If it wasn’t for a comment Nancy Sathre-Vogel left on one of my Pets articles I never would have known about the extraordinary undertaking she and her husband plan to make with their two boys and dog: a bicycle trip from Alaska to Argentina. (I for sure had to interview her about that!)
Along the way she and her husband will be homeschooling their boys. I thought it would make an intriguing interview to post here.
Courtney Mroch: On your website, you have a box encouraging teachers and homeschoolers to contact you for a “unique, dynamic way to help [their] kids learn geography.” Can you elaborate on how you do that?
Nancy Sathre-Vogel: We are really excited about this part!! As we travel we will be writing up a series of photo essays about whatever it is that we’re learning about at the time. So – let’s say we’re cycling through the Alaskan tundra. We might take photos of the pipeline built on the permafrost and write about the challenges they had to overcome to build it, or maybe we’ll write about what permafrost is. Once we get down into Central or South America we might visit Incan or Aztec ruins and we’ll write about that. We will have links to them from our map. I know the map is empty now, but once we get on the road, we will have our route highlighted and will have links to the photo essays on there.
The other thing we are hoping to do (but we don’t have this all worked out yet) is to hold some live chats periodically. We would set up a time when we can be online and people from around the world can log in to the chat room and ask us questions. I think that would be great for kids!
CM: What kind of lesson plans do you have in store for your boys? Do you have them all laid out for the entire trip, or will you adjust depending on what you encounter along the way?
NSV: Do we have them all laid out? Are you kidding? We have nothing planned. As we make our way southward, we will take advantage of all the educational opportunities we find – historical sites, national parks, etc… We will also seek out experts in various things – maybe biologists who can teach us about sea turtles laying eggs on the beaches or geologists who can teach us about earthquakes or faultlines. We have no idea what we will learn about – we’ll take it day by day and learn whatever we learn.
One of my favorite things about traveling this way is the idea that we have no idea what each day will bring. On our last trip we were cycling along the Pacific coast one day when we saw a little sign about an estuary – you know those little informational signs that various groups erect at different places? As I read the sign to my boys, I realized that I had no idea what an estuary was! Yes, I had heard the word before and knew it was something to do with an ecosystem in water – but that was as far as I knew. As I read the sign, I learned right alongside my boys that an estuary is where fresh water meets salt water – and lots of plants and animals like that kind of water. Each day brings new challenges and new things to learn!
CM: Are you the first of your kind that you know of to take homeschooling on the road in such a fashion?
NSV: As far as I know, we are the first homeschooling family to take an extended bicycle tour like this. There is another couple who is now almost to the tip of South America with their four-year-old son. They were in Baja last year at the same time we were, but we turned around headed back north, while they kept going. Given the fact that their son is still young, they haven’t paid much attention to a formal education. There are also lots of families who have chosen a nomadic life and are traveling around the world learning about life.
CM: For other homeschoolers who might be interested in biking and learning at the same time, but perhaps sticking closer to home, what kind of tips can you pass along? Any lesson plan or activity ideas you’ve found particularly helpful?
NSV: I think the thing my boys have learned the most from is simply being outside in nature. I wrote up an article for Secular Homeschooling Magazine, and it starts out like this:
“Ah, Mom… Do I hafta?” Davy grumbled. “I wanna play here some more.”
I looked around, bewildered, at “here”. To my husband and I “here” was simply a plain ol’ wide spot in the road. We had stopped there solely for the purpose of fixing a flat tire. To my twin sons, however, “here” had become a soccer field, and the many discarded plastic Coke bottles found littering the ground had turned into soccer balls. “Yes, honey,” I sighed. “This flat tire set us back, and we need to get into town today. Please go get on the bike.” My boys took off to score one last goal before reluctantly climbing on the bike behind their father.
As we pedaled toward town I thought back upon the months we had been on the road; on the hundreds of hours we had spent pedaling and the multitude of breaks we had taken on the sides of roads since we left our home in June, 2006 to ride our bicycles around North America. And I thought about all my boys had learned in those months; learning that extended way beyond the traditional 3 R’s of education. At the beginning of the journey the kids dragged out miniature plastic aliens at each break. Their aliens fought battle and conquered new lands. By the next day rocks and sticks had become spaceships and distant planers which their aliens controlled. Within a few days, the aliens had been forgotten and their playthings were solely of the natural variety: rocks, sticks, leaves, and pinecones.
I think that sums things up – the kids learned more from empty Coke bottles and pinecones than they could have learned in a year or more in the classroom.
CM: Let’s talk a little about you and your husband. Do you have any kind of game plan in place for yourselves to avoid burnout and give yourselves a chance to refresh from time to time? (Not as in getting away from your boys, but how do you plan to balance being full-time mom and dad plus teachers and still find time to draw inspiration from your teaching muses?)
NSV: The time on the road gives us that. Bicycling is, by its very nature, a very solitary activity. Although we will be riding together as a family, conversation is difficult as we ride single file on the side of the road. That translates into hours each day where we can relax and be alone with our thoughts. I actually find I’m more mentally drained on the days we don’t cycle than those we do!
The other thing that helps in that regard is the fact that we never leave our bikes unattended. If we find a trail we want to hike, or a lake where we want to take a swim, one of us has to remain with the bikes. That time spent guarding the bikes becomes our “alone” time and isn’t looked upon as a hardship at all.
John and I also end up with a fair amount of time without the kids when they take off to play on playgrounds (or out in fields) every chance they get. John and I can relax in the campsite while the boys are out playing.
In the end, it all just kind of balances out. Being on the road like we do basically reduces life to its simplest form, and you get to know yourself. You don’t have all the distractions from “normal” life, and can focus more on what you truly want and need. It’s a very freeing experience.
Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.
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