The World As A Classroom: Adventures in Family Travel

February 11, 2012 By 11 Comments

family travelI am very happy to announce that we have finished The World As A Classroom: Adventures in Family Travel, a photobook filled with pictures from our adventures in Italy, South Korea, Penang, and here in Thailand.

The 68 page book is available for sale on blurb ( see below) in ebook (3.99), hardcover with dust jacket (31.95)  hard cover with Image wrap (34.95) , and softcover (19.95) varieties.

Blurb publishes the best quality photo books available, and they were basically the

only service I found that could offer print on demand and yet retain such quality.

To celebrate, I will be giving away copies of the book!! This week’s giveaway is a copy of the ebook version ( which works on an ipad, iphone, and ipod touch).

To enter, simply subscribe to our blog and comment below!!

Filed Under: Family Life, Global Citizenship, Homeschooling, Peaceful Parenting, Simple Living, Travel, Unschooling, Worldschooling Tagged With: , , ,

Family Activism

October 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

I’ve been inspired by the Occupy Wall street protest, and yet saddened by the stories of destroyed lives on We Are the 99 percent, and outright angry over what the corrupt and murderous New Forrests Company has done in Uganda- evicted families, burned down their homes and killed some, all in the name of ‘fighting global warming’. I’ve spent a lot of time as a trying to expose corporate and governmental corruption and eventually stopped, after I was harassed on youtube by army goons who are paid to harass people that are questioning such institutions. I just got sick of it, and no one wanted to listen to me or hear the truth anyway. They preferred American Idle…sorry, idol.

My husband and I take family activism seriously, and so does Kaya. We believe that charity and activism go hand in hand.

We’ve rescued 5 cats, two of whom we found good home for. We now feed the beaten and neglected ( and now abandoned) streets dogs that live in our hood. In the above picture, Kaya is with Lucy, who Billy seriously thinks is the reincarnation of his childhood dog Dixie. We take the dogs to the vet, get them medication, and provide them shelter. Kaya always looks to help us when we feed them, or treat their wounds. Helping these animals helps us, and we bring our cause online via social networking ( mainly twitter and facebook)

We also take a stand for those living in poverty by sponsoring two children through Compassion International. One of them, Ondissa, is from Kenya. I happened to have lived there for a month in my teens, and saw firsthand how coffee farmers were swindled out of their hard earned money, how many homeless kids were sniffing glue to stay warm, or on drugs…

I want to shelter my kids and protect them from dangers. But I feel even more then that I want them to have a good future…and I want all kids to have this. So we keep trying to speak out and make a difference, have people watch documentaries and do research for themselves and to KEEP QUESTIONING. This questioning and researching lead to activism, which then leads to change.

Daily Activism

A lot of people forget that activism is something we can do daily. Seriously! We make huge changes by what we eat, buy, say, and do. I happen to eat mostly vegan ( occasionally fish and dairy) and strongly believe that if people give up meat just a few days a week, our impact on the environment will be reduced. If we buy organic, that makes a huge difference. If we grow our own food, bingo!

By buying less, and focusing on quality over quantity, our lives and the lives of others are greatly impacted. Everything we do makes a difference, it’s the question of how. As a family, we try to buy locally and/or hand made, artisinal products/clothing. That’s why I’m a big fan of etsy.

We talk about such choices with our daughter, to the degree she understands. We let her know what food is ‘yucky’ ( ahem KFC or McDo’s which we call the House Of Shame).

Changing the world with our minds

No matter what religion you may be, you probably understand that what we think impacts the world. And the people around us affect us. Directly and indirectly. If we take a look at some ‘spiritual activists’ as I call them, we see that they were spiritually charged, and mentally focused. Take Jesus and Gandhi. Both were revolutionaries, as was Buddha. They were in public making a difference, but they were spiritually focused. They had pure hearts.

