motor home : Home Schooling in Your Motorhome

At first glance the terms “hitting the road” and “hitting the books” might appear mutually exclusive. But if you home school your children and have access to a motor home, read on.

Your one room school house on wheels.

One of major concerns of parents who decide to home school their children is that their child is not exposed to the wide array of mental stimuli encountered by children who participate in a more conventional education. Children who go to public and even private schools are exposed to many different cultures, personalities and diverse beliefs. However, children schooled in the home sometimes are not exposed to a wide variety of other children. Co-operative home schooling, which brings a number of families together to share the work in educating their children, helps somewhat but home schooled children still, may not experience the plethora of mental stimuli experienced by their more traditionally schooled counterparts. One way to ensure that your child has access to these stimuli is to pack up your motor home and hit the road.

Math Class

As you head down the highway in your one room school house on wheels, opportunities for teaching abound. In addition to the regular daily lesson plan, you can incorporate trip specific lessons into the daily work. For example, the math lesson begins when you stop at the neighborhood filling station to top off your tank. Consult the owners’ manual of your motor home and find out the capacity in gallons of your fuel tank. If age and grade appropriate have your young student convert this measurement from gallons to liters. For younger children, a fun activity is to let them watch the pump through the RV window and count the gallons or even tenths of gallons that pour into your motor homes fuel tank. Of course with the current price of gasoline, this activity will be much more fun for them than for you.

Once you’ve filled your tank, get out the map and sit with your student to study your route. Consult your motor home’s manual again and find how many miles per gallon you can expect to get. Help your young student compose a formula to find how far down the planned route you’ll be able to travel before your motor home requires fuel again. You can help your child use the map to help navigate as you travel along. Plan a side trip at the spur of the moment. Ask your child to tell you how this side trip will affect your timetable and fuel bill?

History Lessons.

Plan your trip so that you follow an historical route. Follow the Trail of Tears, maybe the Oregon Trail. Travel the dusty path the cowboys rode in cattle drives from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. If you’ve got the time, follow the route of Lewis and Clark or, explore the vast expanse of the Louisiana Purchase. What ever path you choose to follow, make sure you have plenty of supplemental materials for your young student to study. Many motor home parks have high speed internet available to their campers. At the end of each day, have your child connect to the Internet and gather information about the history of the places you’ve visited.

Social Studies

Take a trip through Appalachia. Venture some distance from the Interstate into the heart of some small town. Stop at a small store or local diner. Observe the people who live and work there. Listen to their accents or, eavesdrop on a conversation. There is no better way to discover how other people live than to explore these microcosms of America. You might even want to contact local parents who also home school their children and arrange a visit to learn more about each other and compare home school curriculums.

Other Destinations

Many home schooling co-operatives hold events at various motor home parks to compare and refine home school curriculums and provide new experiences for their home schooled students. An Internet search for these home school meet ups will yield many entertaining and informative events. If you choose to make one of these trips, be prepared to have a good time and be sure to bring your favorite covered dish.

Exercises such as these are entertaining and exciting to your child and if properly presented, your young student may not even realize he is in school. But remember, as entertaining, exciting and educational as these road exercises are, they are not a replacement for the well planned curriculum and lesson plans available to parents home schooling their children.

Article Submitted by Rooster B.
Rooster privately runs several News and Blog sites related to Homeschool Education. Interested in the latest Home School curriculum visit his site at http://www.homeschoolzine.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rooster_Boisseau

motor home : Broadband Internet By Satellite for Your Motor Home

Broadband Internet by Satellite is about the coolest invention in the World and indeed it has helped the unconnected become connected even if they live in the middle of nowhere. But it gets better than that even. Did you know you can get a special satellite antenna hooked up on your motor home or recreational vehicle that will enable you to get the Internet anywhere in North America?

Well it is true and I was one of the first 30 people with this system in 1999 and have now tried it out across America and it works killer in all the lower 48 states, most of Canada and some of Alaska, well anywhere you would want to venture in an RV in Alaska anyway. If you are writer or have a profession, which does not require a location or perhaps you just love the great outdoors, are retired and traveling full time, you should look into getting one of these great systems.

They are not cheap and run about $5,000 to $8,000 depending on where you have it installed and which system you get, but let me tell you it is worth it of have total freedom while traveling. There is nothing cooler than a Broadband Internet hookup by Satellite for your Motor Home or Recreational Vehicle. So, you may wish to consider this in 2006 and you will be glad you did.

