Taking a one-year sabbatical to travel with our child?

[Anonymous]

DH and I are thinking about taking a year off work to travel and just hang out with our son (he's a baby now).

What do you think is the best age to do it? I'm thinking somewhere between 8 and 10, while hanging out with parents is still cool but missing a year of school wouldn't be devastating. We'd probably do some informal homeschooling along the way.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this plan (especially those who have raised kids through to adulthood). Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Are you not going to have other children?

[Anonymous]

Do you have careers that you are confident that you could resume after a year of no work? I know of one family who did something like this- they sailed around the world, but the husband had just retired from the Air Force and the wife had an enormous trust fund

[Anonymous]

Have an 8 year old that we homeschooling last year and I think it would be a great age. It's an easy level to teach material on and at that age DS started to really be into learning about new places. We've traveled extensively with him since he was a baby but 7-8 is when he really started taking a deeper interest in the history, culture, etc of places.

We did a sabbatical when DS was 6months to 18 months. I definitely wish we could have done it when he was older since he has no memory of all the experiences. But it was an amazing time and you should definitely do it if you can!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you not going to have other children?

OP here - Hah, no more. We have our hands full with just the one. He's very high effort/high energy. And we are Feds, so after LWOP we'd resume our jobs.

[Anonymous]

Between 8-10 is perfect and your lives will be the richer for it.

[Anonymous]

Because of Covid, I homeschooled my 2nd grader last year. I think 2nd grade is a great year to homeschool. They can read and understand things that are pretty complex, but are still little and excited about things. I wouldn’t want to homeschool 1st grade because teaching reading is a very specific skill. He is excited for more of the social things in 3rd grade, so I think by 3rd peers become more important.

My vote would be for 7.

[Anonymous]

Younger. 6-8.

[Anonymous]

8-10 sounds perfect for all the above stated reasons. 3rd or 4th grade kids really start having a sense that the world is much bigger than their little part of it.

[Anonymous]

Maybe asking a teacher or someone working in elementary education about the year with the least impact could help?

[Anonymous]

4th to 5th grade. Any younger and they won't really remember. Any older and they will miss the socialization part of middle school. By that grade it is really easy to homeschool if your child is a solid student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Younger. 6-8.

I think this is a less ideal age to miss school. Teachers are trained to teach the basics of reading, math, etc.

At this age, you're less likely to remember as much.

[Anonymous]

We know a family who did this. They actually did it while their kid was in high school. I think they had some sort of asynchronous online school. They loved it. The kid really appreciated the whole experience. It may have even helped on college apps given that the kid got into a great school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Younger. 6-8.

I think this is a less ideal age to miss school. Teachers are trained to teach the basics of reading, math, etc.

At this age, you're less likely to remember as much.

Agree on the memory issue. I’d aim for closer to 10.

[Anonymous]

This was always my fantasy. Never happened for is. Go for it if you can!!