When we packed up our home in California in early November I knew that we would be without our stuff for a while. But even in my worst estimations, I never expected it to be this long.

Since we left our home we have stayed with friends in California, spent two weeks staying with family in London, a short spell staying with my Mum and then almost seven weeks in a holiday cottage in the Peak District whilst we searched for our new home. Thankfully, we eventually found somewhere this month and we are in our new home, which is such a huge blessing. That said, it doesn’t feel at all like ‘home’ yet but it is a start. It doesn’t help that we don’t actually have any of our stuff here yet.

Our shipping should have arrived in the UK in early January, but for some unknown reason (I would really love to know) it has been delayed by a couple of months – yes MONTHS. It is currently on track to arrive in the UK in mid March and then it will take another couple of weeks to clear customs and get delivered to our home. Mad, I know.

So whilst we are technically in our home, we are still living out of the same three suitcases that we arrived in the UK with back in November, with the addition of some sleeping bags, and a nice air bed (*note* there is no such thing as a nice airbed). We have even have to buy a picnic bench to use until our table and chairs arrive and then we will be able to kick it back out into the garden where it belongs!

Special shout out to my Mum who arrived with a car full of kitchen basics, towels, bedding and a kettle, toaster and microwave to see us through whilst we basically do some boujie camping in our house and wait for our things. It is quite the scene over here. Of course the kids think it is amazing to have a totally empty house to run around in and are loving ‘fancy camping’ as we are calling it. They have never been real camping so they are just over the moon to have sleeping bags. On the plus side there isn’t much tidying up to do and no bed making.

When we left California, I paired down our school supplies to the absolute essentials and packed up our workbooks so that we could continue with school wherever we were. I also packed up my expectations because I thought that with all the change, choas, travel and the holidays that we wouldn’t get as much done as I was hoping.

To my absolute surprise the kids have been as enthusiastic as ever to continue on with school! We took the first week off when we arrived as we were all sick and the jet lag was brutal, but after that it has pretty much been business as usual.

We have done school work on the airport floor, in London, on a farm and now at the picnic table in our new home! I actually think that our school work and the consistency and routine that it offers has played a huge part in us all feeling grounded in all of this. Whilst we are in a pretty unusual situation I think that some of the things that we have figured out through this could be applicable to lots of other situations where ‘home’ looks different on your home education journey.

I know that I am not the only one out there who is in, or about to be in, a season where normal ‘home education life’ looks different. Whether it is a pregnancy or welcoming a new baby, illness, or hosting in your home there are so many things that can throw us off our normal rhythms.

I think that it is good for us all to remember one of the great benefits of home education – it is flexible and that it can adapt to what you need it to be in each and every season. Learning is absolutely everywhere when you slow down and pay attention and that these messier seasons of life do pass, or we get better at working with them.

However, I must say for the record that I would give ‘relocating across the world with four kids whilst home educating’ a one star Yelp review. Although would I do it again… probably.

My Tips for Home Educating when ‘home’ looks different…

Plan ahead… as much as you can

This will differ depending on your situation. If it is travel, then where you are going and for how long is obviously going to play a role here. If you are flying then this changes the game completely. I went back and forth unsure as to what to bring and what to leave. Usually when I fly I am avoiding heavy clothes never-mind huge curriculum books! I thought about pulling out pages and pairing everything down but because I didn’t know exactly how long we would be doing this I ended up deciding to bring all of our curriculum… and I am SO glad that I did.

I brought everything that we would need for Math, Language Arts, Science, Handwriting, and an elective on safety that we were part way through. On top of that I knew that I would add in some history literature to read aloud to them and our bible work we would continue with each mornig. I did strip back our manipulatives into these travel cases to make it as minimal as possible but all of this did end up taking about half a suitcase – and it was heavy.

Belle ended up pacing through math quicker than I anticipated and so I had to order her a generic math booster book from Amazon to work on because her next level is in our shipping and I don’t want to start something totally different because I am happy with our curriculum. It has actually been really great to have her work on something outside of our curriculum and see questions worded differently and a different layout of work. It has also introduced British coins to her which we needed to do.