We can learn from these avatars by staying centered and by believing in ourselves. By focusing on gratitude, love, happiness, and such, we can stay above the frey, all the while making a difference in the world. Many new Thought thinkers and sages from all of the world’s traditions believe that thoughts are things. Therefore, having positive thoughts is powerful, even in hard times.

Family Activism

‘ Violence and oppression can be so embedded and hidden in a social system that a special education of the eye and heart is needed for proper perception and perspective. Families are where we learn to see and feel. Only our life together produces the possibility of peace and justice, so we can start here. With hope.’

Homemade Social Justice

So how do we not overwhelm our kids with all the problems in the world, at the same time as empowering them to make a difference? Two books I really recommend are Homemade Social Justice and Raising Kids Who Care as well as the Christian book Raising Faith Filled Kids. I bring up the latter because he spends a good deal of family activism.

If you happen to be gay or a same sex couple with kids, then your children may already be activists and standing up for inequality. Or maybe your family is close to animals ( like ours) Talk with your children about issues that bother them and discuss what you can do about them.

I firmly believe the number one problem mankind faces is apathy.

We can help prevent this by empowering children and teaching them to be empathetic. A MUST HAVE book on fostering what is referred to as ‘right brain’ thinking ( artistic, empathetic, etc) is A Whole New Mind. Buy it!! Buy it now!! It will really change your perspective on the future. It will also give you ideas on how to grow yourself and your kids in these right brain tendencies ( he has sections in each chapter on how to learn and practice each trait).

Addressing Social issues through media, toys, etc

I am on a mission to get people to play the video game Beyond Good And Evil. The game’s protagonist is a journalist and photographer trying to expose a corrupt government and help her fellow citizens have a good future. Bingo folks!

Media can aid in helping our children become active. Or, as we all know, it can hinder it. In our house, we do not watch commercials nor TV ( unless educational) and we DO NOT watch news. If we do, it is not mainstream. But we do love movies. David the Gnome is an activist, as is Sporticus from Lazy Town. David is a natural MD and yes, gnome. He helps treat sick or wounded animals and stands up against the meant trolls. Sporticus is a vegetarian superhero who helps get the town active…literally. He gets them up and moving, dancing, eating healthy foods.

Through Books and Stories

I am so geeked about a series of comics I got, which are based off of the lives of Hindu spiritual leaders and activists. My God, is it cool. They go into the lives of each person ( such as Swami Vivekananda, Buddha, etc) and show what they stood up against, and how they overcame their fears and made a difference in the world. So many books like these exist, on leaders such as Martin luther King Jr, Jesus, etc.

Apparel

Talking about our kids about what they wear and where it came from causes them to be aware. Saying things like ‘this shirt was handmade by grandma because she loves you’ or ‘ I thought you would like this dress! The company gives a percentage of their proceeds to charity’ shows you care and so should they.

Companies such as Tiny Revolutionary are devoted to spreading the message of activism to the younger generation. And the designs rock.

Homes Education

Of course I am biased because I am a home educator, but teaching our kids at home can help make them care about the planet. Schools allow violence, often because they are not equipped to handle the violence that arises; many are underfunded, having their budget’s cut, and in the US they do the great ‘dance of the lemons‘. Other, such as boarding schools or strict private ones, are harsh. The bottom line is that they promote submission.

If we work hard to show our kids love, respect, peace, compassion…and yet they are gone more hours then they are home to an environment that shows bullies are on top of the system, and that ‘being cool’ means fitting in and NOT standing out, we lose. And so do they.

Having a healthy social life means allowing our kids to pick their friends, and their activities, and not forcing them into unhealthy social settings. And I consider an environment that is rife with bullying, sexual harassment, junk food, and potential abuse to be unhealthy.

I must point out that my school in France was different. Everyone was active!! But this was a very unique boarding school. I mean, very. It was international and in France, teens are treated more like adults then say in the US. So yes, if you find an exception like this, it certainly can foster your child to care about helping the world.

travel

Family activism blossoms from travel. If a child meets someone of a different race, creed, etc they will know more about them and therefore care more about them. They will be less likely to say when they are adults ‘ sure, drones are fine going into Pakistan…’ But if you can’t travel long distance, just learning about other races and religions or cultures with your kids will help make that connection. Pen pales from other countries are a great idea, and can build lasting friendships!!

