School's In Sesh Suckas

So in order to not be completely irresponsible parents apparently we need to teach the kids something from time to time. I kid, I kid.

Greg and I LOVED school, and equally LOVE teaching our kids stuff...it's actually really fun and satisfying, especially when they are listening :P

Greg is trying to captivate his audience in history class by explaining how boats were made and moved around in Nelson’s Dockyard 200 years ago…he was seriously geeking out :)

Homeschool, or boatschool rather (and yes I think they are different things) has evolved for us over the last 7 months we've been living aboard. When we moved onto Matriarch on that hot, sticky and thunderstormy night of July 2 we had intended to start homeschool right away and not let the kids have a summer off. We thought it might help provide some routine and structure in their days (and ours) and also not let them lose the momentum of learning since they just finished the school year.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Well then the reality of moving onto a boat and getting it ready for passage in just a few short months really set in. When the conditions were absolutely perfect, that is, when we were too tired or too fed up or too overwhelmed to do boat jobs, we did a few educational things with the kids. But it was not an everyday thing and was not tied to any curriculum standards. Just interesting work for them to do that related to where we were.

So much wildlife everywhere…this moth was huge and awesome and the kids always want to take pictures of the things we see so we have hundreds of random pics of spiders, moths, butterflies, flies, dead animals and sometimes flowers. Very rarely with … — So much wildlife everywhere…this moth was huge and awesome and the kids always want to take pictures of the things we see so we have hundreds of random pics of spiders, moths, butterflies, flies, dead animals and sometimes flowers. Very rarely with scale, even more rarely with context.

For example, when we were in Herrington Harbour the place was LOUSEY with butterflies...like a crazy butterfly haven that made you feel like you were living in magical fairy land...if not for the mosquitoes and humidity. I honestly think a magical fairy land would have much more comfortable environmental conditions and no mosquitoes. Anyway, I digress. Since there were butterflies everywhere we had the kids identify them using the iNaturalist app, then point out to us which ones were male or female and how they could tell. We talked about how butterflies eat (proboscis is one of the best science words of all time) and their life cycle. We also had them draw and label diagrams of their body parts (to varying degrees of detail depending on the kid) using what they saw at the marina and verifying with the Robertson guide books we have (we have one on Insects and many others). We did a similar exercise with the turtles we saw as well.

What became obvious is that living outdoors lent itself very well to science class...coupled with the fact that biology is straight up my favourite subject. So we realized over the summer that we needed to make more of an organized and concerted effort on the other subjects. Before we left Herrington Harbour we downloaded the Ontario Curriculum from the good old inter web (aaaahhhhh memories of plentiful and reliable wifi...wipes away a fond tear) so we would have the learning objectives and success criteria for all the grades k-8. The kids are in grades 7, 3 and 2 but we often have 'lessons' that span all of the grades...which the kids are more than capable of handling. The kids have lots of good work books that follow in-step with the Canadian curriculum and they had also spent various bits of time working on a few units...but nothing consistently yet.

September and October was serious passage prep as well as actual sailing since the weather in the Chesapeake is sh*t in July and August and we needed that time to basically get to know the boat and all it's systems...boatschool was still not a priority. Three of the four weeks in November had us sailing 1500nm down to the Caribbean....then we had family down, then it was Christmas....next thing you know it's New Year's and Greg and I realize it's time to get actually down and dirty with this education thing.

I was not worried in the least. I had read the curriculum and had a fairly good idea of the scope of work ahead of us. Greg was totally stressing out and worried that we were ruining the kids lives by not educating them. I would always reply with "honey they have learned so much over the last several months, and we've seen how much they've grown in terms of confidence and abilities"....or something to that effect. Note: he had not read the curriculum and I encouraged him to get familiar with it because I thought it would help him not freak out.

The first week of January boatschool started in earnest. We set aside at least 2 hours every morning (including weekends) for school. We would decide that day what subject we all wanted to work on and we'd dive in, using the curriculum workbooks as a guide to the units associated with the various subjects (which do line up exactly with the Ontario curriculum...handy). A typical session would look like this:

Orient: decide on subject for the day and determine where we left off last time we worked on that subject
Review: review the material we've covered up to that point with a Q&A type conversation, with either one or all of the kids depending on the subject...if math, we'd have them do a few warm-up questions from previous units before diving into a new concept
Discuss: we'd then start the new content with a conversation about what we know, and would like to know about the subject (for example, if we were talking about the Carbon Cycle, we would first brainstorm what we thought it might include and why we thought it was important to understand and how we thought it might relate to other parts of our lives)
Explore: next we'd explore the actual new content associated with the unit (math equations, grammar rules, etc.) and complete some of the exercises associated with the content in their workbooks
Summarize: finally we'd have the kids summarize what they've learned and have them connect it to what came before it both within that subject, as well as across subjects

Admittedly this process comes fairly naturally to me since this kind of learning design is what Liz (my biz partner) and I have been doing for more than a decade within the health system. Trying to get adults to learn or do something new isn't any different from kids. I don't mean that to sound bad for either party...it's just human nature I think. Discussion and exploration and the freedom to connect concepts that they are learning with concepts they know from other experience they've had. Having done this kind of work for a long time is partly why I wasn't freaking out about the pending task of boatschool as much as Greg was. It's actually really very fun to be a part of.

