MIAMI , Florida ( CNN ) -- They could probably smell him coming for miles . Circus performers Andrea and Daniel Raffo with their son , Davian . `` Breakfast , boys , '' Daniel Raffo proclaimed as his cats jumped with excitement in their cages . Raffo set down his wheelbarrow , filled with Grade A beef . Using a pitchfork , he fed his Bengal tigers . It 's the morning ritual at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus . Raffo is the show 's tiger trainer . He 's a fifth-generation circus performer from Argentina . On this morning , the show awakes in Miami , Florida . `` You get up in the morning ; you wash the animal , clean it up ; you feed them , then you play with them a bit , '' Raffo said . `` And then during the day , you spend some time with your family . '' He lives in a trailer with his family so he can stay close to the tigers . He , wife Andrea and son Davian are all on a two-year tour with Ringling Bros . But why would anyone live on the road like this , with a 4-year-old ? Andrea is also part of the circus , performing an aerial ballet , hanging by her hair high above the crowds , just like her mother and grandmother , who taught her the act . `` I can finish my act and then go up and see my son , so it 's good , 'cause we 're always together , '' Andrea Ayala Raffo said . The Raffos keep a home in Florida but are rarely there . `` Home is actually my trailer , when we travel , and have dinner every night and watch TV . That 's really my home , '' Andrea Raffo said . And these lives on wheels come with real family needs . Just outside Section 405 at Miami 's American Airlines arena , across from the Mexi-go Taqueria and Nacho Time food stands , school is in session . Jonathan Leiss is a licensed teacher with the circus . He uses a nationally recognized home-schooling curriculum . He pitches a one-room schoolhouse in every city where the show pitches its tent , for all of the school-age children of the circus . School is open five days a week . He teaches all the subjects , and every one of his students gets personal attention . `` I would describe it as a rigorous curriculum , '' he said . `` We do n't want to allow anything to slip through the cracks because we 're traveling . This is a real school . '' Leiss added , `` If I was teaching in a public high school , I could have 120 students . That 's a lot less opportunity to really address what each student needs . '' Katherine Stuart is one of the students . The 8-year-old is growing up quickly , surrounded by circus people from 32 countries . One of the performers is teaching her Spanish . She says she likes to wash the elephants , and she loves the travel . `` You can see all these different places and what it looks like , and I also wanted to know what each state looked like , so I get to do it , '' she said . Katherine 's dad is Mike Stuart , the general manager . With his wife , Mary , and son Tylar , 3 , he hits about 36 cities a year . When CNN arrived at his temporary office at the Miami arena , Katherine was reading with Mike . Tylar was with Mom , playing a `` Blues Clues '' game on the computer . `` This is a 24/7 job , so I make time pretty much every day to sit with my kids , go out with my kids , '' Mike Stuart said . The Stuarts , like most of the 350 circus members , live on a train , with all of a home 's amenities . But finding a park or a playground is a must for them . `` I have a house in Massachusetts . I probably see it once a year , maybe for a week or two , '' Stuart said . `` But , more or less , we travel on the train . It 's year-round , basically . ... So really , home is wherever the circus takes me . '' One disadvantage is that the kids do not have a lot of friends to play with . But the family is always together . `` I think there 's a lot of people who travel for their jobs , that are not fortunate enough to travel with family , where this job allows us to be able to do that , '' Mary Stuart said . The Stuarts believe that their lives and the lives of their children have been enhanced by the real-world learning experiences . `` Instead of just reading it in books , they 're going to see these things , and to me , that 's more fulfilling , '' Mike Stuart explained . Citing privacy reasons , the circus did not allow CNN to see the train . With any traveling family , there will inevitably be spiritual needs . Sister Dorothy Fabritze is a full-time circus worker and Catholic nun who holds religion classes , working across cultures , sharing the circus lifestyle . `` I saw that these people needed to find that they too were a parish , that they too were a community , '' she explained . `` We can support and walk with each other in this journey that we call life . '' Fabritze arranges for clergy to visit the circus weekly . She 's a former missionary who spent 16 years in Papua New Guinea . Here , she says , she hopes to be a biblical presence amid the glitzy backdrop and colorful characters , from acrobats to clowns to animal trainers . `` Some come asking for Bible study . We 'll do that . Some come forward and say , 'My child needs the sacrament , with confession and communion . Can you help me ? ' Of course I can , '' she explained . For about two years , Fabritze also worked backstage , opening and closing the curtain between acts , for 800 shows in two years . She remembers those times as `` God moments . '' `` They knew that I 'd be there , and they would just come over and in the darkened area just talk to me about whatever they wanted to talk , and wonderful things happened . Wonderful spiritual things happened , just because I was there , '' she said . And although things may sometimes seem , quite literally , a bit upside down here , it 's just life under the big top at the greatest show on Earth .
Dad is a tiger tamer , Mom hangs by her hair , and they travel with son . Life with a traveling circus includes one-room school and religious classes . Circus general manager and family travel to 36 cities each year . Parents say children learn from traveling , meeting workers from other countries .