Our world and our children’s future desperately depend on us teaching critical thinking skills, using right brain thinking, and being models for our children of the path less taken. You and I are not perfect, but we do our best and can try to do what Matthew kelly recommends: become the best version of ourselves. I want to challenge myself and do more to show our kids how much we can do. I want to discuss ‘big issues’ debate solutions, and then get active.

Like Severn Suzuke

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mom Blogger Profile: Lainie from Raising Miro

September 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Quito

One of my long time favorite travel blogs and unschooling sites has been Raising Miro. Lainie and Miro are from LA, where our family lived for 9 years ( Kaya was born there) so it was great to see another LAian who ditched the insane traffic and smog and took to the road! On top of that, Lainie is such an inspiration to us and to thousands of other families around the world; she shows what happens when you raise a global citizen.

 

SF: What prompted you to leave LA and travel? How long have you been gone?

L: In the beginning of 2009, we sold or gave away all of possessions and hit the road for a permanent adventure beginning in July of that same year. We have been traveling throughout Central America & South American for over two years with no stop in sight.

The circumstances that led to our current lifestyle were an amalgamation of many things lining up to create a path of least resistance. There are three main factors that led to our jumping ship from the conventional lifestyle: inspiration, economy and mental sanity.

Being inspired means living a simpler life, something that is now trending in progressive circles, defined through the term ‘lifestyle redesign’. Before I had even heard this phrase, I was itching for a life off the ‘grid’ and outside consumerist cycle of ownership and debt. Professionally, I owned and ran a small branding agency which focused on serving green -eco business, non- profits and conscious business. I really tried to create as much peace as possible within my professional life but I still recognized I was still contributing to the world of consumerism and marketing.

For all of Miro’s life, I have been the primary care-taker, responsible for the well being of my son on my own. This has been a responsibility that brought me the most joy. In addition to being a full time mom I built from the ground up a successful brand, marketing and design agency called jungle [8] for 8 years. In reality, this meant that most of the time, I was overly busy.

One of my most tearful memory is recalling a common phrase I heard from my son say, time after time (after “I love you” of course): “Mom, you work too much. You never spend anytime with me.”

In 2008 the economy took a tumble and business in California were greatly effected. Especially those that relied on the non-profit world as it’s clientele. As a result, jungle [8]‘s “bread and butter” clients started going away.

One evening in September 2008, Miro and I were sitting in my office after everyone had left for the night. I remember letting out a grand sigh and looking at Miro and saying “I don’t want to do this anymore… Let’s get rid of everything and find a simpler life, climb a volcano, plant a garden, live in the jungle. Let’s go have an adventure in the world away from this consumerist lifestyle and get back to what really matters. Each other and enjoying life.”

Miro looked at me and smiled. Then he said “I’m in!’

..and that was all it took.

SF: You and Miro are global citizens, and volunteer. Can you tell me more about your lifestyle? Can you make any suggestions to other families looking to help society and enrich their lives by being of service to others?

L: I truly believe borders and boundaries are a thing of the past. There is only one citizenship that holds value, and that is “global citizenship”.

I come from a background of activism, which I no longer subscribe to. In the past, I strived to change the world, make a dent is issues that mattered to me, usually surround civil rights, peace and the earth’s health. This activism was a huge part of my education in compassion. However activism strives to change the world from the outside. Through traveling with my son, I have discovered that all change happens from the inside out. In other words ‘being’ the compassion can effect the world just by virtue of being in the world. By being compassion and interacting and through interacting with the adults and children we encounter, we cannot help but to effect our collective future.