We've often been asked by other cruisers (admittedly those without kids) which one of us (Greg or I) is the 'teacher'...we answer in unison "both" with polite smiles. Greg has a natural LOVE for math...like a freakishly deep love and enthusiasm for math, really really complex math. As an engineer, he also loves the physical sciences like physics (fun fact: he was this close to pursuing a career in theoretical physics), electrical and mechanical and the like (this is VERY CONVENIENT when living on a boat by the way). I am much more inclined towards natural sciences, biology in particular, physical and health education (which is just really more science), and English (since I do a LOT of writing in my day job I've gotten pretty ok at it hahaha...but of course all the grammar rules are thrown out the window when I write for fun so feel free to not send me your edits to my blog posts ;P) So between us we have Math, Science and English covered fairly well. History, geography and politics (aka social studies) are fun to discuss and we enjoy pulling the kids in to these discussions and making them relevant for the area we are in...being me, I tend to pepper all of these conversations with a healthy dose of socialist and public health perspectives. Greg also offers an economics perspective when we work on these subjects.

I mean…come on right?!?!? Sure they have to (get to) have their parents as teachers, and sure they have to put up with working in a small space that sometimes rolls around but look at that view! As soon as they are done they get to put the books awa… — I mean…come on right?!?!? Sure they have to (get to) have their parents as teachers, and sure they have to put up with working in a small space that sometimes rolls around but look at that view! As soon as they are done they get to put the books away and (literally) dive into so much beauty and fun…living their best life!

Two subjects we've not spent as much time on as I'd like are music and visual arts. My mom was a music teacher and also taught piano so our house was filled with the technical side of music growing up. Like learning how to read it and play it...not necessarily appreciate different kinds of music...honestly I can't remember my parents ever listening to music as a kid outside of the car radio (BX 93 on your FM dial for Dad...good old country!). Mom had a drawer with tapes and some records like Englebert Humperdink (I am NOT kidding) and Crystal Gale (who I remember seeing once on Sesame Street and she had hair to the floor) but I don't recall these tapes or records every being played. Mom and Dad, if I'm doing you an injustice I apologize ;) Who knows what you two crazy kids got up to at night when we were asleep! My point in this is that we try to play lots of different music for the kids on the boat - Grace absolutely LOVES downloading songs that speak to her and she really likes a wide variety...she'll sit for hours roaming through Spotify and adding random stuff to her own playlist (I am WAY too lazy for that). But since moving to the boat they haven't had much in the way of playing instruments (they were all in piano for years before we moved aboard). We have a really nice ukulele onboard (surprise surprise...don't all boats?) so might have to give them some lessons in the near future...once we learn how to play it ;P

In terms of visual art...honestly I hit a road block here. I am not creatively inclined at all in this regard...I hated art class as a kid...it all felt really forced and never turned out like I imagined it. Greg is so precise and technical he can 'do' art (whatever that means) but also doesn't have a deep love for it. The aformentioned Liz is from a very arty family...and she understands art like on a whole other level than I do, including how to get out of your own way to create. I can do it when it comes to writing and cooking but when it comes to other mediums I am lost. I can picture you shaking your head at me right now, Liz ;P I think we need some outside help with this and will need to do some research on good art workbooks or something for kids who have lame-ass parents in the art department. Liz...your suggestions are welcome.

How do we know they are getting smarter and not stupider (as if they are from Jupiter...hahaha)? Well every now and then we check in with the success criteria in the curriculum and I am totally satisfied...more than satisfied. They may not cover 100% of what's in there but it will be close and then will be topped up with another 100% of other awesome lessons and experiences that will round things out really well (good math eh Greg?).

So when parents look at us and say "What is homeschooling like? I don't think I could do that!", I would say: "You totally can if you like learning, are interested in the world and enjoy spending time with your kids"...it sounds a bit lame but honestly I think those are the main ingredients (other than the obvious privilege of the opportunity to do so in the first place). We are blasting through the curriculum in a few hours a day...they are all already half-way through a whole year of science and well into math and English. It just takes much less time to pick up concepts when you have 1:1 attention and an environment that allows you to learn through dialogue.

Look I might be biased but I think this should architectural promise ;) Since we’ve been living aboard they have gotten so much better at working together compassionately (they are NOT perfect at this but def better)…very often during boatschool we … — Look I might be biased but I think this should architectural promise ;) Since we’ve been living aboard they have gotten so much better at working together compassionately (they are NOT perfect at this but def better)…very often during boatschool we see one of them lean in and try and help out the other if they get suck on a concept or an exercise. It’s heartwarming. They called this “Rivendell” because we just watched Lord of the Rings (nerds) :P

When Liam hits Grade 9 we will need to have him in an accredited program so he can get is Ontario Secondary School Diploma...which is fine...but I imagine after 2 years of learning like this he will be so well set up to crush it.

And he will also still have a whole side of Mr. and Mrs. Harris classes as well including Diesel Mechanics, Celestial Navigation, Meteorology and How to Perfectly Land the Dinghy on the Beach with a Swell.

That last one he could make a career out of ;)