Why we did NO school for a whole year, and how our gap year was the best educational year yet.
In March of 2022 our family decided to set off on the adventure of a lifetime – moving all 7 of us into a 150 square foot trailer and traveling the country.
We had always homeschooled our boys (now 5 of them), but we diligently stuck to our regular routines and curriculum, making sure to “do school” at least 3-4 days a week so we wouldn’t miss any of our planned lessons or feel like we were behind.
But while the trajectory of our homeschool was slowly moving in the direction of the way we learn now, it was really 2022 that completely shifted the way we view education and our approach to learning.
When we hit the road, we were very limited on our weight capacity due to having such a small trailer and so many people. In prioritizing what came with us (like food, clothes… water. You know, the basic necessities) books were not something that made the cut. We did bring along journals and Bible’s, but all of our math curriculum, notebooks, handicrafts and read-alouds weren’t invited for the ride. In all honesty I wasn’t at all worried about my boys’ education; I knew that we would all learn plenty on the trip. And while we weren’t gone for an entire year, the year itself brought about a lot of huge life changes, and so drilling math facts was the farthest thing on my list of “important stuff” to cover.
What Is Education
To express the success of a year without school, we need to discuss what an education even is. Here are two definitions given by Google dictionary:
- The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.
- An enlightening experience.
These two definitions feel entire worlds away from one another. Yet how perfect that education can fit into such a broad and expansive category. So while our family’s education had looked more like the first definition for a number of years, we were slowly transitioning to an education that looked more like the second.
What We Learned In Our Year Off
The better question might really be, “what didn’t we learn during our year off?” The answer to that would be: we didn’t learn a school-year’s worth of information that would probably prove useless in our lifetimes and likely be forgotten by the coming semester.
What we did learn was a LOT about perseverance. Our first week on the road was like a scene out of a movie where the sequence of things that went wrong was so shocking that it was comical. The grand finale was our dog locking us out of our car at the gas station and eating all of our breakfast leftovers that had been intended for lunch.
We learned a few lessons in history as we visited encampments from the American Revolution. We learned about slavery as we drove through the south. We learned about the changing of time and climates as we traversed from coast to coast and back again. We learned about the importance of spending time with extended family, as upon our return home we were devastated with the unfortunate news that our children would never see their grandpop again. We got to explore new places, found new animals, learned new survival skills, more patience, and a deeper appreciation of creation.
What was most fostered during our time off was our relationships with one another. Learning to support each other through the loss of a parent/grandparent, and to be a more helpful and responsible member of the family. We were able to spend more time laughing and crying together and sibling relationships became more important than ever.
What we were most able to learn was all of the practical and relational skills that are used in everyday adult life. Our year off made it plainly obvious that the type of education we were providing before, while it had many beautiful aspects to it, simply wasn’t a reflection of how we humans typically operate. It wasn’t a reflection of the real world. It was a synthetic form of education, that while done in a lovely way, was still just that: synthetic.
Why I Don’t Regret Ditching School
Since returning from our months on the road and recovering from some sudden and challenging life changes, we have opted not to return to our old way of approaching education. Some might call us “unschoolers” now, but I prefer to let it remain without title or restriction. Our homeschool can be whatever we want it to be. We can let it flow as naturally as we like. We can strew interesting ideas into our home and see what takes, or we can let our children come upon their own areas of interest and pursue only what they wish to pursue.
Yes, we still have a rhythm to our days and weeks. Yes, we still intentionally sit down together to discuss important ideas and information, and especially to be in God’s Word together and praying over one another. But our approach to what information our children walk away with at the end of the day has become more of a practice of asking what they wish to know and helping them find it. It has become invitations to help in the kitchen, or with building projects. It is the idea that as a family we are a team and we’re here to support one another, always.
If our year off taught me one thing (which it has taught me many, but if I could only pick one) it would be that children are well equipped to learn what they want and what they need, to be successful men and women. I don’t regret taking a year off, because we all grew in a much more beautiful way than we ever did in all of our years as a more traditional homeschool. Our family is better, stronger, more equipped, and valiant for our year off. So much so that in all honesty, that year off has turned into a year and a half of a new way of education.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. In reality, we are still doing it now. Our time away from “school” has turned into a new way of living – a new lifestyle and interpretation of education. It’s been so life-giving that I haven’t looked back even once. So this is the direction we will continue to go…
Onward.
Related Posts