Whether someone chooses to extend that further and volunteer, that’s fine. But it’s definitely not necessary. For us, we both have a lot of passion for animals and my passion for nurturing children has rubbed off on Miro through our latest volunteering experience, where we actually spent two months reading to children, getting them excited about stories and imagination and learned that Miro is a very good teacher. All of our experiences have been in one form or another of serving as we try to immerse ourselves within the communities we settle in.

We live like visiting locals but no matter how hard we try we will never be mistaken as a local. So we embrace our differences and live each day with respect and gratitude for the communities we live in.

Another way we immerse our selves is through learning as much as we can about the history and culture and local rituals, sometimes in the form of cooking, or learning about the local crafts and other times through volunteering. Most of the time though, the best strategy for immersion has been to participate within a given community by being present and connecting through smiles.

SF: When and why did you and Miro decide to unschool?

L: Our original plan was to travel for one year. I initially though for one year, the world would be our school. This was before I ever heard the term “unschooling” . When we left I knew without a doubt that traveling had it’s benefits and the experiences would provide everything Miro needed. I wrote this prior to our trip:

“What about school? What about 5th grade?

Take a year and gain valuable life experience, learn a language, travel through many countries, work on sustainable farms, learn about ecology, volunteer time and energy to make a difference, participate in new cultures, be empowered to make decisions, learn geography, navigation, budgeting, independence and respect. What does 5th grade have to offer in comparison? Nada.”

Since then, we’ve revised our plan to travel until Miro is 18 years old. So, education had to be a part of the plan.

Although during our travels, Miro was not following any schooling curriculum, I noticed he was talking about the things we wrap into neat packages within the formal educational system such as geography, sociology, history, economics, mythology, language and second language, literature, math, science. I sat back one night and realized how brilliant the idea of having the world teach my son was! Engage in life and children (and adults) learn!

Soon thereafter, I discovered the formal name for what we were doing as ‘unschooling’. In some circles it’s called ‘Radically Unschooling’, ‘Worldschooling’ and Roadschooling. There are similar principals to each of those ‘disciplines’ which is based on child-led learning. This is a radical departure form homeschooling circles that teach a formal curriculum only in the home environment.

The whole essence of unschooling is that children, when empowered will learn based on their interests. I have discovered by virtue of being in this world, we can’t help but to learn. Children learn naturally and retain so much more when they are engaged and leading the process themselves. I realized this just by watching Miro blossom and be empowered. What an authentic gift!

I have learned a lot from reading about the “unschooling” concept and have adjusted my approach with Miro ever so slightly. I have learned to take ques from his interests and seek opportunities together for further learning. I have become more involved in his education since he’s left the traditional school environment. I have consciously become more aware and present with his choices. And I have learned to be more communicative with my support and encouragement. And most of all, trusting the process. He is learning and we are sharing the experience. I couldn’t think of a more important role to take in this wonderful world of ours.

As a result of my unschooling education, I am growing as Miro teaches me how to be a better and more effective parent in the process.

SF: What lessons have you learned as a family worldschooling?

L:I think the most profound discovery is people are genuine and kind all over the world. It is easy to connect authentically with anyone by offering a a smile and making eye contact, even when there are language barriers. A smile can be an opening to a world of discovery, learning about different cultures and points of views, an experience Miro and I cherish. We have connected with homeless people on the street, children in impoverished neighborhoods, indigenous mothers, and the cosmopolitan socialites. We have made so many wonderful friends and have had the honor of being invited into so many peoples’ homes to experience a slice of their lives. The people have been the gift in the entire experience and they are the reason we keep exploring.

You can find the traveling duo at…

web site: http://www.raisingmiro.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ilainie

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RaisingMiroPodcast

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Return to the Andaman Club

August 12, 2011 By 2 Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, we did our second visa trip, and went back to the Andaman Club. I was not happy about having to do the near 5 hour drive again,  in the backseat with our toddler- but then I started getting excited. It was such a beautiful drive when we went, and it should us more of Thailand. Plus, the hotel was really nice and inexpensive.

