Boatschooling (from academics to raising humans)

Tell me how you really feel about boatschooling.

 
We met a French couple at the market in Lagos yesterday who have been farming in the Algarve for the past 22 years. Like most farmers at the Lagos market, they grow a large variety of crops on a small parcel of land. We started talking because I saw they had jars of stewed rhubarb. "You can grow rhubarb in Portugal?" --"Yes, but with a lot of trials and work." From there the conversation went to boating (the husband had sailed from Normandy to the Marquesas and they had spent some time living aboard with their kids) and raising kids on a boat. The wife turned to the kids and said, "So, you are doing your learning on the boat? You are . . . boat-schooling!" 

Saturday market in Lagos, Portugal

Yes, we are boatschooling. We're in our fourth year of boatschooling. The kids stopped traditional school along with the rest of the world in March of 2020 and they never went back. Freja was halfway through third grade and Matilda was halfway through first grade. (Tangible evidence of the stop date is handwriting:  Freja's cursive handwriting is beautiful whereas Matilda can only print because I don't have the perseverance or discipline to make her sit and work on handwriting five days a week.)

Big goals

From the beginning, I found it important to define the end goals for our kids. You can't embark on a massive project without knowing how you want it to end. End goals for education can be tangible, like university acceptance or a job; or the end goals can be intangible, like the ability to think critically and answer complex questions. We aim for the latter, although I do have a definition of the intangibles -- at a certain point (18 is the standard age for the western world), I'll probably feel comfortable letting our kids venture into the world alone when they can:

1. receive information, process that information critically, make informed decisions and opinions, and then share that information with others;
2. make good health choices from preparing and eating nutritious food to maintaining good physical  and emotional health;
3. have good time management--be both productive and efficient; and
   
4. have a healthy relationship with their screens.

Of course there are many, many other character-building type lessons they need to learn, but in terms of concrete boatschooling, we're focused on the four goals above. Being kind, compassionate, flexible, open-minded, curious, skeptical, engaged, resilient, and confident humans--those are the basic building blocks that all of this is built on and (no pressure) we all work on all of that on a daily basis.

#s 1 and 2

Naturally, our schooling continues to evolve as the kids get older and as their interest develop and change. The first goal has more or less stayed the same since we started. That was easy to define and is our main academic goal. More specifics on our academic program later. The second goal is a both a self-care goal and a be able to function as a human goal. Eat, sleep, exercise, self-reflect. Freja cooks dinner once a week and Matilda helps out in the galley as needed. Good sleep hygiene is important--regular bedtimes and wake-ups. And get off the boat every day for some form of physical exercise.

#3

The third and fourth goals are new this year and have been a work in progress. Their Montessori school in Texas started the time management piece by giving them a weekly list of tasks and a dedicated block of time each day to complete those tasks. I loved that method but unfortunately it didn't translate well with their parents as the teachers so we've been more top-down with our school schedule. But after three years of endless complaints and tears and whining in the mornings I thought, maybe our kids aren't morning kids. What if we switch school to the afternoon? So I threw the ball in their court. They each have a set of subjects they work on weekly and they know what assignments need to be completed by Friday afternoon. The loved the freedom to choose when they could do school. Even though we had a few hard time management lessons along the way when schoolwork was still being tackled at 8PM, complaints about actually doing schoolwork were largely diminished. But that kid-centered schedule started to take over our whole days. Our kids love to stay on the boat so if they didn't start school until the afternoon, we were hard-pressed to get them to do anything beforehand and then we were stuck on the boat all day. If one kid did school in the morning and the other in the afternoon  that meant I spent the whole day playing teacher. And if we didn't have any concrete plans for the day and their was no time expectation for school, they'd often still be in their pajamas at 11AM. With no solid schedule, their screen time use also went way up. So as much as wanted to give them the responsibility and autonomy over their time, we've all (begrudgingly for some) agreed on a 10AM school start, Monday to Friday.

#4

Technology, internet, and social media are by far the biggest parenting challenge and fear that we've dealt with yet. Similar to the time management issue, we want to give our kids the autonomy to make good decisions about their screen use, in terms of both time and content. Teaching them appropriate and healthy screen use now is necessary so they can handle the unlimited screen time they'll get the minute they start living independently. We have had endless, circular discussions about how much screen time is appropriate, categorizing screen time, how many daily physical interactions with screens is healthy, types of content, internet safety, are we living our life through our screens, etc. etc. etc. We wanted to give them a set amount of time per day that we were comfortable with (for us that is 1.5 hours a day) and then let them choose when to use it. After a few months and increasing daily screen time usage, we knew we had to do something different. We wanted to collaborate with the kids so they had ownership of the decision, but we were quickly reminded how powerful these screens are. We had sobbing, screaming matches. Slammed doors. Radio silence from one afternoon into the next day. But after days of hard discussion, we landed on a plan that is working, so far. And the kids helped craft the plan and they, sort of, agree to it. 

