Home Schooling Part III

Home Schooling Life

Keeping Kevin and Allen motivated proved to be an ongoing challenge. There were days that Kevin started at 8:30 and at 6:00 pm he was still looking at the English assignment he had started at 8:30. We devised a reward system where each of them got a point for each school task completed during the day. Once they had fifty points, they got an hour of time with Karalee or I to do something fun. We were particularly fond of taking our student to lunch followed by an outdoor ice cream as a reward.

On our return to Canada, Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen had little trouble academically fitting back into their respective schools. Jocelyn feels that she missed out on some key English grammar concepts due to her home schooling which she struggled with on our return. Because they were registered in a BC school and had been issued BC report cards, they did not have to write any sort of entrance exam when we returned. Socially, there were varying challenges. After living on a sailboat for two years, any one of our children could entertain an adult for an hour with stories from our trip. Their peers were challenged to relate to any of their adventures, not having a world view beyond their school, what's on TV, and the latest pop music star.

Jocelyn Studying while Underway

Jocelyn, Kevin, Allen have continued to succeed. Jocelyn has graduated from the University of British Columbia. Kevin is in fourth year Commerce at UBC. Allen is Grade Twelve in the advanced International Baccalaureate school program. Teachers, professors, bosses, and friends all notice how self-assured, independent and clear on what they want for their future all three are today. While much of the credit needs to go to Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen we believe that home schooling and the two years of cruising the Mediterranean has changed all of us for the better.

This material first appeared in the Currents newsletter of the Bluewater Cruising Association. If you are considering going offshore, with or without children, we highly recommend you consider joining the Bluewater Cruising Association.