What we decided to do was to break the trip up. We left early in the morning ( hoped Kaya would have slept for most of the drive, but of course…she didn’t) and then got to Ranong in 4 hours. We had some coffee at a very cute cafe that wasn’t far from the pier.

My anxiety kicked in at the customs area, as normally customs and a toddler don’t mix. But this time, it went incredibly well. As Billy filled in the paperwork, Ky worked the customs counter, helped clean the bathrooms ( which were already cleaned), drank cup after cup of water from the water cooler ( it amazed her), all the while mom followed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So then when we left customs, we moved to the waiting area for the boat. You could tell at that point you were going to a resort ( there was a TV, a snack bar, etc). We waited for Papa to get the bags by Kaya looking through her satchel.

When we got to the Andaman Club, we went through customs quickly, took the bus over to the hotel and checked in. Sadly, it was raining and thus Ky didn’t get her swim time ( to her dismay). We also found out that the kids room is not free ( despite the fact that it was empty and we were going to go in with her, and no sign mentioned that). Nonetheless, our stay was nice.The hotel is very morose. Several of the staff ( when we have gone) seem either bored or act curt, save the restaurant staff and the customer service. The restaurant had wonderful food, and is the highlight of the resort island. Although it is small, the food is excellent.I highly recommend the fish congee and the spicy prawn salad with pomelo.

I’m not sure if we’ll need to do a visa run again, as Billy will be teaching a few classes at the University here in Phuket, but I do hope we go back. It is around 60 USD a night, and compared to hopping on a flight and staying overnight in say Singapore, it is a much cheaper option.

I have however enjoyed each trip we made to the Andaman Club and hope one day we will go back.

Check out our flickr account for photos from the trip!

Filed Under: Global Citizenship, Phuket, Thailand, Travel, Unschooling, Worldschooling Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mom Blog Profile: Jennifer from Edventure Project

August 9, 2011 By 1 Comment
Next up in our series is the incredibly beautiful mom of 4, Jennifer Miller from Edventure Project. Jennifer gives some wonderful points that I agree with regarding the debate between various types of homeschooling method ( where each parent has a ‘my way of homeschooling is the best’ attitude). One of the reasons I am doing this series is to show home EVERY family is different, and how wonderful that difference really is.
SF:  Tell us about your family!!

JM: We are a family of six and we’ve been full-time nomads for three and a half years now. Our kids are currently aged 9, 11, 13 (boys) and 15 (Hannah).  We’ve cycled from London, UK, to Tunisia (Africa) and back. That took a year. We’ve road tripped Central America. This past year we spent six months going deep instead of wide in the highlands of Guatemala. We split our time between forward motion, exploring new things, and renting houses in interesting places to deepen our understanding of the cultures we’re experiencing.  We’ve rented in Prague, Marseille, Hammam-Sousse Tunisia, Cape Cod, Guatemala, and a few other places.

