Liveaboard education for teenagers.

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boathead

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If we were to set sail in the next two years we would do so with one lad of 13 and one of 15. Do we stay put, we are in our fifties, or can we go and not disadvantage them and their chances.

All views or information from those who have done this, or rants at our even thinking of ruining their future etc. will be appreciated as we really do want information and advice. We have older children who have completed their education and will be staying behind, our two youngest however would come with us.

Thanks.
 
boathead said:
If we were to set sail in the next two years we would do so with one lad of 13 and one of 15. Do we stay put, we are in our fifties, or can we go and not disadvantage them and their chances.

All views or information from those who have done this, or rants at our even thinking of ruining their future etc. will be appreciated as we really do want information and advice. We have older children who have completed their education and will be staying behind, our two youngest however would come with us.


Thanks.
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A bit close to exam time I'd thought . I guess it depends where you intend to go and for how long . if you intend to return to shore in a couple of years their peers will have moved on and your lads will be without any qualifications. Just my thoughts but I guess if I was 14 to15 and my parents wanted to take me out of school for a life afloat I'd jump at the chance .
 
Tricky age ....maybe a summer on the boat travelling to see how it goes.My family moved when I wa 15 and I found it difficult to make new friends etc.You will have to dedicate lots of time to them and keep up their education with distance learning etc.
 
My daughter is 15. I have been thinking of taking an extended break from work and going sailing 6 months. I won't be going until she is finished high school. I have older boys who can make up thier own mind when the time comes. if she was 2 or 3 years younger I might think differently.
When she was my older boys were in this age.

I think if you take a kid out of school for a year at this time without an education program for home schooling would be foolish. To do so with a home school plan to keep up could be a great thing as long as you stick to it.

I have a co worker much much younger than me who grew up, home schooled on a sailing boat on a world trip. It did her no harm, probabaly a lot of good. She says it was fantastic.

I think it depends on the teenager my boys would not have kept up. My daughter would. Unfortunatly I would not, I was never a good student, so being a parent in charge of home schooling I would be a bad example. My wife might be better than me she was not a great student iether.
I know other parents who chose to home school. To my mind the kids loose something important in interaction with others. But sailing to many different countries and meeting people form other cultures can make up for this in other ways.

To home school well you have to be very commited to the program and very involved. If you are the kids will keep up and possibly even excede the requirments. If not they will fall quickly behind at an important time in life.

I guess the question is can you make the commitment to ensuring your sons continuing education by home study during your voyage.
I dont think I could or would.

In order to figure it out contact you local education authority and find out what options and programs are avalable for home schooling and see if there is one which fits your sons needs.

Funny I would have thought you would have more responses from those who have tried it.
 
Uricanejack said:
To home school well you have to be very commited to the program and very involved. If you are the kids will keep up and possibly even excede the requirments. If not they will fall quickly behind at an important time in life.

I guess the question is can you make the commitment to ensuring your sons continuing education by home study during your voyage.
I dont think I could or would.
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I have a friend here in the Middle East who has ended up home schooling her two young daughters not through choice but due to a complex set of circumstances that has meant that home schooling was the only way to ensure continuity in their education. It is a huge commitment that has altered her life entirely plus she finds it hard to be both teacher and a mother to them whilst her girls are quite vocal about how they miss the companionship of other kids their age.
 
There will never be a right or wrong answer to this one. It has to be a family decision based on your circumstances and feelings.
Three years ago we were in almost the same position.
Our eldest boy was 16 and had just finished his exams where as the youngest was 14 but really hated school and was being bullied. We felt the normal education system was letting him down.
We went sailing....
It is very hard to motivate a 14 year old to continue his education aboard but he did learn many other skills.
This last Christmas the 14 year old who is now 17 decided to stay in the UK and continue his education. He has a flat, has taken exams (and passed) and now is on a engineering course.
I asked him if knowing what he does now we were wrong in going. He said no, he enjoyed every minute, saw what most people would never see and when he has a family he would do exactly the same.
If we had waited they then may have had jobs, be in further education or had girlfriends they didn't want to leave and we would probably not have gone.
It is hard, really hard to have a son far away but for us it was the right thing at the time. If we had waited we may never have gone and I would be in bricks and mortar wondering about what if.
That was us but for others the decision is different and all depends on circumstance.
The biggest problem boys of that age will face is finding company of there own age. Don't underestimate how much they need it. Sometimes it is just not about education but the social side of life as well.
Our story which is similar is on the website. If we can help in anyway please e mail. We know what a hard decision you are facing.
www.Cygnus3.com
 
Thanks for the replies. please keep airing your views or pointing us in the direction of web sites we may not have seen re distance learning. We are very interested and eager to deal with this, up until now we have planned and worked on every issue but not this one, I think we have been avoiding it.

