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Podcast Transcript

Karen King Offbeat Interview

Karen: [00:00:00] It’s been really interesting to watch Brody returned to Australia and, and watch that play out because that, again, that was a fear that we, well, I know I had for, for quite some time.

What I loved was when he returned to Australia. He went and started applying for jobs. He just wanted a normal 17 year old life. So he went back, lived with my parents for a year and, uh, and started applying for jobs, you know, as you do when you’re 17, McDonald’s or KFC or any of these, he interviewed for five jobs.

And he said every single interview, all they wanted to know was about his world schooling experience

Introduction to Our Offbeat Life Podcast

Singer: We just want to travel. We just want to travel. We just want to travel. We just want to travel. We just want to travel. Learn and grow. Across continents and cultures to and fro. [00:01:00] Worldschooling our hearts, minds and souls. The need to travel from our heads. To our toes. We just wanna see something bigger. Us.

We just wanna travel the world,

we just wanna meet someone different from us we, just wanna travel the world 

Brodi: Hello and welcome to the Our Offbeat Life Podcast. This is no ordinary travel show. Here, we explore into the extraordinary lives of intrepid families who’ve taken the leap into full time travel. Each week, we bring you captivating stories from globetrotting families, sharing their triumphs, their challenges, and their victories.

and their incredible adventures. From practical advice on homeschooling on the road to inspiring tales of personal growth and transformation, we cover it all. Our mission is to help you, to show you that an offbeat [00:02:00] life full of full time travel is not just a dream, but a feasible, enriching, and exciting reality.

And more importantly, we’re here to provide you with the tools, resources, and motivation to take that leap. into the unknown. So buckle up, because we’re about to embark on an exciting journey. Let’s explore the world together, one episode at a time. Again, welcome to the Our Offbeat Life podcast. Here’s your host, David Cole.

Let’s get started. 

David: welcome back to the Our Offbeat Life Podcast where we dive into the lives that break the mold. In today’s captivating episode, we’re gonna delve into the heart of an educational revolution, spotlighting a movement that has witnessed the staggering 65% increase in families.

Using home education as reported by the Guardian. Uh, now this wave of personalized experiential learning is opening up a world of [00:03:00] opportunities for kids to learn directly from their surroundings, far beyond traditional classrooms. Le

Meet Karen King: A Worldschooling Pioneer

David: ading the charge in this adventurous approach to life and learning is Karen King, a world schooling pioneer from Australia, who’s been living this life along with her family, um, for quite a while now.

Despite having, uh, all the markers for success, a thriving business, a lovely home, and a stable job for her husband, they felt something crucial was missing. Life had become a cycle of. Uh, with little space for joy. Um, everything changed after a seven week vacation that introduced them to the idea of location independence and world schooling.

There was a light bulb moment. So by 2015, they were ready to take the plunge. Selling everything they own to travel the world full time from January of 2016. Karen is [00:04:00] here today and I share her real deal about this, living this dream. From the ups and downs on their journey to how they’ve managed to keep going through entrepreneurship and house sitting to the profound impact that world’s coin has had on their children.

So if you’ve ever fantasized about ditching that nine to five for a life of adventure, meaningful learning, this episode is for you. So. Let’s get inspired by Karen King’s story of embracing freedom and forging an extraordinary path for her family. He

The Decision to Embrace Worldschooling

David: llo and welcome to the show, Karen.

Karen: Hello. How are you? I’m excited to be here. 

David: Yeah, it’s great to have you to finally talk.

Karen: you’ve got an awesome story.

you know, we were just ordinary people. So, uh, you know, but we, we just wanted more out of life. We, you know, we were living the Australian dream, which I imagine is much like the [00:05:00] American dream and, you know, all the other countries. