Family with 12 kids going to homeschool in RV

[carson]

Oh, goodness. I don't; but immediately thought of the documentary "Surfwise," where this idea didn't turn out so well:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479547/

I immediately thought of Surfwise too! Good doc, but yeah, it didn't turn out well.

This RV thing seems to be a big trend among families that either fall into the new age type of fundie lite or nonreligious unschoolers. Either way, it's been catching on enough that I'm sure we'll be seeing a TLC show about it soon :roll:

[lilith]

Nevermind privacy and all that, where do they all sit when the RV is in motion?

Well the Duggars all seem to bounce around their bus unrestrained - only the littlest kids have car seats, and I'm sure I've seen them out of the seats while the bus is in motion.

[lilith]

I immediately thought of Surfwise too! Good doc, but yeah, it didn't turn out well.

This RV thing seems to be a big trend among families that either fall into the new age type of fundie lite or nonreligious unschoolers. Either way, it's been catching on enough that I'm sure we'll be seeing a TLC show about it soon :roll:

Please please please let TLC follow Lauren on her sparkling adventure. I'm sure she'd do it - like the Duggars, she seems to see promoting her lifestyle as some sort of public service.

[Maggie Mae]

I hate to say this, but what if you need to, um, have a wank? Or sweet fellowship?

Those are normal and not bad. But if you need space alone sometimes, you need space alone.

You do like Eddie Izzard & Minnie Driver's Characters did on "The Riches" and kick the kids out of the RV.

Please tell me I am not the only person in the world who watched that short lived show. (And really really wanted more.)

[YPestis]

My concern would be where are they going to homeschool? One any give subject, I require room for books and notebooks and misc items to do my work. Mom would need to have quiet spot to go over work with each child, right? Even if each child does online school (ala Duggars), they'll still require space and quiet spot. You can talk all your want about the wonders of learning come alive on a road trip, but fractions and Shakespeare still need sit-down time.

[Buzzard]

My concern would be where are they going to homeschool? One any give subject, I require room for books and notebooks and misc items to do my work. Mom would need to have quiet spot to go over work with each child, right? Even if each child does online school (ala Duggars), they'll still require space and quiet spot. You can talk all your want about the wonders of learning come alive on a road trip, but fractions and Shakespeare still need sit-down time.

Shakeswho? What are these fractions you speak of?

They learn fractions as 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of lard etc... Oh wait, gotta feed 10... 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of lard. I be a GEEENIUS!!!!!!!

[Lynn18]

I saw this on Yahoo yesterday and wondered if it'd find it's way here!

[paganhomeschooler]

I saw these guys on the Today show. I'll give them this, even if they're fundie lite, they didn't have their girls in those god-awful modest wear get ups! They were actually wearing bikinis and they even seemed to care for safety. They had life vests on. Well, at least safety in the water. The mom was holding the little baby in her lap in the front seat of the RV while it seemed to be moving! They said some of the kids sleep in tents outside. I'm hoping that's weather-permitting. The dad said he did computer programming or software or something along those lines. That RV definitely looked too cramped for that many people. I could see it being an adventure for a month or two, trekking across the US. Hell, my husband and I would love to drive the kids down Rt. 66. I can't imagine doing it with an infant, though.

[gustava]

http://familiesontheroad.com/

Most of these families are Christian of some persuasion.

[chaotic life]

The film on the Today Show shows the infant in her arms while they are driving, so like Lauren, no one is expected to be safely seated.

I do NOT get these claims about elminating a car and morgage payment this way. RVs cost as much as house payments, and if you have a 5th wheel, you have a truck payment for a HUGE truck. If you don't then you still have a small commuter car you have to tow behind you.

Frankly, I think ending all your children's names in "y" so they rhyme is only one step better than having them all start with one letter.

They appear to be fundi-lite. The lots of kids I can grant may be the Catholic observant behaviors and not the QF community per se. They are financially caring for their own kids. There are things they are doing I wouldn't personally CHOOSE for my family. However, outside the lack of carseats, I don't think there's anything wrong with their choices.....unless their daughter's decision to not go to college was because THEY dictated her choices for her and prevented it. However, she has an online business she is working on, so she IS being productive.

I just don't get the claim that you can elminate a morgage everytime I hear it. You still have a morgage payment, it's just for your RV instead. Those things are NOT cheap!

[lilwriter85]

You do like Eddie Izzard & Minnie Driver's Characters did on "The Riches" and kick the kids out of the RV.

Please tell me I am not the only person in the world who watched that short lived show. (And really really wanted more.)

I loved that show. I was pissed when it got cancelled. I had never heard of Irish Travellers before that show. Does anyone else remember that Touched by an Angel spinoff called Promised Land? It starred Gerald McRaney. It was about a family that decides to travel around in a Suburban hitched to a large camping trailer. The couple had two kids and later took in their nephew and the paternal grandma was also with them. The mom homeschooled the kids. The show was really corny like Touched by an Angel. I think it ran for three or four years. I recall in the last season, they settled down in Colorado. I remember one of the Promised Land producers said the show was largely based on American Chrisitan families who travel around in RVs and homeschool.

[meep]

One of my favorite bands is compromised of 9 Catholic siblings (12 in all) who, in the 70s/80s/90s, lived and were homeschooled in an unconverted double-decker bus traveling through Europe. Now in their 30s and 40s, they've turned out pretty well. Although I should add, their father used to be a teacher and the bus was much bigger than a standard RV. They would usually homeschool outdoors.

[nokidsmom]

The film on the Today Show shows the infant in her arms while they are driving, so like Lauren, no one is expected to be safely seated.

I do NOT get these claims about elminating a car and morgage payment this way. RVs cost as much as house payments, and if you have a 5th wheel, you have a truck payment for a HUGE truck. If you don't then you still have a small commuter car you have to tow behind you.

Frankly, I think ending all your children's names in "y" so they rhyme is only one step better than having them all start with one letter.

They appear to be fundi-lite. The lots of kids I can grant may be the Catholic observant behaviors and not the QF community per se. They are financially caring for their own kids. There are things they are doing I wouldn't personally CHOOSE for my family. However, outside the lack of carseats, I don't think there's anything wrong with their choices.....unless their daughter's decision to not go to college was because THEY dictated her choices for her and prevented it. However, she has an online business she is working on, so she IS being productive.

I just don't get the claim that you can elminate a morgage everytime I hear it. You still have a morgage payment, it's just for your RV instead. Those things are NOT cheap!

I didn't buy the no mortgage claim either although I guess it's possible they came up with ways to come up with paying cash up front. But even then, there's still maintenance / repairs, insurance and gas. None of that will be cheap.

I was wondering the same thing about the oldest daugher and if not going to college was really her choice or not. I hope it was hers and she really wanted in on the RV adventure. She's only 19 so there's time for her to go to college and the online business will be good experience for her.

[Dixiebelle]

OH FFS THERE REALLY IS A FUCKING TLC CASTING CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun fact - the daddy (a former marine) likes to eat his yogurt with a baby spoon. Definitely TLC material!

That was painful to watch. I only made it through the first 2 minutes. :?

[Childless]

When I was in Africa, I ran into a Dutch family. The parents had taken a year long sabbatical from their jobs to travel around the world with their two daughters. Now, that's the way to do it. Have the educational experience without having to give up your entire life. Plus, traveling around the world is way cooler than tooling around Alabama in a freaking RV.

There are ways to have educational adventures with your children without having to go to extremes. Why do fundies (or fundie-lites) always have to go to such extremes? It's like they think acknowledging a middle ground is somehow a sin.

[Joan of Snarc]

When I was in Africa, I ran into a Dutch family. The parents had taken a year long sabbatical from their jobs to travel around the world with their two daughters. Now, that's the way to do it. Have the educational experience without having to give up your entire life. Plus, traveling around the world is way cooler than tooling around Alabama in a freaking RV.

Hey! I'll have you know there's lots of fascinatin thangs to see and do in Bama. Here are two of my favorite attractions:

Why, just today somebody posted on Reddit that they saw this in my beautiful state:

What more could you want from a place? :auto-biker:

[JesusFightClub]

Oh dear. He/she couldn't even spell "Muslims" correctly.

People who follow Islam are called Muslims, last I heard. Not "muslems".

[Maggie Mae]

Oh dear. He/she couldn't even spell "Muslims" correctly.

People who follow Islam are called Muslims, last I heard. Not "muslems".

He spelled it two different ways.

[CuriosityMuseum]

http://familiesontheroad.com/

Most of these families are Christian of some persuasion.

Thanks for this! So many weird families, so little time. I think my new favourite family has to be the one that wanted to escape the misery of living a "six figure life", the horror!

[salex]

http://www.examiner.com/article/family-of-14-rv-parents-to-homeschool-dozen-kids-on-the-road

I didn't see a thread on this. Does anyone know anything about this family?

After a bit of cyber stalking-- here you go.

They appear to have been working toward something like this for a while. They have had a youtube channel about themselves for quite a while called the Kelloggshow.

…www.youtube.com/user/kelloggshow

. The wife wrote a book on childrearing http://www.amazon.com/Raising-a-Badass- ... roduct_top

(currently free on kindle) and they have/had a not for profit (http://www.prolifeworks.org/) which would explain why they had the rv, if they spent their time protesting clinics around the country. That site seems to have been sanitized-0lots of dead pages--but they areavailable at wayback.com http://web.archive.org/web/201207170336 ... org/about/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kelloggshow Her linked in

his linked in page throws off a weirdly long link, but he is there, but with almost nothing on the page.

http://www.kellogic.com/about_our_company.php Their company... their client list seems mostly small town swim teams and small local companies--looks like they make or made little websites.

Fits the mold of the other large families talked about here.... limited actual earnings, a not for profit/ministry, a book or two and an internet site or 3.

[Diana]

Not all the families doing this are christians.

I used to read a blog about a family travelling around the world and homeschooling they children. They were a more little family obviously, but the mother gave birth to another child while traveling.

After 2 years they give up, but they travelled from north to south america (they were french).

In their travelling they meet a lot of other famillies doing the same!(and the people usually were more like hippies than fundies i believe)

[wild little fox]

I looked at pictures of the kids and I think they are having a good time, at least from what I saw. They look happy, healthy, and confident.

[miffy]

Not all the families doing this are christians.

I used to read a blog about a family travelling around the world and homeschooling they children. They were a more little family obviously, but the mother gave birth to another child while traveling.

After 2 years they give up, but they travelled from north to south america (they were french).

In their travelling they meet a lot of other famillies doing the same!(and the people usually were more like hippies than fundies i believe)

Going from north to south would be pretty amazing.

Most of the christian families doing it seem to stick to the USA. I don't understand why they don't take at least part of the Pan Am hwy or even go into wilder parts of Canada?

[EyeQueue]

You do like Eddie Izzard & Minnie Driver's Characters did on "The Riches" and kick the kids out of the RV.

Please tell me I am not the only person in the world who watched that short lived show. (And really really wanted more.)

No, Maggie--I loved that show and was super pissed whrn it ended without warning. It was a great show--thoughtful and intelligent.

[moodygirl86]

Home educating lots of kids in an RV? Two words...Andrea Yates.