Homeschool , the Morgan Way

We started out planning this trip by looking into international private schools abroad , but we quickly realised that most of the children enrolled in this type of school here are financed by their parents’ employers. We were on our own dime. We couldn’t afford it and it would have taken up so much time. Our local school district went out of their way to assist us in setting up an independent study program and we are grateful to them.

Homeschooling our 3 children in Thailand has been one of the most stressful, time-consuming, tantrum having, miserable times of our life. They just didn’t want to do the work.

Having said that, would we do it again?

If it meant living abroad for six months again, absolutely !! But it would/ will be different next time. Did you see that ? Already planning the next trip in my head….

We wanted this to be an educational adventure for our children and for us, so we renamed it an ‘Edventure’. We needed as much time to see the countries we visited ,taking in every smell , sight , color , culture , quirk and taste. School had to be quick and it had to be portable. After the first couple of weeks into our trip , we had to change the sitting in the school room up a bit. We took it to the cafes , on planes , trains and onto beaches , into caves , waterfalls , watched elephants at breakfast , took part in temple breakfasts , etc, all the time soaking in new experiences and always learning.

Our kids have learned more from the days we didn’t sit with traditional books or kindles , pouring over verbs and fractions. I have been making a list I’d like to share with you of how their lives have been enriched and minds filled with new skills and experiences. They are random items, but something that a school classroom just couldn’t provide. Are Mathematics and English important ? Of course, but so are social and life skills. Each one of our lovely children have special needs , one has behavioural issues , the next deals with anxiety and cognitive issues , little one has speech and developmental delays. They can learn in school , and will , but this time here has been wonderful to connect with them 24/7 , for months.

Things our kids have learned to do whilst traveling abroad (this isn’t everything , but a decent variety) :

• read books

• play together

• play board games (UNO, LCR , connect 4)

• use a coin operated washing machine

• hang the washing on a line

• respect for their elders

• write postcards and buy stamps

• order Thai food from a street cart ( and ask for no chilies)

• hail a song thiew

• communicate better

• snorkel

• Emmalynn learned to swim AND snorkel

• eat exotic fresh fruit

• walk in a ‘people pack’ down alleys past stray dogs for safety

• tolerate climate change without complaining

• currency conversion

• not get lost in an airport

• use a squat toilet

• eat rice with every meal

• play with other children who speak a different language

• how to fish with a rod

• some math

• play word games in the car and not realise it’s an English lesson

• use padlocks and walkie talkies

• temple etiquette

• how to handle power outages

• don’t drink from the faucet, boil the water

• how to treat and respect others less fortunate

• wisdom from their grandfather

• how to survive without electronics

• that the word ‘Uranus’ makes you giggle uncontrollably during the solar system class

• YouTube is a mine of knowledge

• that internet isn’t available everywhere

There are so many more but the list would go on for days!

These may all seem trivial to the reader, but each has made our kids stronger and smarter. We believe life is hard enough and so a little time away in the big picture of a lifetime isn’t going to delay them further. How could it ?

I think we have nailed it !

**Sorry in advance to the teachers that have to undo the Edventure out of our feral children on our return.

~Arlene