My advice is plan, plan, plan and then something will catch you off guard and that is why there is always amazon prime.

Use your environment

For seven weeks we were in a holiday cottage on a working dairy farm in the middle of nowhere. Most of that time we didn’t have a working car (that’s a story for another day!) and so we were stuck there. Whilst I was busy freaking out about how little we were ‘doing’ the kids were having the time of their lives soaking up learning on that farm.

Looking back that whole experience was priceless. The learnt SO much each day about farming, and milking and caring for animals and the land. It was wonderful. It hugely helped that the farming family were so sweet with the kids, answering all of their questions and giving them an open invite into the milking parlour each evening. What was incredible about the whole experience is that it wasn’t a sugar coated petting farm. They saw cows birthing, new babies, sick babies and even a still born calf which was incredibly sad but also the reality of farming.

We often say that ‘Everyday is a school day’ and it really is. Just pause and engage with what is around you and the learning will flow from that. Travel offers that in abundance and so just relax into it let it happen. It took me a minute!

Use your local library

We have taken full advantage of local libraries wherever we have been and they have been a home ed life line whilst we wait for our things. My big three devour books at serious speed. We have regular allotted quiet reading times throughout our learning day and so we consistently get through a good number of books, especially my older reader. So the libraries have been such a necessity for keeping them well stocked.

Especially here in the UK where home educating is not common at all (although apparently growing?) the local library in the middle of the day is empty. There may be a slow trickle of Mum’s and preschoolers but aside from that you will have free run so enjoy! Every cloud and all that.

Also, I now have a solid collection of various library cards in my purse that I will need to declutter.

Take time to just read

Confession time. I am guilty of having thought in the past that reading aloud to my children isn’t ‘real learning’. Like, it is good to do but it doesn’t count as school.

But this last year (since going screen free) has totally changed that. Read aloud time now has a prime spot in our school day and is one of our favourite things to do. It amazes me over and over how reading something, far above what I think it their comprehension level is, soaks into their little brains and sticks! Teaching through quality literature is such a rich component of our school time and being away from home lends itself so well to more of that.

Whether it is filling that dead time during travel, or setteling little people to bed in a new environment, snuggling up and reading aloud is such a gift and don’t underestimate its value (like I did!). On those rough days when things are not going to plan, lean on that read aloud book in your bag and enjoy, your kids will too.

This empty house has given us so much more time in our days. We don’t yet know the area, or have friends, or a church and our car is broken so we have been stuck at home a lot more than usual. I also have so much less house work to do because… well there isn’t anything to manage! So we have been spending so much more of our days reading. We are currently working through ‘Farmer Boy’ which the big three are enjoying so much – highly recommend.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the ‘Read Aloud Revival’ then I have linked it here, there are so many great resources if you need some encouragement in this area. There are some great books lists there to help you finding the good stuff.

Document, document, document

When we came to the UK back in May for a month long trip I knew that school work would be more of a struggle because our schedule was packed and realistically there wasn’t going to be as much space for ‘sit down school work’. Because of that a friend suggested that I had Belle make a travel journal of her time in the UK. It was such a great idea. She had her instant print camera and journal and each day she would record what we did, write a little about it and attach a photo. It was great and such an easy way to incorporate learning into travel. Just another idea to pass on!

If you are doing a shorter trip with less time then you could even document and collect things and then have the child make a project book when you are back home? It is also such a sweet keep sake for your trip.

Be Flexible

Isn’t this just the number one rule of home education? But it is even more important when you are away from home and not in your usual controlled environment.

For better or worse, Mum’s are usually the emotional control centre of the home. When Mum is having a bad day, it affects everyone negatively and likewise when Mum is happy and calm, it affects everyone positively.

The calmer and more flexible you can be, the better it is going to be for everyone. Take this from a woman who has had a LOT of not so good days in recent weeks. The stress of this move has got the better of me far too many times and I regret so much letting it rob the joy and peace in our home.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”

2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV

Go ahead and captain the ship! Fight for peace and joy to remain in your classroom – whatever that looks like in whatever season, even when home doesn’t look like ‘home’.