Amy

Okay, I need some help. My parents (late '40) are thinking about taking my 11-year-old brother on an extended trip across the country--teaching him U.S. history first-hand. They've been mulling over the idea of buying or renting an R.V. in order to do this, but if you have any better ideas they'd defintely be open.

I was wondering if any of you have ever done this, or if you have any suggestions for taking an extended trip. They want to do it as cheaply as possible without skimping on activities or sites. Does anyone have any idea of what a trip like this would cost per month?

They're in the beginning stages of planning this so any suggestions will help (I have already done searches on this forum as well as looking at the bookstore. I'm hoping for first-hand advice.)
Thank you in advance for all your help.
-Amy

Geo

Amy, there are tons of rv travel sites which would probably answer your questions. Do a search on RV Travel and you should come up with more information or check out fodors home page and see if there are links to RV Travel.

Amy

Geo-
Thank you for trying to help but as I mentioned in my original post, I searched on this forum BEFORE I posted (I have also looked at RV sites such as <www.goRVing.com>). I am looking for information from people who have taken long trips across the U.S.

Many RV travel sites are geared toward older travelers without children, or toward people wanting to travel through Alaska. I'm looking for something different.

Geo

Amy-They have a family travel forum here, maybe they can help. To be honest I have not seen that much RV interest or info on this site.

Ellen

I will try to answer this without sounding rude and I apologize if I do. That being said, how in the world can you even think of removing an 11 yo from school for 6 months. There are truancy guidelines you know. As a professional educator and 3rd teacher this is unfathomable. Anyway, regardless of whether the intent is to teach the child history first hand which is a good intention, it is not practical. What about the structure of the class room which is important to the learning environment? What about other learned social behavior among children such as sharing? For heaven sakes, what about learning math and algebra!?!!! I know the idea of "homeschooling" is accepted in some circles today but even those who home school must produce to the state the criteria and materials they will be using and there are certain standards to be adhered too. A 2 month long trip over summer vacation would be just as good a learning experience. People need to understand the importance of school and education in the overall scheme of things. Taking a child away from that environment can be very damaging at that impressionable age. Do you know how many skills especially math skills an be forgotten in a 6 month period with little or no practice on the skills? Again I apologize, but this hits a real sore spot with me. I promise I am not a rude person or a "troll."

ItTakesAllKinds

Ellen-Why are you jumping to conclusions? Maybe they are going to home school their son. By the way, think before you condemn home schooling. Studies have proven that home schoolers do just as well or better on standardized tests.

Mytwocents

Standardized tests mean absolutely nothing. There are many more skills to be learned in school than what can be tested on a standardized test. School teaches basic soialization for one. I know a "homeschooled" child of a coworker, she is booksmart but cannot for the life of her carry on an everyday conversation with kids of her own age as she has never been around any. On the other hand I know of someone who is hoemschooling their child who is very eneducated and never even graduated high school, you can imagine what kind of influence they are. You are right, it takes all kinds!

Linda

Hey, we're talking 6 months here, not the child's entire school career. Six months of home schooling should not undo the socialization the child receives from the other 11.5 years of more traditional schooling and nay go a long way toward enhancing the child's educational experience. Travel is a great experience and very educational. Yes, socialization is important, but presumably this 11-year-old has already had six years of socialization and will have another 5.5 when he returns to school.

Amy

For those concerned, my parents on planning home schooling him. (By the way, both are college graduates and my father has two Masters degrees). This is not an unusual idea and not a decision they are making lightly--sometimes the reprecussions of being in the public school system are worse than being home schooled for a short time by two motivated parents (Please check out 12-year-old Amy Burritt's "My American Adventure, if you need further proof that it takes all kinds).

That said, I am asking for travel suggestions, not judgements. So please do not respond if you wish to place judgements--there are some extenuating circumstances that had led to this idea.

I have always had good luck here with travel advice and am extemely disappointed with the tone of your comments. (Thank you ITTAKESALLKINDS for your support)

Wish I Could Too

Try the following site, check out in particular "Kids to Go." Post your question there and you could get a lot of family friendly advice, although this site seems to deal with a lot of foreign travel. A lot of families do what you're planning. Wish I had the time and money to do it too.
Good luck.

http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/thorn/branches.pl

xxx

Yea 2cents kids need to be socialized with beer drinking, drug abusing, pierced everywhere peers. The public schools in this country are a national disgrace.

