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?

I have not done this myself. I have observed many parents who have
done so in the course of living on the boat.

There's a program on TV about a dentist from Canada who took his
children on a circumnavigation (boat was called Ocean Wanderer and
that's the name of the series) starting when they were small. One
of them has become a professional golfer I believe, and the other one
has gone back to sea on a bigger boat because she thought she was too
young to really appreciate the initial part of the trip. They had
some problem with the boy (both children adopted) because he wasn't
very interested in schooling. Part of it I think was that the mom was
unsure of herself in this venue. It's kind of a hokey show IMHO, but
some of it is interesting.

I've met another couple from Canada who did a year on the boat - they
are teachers and took a year's sabbatical. They had two boys about
the ages of yours - one in middle school and one in 9th grade. The
journal of their trip on Carellen is here.
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/humpboattrip/
We met them in the Dismal Swamp
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/humpboattrip/ where the bow of our boat is
just visible on the left of their boat, and again in Oriental and then
again in St. Augustine.

There was a couple with a boat like ours (Jean Marie) that did a
circumnavigation with girls that were 10 and 14 and both of them
seemed to have turned out well.

Friends of mine who both taught middle school (and were very good
teachers BTW) until they retired early due to the restrictive policies
no child left behind, and lack of support for the teachers or any
possibility of discipline for the kids who did and said just exactly
what they wanted, took their grandchild down to the Bahamas with them
(she was living with them full time as her mom had no time for her)
last winter, and after they got back, she did better in school than
she has ever done before. They are down in Florida again this year.

I also saw some live-aboard kids in Marathon when we were there last
winter, The girls seem to miss the social life of school. Some of
them went to a local school while they were living at the dock for
several months.



grandma Rosalie

wherever there is education...its the parents, not the schools that
make a difference.......some folks love to have someone to pile
on blame...so, why not select the school system? they should take a
look at themselves 1st...imho.....

And to those whining about a tax rebate for home schooling, how about for
those who have no children? Shall I get a rebate for the 30 years I've
been paying property taxes for schools I'm not using? Or the roads *I*
don't personally drive on, or the Fire Department *I've* never personally
used, or...get the point? Public education, as with all social services,
benefits *society as a whole* when done properly. We all reap the
benefits, we all pay the costs. We all have a responsibility to get out
and do something when it's not done properly. Look at voter turnout and
tell me how involved people are in society.

Keith Hughes

Ummmm...in the context of the thread, the silly point was offered that home
schoolers should be "consistent" in their philosophy and not seek any
services from the public school system. Some of us pointed out that there is
no inconsistency in this at all, since those who home school pay into the
system through taxes and are entitled to get something out of it. Indeed,
whatever services a home schooling parent would receive is far less than
what has been paid in.

Now, even if there were a "rebate" for home schooling, that money would be
used to eduate the children in question, though outside of the public
system. This would still provide the alleged societal benefit you are
touting above. Unless, of course, the real issue isn't whether children
receive an education but whether it is the government doing it?

BTW: My wife is a public school teacher in So. California. She's a great
teacher but it's a really crappy system--massively top heavy bureaucracy,
wasteful, poorly run, etc. Granting that we cannot abolish the public
education system entirely (my personal preference), we support vouchers as a
good compromise. And as for the teacher's union, we got her out of that
years ago (though we are obligated to pay a relatively small amount of dues
that goes to the collective bargaining portion, but nothing that goes to
support their political agenda).

--Alan Gomes

Let me jump in here! My neighbor raised 5 kids on a 39' custom sailboat in
Mexico. They went aboard ship when the first was 3 mo old and had 4 more
aboard. All were home (boat) schooled until they reached high school age.
That's when the kids and the parents felt the kids needed more peer
interaction so they bought the house next door and moved ashore. All five
kids excelled in regular high school and all five are now in college with
the first graduating next year. One just spent a year in Japan as an
exchange student and speaks good Japanese.
I'm not sure how much home schooling benefitted the kids but it sure never
hurt them! Might be the smart genes. Their father is from Poland!
BTW; They still have the boat, have refinished it, got his license, and
sells cruises out of Pt Angeles when he isn't working his internet cafe!
Gordon
"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 14:51:54 -0500, "Paul Schilter"
paulschilter@comcast dot net wrote:

Tuuk,
From what I've read, home schooler's excel above the other students.
I'm
sure some parents are better at this than others but the figures said
they
for the most part are doing very well.
Paul

I'd be interested in what you've read.

