WeAreFigueras

homeschooling like nomads

life is beautiful3

Here are some favourite items, that make homeschooling feel good 馃檪

There are a lot of families that choose聽homeschooling聽their kids. Sometimes due to parents jobs (us), other times because of kids own abilities: such as artists, athletes, for other numerous early professionals. To us #WeAreFigueras means Family; that stick together. We truly believe that giving children a united family, is much more important than sitting in classrooms. Don’t get me wrong: In a perfect world it would be great to have them in school, of course. But as I said before, we travel due to my husband’s job and that said, I know that all of us parents do what we think its best for everyone. Therefore, we love to give my children this: the opportunity to travel, to see other cultures, to see the world and to relate to it.

I always get asked this recurrent question:
Q: “So, how do you do with the school?”
A: We travel with a tutor, that will do one on one sessions, following their school in Argentina. They have a schedule, with brakes, and different subjects, on the different days of the week. Nowadays, thanks to the modern days of internet, and the great modern vision that our school has, we can follow virtually using 聽SCHOOLOGY聽. A learning management system (LMS)聽that聽connects all the people, content,聽and systems that fuel education. They download assignments, upload finished projects, all kinds of homework and tasks, all in “real time”. That way, once we return home, they can continue and attend regular classes, with their friends. Is it the best thing? I don’t know.

Of what I am completly sure, is that we are a family; and we chose to stay one. Is it easy? Nop! . Homeschooling is a lot harder. To have a kid at home all day, doing what they are supposed to do with their peers on class, on his own.聽On the other hand, the thought of what it would be like, being apart from their father (father & mother) for such a long time, really shrinks my heart. Therefore, we know we have chosen the right path.

That said, the tutor, is the key. He or she has to be smart in finding the kids saturation point, in order to really take out the best out of them. Usually they will skype during a classes with their friends at school, who they miss when they are gone.

The most challenging 聽part for them is when, we get back to normal, and they reincorporate to school. Some teachers will be harder on them just because they “were gone” (as if it had been their own choice to not be in class). When that happens, I encourage them to work harder, and to be smart on dealing with situations. They have to learn to stand for what they are, and figure out obstacles at a young age. Of course life is not all pink!

So, to conclude, I always like to look at the bright side: we get to be with them a lot, doing art projects, and I get to be part of their learning process, and that way we learn from them too… Which is so much fun. Here in this small world of polo, I am not alone. There are many other families with children that do the same thing, and have similar ages fo children to play, so we get together and let them run around and socialize. One of the downsides of homeschooling is this: kids need other kids.

I would like to know where is education is shifting to? Do you have any good articles to recommend?

 

 

-And raise your hand if any of you can spend hours at Target or Staples聽 looking for school / office stuff and supplies! ( I LOVE THAT WORD)

 

 

 

 

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  1. Carole blakeley-Cole

    I so ejoyed sharing your summer meeting your family taking me to beautiful destinations Plus u home school Bravo ??????

  2. HOLLY SARIAN

    I think it’s brilliant what you are doing! And much harder on you so bravo..!!! (how much easier it would be to leave them at home in argentina/in their routines/with ni帽eras?!!) but to make the extreme effort (& sacrifice) to take them with you, to show them the world & give them life experiences that they would never otherwise have is beyond wonderful!! when we moved from Canada to argentina 30 yrs. ago with our 2 little boys, we made the decision to never travel without them (we didn’t like the idea of being so far away from them) & the one time we did make a quick trip to paris alone TO CELEBRATE OUR ANNIVERSARY, we were miserable! SO WE MADE A POINT OF STAYING TOGETHER/TRAVELING EVERYWHERE TOGETHER UNTIL THEY WENT OFF TO UNIVERSITY. NOW THEY BOTH LIVE IN NYC & MY HUSBAND & I RETURNED TO TORONTO/PALM BEACH & WHEN WE LOOK BACK, WE WOULDN’T HAVE DONE IT ANY DIFFERENTLY. your children will be much stronger/MORE SECURE/far more adaptable & REALLY, TRAVELING THE WORLD IS THE BEST EDUCATION THERE IS!! keepING YOUR family together is the best thing you can do..!! OTRA VEZ…BRAVO…!!