SF: What made you decide to live a nomadic lifestyle?
JM: I was raised in a fairly nomadic family. I spent two winters of my childhood exploring North America and focusing on Mexico with my family. At 16 they let me take off to the UK with a friend for a few weeks of solo exploration. To me, life is not life without extensive travel and a dream on the back burner at all times. We knew, from the beginning, that we would travel much with our children. We wanted to get everyone out of diapers before we sold the house and hit the road full time, and that’s what we did.
There are lots of reasons we live the way we do. Not the least of which is that it makes no sense whatsoever to us to spend the best years of our lives working for others, to collect “stuff” that in the end doesn’t leave the planet with you. No one knows what we take out at the end, but at the very best, it’s our relationships and our memories, so we’ve decided to spend our lives investing in those things.  Also, children grow up frighteningly fast. We wanted to take the two decades we have with them and really LIVE it fully, invest our whole selves in their development and education and show them how to live for today and dream big dreams for tomorrow. But more importantly, teach them how to work hard to make those dreams a reality. Our dream is travel, and so that’s what we’re doing.
        SF: You have a mobile income that allows you and your family to travel. Any advice to other families looking to break free from the 9 to 5?
        JM: This is the hardest part for so many people. My husband previously worked for a big name computer company and had a six figure income. People thought we were INSANE when he fired them so that we could ride bikes for a living. That first year was about learning how to live and developing his skills so that he could get work and do it from anywhere. (He spent the 3 mos, in Africa learning iOS programming) This last year has been about tweaking the job situation so that it really is portable and steady. It’s a constant balancing act. So far we’ve made it work.
Advice is tough to give because there are as many ways to make your dreams come true as there are families doing it. You CAN find a way to finance your life if you decide to do it. Choosing a career in technology helps a lot, as that’s where the money is and that’s where the flexibility that allows location independence is too. However, we know people who do a myriad of things to patch the money together, and the only constant seems to be an absolute commitment to your dream and the refusal of failure as an option.  Just jump out of the boat and do it.
         SF: Tell us your thoughts on homeschooling, as well as when you began home education.
         JM: This is a huge topic for me. I’ve spent the last decade or so as an educational consultant and curriculum designer in the home education community and I write regularly for homeschool magazines and other publications. Our children have been homeschooled since birth and we wouldn’t have it any other way. I think the bottom line is that an individualized education is the best possible option for any given child and it’s really important to remember that there’s not ONE way to do it.
There’s a lot of passion and heat on various sides of educational debates, pro or anti- school, homeschool, classical education vs. unschooling, to name a few. There a million subset debates that often serve to make parents unsure of themselves and immobilize them with the fear of the details.
In my experience, the most important thing a family can do, together, is to determine their philosophy of life and education and from there, school will flow quite naturally. There isn’t a “best way” or a “right” way, there is simply the way that works for your child, your family, and your current situation. I encourage parents to think carefully, choose wisely and then walk forward in confidence with little regard for what “everyone else” does or thinks.
              SF: To me, your blog is inspiration in many ways. First of all you have a large family and have retained your sanity all the while traveling the globe. I know my toddler sometimes drives me nuts, no matter where we are. Any advice to moms?
              JM: Ha! Well, I’m glad you find some inspiration in our crazy. My sanity is in question on any given afternoon! We do have a large family, we do travel the globe pretty extensively, and my kids drive me nuts sometimes too.
        As for advice? Again, that’s tough. I try not to give too much advice because every family is so different and as Moms there are so many voices shouting at us about what we should or should not be doing that create false confidence, or guilt in the process. Really, I think the only secret to this motherhood thing is to keep on keepin’ on. Get up every day, forget yesterday’s failures, do your level best and love them like crazy. I’ve learned that it can look like a train wreck at one stage of life and then you find that it wasn’t as bad as you thought later on…. Conversely, it can look like everything is PERFECT and then the other shoe drops and you’re humbled beyond measure as a parent.  All we can do is our best at every given point, and then extend a whole lot of grace, to our kids, our spouses, ourselves and the families around us.
       SF: Do you picture settling down somewhere one day? If so, where?
       JM: Oh yes. In fact, we know exactly where we’ll settle down one day. Our next house will be built on my parent’s property on Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada. My family has 70 acres on the water that my Dad has spent 35 years making into an oasis for future generations. When I was four I helped my Dad plant baby trees on the property, turns out he planted them carefully around a space for me to build my house one day… which he only told me last year. In order for them to be able to live there as long as they like they’ll need some boys with machetes to clear trails and shovel snow. If there’s one thing we’ve got, it’s boys! It will probably be another 3-5 years at least before we build our home base there. Until then, we wander on! Our next big adventure will be a year in Asia, hopefully starting next spring!
Check out the Miller family on twitter and facebook as well as of course their blog! And head on over to Holistic Dad’s site to see the Dad Blogger series!
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mom Blogger Profile: Amy from Worldschool Adventures

August 4, 2011 By 3 Comments


Well, I was going to wait until next week to continue with the series….but I am too excited. Seriously. We have so many cool mom and dad bloggers on board I just want to do as many as possible! And dads: don’t worry. Billy has some excellent dad bloggers coming up next week for his Dad Blogger Profile series.

