities. You can make sure you plan in trips to museums, art centres, guided hikes with geology talks, learning to snorkel or surf etc.
what amazing memories you’ll make with your kids!

Fantastic idea - especially since the kids don't enjoy school - and great ages to do it! What an opportunity for all of you.

You can always come home earlier than planned if you or the kids have had enough of travelling before the year is over. Even if that happens, I doubt you'd regret it.

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like all your DC3 (and your other DC) are all doing really well.

I agree that it doesn't matter if you don't study the Romans (you'll hear about them anyway). Depending on the school and area it could be an issue if you miss a key childhood event that all your peers spend the rest of their time at school bonding over.

Year 5 and year 3 are important years so no I wouldn’t. All education is accumulative. You build on knowledge year on year and go over curriculum, add to work already taught. If you pull your kids out you may not be able to get them back into the same school so they would lose their security in terms of friends and location.

If you're willing to make plenty of time to home educate the children then I think at that age it could work out ok, you just need to keep up with maths English and some of the topics that come up at school. It could actually mean they're getting more 1:1 teaching, just make sure you're able to teach them, or get online lessons for the children even
Enjoy!

I get the wanderlust after watching race across the world! And quite jealous that you have the funds and free time to do it. Kids are a good age as well…it would be hell with my 2 and 6 year olds but they are good ages for it. However, agree with PP that it’s too much to take them out of school. Could you do a compromise and, for example take them out a week either side of summer hols and do a road trip of a lifetime somewhere, or travel for 8 weeks? Then maybe same at Easter and camas holidays and do 2 other little 4 week trips? I think those experiences really would be educational for them and negate the missing a few weeks of school..that’s what I would do

There is a huge facebook group for this. Loads of people do it. Look for Worldschooling or Roadschooling.

Even the most hard core Home Ed people don't do a school timetable or do anything like the hours kids do in school as so much time in school is wasted on behaviour, assemblies and random stuff that isn't learning, and 1-1 learning takes much less time anyway.

Tbh life is too short, take them on what would be an amazing adventure, if we could dp and I would absolutely do the same with our dc’s. Speak with teachers and put together booklets of the curriculum they’ll miss and pack their bags.

Wow - I am in awe of anyone contemplating this. I am much too wimpy. Loved race across the world! Maybe I need to have a word with myself. We are saving to go to NZ, my Dad is there and we will travel while we are there. Wonder where else we could tack on...