The Homeschool Camper
You may be asking yourself just what is a "homeschool camper"? Well, for nine months last year that meant that we were a family of full time campers who homeschooled. This year, it means that we are a family of homeschoolers who love to camp. Many families homeschool just like many families camp. What makes us different? Maybe nothing, I'll let you decide. We have experience with short term camping and long term camping, we've been doing it for just over ten years. And while we've only been homeschooling for approximately thirteen months, we've done it for that whole time since we only took a small break around Christmas.
This is a site where I publish all the good times and the bad, my brilliant moments and my not so brilliant moments, and all the love my family has throughout. I'll post whatever advice I may have on both camping and on homeschooling. My personal blog can be found through this page where I talk about our lives and what we're doing on almost a daily basis. I'll be writting a preschool curriculum this year for my little peanut, she'll be five next month, I'll try to post at least a week of lesson plans at least a week in advance of when we'll be using it. I will be updating everyone on it's status later this week.
Throughout this site you'll find that I usually refer to my children as Peanut and Cracker Jacks. I'd prefer not to have their names broadcast around the web and so I use a nick-name I've had for the three of them for many years now. As I stated above Peanut is four years old right now and she's doing preschool this year (she did nursery school last year). The Younger Cracker Jack is eight now and is beginning third grade while the Elder Cracker Jack is eleven and starting the sixth grade.
Peanut was diagnosed when she was two with Early Childhood Developmental Delay (ECDD) and being legally blind. Just recently she was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and behavioral problems that the doctor doesn't want to label just yet due to her age, she is also treated for migraines due to her issues with sight causing frequent migraines. She was born early and though most of these issues cannot be linked to that it does have effects on some things.
The Younger Cracker Jack has a mild form of dyslexia which we are working with. Needless to say reading and writing are NOT her favorite subjects. And the Elder Cracker Jack has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), we choose not to medicate him and rather focus on coping skills so that he'll be able to handle the disorder as an adult as he will never grow out of it.
Another thing that is slightly different about us is that we spend the year, split about equally, between Kentucky and Michigan. From about New Year's day until about May first we are in Kentucky, with the rest of the year spent in Michigan. When we're in Kentucky we are campers, though we are currently looking for a home or land to purchase in eastern Kentucky. When we're in Michigan we live at home and take camping trips. This is primarily due to the cold winters in Michigan and the fact that some of us cannot handle the cold any longer.
The picture you see at the top of this page (and indeed most of the pages on this site) was taken on one of our first stops last year on our nine month long camping bananza, a beach on the western coast of Michigan on a very windy day at the beginning of October. The sand dunes were at our backs and our campsite was less than a mile away, it was a wonderful overnight stay at a Michigan State Park.
This is a site where I publish all the good times and the bad, my brilliant moments and my not so brilliant moments, and all the love my family has throughout. I'll post whatever advice I may have on both camping and on homeschooling. My personal blog can be found through this page where I talk about our lives and what we're doing on almost a daily basis. I'll be writting a preschool curriculum this year for my little peanut, she'll be five next month, I'll try to post at least a week of lesson plans at least a week in advance of when we'll be using it. I will be updating everyone on it's status later this week.
Throughout this site you'll find that I usually refer to my children as Peanut and Cracker Jacks. I'd prefer not to have their names broadcast around the web and so I use a nick-name I've had for the three of them for many years now. As I stated above Peanut is four years old right now and she's doing preschool this year (she did nursery school last year). The Younger Cracker Jack is eight now and is beginning third grade while the Elder Cracker Jack is eleven and starting the sixth grade.
Peanut was diagnosed when she was two with Early Childhood Developmental Delay (ECDD) and being legally blind. Just recently she was also diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and behavioral problems that the doctor doesn't want to label just yet due to her age, she is also treated for migraines due to her issues with sight causing frequent migraines. She was born early and though most of these issues cannot be linked to that it does have effects on some things.
The Younger Cracker Jack has a mild form of dyslexia which we are working with. Needless to say reading and writing are NOT her favorite subjects. And the Elder Cracker Jack has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), we choose not to medicate him and rather focus on coping skills so that he'll be able to handle the disorder as an adult as he will never grow out of it.
Another thing that is slightly different about us is that we spend the year, split about equally, between Kentucky and Michigan. From about New Year's day until about May first we are in Kentucky, with the rest of the year spent in Michigan. When we're in Kentucky we are campers, though we are currently looking for a home or land to purchase in eastern Kentucky. When we're in Michigan we live at home and take camping trips. This is primarily due to the cold winters in Michigan and the fact that some of us cannot handle the cold any longer.
The picture you see at the top of this page (and indeed most of the pages on this site) was taken on one of our first stops last year on our nine month long camping bananza, a beach on the western coast of Michigan on a very windy day at the beginning of October. The sand dunes were at our backs and our campsite was less than a mile away, it was a wonderful overnight stay at a Michigan State Park.