John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to
resolve it."
Rene Descartes

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 20:41:40 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

Alan Gomes wrote:
And to those whining about a tax rebate for home schooling, how about for

BTW: My wife is a public school teacher in So. California. She's a great
teacher but it's a really crappy system--massively top heavy bureaucracy,
wasteful, poorly run, etc. Granting that we cannot abolish the public
education system entirely (my personal preference), we support vouchers as a
good compromise. And as for the teacher's union, we got her out of that
years ago (though we are obligated to pay a relatively small amount of dues
that goes to the collective bargaining portion, but nothing that goes to
support their political agenda).

--Alan Gomes

If you and your wife had any integrity, she'd quit working for the
public school system altogether, and go to work for a private voucher
system school, where she could be hired and fired on a whim,

That's not true. Now if you are talking about the various religious
centered schools (non-Catholic), then you might be right.

earn about a third to a half less,

Neither is that - at least in this area. Private schools are on a
par, most have higher pay scales, than public schools.

and, of course, not be a part of a teachers' retirement system.

Just for the sake of argument, what's so great about the Teacher's
Retirement System? In this state, the funds were raided and put into
the General Fund and are funded every year instead of being a
cumulative fund run by professional managers. Teacher's aren't
eligible for Social Security benefits. None of that is provided by
the NEA/AFT by the way - it's provided by the State. There are no
health benefits provided by the NEA/AFT as there are in other Unions.
In short, the NEA/AFT does nothing for their members after they leave
service. Zero, zip, nada.

Later,

Tom

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 01:56:44 GMT, "Gordon" wrote:

Let me jump in here! My neighbor raised 5 kids on a 39' custom sailboat in
Mexico. They went aboard ship when the first was 3 mo old and had 4 more
aboard. All were home (boat) schooled until they reached high school age.
That's when the kids and the parents felt the kids needed more peer
interaction so they bought the house next door and moved ashore. All five
kids excelled in regular high school and all five are now in college with
the first graduating next year. One just spent a year in Japan as an
exchange student and speaks good Japanese.
I'm not sure how much home schooling benefitted the kids but it sure never
hurt them! Might be the smart genes. Their father is from Poland!
BTW; They still have the boat, have refinished it, got his license, and
sells cruises out of Pt Angeles when he isn't working his internet cafe!

Again, that's one success story and with home schoolers, that's all
you hear about.

For even one success story, I can give you three marginal stories and
one bad one.

I'm not advocating public education over home or other schooling
systems. I am saying that it's home schooling "success" is mostly
based on "a friend" or "a neighbor" or "a friend of a neighbor". I've
seen some success in home schooling (I coached girls softball and boys
baseball for a number of years at the high school level), but I've
also seen a bunch of disasters.

You really need to evaluate the child and the parents to make sure
they can do what needs to be done.

Later,

Tom

Leaving much (edited for brevity) of Keith's diatribe for context, my
comments at the end:

"Keith Hughes" wrote in message
...

Yes, and parent should get involved (as in PARTICIPATE, not spectate) in
their kids education! Few parents I encounter even know the names of
their children's teachers. Schools, and school boards, respond to the
demands of the community (read 'parents'), and unfortunately, those
demands are too often for a baby-sitting service that passes children
from grade to grade irrespective of their level of attainment.

Once again, you miss the point. Parents have the responsibility for
preparing their children *for* school, monitoring their performance *at*
school (P.T.A., parent-teacher conferences, etc.), and changing the
educational system when it isn't functioning properly. We live in a
democracy in the US, and inherent in the democratic process is both
personal and social responsibility. Vote out the school board, the
system *will* change. Sit back and carp on newsgroups on the other hand,
and...oh, that's right, nothing happens. Get it?