When I began blogging, one of the first people who gave me encouragement was unschooling mom and blogger Amy from Worldschooled Adventures. Her inspirational blog details her family’s life in Canada and their preparation for their world travel, which will begin in Asia. She is a pioneer of the slow travel movement ( like the equally wonderful lainie & Miro duo from Raising Miro), where people enjoy each destination and become global citizens. I am thankful Amy took the time to give me an interview!!

SF: Tell us about your family! Where do you live and how old are your children.

A: We are a family of four, Mike, Amy, Lan (5) and Kayden (4). We live in British Columbia, Canada.

SF: When did you begin to unschool? What is unschooling like in your town?

A: Our first year of unschooling was last year although one could argue that we began unschooling as soon as our boys were born. Mike and I have had the plan to travel with our children so when it came time for our oldest to go to kindergarten we had to decide if we would put him into public school and then pull him out when we started to travel or just keep him out entirely. We chose to keep him out and to unschool because the method spoke to our heart. We live in a rural area and we have found it hard to find other homeschooling families. Because our town is so small there are not a whole lot of extra-curricular things for us to do so whenever we go to a different town we try to pack in as much as possible such as museums, art galleries, swimming pools etc. Much of our learning comes from being out in nature and we put a big emphasis on eating local food and learning about doing our part to protect the environment.

SF: What is a typical day like for you and your family?

A: Well, let me describe today for you…. First thing in the morning we went to the farm where we buy our eggs as we were invited there to pick raspberries. We spent a good hour in the bushes picking while the kids “helped” by picking their own raspberries and then promptly eating them. We came home and I made a batch of play dough for the kids and that kept them busy while I made raspberry jam. After lunch we went out to visit grandma and grandpa for a while and then we headed to the library to get new books and movies. The kids played lego for a few hours, we had dinner, and as I write this the kids are watching a movie about Sasquatch.

Our typical day is pretty normal, it’s what you would expect a family do to on a weekend except we get to to it every day! We hang out, read books, play, go for walks and bike rides, go to the beach, throw rocks in the river, visit with friends……

SF: You are about to embark upon a world travel adventure with your family. What prompted this decision?

A: Mike and I dreamed up the goal of traveling long term with our children while we were on our honeymoon in SE Asia. We knew that when we came back to Canada we wanted to start our family but we didn’t want having children to equate to the end of our traveling days. So we decided that as soon as our children were old enough (potty trained, followed direction, could articulate clearly) then we would take them on a grand adventure. We are so close to our goal now. The only thing that needs to happen is we need to sell our house, so fingers crossed it sells soon! Then we plan to travel for two-ish years in Asia. “Traveling slow with the little ones in tow, and letting the world be their teacher!”

You can find out more about Amy on her lovely blog, and make sure to follow her on twitter and facebook!

Filed Under: Family Life, Global Citizenship, Travel, Unschooling, Worldschooling Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mom Blogger Profile: Dr. Jessie Voigts of Wandering Educators

July 31, 2011 By 1 Comment


 

 

 

My darling husband and I have begun two new series of interviews. I am doing Mom Bloggers and he of course is doing Dad Bloggers. We have met so many incredible people online, from traveling families to single parents and unschoolers, to a combination of all these attributes and more. We wanted to showcase them and their wonderful families, and their sites.

Billy began his series with the lovely 1 Dad 1 Kid duo, who we both have loved ever since we first cyber met them. I am beginning the series with one of my favorite mom bloggers and unschooler, Dr. Jessie Voigts. Jessie and her husband Ed run the site Wandering Educators, which showcases the musings of world travelers and education enthusiasts. If you want to learn more about cooking classes in Tuscany or the best hotel in Maine ( or Oslo….or Bangkok) check out their wonderful site.