Thanks.
 
People home school all the time, it's not that different IMHO.

Get in touch with the school, find out which exam boards and specifications they are doing and get the books / revision guides for those. Ensure the little critters do 5 hours / day working through them with you helping them out (GCSE's aren't rocket science).

Obtain past papers from the websites of the exam boards and ensure that they do every one and mark using the official mark schemes.

If they did this for all 8 or 10 subjects then they would probably receive as good, if not a better education than at school with all the distractions and lack of attention that can bring.

You can get the school to enter the children as external candidates for the examinations for a small fee. Ensure that you find out from their exams officer when the final date is to do this.
 
As with so many things you need to assess your aims first then decide how to do it. You have to remember that qualifications are not the same thing as an education. We have three younger ones (5, 8 & 10) because our aim is for them to return to school our focus is based on covering the national curriculum albeit with added extras.

There are loads of books out there revision guides, practice papers, try the home education forums too especially education otherwise for advice. There are loads of options, distance learning packages through following the subject specifications all the way to unschooling depending on what suits you, them and the final aim. +1 for external exam candidates.

Don't forget that time spent concentrating one on one is much more productive than 'school time' for example a typical 5 hour primary school day equates to about 2 actual learning hours, I'm not sure about the teenage equivalent but wouldn't be hard to work out from their current schedule.

Good luck!
 
I would have a slightly different approach. Its clear that children who leave school and sail the world seem to benefit from the experience and become much more rounded individuals, self reliant and dependable, useful in a blow; but they may not be able to trot out an analysis of The Crucible; for example.

So as a family I would sit everyone down and try to get to grips with the nebulous question of where everyone thinks they will be in 5 years time and what they think they will be doing. The result of that discussion will reveal the educational needs that will have to be addressed.

Its a start.
 
We saw no teenagers on liveaboerd boats only kid between one and ten. That's when they go back home for the kids to go to school. I have to say that the boat kids were the best educated, well mannerd and chatty kids I've ever met. I wouldn't take teenagers sailing until they have finished their education.
 
My two kids are 15 & 13 and have been away for 7 years, so what I say may be irrelevant in any case. #11, good point, we have many a discussion with our two over what they want to do as far jobs go/uni/ whatever, and we have tried to tailor their education towards that. If they are following a particular education program and are capable of working on their own (which they should be now) then they can get help from the many teachers out here sailing, and sit any formal exams in any UK Embassy or Consulate; so no worries there then.

The only real problem is going to be getting them to give up their school friends (they don't realise that they'll loose contact with them when leave school in any case), social life, TV, and electronics. But so long as they have an input into where you go, what you do when you get there and you don't flog the schooling to hard, they'll get over it and enjoy it.

As for not taking them 'cos they are teenagers, take them, plenty of teenagers out here in the Caribbean of all nationalities and they all get along well and help each other with schooling as well. Not taking them is a cop out if that is what you want to do. Very few kids in the Med' as that is where all the retired old Brits, French, Germans, Scandinavians, etc go to die; but plenty of younger people and kids out of Europe.

If you have any specific questions, pm me and I'll see what I can do.
 
This is a subject that really interests me. I have personal experience of it from a couple of angles, as a young person myself (I'm 22, and have lived on my own boat since I was 18).

When my dad was 12/13, his parents took him and his older teenage siblings out of school and they cruised the Med' on a motorboat for 2.5 years. It was the best time of my dad's life. He learnt via correspondence courses that he studied in the winter; in the summer, he worked on the boat with his family and had a 'real life' education (taught himself everything to do with maintaining the engines and boat's systems). My granddad wrote a book about it, which is available on Kindle here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Aweigh-ebook/dp/B005REU3UG

On a similar track, when I was 14, I left school to become autonomously home educated (albeit on dry land, not a boat). I chose not to take any qualifications, and didn't have any timetables/tutors to teach me. My parents facilitated and I joined local home ed groups; my education was about immersing myself in the real world, as opposed to studying for the sake of exams. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made and because I was able to spend my time doing things that really interested me (including writing my own book, which I found a publisher for) and build into a solid income, I feel like I'm miles ahead of my peers. Of course everyone is different; my brother was quite happy at school. But there are alternatives out there that most people disregard or don't know about.
 
I'd take my son out of school like a shot, he's not an academic 15 year old, but my god, he is practical. He has a natural talent for carpentry, and boating. I struggle to see the point of paper qualifications for many career paths. Personally I passed an O level at 14, an AS at 15 and was in the top 5 at my school for my GCSE's. However I've never had a job where I've been asked for any evidence of this, I started work before I left school, and my reputation has always led to offers of employment. An ability to be personable and an interest in the job are far more important.