Sorry to snatch the easy bone from your jaws, but no, I'm not a teacher
(never have been, not married to one). I was, however, lucky enough to
have been raised by parents and grandparents who believed in education,
and their rearing techniques reflected it. So I know adequate parenting
when I see it, even seeing so rarely.

And to those whining about a tax rebate for home schooling, how about
for those who have no children? Shall I get a rebate for the 30 years
I've been paying property taxes for schools I'm not using? Or the roads
*I* don't personally drive on, or the Fire Department *I've* never
personally used, or...get the point? Public education, as with all
social services, benefits *society as a whole* when done properly. We
all reap the benefits, we all pay the costs. We all have a
responsibility to get out and do something when it's not done properly.
Look at voter turnout and tell me how involved people are in society.

Keith Hughes

Interesting you should say that. In our county, for a few years out of the
last several, the fastest growing in the country (read: infrastructure
challenges), 65 and over get exempted from the school portion of the
property taxes.

As that comprises about 90% of the property tax burden, and they then also
get a homestead exemption, doubled for 65, seniors in our county get to kick
back for a few years until they snuff it. If I'd have known that, I'd have
the technical owner of my home having registered for that privilege! (My
kids are long out of the system; I was very involved in their schooling and
activities, and didn't begrudge the taxes paid.)

(The technical owner part is that rather than take a deed, I did a contract
for deed. So, the original owner is still "owner of record" despite our
beneficial ownership. Because it's more appropriate at this time, I'll be
getting the deed this year - but I'm some way from qualifying for the break,
let alone that we're cutting the cord and leaving!)

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 11:48:45 -0500, "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez
use my name at earthlink dot fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for
the spamtrap wrote:

Interesting you should say that. In our county, for a few years out of the
last several, the fastest growing in the country (read: infrastructure
challenges), 65 and over get exempted from the school portion of the
property taxes.

Not in Connecticut. Or MA. Or RI. Or NY I believe.

As that comprises about 90% of the property tax burden, and they then also
get a homestead exemption, doubled for 65, seniors in our county get to kick
back for a few years until they snuff it. If I'd have known that, I'd have
the technical owner of my home having registered for that privilege! (My
kids are long out of the system; I was very involved in their schooling and
activities, and didn't begrudge the taxes paid.)

Where do you live because that sure as hell doesn't happen in this
state.

Later,

Tom

Just a snippet from GMBs post here (BTW, Tom sends his regards):

There was a couple with a boat like ours (Jean Marie) that did a
circumnavigation with girls that were 10 and 14 and both of them
seemed to have turned out well.


The girls from Jean Marie have done radically more than "all right." I
can't begin to recite the accomplishments and differences between them and
the usual student - but I'm sure their dad and mom would happily expound.

They're a few boats down from us as they do a complete refit in Salt Creek
Marina, and I've had several opportunities to chat them up in the course of
going by.

Suffice it to say, if you're involved, caring and willing to put in the
work, kids who are home schooled - let alone in an international environment
where they have to create their own entertainment as well as learn by
osmosis - should easily outdistance conventionally schooled kids, and do it
on less than half the time, to boot (no waiting for the slowest, no
bureaucracy, no reviewing for the first 3 months to re-implant what was lost
over the summer, etc.).

L8R

Skip and Lydia, trying desperately to get the boat finished before money
and/or time runs out


--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 12:00:31 -0500, "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez
use my name at earthlink dot fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for
the spamtrap wrote:

~~ snippage ~~

Suffice it to say, if you're involved, caring and willing to put in the
work, kids who are home schooled - let alone in an international environment
where they have to create their own entertainment as well as learn by
osmosis - should easily outdistance conventionally schooled kids, and do it
on less than half the time, to boot (no waiting for the slowest, no
bureaucracy, no reviewing for the first 3 months to re-implant what was lost
over the summer, etc.).

And there is your answer.

Not all that complicated huh? :)

Later,

Tom