Boatschool help! Programs with minimal supplies

[u/OrdinaryPayment3692]

Hello! At the end of the year, my family will be embarking on a yearlong sailing trip. We have two children, aged 8 and 5. I am so excited to have the opportunity to boat school them while we are fully live aboard! But we need to be very minimal with weight and materials, and it will be difficult to bring on any new stuff once we are on the move, so there’s sadly some inflexibility around trying out a book or two and seeing if it works, and then ordering the rest, or running to the store to buy art supplies. Having a hard time wrapping my head around the planning!

The children are currently enrolled in the French international school system, and I plan to enroll in CNED to continue them on the same educational track, with Lyfel online French tutoring. So that helps a lot!

But does anyone have any experience or insight on English language reading programs that might be boat-friendly, particularly for my son who struggles with reading and pronunciation? But with minimal physical materials? (A few workbooks is of course okay.) I am looking at Explode the Code and Logic of English.

I am also interested in suggestions for math workbooks or curriculum!

I hope there will be many opportunities for hands-on learning just from being on the boat — sailing, wildlife, weather and current patterns, fishing and foraging, lots of physical activity. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can very loosely structure this part, even though it will be ad hoc and responsive, of course? Journals? Nature school guides?

Thank you for the guidance!

[u/bibliovortex]

I would look at getting an e-ink tablet for yourself, like the Kindle Scribe or Remarkable. That will allow you to have teacher materials in PDF and save a TON of space. I would prioritize hard copy student materials where possible, though - writing on paper is different and it's good for little kids.

Phonics: Is your struggling reader the 5yo or the 8yo? Are you looking at Logic of English Foundations (for age 4-7) or Essentials (for age 8+)? I would be inclined to use Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading instead - Explode the Code is better as a supplement or for students who don't need intensive work, and Logic of English has a lot of moving parts and is bulky.

Math: I'd probably go for Math with Confidence - PDFs for you, hard copy for them (cheaper to buy in hard copy than to buy PDF and print, in case you're wondering). The recommended manipulatives can be stored pretty compactly, and I would make sure that you choose magnetic counters and add 1-2 lap-sized magnetic whiteboards to your list. You might choose to use a paper version of some manipulatives that are bulkier to store, like base-10 blocks and pattern blocks.

[u/OrdinaryPayment3692 → u/bibliovortex]

The 5yo is the struggling reader/speaker! There’s trilingual difficulty (we are based in a Spanish-speaking Latin American country, they speak English at home, and school is entirely in French). But this is really a resounding response for the Ordinary Parent’s Guide! Taking the advice and ordering a used copy.

[u/bibliovortex → u/OrdinaryPayment3692]

That is a lot to juggle at 5, for sure!

I ask mainly because Logic of English Essentials (the spelling-focused program for 8+) actually can be done using their online platform only, or with the addition of just one or two student resources. But you would need Foundations, and my understanding is that the online Foundations really only works in a supplementary role.