BootsnAll Travel Community

quote:

keep us posted on your vids!

Well, we are still figuring out what the heck we are doing because we are new to this, but you can check out our videos here:


http://www.youtube.com/soultravelers3


I think we are going to have to repost a few, but it is a start & this one is my favorite ( which is our Mozart playing her violin around the world):



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn9rDTZj-m4


Happy Valentines Day all!

quote:

f) by far the biggest benefit was how close we came as a family. With a few small breaks, the 5 of us were with each other for 24 hours a day for 10 months. My wife & I were entirely focussed on the family: there were no work or social activities to distract us. We're still extremely close as a family.
g) As a parent, I think the year off was the most rewarding experience I've ever had - they are kids for a short time, and it was a gift to spend so much time with them at that point in their lives.

I totally agree--that was the best part for us too. And every evening after we had eaten supper and were lolling around on the blankets in the grass, we had discussions about everything---what we had seen, the philosophical implications, the big issues in the world, the books we were reading, etc, and though that wasn't the main purpose, it was part of their education also. My oldest daughter just put an article into the school newspaper about some of the things we talked about. Oh, we've been back since September.

The only real setback of the year off school (not totally off--we did work on some stuff, just not very consistently), is that my younger daughter(13) didn't make it into gifted math this year, but it was full anyway. I'm not sure if that will keep her from taking 8th grade algebra, but we will work on math this summer if we need to. Which is another point, you can always play catch up later, and if they're highly motivated they will catch up fast. It sounds like we all have pretty gifted children--it could be that travel has something to do with that.

quote:

f) by far the biggest benefit was how close we came as a family. With a few small breaks, the 5 of us were with each other for 24 hours a day for 10 months. My wife & I were entirely focussed on the family: there were no work or social activities to distract us. We're still extremely close as a family.
g) As a parent, I think the year off was the most rewarding experience I've ever had - they are kids for a short time, and it was a gift to spend so much time with them at that point in their lives.

I have to agree that this has been a tremendous benefit to us as well. We were very close before the trip, but having the 24/7 time together and the tremendously rewarding, shared experiences of RTW for the last 18 months....it has been a gift beyond belief.

My child was 5 when we left and recently turned 7 and we just do not want to give this up...ever! I knew it would be good, but it is beyond what I imagined. I am continually grateful that she and her father have more time together than most kids will ever get. He took 2 months off for her birth ( they thought he was nuts at work) and I think that changed our perspective forever and was the biggest seed for our trip. One of our main motivators was to spend more time together.

We are happiest when we are together and have the time to enjoy each other. Time with children does pass by so quickly and since we are much older parents, we just did not want to miss a moment of it. We are into attachment parenting and just see this as an extension of that. I think older kids need this as much as babies, and the whole family benefits. There is a book called " Hang on to your kids" that talks about how our society is now set up so that kids attach to peers instead of family and how that is a disservice to all.

It was not a huge change for us, as my husband soon changed to working from home after her birth as the "babymoon" made him switch priorities. Plus, we had been retired for 2 years before we left during our prep phase and had done some homeschool, so already had more time together than most people.

But the combination of total freedom, endless time, "eternal Saturday", endless summer, endless beauty and intriguing sights, new shared adventures daily, lots of time to play, talk and love.....is a family reward like no other. Priceless!


Even the challenges are rewarding because you face them together and they give you all a memory that you can laugh about for a long time.My ambulance trip to the hospital in Vienna ( where they got to ride along with me and be at my side the whole time & we even made friends during the experience) is something we will never forget. Not to mention the time a bus let us off in the middle of no where and other intense moments.

I see the point where a younger child might not have the same experience as an older child, but I think much depends on the child and the length of the trip. My child's Godmother did a fast world tour when she was 5 and lived for a short time in Pakistan and she says it had a PROFOUND affect upon her life, even today and she is nearing 60.

My child also was reading at an adult level at 5 ( she was reading Harry Potter at 4 1/2) so I think that impacts her experience greatly. She helps me do research and she can and does read adult guide books and everything at museums and such. Sure she plays just like any kid, but I have found that our journey has had a huge impact on her life already. I can not imagine that would not continue.

