I’ve recently been busy catching up on school, so I know it’s been a little while since I last posted a blog. Speaking of school, I thought I’d write a blog post on it!
Schooling is a big topic since it’s a major part of every child’s life. Over the course of the past eleven years, I’ve experienced many different methods of schooling. I started off by attending a private pre-K in Texas when I was three years old. Since then, I’ve been to international schools in Kazakhstan, France, and South Korea; and public schools in Texas and Slovakia (now that’s another story). I’ve also been homeschooled and world-schooled in Singapore, Italy, and Croatia. Now, as my family travels the USA in our RV, the best form of schooling that matches my current situation would be road-schooled.
Who knew there were so many different ways a student could be schooled? And what’s the difference between them all? I’ll get to the latter in a minute, but since we’re on the topic of different ways of schooling, I’ll add three more to the list: traditional, online, and unschooling. Let me start with one you’re most likely familiar with: traditional schooling, which is a form of schooling in which children attend a public building where lessons are taught by teachers or professors. Since Covid-19, homeschooling has become more popular, a method in which students follow a curriculum and are taught at their own home, sometimes by their own parents. World-schooling is when the world is a child’s classroom and children learn from their experiences. Online schooling is simply when one attends classes online, and can do so wherever internet is available. Unschooling, since I mentioned it, is when students learn through their experiences, play, and interests rather than from a set curriculum. Road-schooling is essentially homeschooling, just on the road instead of at a stable location. Road-schooling in my case is a mix of world-schooling, homeschooling, and road-schooling. You’ll see why below.
So, how exactly am I road-schooled?
I attend a program called Abeka Academy. For each subject, I have textbooks, test and quiz books, and DVDs for viewing my lessons (my parents have the answer keys for grading tests, quizzes, and exams). There is the option to complete lessons and tests, quizzes, etc. online, but if you don’t have access to stable Wi-Fi, it isn’t easy to do. When I first started using Abeka Academy while living in Italy and Croatia, I used the accredited online version. I really enjoyed it, but it was frustrating when the Wi-Fi went down and I had to redo the lesson I had been watching (you can’t fast forward through lessons with the accredited school plan). I was especially worried if the internet would cut out while I was taking a test or quiz online. I think it happened to me a few times, but luckily I was able to continue where I left off, or in some cases, retake the test.
With the unaccredited version, I don’t need Wi-Fi to complete my schoolwork or tests. Rather, I plug my DVD player into my laptop, push in different DVDs for my various subjects, and watch my lessons that way. Whenever it’s time to take a test, quiz, or exam (which is quite often in high school), I open up one of my test or quiz books and complete the assessment. Open-book tests are not allowed and neither is cheating (obviously), and once I start a test, I have to finish it. My parents take care of all the grading.
However, like I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, road-schooling for me isn’t only about watching video lessons on a laptop, completing homework assignments in textbooks, and taking tests and quizzes. I also learn from my experiences and the places my family and I travel to. Although I do my science lessons on my laptop, I also learn a lot about natural science when I visit National Parks, natural history museums, and air and space museums. I’m also quite interested in all things medical (especially oncology and stem cell therapy), so in my free time, I do a lot of research in that area. My dad is a history buff, so I’ve learnt a lot about American history from the countless National Historic Parks he’s taken me and my family to. Not too long ago, I took part in a flag-folding ceremony at Fort McHenry, the place that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
As for math, you can find math everywhere – there wouldn’t be architecture without math! Most people find Roman or European architecture interesting (I do too), but even more intriguing for me is how the Egyptians built their pyramids. In case you didn’t read my blog on the publication of my newest book, The Magic Sphere, I traveled to Egypt a few years ago (and rode a camel around the Great Pyramids of Giza!). During that trip, I was introduced to a lot of Egyptian history and culture, which really enhanced my Egyptian history lessons back home in Slovakia. It was such an amazing trip (even if we often had to wake up around 4 AM)! I’ll most certainly write a blog post about it in the future, so if you’d like to hear about my 16-day Egyptian Adventure, then stay tuned!
For music, I play the piano. In fact, I got to play one of Mozart’s minuets on an 1870s grand piano (with original strings) at Stanton Hall in Natchez, Mississippi! I even have a full size 88-key digital keyboard in my RV… and my sisters have a guitar. Maybe one day we’ll play a song together!
I also do PE, but the way I do it is by hiking, biking, skiing, canoeing, kayaking, and taking part in other fun outdoor activities. Art is a way of expressing creativity, in which I like making jewelry and painting.
Writing blogs – and books! – is definitely related to English studies, so there you go. That’s what I call learning through experience and travel!
Along with subject-based topics, I’ve also learnt quite a bit of RV-specific tasks. Before living in an RV, I had no idea how to flush black or grey tanks in an RV, reset breakers, or pull in slides before we drive. I had no idea what a propane stove was (I was familiar with gas and electric), and no idea whatsoever as to what a GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) or Receptacle breaker was, or what it means to only have 30 amps of electricity to use. RVing has also taught me to be grateful for everything I have (or did have). As an example, I’ve learnt to never take hot water for granted. There was a time when we didn’t have hot water for several months (over the wintertime! Brrr!), and had to wait in line for quite a while to get it fixed. I also don’t shower inside the RV; we use our minuscule shower as an extra storage area, so I take showers at the campground’s bathhouse. Some bathhouses are nice, while others are downright awful. Some have large hot-water holding tanks, while others don’t, and it’s a race against you and your fellow campers for who’s going to have a hot shower, and who’s going to have to wait (or use cold or lukewarm water) until the water in the heating tank warms up again.
RVing can teach you a lot of other things, too, but I’ll end my blog here because 1) If I go on any longer, this post will be 100,000 words long rather than 10,000, and 2) A nice, steaming bowl of Japanese miso soup is waiting for me at the table in our kitchen/dining room/living room.
I hope you all enjoyed this post, and dare to explore!
Vivienne