Joy in Virginia

Bill Lohmann, a writer for the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch & his wife took their 3 kids on a road trip in an RV for 3 months last summer & wrote about it for the paper. Go to www.timesdispatch.com then search the Archives for Are We There Yet? by Bill Lohmann. You can read the articles online, & the paper has published all the articles in a booklet you can order. They went to lots of off-the-beaten-path places, as well as the touristy places, and the articles are fun. Maybe they could give your parents some ideas.

Anonymous

Just wanted to throw something else into the mix about homeschooling. Socialization does not mean drinking and drugs, it means clubs and organizations, team sports, and group activities. As the Assistant Dean of Admissions of a university, it is my job to weed through inumerable college and scholarship applications. We certainly weed out those with very poor grades and low test scores, but when it is close and we only have a few spots left, we will grant admission and/or a sholarship to the B- student with just above average test scores who played basketball, was on student council, was editor of the school paper and involved in many other leadership positions and clubs. The straight A student with high test scores who was homeshooled and never involved in extracurriular activities or held any kind of responsibility or leadership postions will be passed over. I have talked to career recruiters many times and as I understand it, the same philosophy goes when hiring people for jobs. You can't tell me being in school is harmful.

Amy

Oh, I love how this board digresses from the original topic.

I was brought up in public schools, and my parents were public school educators. However, as a reporter, I wrote a few stories on homeschooling and found it fascinating. The typical homeschooled kid IS involved in many activities--Little League, Scouting, and, depending on the school district, can get involved with extracurricular activities at the local public school, like band, sports, etc. The kids I met were all very well rounded, and had plenty of interaction with other kids through these activites.

Now that that's out of my system, Amy, from what I understand, renting an RV can be extremely expensive (as in it would be cheaper to stay in hotels every night). My family never went on such a long trip, but the 6 of us did go on several month-long car trips across the country. As both my parents were teachers, there wasn't a lot of extra money lying around, so our trips were very economical. We ate out very rarely, and usually just had picnics. We usually camped, which was a lot of fun for us, but did entail a certain amount of work for my parents. Food and accommodation typically are the most expensive parts of the car trip, so that was where we could save the most money. Little known gas-saving fact: it's more fuel-efficient to drive with the air conditioner on that to drive with the windows open. The drag that the open windows creates is signficiant.

There are passes you can buy for national parks, which is probably a lot cheaper than paying all those entrance fees. Not sure where you get those, but just do a search for the national park service.

I would also check with AAA. They seem to offer quite a few discounts on admission to theme parks and other attractions, and they can also help plan routes and provide maps.

Hope your son has fun. Some of my fondest memories are of our car trips.

Amy

Just noticed that the original poster and I share the same name. However, we are not the same person. At least, not to my knowledge.

HomeSchoolMom

Anonymous-Our local city rec center has tons of activities and sports for home schooled kids and there are support groups for home schooled kids to make sure they get socialization among their peers. For a university recruiter, you are sorely misinformed, which makes me question if you are for real or just another troll.

Wondering

I understand in large cities that homeshooled children have acess to sports and activites through the communtiy centers but I have always wondered how this works in a small town. I live in a town of 8000 people there are only 5 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and 1 high school in our entire COUNTY. We have no cities and no local community centers with activities. I have thought about either homeschooling or sending my son to the one small parochial school in our town. Either way, he will have no access to activities, clubs or organized sports teams as they are only in the publiuc schools with the exception of summer little league baseball. What do you do in this situation to "socialize" the children?

HMMMM

What are two supposedly intelligent parents with master's degrees doing living in an RV for months? Don't these people have jobs? Sounds odd to me.

AHHHHHH

They're probably two brilliant college professors on sabbatical. Some fortunate people get time off to pursue educational things, or whatever. I'm not so lucky and make do with my measly few weeks vacation every year.

xxxx

They could be consultants. Out in my neck of the woods, consultants are common. Professionals paid on an hourly basis for six months, can definitely make enough to take off for the rest of the year. <sigh> i, unfortunaly, am not and must also muddle through like AHHHHHH with my piddly two weeks a year.