The summer of 2020 is looking a little different than normal. Many public pools, summer camps, park recreation programs, festivals, concerts and fairs are closed or cancelled due to COVID-19. Our kids were crushed that these beloved experiences would not be available to them. With a heavy heart, I began praying and asking God how we could redeem this summer. His answer was swift and clear: if they can’t go to camp, bring camp to them- and share the experience with others. That is how DLD Virtual Summer Camp was born.
We would like to invite you to join our family for a summer of fun! Beginning Monday, June 15th, through our YouTube channel, Doing Life Deliberately, we will lead your kids of all ages in a variety of weekly challenges they can complete around your home. Challenges include elements of art, science, physical activity and even community service! Every weekday we will announce new projects by email that spur on your kids’ creativity and teach them skills they can use to complete the weekly challenges. Don’t worry, your kids won’t be on screens all day– we’ll lead them to a couple YouTube channels to get their creative juices flowing and send them off to complete the daily activity.
In addition, we’ll provide an opportunity for our middle school and highschool students to be a part of a weekly Bible study, entitled Experiencing God, where they can grow in their faith in Christ. Students who chose to participate can dig into the Word daily at home and then join our Livestream every Wednesday where we’ll share what we’ve learned and challenge them to go even deeper with their peers. They’ll definitely want to invite their friends!
On Friday nights, we’ll conclude the week with a family campfire. We’ll encourage you to discuss the highs and lows of the previous week, enjoy some smores and campfire snacks, and hear from some special guests. We hope that your family can set aside some time to have your own campfire- whatever that might look like (anything from the real deal to smores made over candlelight). The idea is being intentional about spending quality time together as a family.
The cherry on top? We’re asking all our camp participants to send in a video- 30 seconds or less- of your completed weekly challenge on Friday night by 6pm sharp. We’ll take the next week to create a mashup of all the wonderfully creative ways that our campers have completed the challenge and air it the following week on Sunday. This way, we can all celebrate as a community what we have learned and the creative ways we have met the challenge. In addition, campers can earn DLD Virtual Summer Camp swag for completion of mutiple challenges and participation in various contests throughout the summer.
Ready to join us? We hope so! Let us know your camper(s) are “all in” by sharing your email address below. We’ll add you to our mailing list so you won’t miss a thing this summer. We’ll also share how you can get your hands on extra resources to make DLD Virtual Summer Camp an easy, worry-free experience such as a summer event calendar, weekly challenge themes and supply lists. We can’t wait to see you at camp!
📣Calling all carnivores!! It’s time for our annual 🍔MEATFEST 🥩celebration with friends! 👏 We’ve planned for this weekend-long event all year long and it’s finally here! Join us in Wisconsin for food, Fun, and FRIENDS as we enjoy a weekend’s worth of delicious meat and good times!!🎉
If you enjoy today’s video, PLEASE, give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends! We’d love for you to join us in the pursuit of Doing Life Deliberately! If you haven’t already, SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel (click the SUBSCRIBE button and the little bell next to it to be alerted every time we release a new video)! We look forward to sharing this journey with YOU!
We’ve traveled 40,000 miles (according to the odometer) and gone to 33 states this past year- and our truck shows for it!! If you’re looking for #cleaningmotivation, come and #cleanwithme as we declutter, reorganize and clean our truck and exterior of the RV. Let’s see what our full time RV family can do to make our truck and RV tidy again!
🐶 Our Penny dog wants to show you 🤔what’s it like to 🚌RV with dogs! She’ll show you what RVing with pets is like by sharing the must have items to RV with a dog, how life has changed since she moved into a RV and what she loves most about fulltime RV living. And if you stick around until the end, she even has some bloopers to share with you!🤣
RV Living full time has its highs and lows! Trisha and the kids share their TOP FIVE Pros and Cons of full time RV living in this video! Our fun family is keeping it real (with lots of laughter) about the good and the bad of full time RV living. (Stay tuned to the end for some fun bloopers!😉)
It’s been ONE full year of living in a RV!! This week, Joe shares some of the things he has discovered to make life more efficient, comfortable and fun while living in a RV. You can click on the images below to go to Amazon and learn more about each of the items mentioned in the video. (*These are affiliate links. If you should choose to make a purchase, a small percentage will be forwarded to Doing Life Deliberately at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!)
We never considered the need of an electric kettle prior to RV, but this little gadget has been awesome! We use it every morning for making our pour over coffee. And we it to boil water for pasta, hard boiled eggs, etc. It works much more quickly than using the gas stove top and keeps us from going through propane too quickly!
