LESSONS LEARNED WHILE CRUISING by Jamie and Behan Gifford
Journaling on board Totem: we all keep
journals, to record our memories and
improve our writing.
school systems, to homeschool supply
retailers, to the Salvation Army. Other
families follow child-led learning,
trusting the innate desire of children
to seek knowledge and embracing the
opportunities around them. There is no
single “best choice” for cruising. How
do you find the right path?
First, hone in on what approach
you’ll take toward homeschooling.
When we first started thinking about
cruising, in the mid-1990s, school
afloat could be summed up in one
word: Calvert, a long established
correspondence program. But as we
got closer to departure, the structure
and content of the program didn’t fit
well with three kids of different ages
and grade levels. Now what?
Preparing to Homeschool On Board
Typically, I approach learning by
reading everything I can get my hands
on. That was a good start, but only
Yes, we’re homeschooling our so there are many more curriculum useful to a point. It was more helpful to
children. Surprisingly, “Are you choices and support available. connect directly with homeschooling
homeschooling?” is often one of the families. Some were cruisers, some
first questions we get asked about Getting started: what kind of were wannabe cruisers, but most were
cruising. It’s also the aspect of cruising homeschooling family are you? regular folks – they just didn’t have
I worried about the most prior to our Curricula and philosophies can their kids in the school system.
departure. It felt overwhelming to carry be very divergent. You may feel safest You can find these groups in your
the responsibility for educating our with a packaged curriculum that area through Internet searches. Many
children while distant from common provides a grade-in-a-box: reputable local and virtual groups organize online
educational resources. As a traditionally programs in this area follow a variety through Yahoo Groups. A Yahoo Group
educated person, my uninformed of philosophies, from the traditional specifically about homeschooling
perspective on homeschooling had Calvert program to Oak Meadow’s while cruising, Sailing_Kids, offers
pigeonholed it to the realm of a fringe Waldorf approach. Another option is connections with homeschooling
minority. The good news is that in to put your own curriculum together families with cruising aspirations or
recent years, more and more families based on published standards, then experience. In Puget Sound, a number
have turned to homeschooling, and source books through everything from of school districts, such as Seattle
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48° No r t h , No v e m b e r 2009 Pa g e 22
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