Don't let the fear of the kids missing their education stop you from making the big decision to go on the road. In my experience my kids learnt so much more from travelling, seeing Australia, its history and geography and meeting people that this far outweighed anything they would have learnt in the classroom.

This subject should probably be broken down into two categories. Those that want to travel for weeks, months or even up to a year, and then those who want to travel long term. In this segment I will discuss my experiences with the shorter and medium term options up to a year. For the longer term you would be best to consult your state education board as each state is different and have different rules on distance education, home schooling and truancy.

On our first trip our children were 8 and 7 (years 3 and 2). We planned to miss 3 terms of school. We investigated the local distance education unit but found the system very restrictive with the children having to work only in school weeks and not in school holidays. We also needed a forward plan of where we were travelling so the work could to be posted to us on a regular basis. We did not plan on being this organised with our plans or where and when we were travelling

We made and appointment with the school principal to discuss the option of distance education. She was a very sensible lady who suggested they did not need this formal type of education for this length of travel. Her rationale was that the only subject that is continuous and builds on previous learning at that age is maths. The rest are done in a series of units and could be on any range of subjects - for the travelling children Australian history and geography were as good as any thing else. Reading was also essential to continue.

The plan was therefore to do maths, reading and write a journal.

We therefore went to the local education supplies store before we left and purchased the relevant maths text for their years. We then regularly sort out the local second hand book shops and op shops along our travels for reading material. This was great for us adults as well as it gave us a regular supply of books.

The journal was also something that we as adults shared as we all had our own journals and spent time together writing them with different styles - the kids doing theirs in a scrap book, me on the computer and the husband keeping the map up to date.

The beauty of this type of informal education was that we could do it where ever and when ever we wanted. Some weeks we would sit down and work every day of the week for an hour or two if we were not busy with sight seeing. Other weeks we did not do any work at all. We did need to ensure though that the journals did not get to far behind as it was always a chore to catch up.

(School work on the banks of the Gregory River, North West Queensland)

Social skills are an important part of any education some of which is learnt at school. For the travelling children they get the opportunity to meet such a wide variety of other children and adults that they get plenty of opportunity to practice and enhance these skills. As they are doing this regularly with every new place you visit they learn confidence easily.

When it was time for the children to return to school they were ahead of the class, particularly in maths and reading as they had had one on one teaching. As for the rest of it they were confident well adjusted kids who had had a real hands on education that they could not have got in any classroom.

On our second trip the children were 11 and 10 (years 6 & 5) and missed two terms of school but returned with the same great results. Even now in high school they are using their journals and memories as a basis for some of their Australian assignments and enjoying looking back on their experiences.

The children are now in high school and we have chosen not to travel long term for this time (I'm also in a job with not as much leave). This is not to say it can not be done with high school age children. We met quite a few families travelling with high school age children who where happily completing the necessary curriculum