We use our level every time we setup the travel trailer! We can either lay it horizontally across the tongue of the trailer to level side to side OR we will use it vertically on the side of the trailer to adjust the leveling blocks from side to side. Joe also uses the level to make sure that his smoker is laying flat when grilling the perfect cut of meat!
After tearing down and setting up our travel trailer a few times, it was painfully obvious that we needed good work gloves! Grease, oil, dirt and grime are all par for the course as RVers- so if you want to keep your hands clean, a good pair of work gloves is definitely worth the small investment!
Santa brought these levelers for Christmas and it was one of the best presents ever!! The grown-up Lego leveling blocks we were using to level our trailer were JUNK!! They are cheap, but not the most user friendly. Over time, they get crushed and no longer snap together. This means it takes even longer to level the trailer than usual. With these curved levelers, it is a smooth ramp up to a level platform and the gray chocks slip right behind/under them to hold the trailer at the right height. You NEED these! They are awesome!
This air compressor is PEACE OF MIND. This convenient air compressor connects to your RV or car battery so that you never have to worry about your tires having low air pressure. This is also a great tool for keeping bike tires and balls inflated and ready to use anywhere!
We LOVE these walkie talkies! They make setup and tear down of the travel trailer a smooth process. Backing into campsites or pulling through tight spots is easy. It is common to hear couples shouting at each other in frustration through these different scenarios (all the memes attest to it!). But with these walkie talkies, we can not only communicate with ease, but our kids can also keep in touch with us as they head to the shower house, camp store or playground.
Joe recently purchased this headset when co-workers complained that they couldn’t hear him over the background noise at a coffee shop. It was well worth the money spent! Whether in a coffee shop, outside when it’s windy or with kids in the background, this headset cancels background noise and makes it easy to communicate regardless of your environment. This is also great for taking business calls when driving.
One of the things Joe misses most about a sticks-and-bricks home is his La-Z-Boy recliner! We don’t have recliners in our RV. But with these zero gravity lawn chairs we have another space where we can kick up our feet, relax and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. These definitely make RVing more enjoyable!
#2: Cradlepoint Wireless Router
This Cradlepoint Wireless Router has been a God-send for us on the road! It accepts up to two sim cards from different wireless companies so that you can access the internet in most places. When our cell signal is lacking, we can slip the sim cards from our cell phones into the Cradlepoint and it will boost the signal to give us better reception. From that point, we can make voice-over-internet calls. And if our AT&T service is lacking in an area, we can use a pay-by-month sim card from Verizon to get a signal in most places. Of course, there are areas where no service will work. But this Cradlepoint Wireless Router has been of great benefit to us in areas where our cell coverage would otherwise be very weak.
Anyone who knows Joe well knows that he LOVES to smoke meat! This Weber Smokey Mountain fits convienently in our outdoor kitchen (we replaced our outdoor fridge with the smoker). We use it about every other week to smoke large cuts of meat that we will then consume over the next week. It’s a delicious way to feed the family while traveling full time!
Again, if you are interested in any of these items, click the picture to access the Amazon affiliate link. We hope these items will make your RVing experience as enjoyable as it has made ours!
We’re celebrating ONE YEAR of full time RV living with a new video series: RV Crazy?!?! Our first video, How to Tear Down and Setup a Travel Trailer, takes you through the process we go through every time we change locations. We’ll give you tips and tricks to make the process go smoother and show you how we involve the kids. Whether you are curious as to how it works, are new to RVing or just want tips to make the process go smoother, we hope you’ll enjoy this week’s video!
Our opportunity to explore Florida may not have worked out the way we planned, but our mission was still accomplished. In this week’s video, we travel to the Destin, Florida, area and enjoy a plethora of beautiful state parks! The beaches of the Florida panhandle are known as the Emerald Coast for their beautiful turquoise waters and powdery white sand beaches- just gorgeous.
Sometimes things DO NOT go according to plan. No one plans to stay at an RV Park where a dead body is discovered. But that is exactly what happened when we parked our travel trailer in a cute, little Brevard County campground in Melbourne, FL. It was a beautiful, sunny day and Joe stayed with the kids while I went to a nearby Starbucks to do some video editing. Suddenly, I get a text from my beloved husband describing how police are searching an RV behind us and questioning the neighbors regarding a badly decomposed body they found in the abandoned 5th wheel. Well, if you want to know the rest of the story, you’ll have to tune into this week’s video (Click HERE to watch). But let’s just say, I hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Beyond the unfortunate experience of police forensics in our “backyard,” our time in Melbourne and Titusville, FL was filled with New Year’s traditions and exploring our winter haven. It’s fun to explore a new climate and landscape! We hope you will join in on the the real fun of RV living by tuning into our latest episode.
