It may be summer in the US, with all your “lucky” kids finished with school and enjoying their camps, playdates and lazy-mornings sleeping in…  but out here on the road we’re still cracking the whip on the Belfiore kids!   Our travel adventure is NOT all-about-the-fun, so homeschooling ain’t over yet.

Besides reading lists, Khan-academy math, journaling, blogging, spelling tests, times-tables and workbooks.. we’ve started a new home-schooling method:

Pre-port presentations!

Hey Deans John, Victor & Lisa… we’re training some future Semester-at-Sea preport instructors for you.  Take a look at these PPTs and let us know what you think!

Background: Preports aboard the MV World Odyssey

For four months on the MV World Odyssey, our family learned about every port we’d visit via “Preports”.    These meetings happened the TWO NIGHTS before we’d arrive in each port, and would cover two topics:

• Cultural Preport… all about the local people, their history, customs, language, government, current issues, etc.
• Logistical Preport… the “how to” guide: currency, transportation, what to be ‘careful’ of—including medical concerns, how to get back to the ship, etc.

Going through this nearly ten times sure educated our kids a lot, on everything from caution around stray dogs (rabies!) to proper procedure for crossing a street in Ho Chi Minh City (just go) to the Myanmar military government opposing the democratically elected leader.  Preports were invaluable—when we stepped foot in a new place, we kind of knew our way around.

A recurring homeschool assignment:  Belfiore Family Preports

When we started roaming around Europe on our own after the voyage ended, we realized that when we arrived in a new country we often didn’t know ANYTHING.  Did they take Euros?  What were the good foods to eat?  How big is the place?  The answer?  Our own pre-ports!

We started out assigning these to Alexander a week before we got to Switzerland.  His first was a little rough, but he listened to feedback and they got much better!  After doing a few, the twins decided they wanted to join in.

Iceland preport.. our last! (At Copenhagen airport)

Want to learn something about the countries we visited?  Check out the pre-port PPTs below!  If you’re travelling to one of these with your family, we’d recommend forcing YOUR kids to create one too!  🙂

Switzerland
by Alexander… our first pre-port.  A little rough!  But nice “trauma-warning” animation.  (Dr. Jeff, you have a protege)

Croatia
by Alexander… he’s learning PPT animations. Nice sailboat route map.

Czech Republic
by Alexander & Evan Carr.  First collaboration, presented to both families!

Austria
by Sydney & Kristina. Twins get on the bandwagon.  Way to learn PPT!

Hungary
by Alexander.  It’s old hat by now..

Iceland
by Piper & Mommy.  And now Piper joins the fun.

We arrive in Switzerland… pre-port by Alexander!

Prague pre-port, presented by Alexander and Evan

Preport prep!

Pre-port for Austria!

Iceland preport.. our last! (At Copenhagen airport)