  3. Lisa oddo

    I often wondered if you home schooled ,now I have the answer , I think life’s lessons that you give your children are so impressive , most children never see much other then there own towns , you show your children the world, culture love for life , endless things that you can not learn in school . You both are amazing parents and I’m sure your tutor is amazing as well xo

  4. Luz

    Hello! This is such a moving post! I do think everybody does the best they can with their circumstances. Especially parents.
    In 2011 I attended a seminar at Harvard called project zero future of learning (I’m an educator in higher ed not k-12 but I wanted to learn about this) and there were 3 main topics they discussed: digital revolution, globalization (global citizenship) and neuroscience. I remember David Perkins and Howard Gardener (the 9 intelligences scholar) saying that the gap between our generation and kids is huge -like never before, because of the fast pace of digital revolution and globalization. There are a lot of unexplored territories out there, and i guess you as a nomad and global citizen are walking on that track. Ita super interesting. You may want to take a look at their website http://www.pz.harvard.edu/ also, Columbia university’s “teachers college” is top notch and I guess they should have a lot of info on that on their website.

    Again, I’m not a k-12 educator (or a parent! and I’m sure other people would know more) but what Ive observed from my college students is that when they have a strong sense of self and they are not afraid to make mistakes or err they tend to have a better experience when handling difficulties (good support systems like communities family mentors guardians etc).students tend to take more (healthy) risks and are more courageous when they don’t feel their grades define them, or if they are perceived as “cool”.
    so I love how your the value togetherness is your compass! The immense value of loving each other will never change, no matter how digitalized we are.

    Xx

  5. Mary Morwood Hart

    I love your words, “we are family. ” this is why I follow you on Instagram, it is so obvious that you love your husband and children very much and I admire that. I, too, am a homeschool mom because of our situation in life, a home in California, a home in Costa rica, and regular travels to Europe and Asia. And wherever we go, our 11 year old son goes with us and so does school! It’s a blast for all of us, Our family motto is “always learning”…at home or on the road! My advice? Don’t fret, your kids will be okay. and have faith that you are doing the right thing!

  6. elizabeth

    we homeschooled both our sons for a few reasons – we traveled a lot, we lived on a remote texas ranch, the schools in our area weren’t great. we stuck together as a family and had a great time. we weren’t as organized as you – the kids learned to read early and then we got them all the books they chose – this way they could follow their own interests. they basically learned to learn. they learned to find solutions when they had problems. they love learning. they both got scholarships to college.
    we traveled at that time a lot in mexico – they always found kids around to play with. i think its better than being with the same 20 kids for 15 years in a class room – this way they were able to see kids from all over the world, rich, poor. i always thought it was odd when people would ask, “what about socialization”? because i just didn’t think being in the same place with the same people for the first 18 years of life would teach a kid much about the world
    in the end, even if we had a decent school available, i would homeschool all over again. i think its easier than sending a kid to school. i wanted my kids to have my values and love for learning and they weren’t going to get that in our local schools.
    (i have to admit, when they got to be 12 years old, we got them a math tutor for algebra, geometry and calculus – there is only so much they could teach themselves)

  7. Coty

    Que genial! En el verano q mis papas me mandaron a USA a estudia ingles, si, me mandaron porque a los 15 yo no queria la verdad… pero fui a la casa de unos amigos en Columbus Ojio y los 3 hijos hacia home schooling. Y ahora q somos grandes y sefuimos amigos te digo que son geniales, dos doctores y un musico y la tipica duda social nunca la tuvieron. Amigos, club, primos, ellos 3… todos formaron familias, etc.
    Karen la mama se volvio experta en el tema e hizo un phd.
    Aqui su link http://www.thereadingdocinc.com