Teaching math can be complicated and frustrating. Math isn’t everybody’s jam, but no one should have to suffer through it! That’s why we LOVE Teaching Textbooks!! This online curriculum makes math fun to learn and simple to teach. And the only thing better than using a fun math curriculum is using a FREE, fun math curriculum!!
In our latest video, I give a curriculum review of Teaching Textbooks 3.0 and tell you how you can WIN a subscription to Teaching Textbooks 3.0- any level of your choice.
Whether you homeschool on the road for a week or make a lifestyle of educational travel, roadschool doesn’t have to break the bank! Watch our latest video for some great money saving ideas for your next homeschool field trip!
Joe and I LOVE books. If there is anything I am tempted to hoard, it’s books. I love getting lost in a good story and learning new things from the experience of others. I even love the smell of books- I’m a NERD that way. And no one can dispute the value of books from a learning standpoint. As we have learned about our nation’s founding fathers, a common thread among their stories was how much they treasured the wealth of knowledge found in books and regularly sought out ways to borrow, purchase and acquire them.
Unfortunately, when you live in an RV, van, skoolie, or travel trailer, books are not really your friend. A plethora of volumes will quickly weigh a rig down and make driving conditions unsafe. This is particularly a challenge for roadschoolers using book-based curriculums. Multiply that by our FOUR kids, and you can imagine what a dilemma that poses for our family. You can imagine the inner struggle I have: I want to have books. I want my kids to LOVE books. But we really can’t afford to have the weight of books in our traveling tiny home.
So what do we do???
We have had to come up with some creative solutions to our book problem:
- We enjoy stopping at Half Price books and other used book stores to browse books. At theses stores, we can return used books (for a teeny, tiny commission/credit) and buy new books. So far, we still have more books on hand than we should (weight-wise), but this helps keep “real” books in the hands of the kids so that they are not on screens all. the. time.
- Libraries tend to have a “Friends of the Library” section where they fundraise by selling older books for very cheap. All of us enjoy browsing through these sections as we visit libraries to do our schoolwork.
- A lot of campgrounds and neighborhoods have “take one, leave one” libraries. This is a great way to off-load old books that others can enjoy, while giving us an opportunity to scope out new reading possibilities.
- Each of our kids has their own Kindle Fire on which they can read books. We like Kindles because they have great parental controls (monitoring time spent on the device and the content they can access) and a free reading app that is accessible on virtually every device. Not only do the kids have access to great books they can read and listen to, but they can also play games and download movies to watch. If you’d like access to kid-friendly games and activities (especially great for entertainment while traveling!), you can enjoy an Amazon FreeTime Unlimited free 30 day trial by clicking the link below. If you choose to continue once the trial period ends, it costs only $3 a month for one individual plan.
Amazon FreeTime Unlimited Free Trial
- Kindle offers many free books which the kids can enjoy. There are SO MANY classics accessible to the kids to download for free!! (Did I mention FREE?) Kindle also offers an “unlimitied” program, which allows you to read as many books as you want for one low monthly price. You can click the link to learn more.
Kindle Unlimited Membership Plans
- We listen to books on Audible. Again, I have one account that is accessible to all of the kids. We enjoy listening to books together as a family when we are driving. Or if the kids like, they can attach their headphones and listen on their own device to the book of their choosing. Audible is running a special right now that gives you an opportunity to try it out for your next roadtrip FREE!!
Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks
- We can check out books through our public library’s ebook lending library. 3MCloud, Overdrive and Hoopla are popular apps that libraries use to disperse eBooks to their patrons. The kids have these apps downloaded onto their Kindles and can check out new books for free. Check with your home library to see what apps they employ.
The good news: whether you love the idea of eBooks and audio books, or prefer the joy of holding a bound volume in your hand, there are options! All it takes is a little creativity.
If you would like to check out Kindles for yourself, I’ve provided clickable links below to see some of the different Kindle options available. Amazon is currently offering some great deals on Kindle packages for Valentines Day!
Fire Tablet 3-Packs: Starting at $109.97
2-Pack Kids Edition Tablets: Starting at $149.98
And if you already own a Kindle Fire, but find it is outdated and not working as well as it should, Amazon is offering a great “upgrade” deal (click the link below):
Fire Tablets: 25% off Trade-in + Amazon Gift Card
How does your family approach the conundrum of books and nomadic life? If you have other ideas/options, PLEASE, share them in the comments below!
Keep Doing Life Deliberately,
Trisha
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