***30 mins of screen time in the morning. Screens put away at 10AM to start school. No screens until school is over. One hour after school. Ideally not an hour straight of youtube. Some stretching of the time if they're texting friends. Weekends get more time because, it's the weekend. Plus extra time is allowed to facetime friends in different time zones.***

Parents from previous generations to us: you are so lucky you didn't have to deal with this nonsense. Parents of younger kids: set your family rules sooner rather than later and stay strong.

Academics

Back to goal #1, the academic goal. (Fully acknowledging the irony after my discussion of the sheer headache that is screen time use), our kids' academic school has moved almost exclusively online. I've typed up below what we do on a weekly basis for each academic subject, but not included are the museums we visit, the people we meet, the languages we hear, and all the amazing educational opportunities we get on a daily basis through our lifestyle.

Freja is 12 (13 in one month) and aligned with 7th grade in US schools:

    Math—Art of Problem Solving pre-algebra self-paced classes. This is a fully online and adaptive technology that increases in complexity (or goes slower) based on responses and speed with previous questions.  Pre-recorded videos are interspersed throughout each lesson and she has access to instructors and a forum with other students. She also has the paper textbook which she refers to as needed.

    English—IEW, Institute of Excellence in Writing. Self-paced online classes with weekly writing assignments. This course is very different from the English we have done in the past. It is very structured with a focus on mechanics, structure, and style over creativity. Freja loves it, Matilda is on the fence. It teaches the art of reading texts, pulling out important points, and writing summaries of the material. Usually each lesson has between 1-3 source essays and Freja generally writes a 5 paragraph essay or short story. There is also a grammar component which both kids love. (Maybe love is too strong a word, but they both do it without complaint and they have improved immensely in the past few months so the payback is huge.)

A sample from Matilda's grammar book

Since IEW is so rigid, it's nice to take breaks from the curriculum. We did a three week unit on Macbeth before Christmas which we all enjoyed and will definitely do again. Freja wants to read a Midsummer Night's Dream because she saw a live performance of it last summer. I encourage the kids to do free writing on Fridays instead of IEW and they are both working on pieces of fiction.

Trying to keep track of the plot in Macbeth

    Piano—Freja takes live, online classes, two times a week, one hour each with an instructor we found through the Preply app. Sheer luck that we found a teacher that Freja clicks with. 

    History—Big History Project, an amazing resource. We just started and I LOVE IT. Beyond the facts, it teaches how to learn history and think critically. All online and dependent on being able to stream videos and access articles. 

    Science—We are working our way through the periodic table through a book of chemistry experiments and  YouTube videos. I'm also the student in the class because I have zero memory of my high school chemistry class. Hans's medical school education pays off outside of the hospital!

Moving school to a coffee shop is an occasional treat.

 Matilda is 10 (11 in one month) and aligned with 5th grade in US schools:

     Math—Beast Academy. Content is online. We have paper books but she focuses better and is more engaged when there is a screen. Sigh (although a good lesson for how the right applications of technology can be beneficial). She also meets with a tutor once a week via Outschool who helps her with any particular challenging areas or just works through problems. The tutor isn’t necessary but I felt it was important that Matilda knows that math is important enough that she needs an instructor.  *side note, cruising can be isolating and I worry about the kids learning in a vacuum. I want them to know that their learning is appreciated and valued beyond our boat/family.* 

    English—same as Freja, different level. IEW was going too fast for Matilda so she takes two weeks to complete one lesson.

    Drama—Matilda's current life goal is to be an actor. She takes a live improv class every Monday via Outschool. Same teacher and more or less the same group of kids for over 6 months now.

    Violin—with Hans 

    History—same as Freja 

    Science—same as Freja

    Art--once or twice a week. Most recently we've worked on landscapes and still life, usually trying to connect the art we look at with artists in our current region. 

 This year has definitely been our most productive and successful boatschool year. Partly because the kids are older and more amenable to sitting down and doing work (they understand the necessity and importance of education), and partly because we've been boatschooling for long enough that I know what type of curriculum they will engage with. Sitting at a table doing endless math worksheet after another for months on end just to stick the completed workbook in a pile did not work for Matilda. The online program gives her the feedback she needs to encourage her to keep working and get to the next level.

Boatschooling is no easy feat and while the kids think they're only in school from Monday - Friday, like all parents, Hans and I are working 7 days a week to ensure they can do more than tie their own shoelaces when they leave home.