Cruising with kids and the Calvert Course

Created by doina. Last modified on 2010-10-04 11:37:10
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Cruising with kids is a wonderful adventure. Kids are exposed to the cultures and learn how to be better citizens. But if you stay at sea travelling too long, you run the risk of raising "peerless" people, who have no real identity with shoreside groups. For example, my three sisters and I were raised on at sea, homeschooled by my mother using the Calvert courses. I had an excellent education and understanding of the human condition such as respect for poverty or racial diversity. But, moving back to the States at age 13, I was a weirdo for not knowing slang, TV and pop stuff, fashion... I am still not into hairspray!

At sea children need a large supply of entertainments such as books, craft and art activities, creative toys and people willing to play games and devote time to schooling. When I took my 10 year old to sea I disallowed the electronic games because he tended to overdo them. He loved to roam ashore and make friends. A small kayak gave him extra freedom. He sometimes got frustrated and bored but that happens ashore too! However after a year, he was really happy to attend school again, opting to stay with his granny while I finished my voyaging. If he hadn't been an only child it might have been more fun for him.

Safety is always an issue with younger children anywhere, but in my experience, even the smallest child has an iron grip and instinctively hangs on tight!

Calvert course is nice because it has the easy teaching manual. We never bothered with the correspondence part. It is possible to just go to a city school board and purchase textbooks, answerbooks, exams etc seperately, which I did.

Rhea Smith