Gifts for the Roadschooling Family - RV Life

Road-schooling means limited space for carrying everyday items, and we are all about maximizing that space!  If you've got a road-schooling family on your Christmas list this year, or if you're just thinking about hitting the road yourself, here are some of our top picks for a road-schooler's wishlist...

Road-school Helpers

• Kindle Unlimited subscription - Try it with a 30-day free trial.  For only $10 / month, you have access to over a million books and audiobooks...which frees up a lot of space in your pack!
• Car Games - These magnetic boards make board games easy to play in the car, and keep the kids happy for hours!  This particular one comes with Space Venture,Solitaire,Backgammon,Auto Race,Snakes & Ladders,Tic Tac Toe,Nine Mens Morris,Checkers,Chinese Checkers,Chess & Checkers,Ludo & Racing.  We pop them in a zip-up bag to keep everything together.
• Physical Audiobooks - Like "Under Drake's Flag,"  are perfect for keeping the family happy on long travel days, and are educational as well.  You'll find most of the classics, currently popular books, and everything in between on audiobook....and what a way to bring history to life!  
• Audible subscription - If you only want digital audiobooks, this one provides three books each month with membership.
• CD carrying case - A handy dandy place to keep all of your audiobooks in one spot!
• DVD sets - Like "The Peabody & Sherman Collection," or "Schoolhouse Rock," also provide hours of educational entertainment on those long travel days.
• Portable DVD player - Be sure to get a headphone splitter so that your kids can share the fun!
• Kindle - Books upon books can really eat up your available space.  I'm all for a hard copy, and running my fingers along the pages - there's something about the feel and smell of a real book that is just calming - but there's nothing calming about trying to fit two months’ worth of books into your packing space.  With an e-reader, you can download books (often free from your local library), and they all fit into one tiny space!
• Digital Camera - We document our field trips, both for homeschooling purposes and for memory scrapbooks.  A good digital camera is a must for all traveling families!

Education-specific

• FREE Classes at Craftsy - Perfect for hands-on classes and electives, or just keeping busy and learning a new skill when you have to sit still, these classes are broken down step-by-step and cover a wide variety of Waldorf-type topics.  (Cooking, needle arts, gardening, art, yoga / healthy living, etc.)  Once you sign up for a class, it stays in your library from now on to access as needed.  Again, they typically have good discounts at the holidays.
• Crayola Twistables - These are our new favorite coloring tools.  They don't melt; they don't get messy; and they twist in and out for easy storage.  Also, they don't have to be sharpened!
• Heirloom Audiobooks - These books are full of history’s most daring expeditions and greatest adventures.  They are stories of virtue and valor, daring and determination, character and courage!  Each one is like a movie in the car...
• Brick Loot - This is the go-to subscription box for Lego enthusiasts!  (And y'all know our kids love their bricks...)  Each month features a new theme, such as "Back to the Future," "Star Wars," or "Doctor Strange," but sometimes it's just 'magic' or 'cars.'  There is a challenge booklet, bricks for completing the challenges, extra bricks, and promotional items.  We put this under 'education' because we have the kids do research around the topic and use their bricks to create entire scenes based on said research.  Child-directed learning!  Around the holidays, they typically have good discounts, too!
• Historic Aviation / Rail / Military - We'll admit to sometimes just ordering the free catalogs for our kids to thumb through....they love history and find all sorts of neat goodies in here that lead them on bunny trails of their own research!  There are lots of great finds here for railroad, military, or aviation enthusiasts, too, which we've used as gifts for older families members in the past.
• Up & Away Adventures - Seriously can't say enough good stuff about this program for preschool and elementary-aged kids.  Even my early middle school kiddos enjoyed it!  If subscription boxes aren't your thing, they now have a store, too, where you can purchase one-time boxes and add-on kits.  Their subscription boxes include world geography, US geography, and science expedition options - and all are fantastic!  As a bonus, they usually have some sort of sale going on....especially at the holidays.

Just in Case...

FaithBox - 
• RFID Pouch - We love to walk around the city, but who wants to carry a huge purse all day?  This travel wallet has room for money, cards, keys, pends, and a small notebook (or smartphone), all with room to spare!  It fits discreetly under your clothing, and is designed to thwart theft.
• Sleep Kit - A good night's sleep is the body's first defense to staying healthy...and with this sleep kit, you'll block out all of the distractions around you.  It also comes with a tiny, but handy, carrying case!
• Stainless Multi-Tool - Emergencies happen...you might as well be prepared.  This multi-tool has the knife, axe, hammer, lever, and several other functions.  It folds up neatly, and is durable, but affordable.
• Oregano Oil - An antiviral and antimicrobial, oregano oil helps to keep your immune system buzzing along.  When taken at the first sign of a cold, our experience has been that it knocks it out quickly.  As an added bonus, it keeps the digestive system moving, which is nice after a lot of travel / sitting...
• This one is more for mom, and it's one of my favorite subscription boxes out there.  Each month brings inspiration and encouragement, with a book, some gifts, some edibles, and more surprises.
• The Pocket Palatte - Simply ingenious! This is a single-use, full face makeup kit for on-the-go!  Comes with mascara, lip/cheek color, and bb cream (foundation).  Each makeup item is perfectly portioned so you can carry a full face of makeup anywhere you go. It is about the size of a Post-It note and is really thin, too.  This one is a great stocking stuffer gift for the teen girls (and mommas) in your RV!

For the Book Lover…

• Our favorite books for parents and family! -  People are always asking what we like best from the resources that we use and recommend, so just recently, we started highlighting our favorite books.  The page will change periodically, based on new input, but we don't post anything here that we haven't personally used, loved, and often-times given as a gift to others because of our love for it!
• Bibliophile's Christmas Wishlist - When the holidays roll around, we break out the 'Christmas Box' for special out-loud family reading time.  Mom also loves reading inspirational, feel-good Christmas stories.  We've collected several pages of our favorites, across many genres, in this wishlist.

So that's it - these are our top picks for road-schooling gifts.  What would you add to this list?  Which one does your family need for upcoming travels?