Settling into Worldschooling
Geoff and me walking through the Benito Juarez market in Oaxaca.
I don’t know if it’s that my kids are amazing (of course they are), or if travel really is its own teacher (of course it is), but worldschooling is a blast.
So my boys are in 4th and 7th grade. And they’re quite different from each other. Geoff (7th grader) is a great role model who is a focused student and fully understands that this is not vacation but just a different form of school. And Toby (4th grader) has a strong opinion about how he likes to learn but he’s keeping up with the math assignments, reading a ton, and writing some really creative pieces.
Here’s our typical weekday:
7 or 7:30am - wake up, have breakfast
8am - start on homeschooling assignments which include:
Daily journal writing (thanks for the tip, Julia!)
30 minutes of reading
Khan Academy math lesson and exercises
Extra assignments like a research project about Oaxaca, a book report, or a science challenge
10:30am - Walk to Becari Spanish school
11am - Spanish classes which include both language and cultural experiences like building and smashing piñatas, making alebriijes, and shopping at the market
2pm - walk to lunch and explore Oaxaca
4pm - finish schoolwork if necessary
5pm - relax and make dinner
That window from 2-5pm is when things get interesting. We typically bump around town, get some tacos, memelas or quesadillas for a late lunch, walk around the plaza, visit a museum or other cultural center, or maybe go to the playground. Since Oaxaca is full of so much incredible art, we have also added in our own drawing sessions. And on the weekends we’ve done bigger field trips like visiting the Monte Albán archeological site, a waterfall, the ancient cave paintings near Yagul, and taking classes to learn local cuisine or block carving/printmaking class.
In an effort to tie together all of this learning, both formal and less formal, Geoff and Toby have had to develop a presentation on a Oaxaca-centered topic of their choosing. We are constantly discussing observations, new flavors, and different sites and sounds in Mexico, but I wanted to see them taking on some research and explore more deeply an aspect of what they’ve experienced here. Geoff developed slides on the Mesoamerican ball game because we saw a ball court at the Monte Albán archeological site, and Toby loves animals so wanted to study the interconnected ecosystem of local plants and animals. Once they were done, we jumped on zoom with our family so they could proudly share their presentations. It was awesome. (Thanks Gaga, Yiayia, Miles and Lex for joining us!)
These kids definitely miss school. They mostly miss their friends, but there are also moments when I know they are hungry for the structure of a typical school day. But they’ve also shared that they’re enjoying the flexibility of our homeschooling schedule, and I can see their worlds expanding on a daily basis. So…so far so good!
We are trying to minimize our computer time and maximize our time out in the world, though we’ve been grateful for Khan Academy’s math instruction and we even got Toby a flute lesson via Outschool….yes, we’re traveling with a flute!!
