The Roaming Rosses!

RoamingRoss · Jun 12, 2020

We are the Ross family. Jessica, Rick, and our two young children(1 & 3). We are born and raised in Ohio, but are down-sizing, and looking for starting our adventures on the road. We haven't decided on what to get yet, as we are in the beginning steps of research. We currently own a 2018 Dodge Caravan, but are considering trading in for a truck so we can pull more than 3k. We had already planned on home-schooling when the kids are older, so this lifestyle will work for us. Can't wait to learn from all you awesome adventurers!

rvwandering · Jun 12, 2020

Welcome to the CRVL forums RoamingRoss! We don't have many young families on the forums so it's great that you decided to join! Ask about anything and everything. We have a lot of knowledgable members.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

eDJ_ · Jun 12, 2020

Welcome to the CRVL Forums

By way of suggestion, would you consider giving your kids some time to ride in the Caravan and get use to traveling. Not all kids or pets well.
My father traveled in his work every day and often mom was dragging me along with her. They were in early & mid twenties and I must have been
quite a burden as kids at that age have needs that are quite immediate.

Most teachers will tell you that K thru 3 are the most important years in a kids education. (by age 4 it is thought that a child will know half of what it will know in it's life time....and by 7....3/4 of it)

In my case I had a lot of travel before I started in school at age 6 . Looking back, it was good for me but made me different from other kids in class
and that a bit perplexing for a lot of my teachers. Most of us here have to come to grips with the fact that when we are different from the rest of society in some way, that we may catch some flack for it. But I think it is possible for those entering into this wisely to work around a lot of that.

maki2 · Jun 13, 2020

I think travel and homeschooling is a great way to go if the parents and child can make it work out as a team effort.
Right now homeschooling in the USA has been the only option in the last few months. So everyone is getting an appreciation of just how much time and effort it takes to do a great job of it. The classroom teachers are also learning just how different it is from formal classroom instruction. Their training as educators did not really prepare them for that. But I bet from now own it will become part of a K-12 educators curriculum to know how to do effective and engaging lessons for online teaching. Unlike homeschooling in previous times internet connection is a real game changer for enriching the basic lessons.

Does a 7 year old know 3/4 of what they will know in their lifetime? That would have been true perhaps 100 years ago. But that child would be very limited in functioning in today's society especially if they wanted a career in medicine, technology, engineering, etc.

vanbrat · Jun 13, 2020

Except in techy stuff, most 7 yrs old are waaay ahead of me.

eDJ_ · Jun 13, 2020

It's hard for me to say about the 7 year old's cognitive development as I can only state what Teachers are "claiming". (I would see that as an average though) But with kids on the internet since they can manipulate a computer it's hard to say where they stand. By this time they have learned the basic reading, writing, and math skills and what is expected of them both on the social and behavioral levels. The 3/4 notion likely comes from this. Remember too that by grade 4 they will become aware of their standing among their peer. (called the "gang stage" or "break out" time when they
stop seeing the world revolving around them)

When I took fiber optic training there was a couple of brothers who were home schooled. They said that they were home schooled from day one.
The little brother clung to the older brother like a shadow. They were in their own little world the whole time. The instructors were not school teachers but rather tech guy's and it was obvious that it was a challenge for them to teach the two of them. (as much as for the two brothers to
keep up) They just weren't used to anything except what they had always known.