Imagine this: you pull your kids out of school for a year, stash your stuff in storage, rent out your house, put your career on pause and set out into the wide world, bound for all seven continents as a family.
You serve up lessons the kids would miss during the year in their American classrooms in a different way in places like Cambodia, Nepal, Namibia and Antarctica — through books by local authors and in-the-wild history, geology and geography lessons.
Then you come back home ready for the next school year without missing a beat.
For American couple Andi and Randy Almond, from Lafayette, Colorado, that more or less describes how they spent the 2022-2023 school year when they went on the family adventure of a lifetime with their two children, Finn and Aria, then ages 13 and 10.
In her new book, “The Everywhere Classroom: How One Family Turned Wanderlust into Worldschooling and How You Can Too,” Andi Almond, 45, shares the trials and tribulations, field science projects, harrowing boat rides and obstacles to preparing that she and her husband, Randy, encountered during their family’s journey around the world. The trip was a whirlwind that covered more than 102,000 miles, seven continents and 400 days (and only one scary insect bite).
It was back in 2017 that the idea of leaving home behind with their kids for an extended learning vacation first occurred to Andi and Randy, experienced travelers who embarked on a round-the-world trip together in their 20s when they spent six months in South America and six months in Southeast Asia.
Shortly after Andi’s 40th birthday, she found herself searching for travel inspiration on the shelves of her local library, and stumbled upon the book “One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children,” by David Elliott Cohen.
This article was written for CNN by Terry Ward – CLICK HERE to read the full story!
