Jeff,

My experience is old, but the other side.

Things kids schooled on board miss:
Some school based activities (sports - theater - clubs)
Some social development that is now a part of life.
(out of school for a year or two - this will no be and issue)
The peer group fashion police that criticize everyone for whatever
he/she wears and how much it cost.
The local bullies that own the turf and expect tribute at every turn
and teach their way to respond to threats and intimidation.
They will have a very difficult time establishing connections to
purchase for things their school peers might buy with the money
provided to replace the parent/family time.
Being bored silly in a class because the rote learning process is
slower for many of the classmates.

If they return to the same school they left, they may be somewhat out of
step. In the year of home school, it is not uncommon for a student that
was doing mediocre work to advance two grade levels (my wife is an
adviser to several home school families).

Many years ago, we lived on a Maine built Ketch. She was finished just
after the war (WW2)and was intended to be a coaster. I was the youngest
of three and the only one to come aboard as a newborn.

My mother ran school as was required, but I started earlier than could
have happened ashore. When time came to move into a house, it was rough
for my siblings. Both ended up in placed by grade level and so were
the youngest in the class by a year or more. They survived.

Would I subject two boys to this - in a heartbeat. They will be set in
an experience that they will able to draw on for a lifetime. The people
that they might not get along with aren't worth getting along with anyway.



Tamaroak wrote:
My bride and I are considering taking a year off and doing the Great
Circle Route/Loop, a mere 5000 miles around the east coast, the Erie
Canal and the Tenn-Tom. We would take our boys who will be 14 and 15 and
home schooling them on the boat, using a prepared curriculum and a
satellite Internet connection.

Does anyone out there have any experience in this type of adventure?

Capt. Jeff

On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 17:25:46 -0500, Matt Colie
wrote:


Would I subject two boys to this - in a heartbeat. They will be set in
an experience that they will able to draw on for a lifetime. The people
that they might not get along with aren't worth getting along with anyway.

Well said. I have a three year old son and my wife and I plan to world
cruise for five or more years starting in '08 when he will be seven. I
arrived in public school at age five able to read and count at about
the grade two level (at that time of 1966). I was bored out of my
skull in school and yet because the local principal didn't approve of
jumping grades I had to tough it out. It's said that kids who jump
grades seem socially inept because of their small size and so on. What
isn't considered is that the boredom of facing zero challenges tends
to make little age-appropriate troublemakers...thus I was the
brightest kid in detention until I learned the sort of base cunning
that will deceive a public-school teacher.

I would have been better off with an assignment list, a library card
and occasional appointments with a teaching mentor. I realize not all
kids fit this mold, but self-study on a boat is looking better all the
time.

R.