EER003: Boat Schooling – Living and Learning on a Sailboat

Have you heard of “boat schooling?” It’s kind of like homeschooling, but on a boat. We met the Gifford family in Penang, Malaysia just before they set sail for Sri Lanka, and really wish we’d had time to get to know them better.

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Boat Schooling

In this Epic Education Radio family travel interview, I speak with Behan Gifford about raising her three kids on a boat, the challenges and benefits of sailing children, and the challenges of educating in a digital world when internet is scarce, unreliable or completely absent when crossing the ocean.

EPIC INTRO

About:

• An American family of 5 living on a sailboat since 2008, Jamie & Behan Gifford and their kids Niall, Mairen and Siobhan. Kids presently (2015) aged 11, 13, and 16 — they were 4, 6 and 9 when we sailed away.

Find Them On: Sailing Totem  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Pinterest

• Her book: “Voyaging With Kids: A Guide to Family Life Afloat”

EPIC ESSENTIALS

We have 8 e-readers:

• 1 2011-model Kindle
• 1 Nook
• 1 Kindle Fire
• 3 Nook Glowlight
• 2 older iPads
• “Generally speaking we favor the low-power-use of the E-ink vs backlit.”
• Panasonic Toughbook CF-52. This ruggedized laptop is more than eight years old!
• Acer Aspire IV
• ASUS Transformer (netbook / tablet)
• Lenovo Z50 (latest purchase, not pleased with it at all)

Cameras:

• Nikon D5100
• Nikon D40
• Canon PowerShot D20 (rugged/underwater point-n-shoot)
• GoPro Hero 3
• NIKON 18-135 lens
• Iridium Go

EPIC INSIGHT

• Homeschooled (via boat-schooling) since they first set sail in 2008

EPIC RESOURCES

• Khan Academy Lite (offline)
• Crash Course videos on Youtube
• Encyclopedias (yes, real ones!)
• Encyclopedia Britannica online
• Wiki Offline app (about 8gb on an iPad)
• Kiwix (about 12gb)
• Microsoft Live Writer
• Photoscape (free)
• Adobe Lightroom

EPIC ADVICE

• Living on the ocean, we must expect (prepare for) the absence of internet. That means we must download any digital resources we need before we leave dock. That also means buying lots of books ahead of time (we have a big bookshelf in the boat) and having people bring us books when they visit.
• Data management: we can’t depend on the cloud, so we hand-off full external HD’s to visiting friends to bring home and store for us.
• Fundamentals for living with low-data speeds: turn off images in your browser, and turn off video in Skype whenever possible.
• Kids need other kids — fortunately, there are often many families with kids sailing in the same direction we are.
• Immigration when sailing

EPIC DESTINATIONS

• Langkawi
• Penang
• Baja, Mexico and the Sea of Cortez
• Seychelles
• Sri Lanka for many reasons
• Bangkok, Thailand (during the turnover)
• Bali
• Bora Bora
• Suwarrow (Cook Islands)
• Papua New Guinea
• The Marquesas

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