Education

Unfortunately the authorities do not look kindly on traveling with your kids and not educating them so we've enrolled the kids in distance education.  This is different from home schooling in that they are enrolled in school.  The school sends us the necessary work, we complete it and return it to the school for marking.  The kids need to work about 3 hours per day but as there is so much down time on a yacht, this isn't too difficult. 

I'm not a big fan of playing "teacher" and I find a lot of the work pointless and frustrating.  I'm surprised all primary school teachers aren't heavy drug users.  Grace's current work involves creating fossils with shells and plaster of paris.  Plaster of paris?  Yeah, we have shitloads of that on the boat!  We have tried to make our own with flour and water but 3 days have passed an it's still not dry.  I think she'll be failing this little activity.

On the upside, Grace's work has improved greatly under my close watch.  I feel she was falling through the cracks with 29 other students also requiring the teacher's attention.  I don't blame the teachers or the school, but it does go to show the difference individual attention makes.

Living in unusual circumstances can also be inspiring. This is Grace's poem about where she lives...

My Home

My home is located on top of the waterIt houses my parents, their son and their daughter
It contains a motor and a very large sail
The postman has problems delivering our mail

My home is compact, cozy and small
In the middle there's a mast that is very tall
A fireplace and chimney it has not
I sit on the roof when it gets hot

We can move it around but not on land
And have to be cautious of bars of sand
In this poem the clues I give
Can you guess in what I live?

I just hope that traveling educates them in ways they would never experience in a class room.