A couple of years before departing on this trip I embarked on another journey – back to study at University to gain some insight in foundational teaching principals and methods as well as content itself through starting a Bachelor of Education degree.  I elected to do this by online and ‘fleximode’ fitting study around the family and my part-time work from my home office.  Some of the foundational subjects were very enlightening (to me) particularly  ‘Self, Education and Society’, ‘Foundations of Curriculum and Pedagogy’ (particularly due to introduction of the National Curriculum, and ‘Foundations of Numeracy’ where I had a few light bulb moments as to why my attitude to maths was how it was – I was never given the tools/strategies or perhaps it was because I never made the ‘connections’.

Perhaps because of this I am so conscious  of ensuring that the girls have the necessary understanding of these strategies to enable them to make those connections themselves and just love it when something ‘clicks’ for them and their faces light when, armed with this, they can work out things without needing help – from how much money we will get changing our Lira into Dollars, or reading a town map or working out how to get from our accommodation to a particular spot by following public transport timetables. Experiencing this ‘zone of proximal development’ with them has been priceless.

Positives that came out of this study for me were two-fold.  After not having studied formally for nearly twenty years I completed all but one of my first year subjects with a  high distinction (the other I received distinction having missed out on high by 2%), so my confidence increased and  I felt  I could take this on and do well. I now also had strategies for maths I was itching to try out with my girls and go on this practical learning journey together.  The thought of being the one responsible to teach the girls for the next twelve months became less daunting as I had some ‘Perspectives in Education’ and knowledge of ways of working and general lesson plans and overviews.

Whilst studying helped me with the knowledge and know how I could not though have pulled it off without the assistance of the teachers at my girls school.  Now armed with curriculum content for the next 4 terms work in both English and Maths I was able to keep them reasonable up-to-date with what their classmates would have been covering at the time to prevent ‘gaps’ in their learning on our return. Meanwhile we covered Science, Geography and SOSE in a very practical way – we were living it and took every opportunity to engage the girls in the world around us as we travelled and discovered things about climate, seasons and traditions and  cultures of the countries we travelled in.

So what else helped in the lead up to and on our trip?  Some Uni notes and resources and websites like the following:

http://www.acara.edu.au/default.asp

http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=48433 so much wonderful interactive content on this website

http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/20735.html

http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/yr2-maths-curriculum.html etc

http://www.books4yourkids.com/2008/08/age-appropriate-books-for-advanced.html  for the huge amounts of reading we got loaded onto our kindles to keep up to the girls appetite for reading

the following websites would also get a look-in every now and then

IXL learning

Firstschoolyears.com

Studdyladder

K- 3 teacher resources

Vocabulary Spelling City

Mathletics

Sometimes it felt overwhelming with so many resources available and going off on different tangents became a real threat, so often I would just pare it back and look at the unit plan to keep on track and have a little book each where I could tick of evidence of learning against the unit plan.

It was undoubtedly the schooling (to curriculum as opposed to ‘world schooling’ which was a joy) was most challenging part of the trip – it was very hard to keep a routine of learning up when you are moving around – in different surroundings.  I had originally thought that actual travel days themselves (hours on planes or buses or trains) could be good for study and school work – well that went out the window very quickly – who wants to do school work when the world in all its glory is passing outside your window!? Not the girls and certainly not me! Those days of just watching the world go by are some of my favourite days of all….

In the end what worked the best were concentrated allotments of time when we remained in one place and could get into a semi-routine of a few days schoolwork in a row to remain on task, coupled with morning school work and afternoon excursions over a few weeks.

So a month stay in places became welcome both to get through some school work and get to know a place more deeply rather than seeing more but on fewer levels – a full flavoured crockpot meal rather than a quick stir-fry if you will…