SF:    when did your love of travel begin?

JV: Growing up, we were surrounded by global culture – stories, photos, textiles, and things from around the world. Whether it was mother’s family living in India, or my father’s ties to Germany, the world was open to us. My brother and I were encouraged to travel the world, and we hosted exchange students as well. When I was 14, I went to Japan – and it changed my world. I loved being in such a different environment, with amazing food, language, culture. I was hooked. Since then, I’ve planned entire college degrees around all that is international, and have studied and traveled the world. In turn, now we are raising our own daughter as a global citizen – interested in learning about and traveling the world.

SF: What inspired you to start WE?

JV: I was really ill for many years, and then started to slowly get better. We wanted to do something together as a family, that would interest all of us. What came out of many discussions was travel and learning about the world. We decided to start Wandering Educators – and have been amazed at what has grown! All three of us work on the site – our daughter Lillie writes as the Traveling Kids Editor, I write and manage the content, and my husband runs the technical and business sides of the site. It’s been incredible – we’ve learned so much, and have been blessed to meet so many incredible people on our virtual and real journeys. And, we have SO many more places to visit and people to meet than I ever expected. Every time we write about something cool, I think, oh we need to go there! Needless to say, our travel list is VERY long.

SF: Your daughter is a world traveler: how long has she been traveling? What are her favorite places to visit?

JV: She’s been traveling since she was a baby! We moved from Minnesota to Michigan when she was a few months old, and her ease at car travel has been a boon to our many road trips. She first flew when she was 3 – heading out to Seattle and Oregon, where she even went whitewater rafting! Her favorite place overseas is Scotland, and her favorite place in the US is Chicago. She can’t wait to get to Paris and Egypt. Because she’s always lived on a lake, and I am a water person, most of our travels revolve around water. We rent houses on lakes, plan entire vacations around where we can swim. It’s wonderful. She’s a mermaid!

SF: When did you begin to homeschool/unschool?

JV: Lillie has always been unschooled. She is such a creative, artistic person that I knew from the start that unschooling would be the way to go. When she was 3 or 4, she became extremely passionate about Ancient Egypt. That summer, we made papyrus, created sand sculptures of Anubis, a scarab, pyramids, and more on our beach. We’ve read just about every children’s biography and book about ancient Egypt, and she is quite adept at hieroglyphs. We also learned about culture, religion, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, language, class, money, agriculture, history, and more. This well-defined interest in such a topic (which continues to this day) just confirmed to me that kids love to learn, that they will learn what they love, and that they need support for that learning. I’ve never regretted our direction.

SF: What is your top five must visit places that you have been wanting to visit?

JV: We can’t wait to go to France, and to Japan. I also think that our next places to explore will be Southeast Asia (specifically Thailand and Malaysia), more of Europe, and Central America. The world is a wide place and we love learning about it!

You can learn more about Jessie and her family on Wandering Educators and follow her on twitter. Check out Billy’s first Dad Blogger Profile here.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Phuket Butterfly Park

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment


A few weeks ago, we went to the Phuket Butterfly Park. We call it the ‘papy park’ because butterfly is papillon in French, and the official language of the Bradley family in Franglais. lol!

Anyhow, Kaya has been in love with insects ever since a beetle got into our apartment in Geumchon. We have been meaning to go to the Butterfly park ever since we first came to Phuket, but kept putting it off. Now, we are glad we went.

Part museum and part out door butterfly garden, kids can learn about butterflies and insects, including large spiders and a few praying manti. If you have kids and are thinking of coming to visit or live in Phuket, I recc spending an afternoon here. They have a cute cafe inside, as well as a gift store. So, if mom and dad get tired and need some CAFFEINE, you have it at your disposal.
Kids love to learn, and the displays and videos are informative, the display insects are larger then life and my daughter loved them. When we went, the place was almost empty, which was an additional bonus ( in my opinion).

We look forward to going back, this time with grandma. :)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,
«Older Posts