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Most people thought I was crazy when I told them I was doing Canada and Alaska by RV with my three little kidlets.  For me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I want them to experience everything life has to offer, with me along for the ride (no pun intended!).  Plus, they are still young enough to love being with me, and their siblings.  As they approach their teenage years, mom will be replaced by school dances, dating, iPhones, and more, so I must take all the time I can while I have it!

Although, there is a reason that people often cringe when I tell them I am willingly going to spend 4 months in an RV with my three rambunctious kids.  RV’s are small.  Very small.  Mind you, our borrowed RV was huge as far as RV’s go (Fleetwood American Dream), with an impressive length of 40 feet.  However, kids need room to roam, and parents, well, sometimes we need room to roam away from our kids!  So, being stuck in an RV for four months could have been a nightmare, had I not taken so many special considerations prior to leaving.

First, if your children are in school, that must be taken into consideration.  Week-long trips can be taken to coincide with scheduled school vacations.  However, longer trips will take special planning.  For us, I discussed our trip with my children’s teachers and principal, and because I was planning on our trip being an educational one, I was able to have the children put on a home study program through the school.  Since we left in May, they only had 6 weeks of school left.  The teachers prepared all the work for us in advance, and we took it with us on the road.  Because we were fully online, the children and I were able to email the teachers with questions, and send in our progress reports. When the kids had to submit their work, I would scan the finished worksheet, convert it to a PDF using www.pdfonline.com, and then email it to the teacher.  This worked extremely well with all three kids, and each of them really loved learning on the road at their own pace.  However, because we were working through our school system, we had to follow their schedule, and have all the work done by the end of the school year, which was the middle of June.  Still, it was a great experience, and one I would do again in a heartbeat.  Home schooling takes a lot of patience, and a whole lot of work.  I don’t know if I could do it year-round, but it was the perfect answer for our little educational sabbatical.

Next up, is the small space.  The four of us were confined to a small space for 4 months.  That’s a long time, and of course, there were times when we all got really sick of each other.  Luckily, I brought along lots of activities, and always had something for them to do.  First, our RV had a full master bedroom with a door.  This was my “time-out” room, and also the room I used when one of the kids needed some time alone.  We had two TV’s on the bus, and one was used for movies (the one in the master bedroom), and one was used for video games.  Then I packed a few toys, as they are getting older and don’t really play with toys as they used to.  I set up an art station in the kitchen, which was basically just a drawer filled with art supplies.  As a lover of scrap booking, I gave each child their own scrapbook, and we all scrap booked our trip.  They all really loved this, and I was pleasantly surprised that even my boys had a blast scrap booking their memories.  We stopped at a few scrap booking places along the way, and man, are they addictive!  All those little stickers and do-dads!  Okay, moving right along.  I also made sure that each child read daily, for at least 45 minutes.  Personally, I love reading and want to instill the same love in my children.  I tried my best to pick up reading material pertaining to places we were visiting, but when that wasn’t possible, they just read their favorite books.

One of the best parts of having an RV is that you no longer need to stop for the potty.  Hurray!  However, I found on past vacations that children still need that time to run around, and let off some steam.  So for us, I found that 3 hours was about their limit.  Of course, there were times when 3 hours would find us nothing more than an empty field, but we stopped anyway.  Often we would make a picnic out of it, and play fun outside games.  For instance, I showed my kids the joy of laying on their back on a beautiful summer day and making animals and shapes out of the clouds.  I know, not very exciting…but it was incredibly memorable, and a wondering bonding period for us.  It was just the four of us, in a remote land, with no TV’s blaring or radio’s playing.  It was truly magical to connect and bond with my children like that, and I can honestly say that those moments were some of my favorite moments on the entire trip.

Another great part of RVing is having a traveling kitchen.  Normally traveling with children finds you at a myriad of fast food restaurants, eating more saturated fat than we should.  With our traveling kitchen, I was able to keep fast food (we call it FAT food) at a minimum, and concentrate on healthy meals.  It wasn’t always easy, but considering this was our trip of a lifetime, I made sure I gave it extra effort.  Obviously there were times when I was too tired to cook, or the kids were cranky little cusses.  And about once a week we did dinner at a nice sit-down restaurant, which was a way of trying local cuisine, and learning more about the local food.  Alaska and parts of Canada are very heavy on fish, so we tried many different kinds of fish, and learned more about fish that I ever thought possible.

One issue I wasn’t expecting so much was my kids missing home as much as they did.  We had our cell phones, so they were able to call their Dad, friends, and grandparents whenever they wanted.  But they also missed home.  Next time, I will try to bring a part of home with us.  Meaning, I might bring their comforters, or the stuffed animals from their beds.  The little things that make a house a home.  Towards the end of the trip, I did let the kids “decorate” the RV.  I use the term “decorate” loosely, because it really was just pieces of paper taped to the walls, along with photos of teenybopper stars ripped from magazines.  It wasn’t pretty, but it made my kids feel good, and that is all I needed.

The main impetus for this RV trip to Alaska was my children.  I wanted them to experience Alaska in the most ideal way…slowly.  Yes, it was a bit more difficult with them, as opposed to retired adult full timers.  But children have a remarkable way of bringing life and excitement with them, and that energy transferred to me.  Our trip was absolutely incredible, and it was because of them.  I experienced Alaska and Canada through their eyes, and boy was it fun!  If you are thinking of bringing your kids along on your next RV trip, or better yet, your grandkids, do it!  It is such a great experience, and I promise you will not regret one minute of it!

Please come back on Friday, September 19th for our eighth installment, “Health Concerns & Being Prepared“.  See you there!