I guess it depends on the child and their interest. If they are a budding 'Oxbridge' science candidate then I would disagree with all that I have just said.

You must not overlook the importance of the friendships and relationships forged at this point in life though.
 
I guess a lot depends on whether you feel that traditional type schooling is essential? There are so many lessons that children can learn from living aboard. There are many different ways to home educate children and I think they'd gain lots from autonomous learning for a while. GCSE's are being spread out across three years and soon children will have to stay in school until they are 18, so any travelling from 13/14 until 18 is going to be hard to fit in. Lots of home educating families in the UK do IGCSE's. Others go straight onto A levels or straight to colleges or universities. It may be helpful to find your local home ed. group to see how other families home educate :)
 
Just read this tread from start to finish. It seems there is a bias towards home education. I am pleased about this as we are home/boat educating our 12 year old son.
We wintered in Crete this year, and had lots of offers of help if we needed it. There were people there who knew far more about certain subjects than I will ever know. I think its also good for him to be taught by others from time to time.
William is very sociable and gets on with every one, he keeps in touch with his friends via Skype, face time, Facebook e mail etc.
It is our intention to get him into an Academy back in the uk for the last 2 years of his education, if we don't succeeded in getting him a place we will carry on as we are.
The thought of putting him back in main stream education with over a thousand kids in the school and 33 in a class, each getting less than 2 minutes an hour personal attention from the teacher, is not something I would like to consider.
 
Hi,

We are planning on setting off in either this autumn or the following spring. Our two kids are 14 and 11, and so my eldest will be in a similar situation to you.

In terms of my background, I am a teacher, so I wanted to be comfortable that the kids would not miss out educationally by us going. After a lot of looking around, I've taken out a subscription to Doddle Suite (Home education version). This gives you access to a full range of materials (presentations, videos, interactives,powerpoints, quizzes etc) for 18 subjects including KS3, KS4 and KS5: French, English and geography. KS3 and KS4: science, maths, ICT & computing, German, Spanish, history, RS, citizenship, PSHEE, D&T, art & design, music and drama. KS4: business studies and PE, and costs about £70/month. Doddle is used by most secondary schools so effectively the kids will have access to the same materials that they would have if they were in school, but with the added advantage of having lots of one on one attention (rather than being stuck in a class of 30 kids) plus all the benefits of seeing the world. On that basis, I don't think they will be disadvantaged by us going.

As most schools use it, I found that my son was already familiar with using it from school (so it wasn't intimidating and new) and also he enjoys using it and will quite often work through exercises for fun as he likes the interactivity of it. Doddle is an online system, so we will need to have access to the internet to access all the resources. However, we will also be bringing books for those days when the internet is down, and I've also put together a whole raft of materials that I can use when we are on passage and without internet access.

One of the reasons I went for this package was I wanted to have something that I could use for both my daughter (who is starting KS3 in September) and my son (who is starting KS4). This caters for both, and also gives me the option to teach some A level subjects if we end up being away that long. Also it gives me a pool of materials we can just dip into, so I can see that the kids are likely to pick up some stuff, (like learning Spanish which they currently don't do) whilst we are away, simply because I've got the means to teach it available, and if we are in Spain at some point they'll have the will to learn. Also, kids learn best when they are learning without realising it, and having the scope to dip into different subjects as well as learning others more formally, seems a good balance, and a good way of encouraging an enjoyment of learning.

The intention is that we teach the kids using Doddle suite, and then at the appropriate time my son can sit his iGCSEs. If you are outside of the school set up then you usually have to follow iGCSEs rather than GCSEs as you can't meet the requirements for the controlled assessment element which makes up a significant part of GCSEs. iGCSEs are all exam based, and there are a number of different ones you can follow. Some of them seem particularly good to chose if you are a liveaboard eg Travel and Tourism (iGCSE) and Global Perspectives (iGCSE). You can find the full list of subjects for the Cambridge iCGSE at http://www.cie.org.uk/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-secondary-2/cambridge-igcse/subjects/


So my advice would be to go and take your kids with you. We are certainly planning to, and I'm comfortable with it as a decision.

Kind regards,


Claire
 
Don't do it they will miss the school and and exams.

All the cruisers we met with kids had young children, one was one year old on the day we left the Canaries. They are the best educated, intelligent and personable kids we have ever the pleasure to meet. One funny thing is to watch is how they organise a game when they speak different languages. All of them returned home for secondary school. I have a horrible feeling they would have a hard time from the other kids because they were so far ahead from education to social ability plus they have been so many places and seen many things other kids will probably never see in their lives.
 
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