House-less; not homeless...

There are upsides and downsides to living in an RV. Besides the obvious lack of space and privacy and ability to stock up on groceries when they are on sale, there are...shall I say..."legal challenges.”
Such as:

Easy answer unless you live in an RV.

Time to vote? Oh, yes. You can't use your mailing address as a legal residence, but we can use the temporary space that we occupy (Clear Creek RV park in the winter/Jefferson County Fairgrounds in the summer).

The most recent challenge is...school.

My husband and I agreed that the kids should get more online schooling and with my oldest going into 7th grade, we decided to try the online public school route. It sounded like a good idea. All the materials we needed for free. Outside motivation for deadlines and still able to enjoy traipsing about the country...

Step #1:

Verify your residence. Where do you reside? What is the place that you and your family occupy on a daily basis?

Ok. I am optimistic by nature, but this first step proved to be a doozy that I can't overcome. They accept utility bills, but not cell phone bills or tax returns. What about the fact that I pay state taxes, including school taxes. I own a home in Colorado, but I rent it out. I could use the property tax statement to show proof of residency, but I don't live there. I wanted to be up front and honest with the admissions folks for both K12 and Connections Academy, so as to not cause problems later on.

They could do a shipping addendum which would route all materials to the UPS store that we use as our contact address for mailing purposes. But to prove that I "reside" in Colorado (besides paying state taxes, registering my vehicle (which cost $1200 --yowza), and having a Colorado drivers license isn't good enough.), is beyond my current capabilities.

I could get funding. Only if I pretend to be homeless. But I'm house-less, not homeless...

Second problem: Testing. They require our physical presence between February and April. Who knows exactly when. It depends on the teacher you are assigned, which you won't know until you sign up and are part way through the year. We have to ask permission in order to travel extensively...

That ain't happening. I don't need to ask "Mother, may I?" to do what I want to do.
So, public online schools are out for us. They are good schools that offer a valuable service. But not for my family.

And to be perfectly frank, I'm relieved. I prefer homeschooling anyway and am excited about the wonderful opportunities for science and history learning on the road. We'll see what lies ahead for this roadschooling family!

living in a small space while it snows

I nearly lost it several times trying to unpack while climbing over legs and laptops.  Jessica and Bill unpacked most of the boxes and settled them in cupboards.  I managed to shove all our boxes of books and miscellany in the front cab, but desperately raced to get stuff settled.

The first week of living in our new RV was excruciating.  We shoved everything in boxes and black plastic bags.  Though it took an hour to transfer everything from the old to the new RV, it took a few days to unpack. 


Eventually, we worked out a manageable system and sending most of our keepsakes to my mother-in-law's one-car garage gave us the breathing room so desperately needed.

I still have to breathe deeply and realize that as much as my husband adjusts to sharing his space with everyone (working on school projects with noisy children clamoring about and not taking over every flat surface with his gear), I have to adjust to sharing my one-person kitchen with him and not being anal-retentive about cleaning cluttered spaces.

We were used to almost 400 square feet of space in the old trailer during the winter and would often spend days holed up quite comfortably.  With thirty percent less space and spring arriving, cabin fever sets in much faster.  And keeping our family suitably settled and entertained consists of XBOX games, Ipad games, movies, and books and respecting what little privacy we have.  

Now, I'm off to dump for the first time, in our new location, and fill up on propane.  One downside to the Class C is that the propane tank is permanently attached.  Can't throw tanks in the back of the car and drive them down to a local propane place.  Have to pack up the whole kit-and-kaboodle...