How to Plan Your Road School Day (plus a free road school printable)
Mastering time management when it comes to planning your full time RV travel day is KEY to making life on the road a success.
You juggle it all when your entire family is together every single day. Remote work, RV repair and general house upkeep, homeschooling, meal prepping, next trip planning, PLUS the daily adventures… it can be exhausting! And some days seemingly impossible.
Our family stays on a tight schedule to keep us on track for getting everything done that needs to get done, and all the fun to take place as planned.
First, if you’re just here for the freebie printable, click here to jump over our routine details!
Here are our tips for time management and planning out your successful road school day.
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1. Embrace the Power of Planning
Time management starts with a solid plan. Create a daily schedule that outlines dedicated blocks (time blocking is an excellent technique!) for work, homeschooling, outdoor activities, and personal time. Utilize tools like digital calendars or planners to organize your tasks.
Include buffer times to account for unexpected disruptions that are bound to happen when kids are involved. Sharing this schedule with your spouse and kids can help them understand the structure of the day, making transitions smoother.
We use Asana and Dubsado to help run our remote businesses in automated ways. And the good ‘ol Google Calendar and dry erase wall calendar to keep the family on track.
2. Make Your Work Period Productive
To maximize productivity during your work hours, designate a quiet workspace away from distractions. Ha ha, just kidding.
Just set aside a space that gives you minimal distractions for when you do decide to focus on work.
Set specific goals for each work session and prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. Consider using time management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique—working for focused 25-minute intervals followed by a 5-minute break—to stay productive and take a few moments with the kids.
3. Utilize Your Flexible Schedule
The beautiful thing about being on the road, just you and your family, is that you have very minimal social obligations, and probably even fewer time commitments. YOU get to plan how your day goes, and that flexibility is life saving.
Think about your children’s schedules, and overlap their quiet times with your work times.
Talk with your spouse and find out when they work best so that they have focused, uninterrupted time for getting work done productively while you take care of the children (and possible homeschool), then switch! They’ll feel like they got done what they needed to, and are ready for one-on-one time with the kids (and a homeschool subject or two).
Honor nap times and evening down times so that everyone has the chance to recharge.
4. Find a Curriculum That Works for Your Child
Experiment with different curriculums until you find one that works well for your teaching style, and most importantly – your child’s learning style.
Many curriculums are “no prep” which means you can crack open the books the day of, and have everything you need (this is what we prefer… especially being on the road). There are also units you can find online that are subject specific, and you can build your own education utilizing credible sources.
We go into more detail in this blog post all about how we homeschool from the road.
5. Make Your Adventures Learning Experiences
Obviously this is one of the best benefits to traveling full time! SO many learning opportunities everywhere you go, especially to historical sites and national parks that are chaulk full of resources.
Maybe in the morning you focus on getting some technical “have to’s” done (such as spelling, handwriting, verse memorization, etc.), but set aside designated adventure time to learn in the afternoon.
6. Foster Outdoor Exploration
Kids can learn SO much just by exploring the campground. When everyone is starting to pull their hair out (or really BEFORE you get to your breaking point), send everyone outside! Have some fun nature printables on hand, and for older kids have them keep a nature journal to keep record of their findings.
You can study these later as a part of their organized education, or simply let their minds learn through exploration and findings.
7. Honor Designated Times of Rest
Your kids need their routine nap schedules. You need to get in bed on time. Make sure rest still happens amidst the chaos. Plan it in if you must!
Keep Accurate Records of Your Road School Days
Keeping attendance is for some reason REALLY hard for us!
We’ve tried to utilize multiple planners to keep track of our daily homeschool attendance that’s required by the state.
Unfortunately, the ones we’ve found online or in the products we buy aren’t super practical for our unique situation.
So I (Melody), the graphic designer, designed an attendance sheet tailored for the full time RV family that roadschools.
This printable:
Has PLENTY of space for field trip recording, and an area for detailing how it was a learning experience and applied to the school day attendance. There’s also a second sheet for just “field trips” so that you can print as many copies as you need. (You know us full time families go on a lot of excursions!).
Starts in July and end in June. If you’re like our family, school is very fluid. Sometimes “summers off” look different, and it’s frustrating when the attendance calendar doesn’t have your month.
Click to expand image.
Homeschooling young children while working from your RV and juggling all of the moving pieces of the day may sound like a daunting task, but with a well-structured plan, creativity, and a positive mindset, you can strike a balance that benefits both your children's education and your professional life.
Remember that every day won't be perfect, and flexibility is key when it comes too full time RVing with your family and figuring out road schooling together. Cherish the moments of growth and discovery you share with your children and relish in the joy of watching them learn and thrive, both indoors and amidst the beauty of the great outdoors.
