Taking your kids out of school for several weeks when you go camping and travel Australia can be a difficult decision. If you can include the usual school holidays and add a week or several weeks, it will impact a bit less on their lessons. It depends at what stage they are at school as it’s easier to take them out of primary school than secondary school. Contact your child’s school and teachers and explain when you are going away and where so the teacher is fully aware of your plans. In my experience all the teachers had no problem with them missing school for a few weeks. Some of them said ‘they will learn a lot more’ as we were travelling Australia and where quite happy for them to go. A few teachers gave them work sheets to do or a novel to read while they were travelling and asked them to do a daily diary of their travels.
My family have had two 6 week camping trips, the first in 2000 & the 2nd in 2003 where my 3 kids were taken out of school for 4 weeks each time as we included the June holidays both times.
The first trip we went on my kids were 7, 10, and 12 years old, the eldest being in the first year of secondary school. We travelled from Victoria to Central Australia, to Darwin, Kakadu and back down through Outback Queensland and New South Wales.
The second trip they were 10, 13, and 15 so this time 2 were in secondary school. This time we travelled from Victoria to Alice Springs, on the Tanami Track to The Kimberley, around the Gibb River Road, then to Katherine and down the Stuart Hwy to home.
The diaries that they made and the photos we took are great to look back on. They added an entry in the diary each day, with a few paragraphs, noting where we travelled to or from, what they had seen and experienced. Then they included a small brochure. postcard or cut out pictures from larger brochures.The photos above are of Lake Argyle N.T. in 2003 and the next one is of several of the travel diaries that our children created.
Have you taken your kids out of school to travel Australia?
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It’s not something we’ve done – yet. We have a seed of a plan for a 3 month trip slowly growing at the moment. Our youngest starts school in 2011 and at this stage it looks like the trip won’t happen till after that.
Anyone I’ve spoken to that’s done it has said their school has been more than happy with the idea. A great life experience and learning experience for the kids. I can still remember doing the same thing with my folks when I was about 12.
At this stage, the hard part isn’t the kids, it’s my husband getting extended leave!
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Hi Leanne, Thats’s terrific that you are planning to travel Australia, it will be wonderful life experience for all of you.
Hi Tina
I bought a tent a month or two ago, you are doing a good job in persuading me to get it out the box. I think I’d just prefer to wait until summer hits.
Although it wasn’t camping, I did do a bit of a road trip back in January, just before my daughter started school. We stayed mainly in big 4′s and Best Westerns.
Our route was Brisbane – Yamba – Port Macquarie – Sydney – Bateman’s Bay – Lakes Entrance – Melbourne – Warrnambool – Shepparton – Forbes – Dubbo – Goodniwindi and then back home to Brisbane. A round trip of 4,774 kms. We had 3 nights in Sydney, 2 in Melbourne, 3 in Warrnambool, which is on the Great Ocean Road, and one night at all the other places.
You’re right, this is a great country.
cheers
Bob
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We recently made a fairly quick decision to take our kids out of school for 4 weeks and travel Australia. Our kids are 5,6 and 8 (all at school) and their school was more than happy for them to go. We were worried we were trying to do too much in 4 weeks(especially as camping means setting up/packing up everyday) but we went from Canberra to Coober Pedy, Uluru up through to Darwin and Kakadu and back down through Qld in 27 days. I can’t say it wasn’t rushed but that’s all the time we had so we used it completely and it was FANTASTIC. We were worried the kids wouldn’t cope with so much driving but they were fine and had a ball. We can’t wait to go again. Thanks for the great site, Tina.
Hi Leanne, No wonder you can’t wait to go again. Well done you sure got to see a lot in 4 weeks, I have been to the places you mentioned they are all amazing and spectacular. Your kids were at a great age they would have been so excited at seeing everything. Thanks for the compliment I love to share my experiences of travelling Australia as it is just incredible, I still have plenty more to see, just like you can’t wait to go again.
hi Tina, i want to consider doing this with my 5 year old son however worried about cost did you spend much. thanks for any feedback x
Hi Christina, thanks for your comment, how much you spend depends on a lot of things like how far you travel, where you stay, what activities you do etc. The biggest cost will always be your vehicle and the fuel (hiring a vehicle if necessary)and flights if you need too.
Camping on unpowered sites is cheap, cooking most of your meals is the cheapest way to eat, there are plenty of free and cheap activities you can do.
Sorry I can’t say how much it would cost you to travel as there are too many variables to consider.
My other website will give you some more ideas, it is called Travel Australia Planning Guide
http://www.travel-australia-planning-guide.com/
If you have any more questions, you are welcome to contact me there – using the Contact Us form.
I have three girls aged 10, 9 and 7.
Back in 2009 we attempted a trip around Australia, and used a Distance Education School, we had to return home due to car troubles though. The Dist Ed was a lot of work and we had to know where we were going to be each week – which did not work for us at all.
Next year, 2012, we are going to travel again, and hopefully for a few years. I am looking into registering for home schooling, and finding a suitable curriculum.
Has anyone out there had success in home schooling?