SPRINGFIELD — Christina San Filippo's friends have one of two reactions when she tells them her family is about to hop on a converted school bus and use it to somewhat aimlessly explore the country for a while.

"They either say, 'Oh, you're so lucky' or 'You are crazy. Good luck,' " the Springfield mother of two said this week as her clan made final preparations for an adventure that might last three months, maybe six, and perhaps even longer.

There's no itinerary. And that's intentional.

"Part of the plan is not to have any huge plan," Christina's husband, Seth San Filippo, said.

The San Filippo family is putting its own spin on a trend that began to take hold several years ago, when more and more nuclear families left their homes and children's schools behind in favor of so-called "road-schooling" trips of various lengths.

"Road schooling, just like home schooling, has seen a steady increase in popularity," said Peter DeMichiel, spokesman for the Families on the Road website. "Pulling the kids out of school for a ... trip around the U.S. is not as difficult as it was 10 years ago. The digital-age student can learn online virtually anywhere they have cell service."

The San Filippos are well-established in Springfield. Seth is the founder of Urban Lumber and has earned a reputation for making quality, custom furniture from salvaged trees and reclaimed wood. Christina volunteers with several civic and charity organizations, while their two children enjoy various extracurricular activities while excelling in Springfield public schools, according to their parents.

But while stability can lead to comfort, it also can be stifling. And Seth San Filippo says he decided about a year ago that he wanted both a break from his own routine and something different for the rest of his family, at least temporarily.

Last winter, he set off on a dirt bike and rode it some 2,000 miles through Baja California. He slept on beaches, ate when he could and noticed the people in the area who lived simply "seemed to be pretty happy."

He returned to his family's spread in Springfield with a different perspective.

"I came back and had almost a physical reaction to some of the things we put importance on," he said.

That feeling eventually led Seth and Christina to Port Townsend, Wash., in February, where they checked out a standard-yellow, 1989 International school bus with the type of engine known in the industry as "The Legend" for its durability and performance.

They bought the 72-seat vehicle and Seth drove it home, much to the surprise of his 9-year-old daughter, Anna.

"My reaction was, 'What the heck is this bus doing in our yard?' " she recalled. Her 12-year-old brother, Finn, meanwhile, said he immediately "thought it was a cool idea."

A tricked-out 'schoolie'

Fast-forward 10 months and here are the San Filippos, putting the finishing touches on the "schoolie" they'll be calling home for a while.

Seth did the bulk of the work and said converting the bus into a proper living space has been a full-time job for the last two months. Major tasks included tearing out the seats, painting the bus blue and raising its roof 16 inches to provide extra headroom.

His own, unique brand of woodwork can be seen throughout the vehicle, which he figures offers about 240 square feet of room. Finn and Anna will sleep in bunk beds, while their parents' room is in the back of the bus.

They've got a composting toilet in the bathroom and plenty of shower space. The roof is equipped with solar panels and a deck where Christina says she envisions herself "sitting with a glass of wine, watching the sunset." The kids, meanwhile, say they see it as a potential lakeside diving board.

Finn, a sixth-grader at Agnes Stewart Middle School, and his sister, a fourth-grader at Douglas Gardens Elementary, expect to be home-schooled (or, more accurately, "road-schooled") through the spring.

"The goal is to get kids to enjoy learning, and to study wherever we are instead of just reading about it," their father said.

Seth said he has two other objectives, as well. The first is to show his children how to live simply. The second? Becoming a closer family unit. And the San Filippos surely will be doing that, at least in a literal sense.

"We'll be leaving a house that's 10 times the size of the bus," Christina said.

'Road-schooling' the kids

The San Filippos are far from the only American family to abandon their life routine and set out on the road for the purposes of adventure, bonding and education.

The Arizona Daily Star in 2016 reported that an estimated 20,000 families at that time had opted for "road-schooling" their children, primarily in recreational vehicles. Buses aren't as common, but Seth San Filippo said he doesn't think everything he's installed in the family bus would fit into an RV.

Setting up the home-schooling process is fairly simple, and the San Filippos are working with the Lane Educational Service District to finalize approval of their plan. Finn and Anna will be studying regularly, and learning Spanish in the coming months will be a priority, their mother said.

As of Dec. 1, a total of 1,334 students in Lane County are being home-schooled, Lane ESD officials say. But it's unknown if any of those youngsters are experiencing anything similar to what the San Filippo children are about to do, Assistant Superintendent Carol Knobbe said.

"While I would say that the circumstance you describe is not common, there may be a number of reasons a child might be home-schooled for a portion of the year," Knobbe said. She said the home-school registration system does not provide officials a way to determine how many students are home-schooled for just a few months.

Knobbe also said that while some parents inform Lane ESD officials of their reasons for pulling children from regular school, "we are not allowed to ask about this and therefore don't have anything other than anecdotal information."

Finn and Anna say they're looking forward to a break from regular studies, although Anna, who turns 10 next week, said she expects to miss her friends.

Their dad, meanwhile, is ready to hit the road. He said he's leaving his business — which he opened in Springfield in 2006 — "in great hands" and has plenty of help from neighbors and relatives who will keep a close eye on the family's property and pets for the next few months.

Destination unknown

So, where are they going?

"We're heading south, that's all we know for now," Christina said. Christmas might be spent with Seth's family in the Southern California desert. From there, Christina says she's interested in exploring parts of the Southwest.

Her husband wants to visit as many friends as possible and mentioned a buddy in Florida whose home might end up being the family's "ultimate destination."

But they're playing it by ear, and Seth says he'll turn the bus around and head home if it turns out he's needed at work. "I like that part," his wife said upon hearing that.

Whenever they do return, Seth says he plans to put the custom bus on display and use it as a sort of "tour home for Urban Lumber, to show what else we can do here."

But for now and at least in the near-term future, the bus will serve as the San Filippos' home.

"We're going to broaden our barriers, and we're going to reconnect as a family," Seth San Filippo said. "I want the kids to learn that they have options. They have the options to do things differently" than what might be considered the norm.

"I just think at their ages, something like this can really impact the direction they go," he said.