I think part of that is the endless reading and also that we spend months at a time in a place often, so besides the tour sites, she knows the everyday shops and shopkeepers and starts to meet the locals as well as other travelers from around the world. It often feels like she is living in an area when we do our many long stays in places like Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Santorini etc.

She really gets to immerse to a very deep level in Spain and I really notice that with the relationships, flamenco & festivals ( second year now) besides the reading,writing and talking in Spanish. That will always be a part of her reality now, which was one of our goals, to immerse her in the language and culture of her second language. When we spend time in South America and Mexico, I think it will just add to the experience here in Spain.

We have not spent that long in Morocco, but it has forever changed our perspective and impacted her. Giving a violin concert in the Sahara at 6 was a life changing moment for her. She had been doing solo concerts since she was 2, so was used to that, but never entered one on a camel before, or with kids who were so excited. She looked forward to it ( as did they) and she made deep connections with those children who have so very little. She played in their dirt floored/walled homes without running water and understood the differences in their lives as well as our common humanity and what their joy can teach us.

We will go back to Morocco this year and maybe next, have friends from Morocco that will visit us and she has a child from Morocco that sits behind her in school here. By visiting Morocco and Turkey ( and Moorish Spain), she has a much greater understanding of Islam than she ever would have without these experiences.

She has a greater understanding of MANY things Sure she will probably experience things differently when we are traveling when she is 13, but I can not imagine these experiences not impacting her life from what she has experienced thus far. She is a different child from when we left, although I don't think she realizes how much of a change has occurred in her through our travels. She not only learns a lot from books, but has had such rich experiences through travel that they reinforces and expand each other. ( I do find the reading material often, but she usually chooses).

I do think reading level is important for a RTW trip if one of the purposes is education for the child. It keeps a child occupied with the down times and days of travel and allows a child to do much of their own learning as they go. My child has a passion for Greek myths, Homer and archeology and has learned most of it on her own from self driven reading. We ran into teachers on a gulet in Turkey that said she knew more about Greek myths than they did and she certainly knows much more than either of her parents on the topic. How could seeing most of the important archeological sites in the world on this topic, interacting with archeologists on the sites, & doing tours with guides who were so knowledgeable and entertaining, NOT impact such a child?

One interesting thing we have learned on this trip is how some famous people had lots of travel in their lives as children and how it impacted their lives. Mozart is a good example of this, because of his extraordinary talents he did MUCH more traveling than any of his peers ( starting at 6) and being exposed to so many different experiences and other wonderful musicians absolutely impacted his life, work and perspective. The father of Archeology, also had a passion for Homer at 6 which later led him to discover some of the most important sites in that field, changing it forever.

I do not think we can ever underestimate the value of travel on the young and curious mind, nor perhaps the time spent together as a family.

quote:

Just another source to look into and possibly get ideas from.

honestly i didn't look up the laurel springs reference...it slipped past me somehow...
then my husband was telling a friend what we are doing and he mentioned to him, that as of a month ago, his son enrolled in laurel springs distance learning program and they love it. it is specifically geared to kids that travel. (whether it is through sports, entertainment, or world travel) you have a specific teacher assigned to your child and have really great access to them. projects and presentations can be geared specifically to their strengths and learning styles. they can also earn credits through life experiences with journal entries, video presentations, and creative ways of expressing their understanding of the subject matter. it seems very progressive. and it also is offered to our sons grade as well which would be nice for us to deal with one entity. anyway, we are giving it a much closer look and we will keep you posted on anything new we discover.
peace,
b

btw-
we have started telling a few friends and while they have questions, everyone has (so far) said that it would be amazing. and more specifically that it is perfect for our family and who we are as people and a unit.
all of them wish they had the opportunity to do something like this...and they think we should definitely "jump in"
since our site should be up this week, we now felt like it would be good to start slowly letting our friends know what we are up to. still haven't told my husbands family (they will be the last to know) as there will be a lot of baggage and issues with the news.
but we are pleased with our friends reactions and that they (as we suspected) GET us and know why this is something that we need to do.
peace,
b