A New Course

Typically, my teaching and learning journey has led me to the Middle Course. That is, a dedication to students in the sweet spot of Middle School. Without a doubt, these kiddos are special, and need special teachers. 

This year though, I’m charting a new course. A course that leads me away from the kiddos I’ve dedicated the past 14 years of my life to in order to concentrate on a fifth grader and a third grader - specifically, my sons. 

Our family has taken advantage of a rare opportunity of a sabbatical year. We have traded in our international lifestyle, returned to the US and are undertaking the journey of a lifetime. We’ve purchased a truck and a camper, and we’re touring the US as we homeschool our children. 

Naturally, this has me thinking a lot about teaching and learning. After only two weeks on the road, I’ve come to three big ideas: 

  1. This trip will be more powerful to my sons if I learn alongside them, instead of thinking of myself as their teacher.
  2. Learning is most powerful when it’s authentic and experiential.
  3. Making mistakes and learning from them is powerful. 

 Learning alongside my sons has been easy. Our science and social studies curriculum revolves largely around the Junior Ranger program at our amazing National Parks. We have already visited two National Parks, three National Monuments and one National Memorial. At each stop, we engage the park rangers in discussions about the parks and learn from their expertise. One of my favorite things to say to the boys has become, “I don’t know. Let’s go ask the ranger.” We have also followed the advice of fellow ex-pat sabbatical teachers and are following the guides in John Muir Laws’ Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling. On hikes, we are sitting the woods, and learning to slow down, note the weather and environmental conditions and collect snapshots of our journey. 

We know that good learning is authentic and experiential, but this trip is really showcasing the importance of these two things. While we are enjoying the more traditional Junior Ranger learning and my wife’s expert elementary math and word study teaching, the real learning never stops. Every shopping experience, every time we look at a map, every license plate added to a growing collection, is a chance to talk about how things work. Every story collected from a local, a fellow traveler or a ranger is a chance to discuss perspectives and how narratives of history are built and perpetrated. 

Finally, because we are new to the nomadic lifestyle, we are making plenty of mistakes. Especially with the camper. We have learned to embrace the idea that we will mess things up and we will need to fix them. We have missed turns, misused the camper and have miscalcuated routes and we know that we will continue this pattern. That said, the learning has been immense. We have reached out to experts (2 RV mechanics so far!), we have reached out to the welcoming RV community and we are learning! We also embrace the idea that we will continue to learn about each other and ourselves as we spend the next several months together in a 19 foot RV. 

Let the adventures (in life, learning and teaching) begin!

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