Lance Winslow

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow

motor home : Motor Home Sales

The motor home sales market is better than ever. Families and couples from all areas and of all ages are discovering what makes RVing so popular. However, with the price of gas and other items on the rise, it is also important to these buyers that they are treated fairly in a motor home sales experience. They want the motor home that they are buying at a good price with a financing package to match. They don’t want to be pushed around by sales people and cornered into a motor home that they don’t want.

Whether you visit a motor home sales site online or you visit a dealership, you should have an idea of what you want. This means that you should know the difference between a Class A, Class B, and a Class C motor home. You may also want to know which features are most important to you and which don’t matter when you visit a motor home sales office or site.

No matter what kind of motor home you want to purchase, you may be most concerned about the financing. This is the most stressful part of motor home sales for most buyers. However, there are things that you can do to prepare yourself. Online you will find many sites including motor home sales sites which offer motor home financing and tools to help you get that financing. They have online loan calculators which will give you a rough estimate of what your monthly payment will be.

Once you have an idea of how much you can afford for a motor home, you can apply for loan pre-approval. This makes the whole process of buying a motor home much easier and less stressful. You know how much you can afford and the dealership knows what to show you.

When you purchase a motor home, you are purchasing a dealer too. The dealer that you choose will have a great influence on the type of loan you get and the customer service and maintenance after the sale. So, if you feel uncomfortable with the dealer or salesperson, you have the right to leave.

Eriani Doyel writes articles about Motor Homes. For more information about motor home sales visit alsmotorhome.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eriani_Doyel

Motor Home Rental: Basic Information for First-Timers

If you are thinking about getting a motor home rental for your next vacation, you may have a lot of questions about this latest travel trend. Millions of people have not only discovered the joys of motor home rental, but also motor home ownership in the past few years.

Why is it so popular? Because it actually is a fairly inexpensive way to travel and you can set your own schedule. Here are some common questions and answers about motor home rental:

Question: Why is renting a motor home so popular? Answer: Aside from the freedom and cost savings of renting a motor home, you can find many other reasons that motor home rental is a good way to travel. You can have all of the comforts of home right on board with you. You can enjoy the RV lifestyle without actually having to purchase an RV and store and maintain it. Although some people do find motor home rental is a good way to “try out” the RV lifestyle before they make a commitment to buy.

Question: How much does it cost to rent a motor home? Answer: It all depends on the size of the motor home, the area of the country that you are in, the season of the year, and also what extras you want on the motor home. But, a basic motor home rental should be less than $75 a day. You will also need to provide or buy insurance.
Question: What is included in the rental price? Answer: The use of the motor home and usually a certain number of miles depending on how long you are renting the motor home. You will pay a per mile charge for the number of miles that you go over. You can usually rent linens and kitchen equipment from the rental company if it is not included.

Question: What type of motor home is available? Answer: Although every type of motor home is available for rental, most rentals are Class C (or mini motor home)because they do not require a special driver’s license and they sleep 4 people comfortably. By Eriani Doyel

Used Motor Home-Are You Looking For An RV Value?

If you are in the market for a used motor home because the prices on some of the new ones just seem a little too steep for your budget, you may be headed in the right direction. Just as a brand new car depreciates as soon as it leaves the lot, a brand new RV depreciates as soon as it leaves the lot. That is why buying a gently used motor home at a fraction of the cost of a new one can be such a great deal. You may even be able to get more “RV” for the same cost that you would pay if you were to buy a new, instead of a used motor home.

Buying any motor home is a major investment for most people. This is why it is so important that you approach this decision very carefully. With a used motor home, you will have financial as well as ownership responsibilities. How much can you afford to spend on an RV? If your budget is already tight, you may want to wait awhile before you commit yourself to another monthly payment. But, even if the time is right, there are still many other considerations when buying a used motor home.

1. Find out the estimated cost or value of any used motor home on the NADA website.

2. Look in a consumer or RV magazine, or even online to find out what experts as well as actual owners are saying about your RV of choice. Do they have maintenance issues or problems or complaints about the RV?

3. Have any used motor home that you are thinking about buying checked out by a mechanic and check it yourself for undue wear and tear on upholstery, appliances, and tires.

4. Look at the manual for the motor home to see what the maintenance schedule is as well as tank size, mileage, etc.

5. Test drive the RV to see if it is comfortable for you to drive and maneuver and try all of the controls.

6. When you buy from a private seller ask a lot of questions about why they are selling and how they took care of it. By Eriani Doyel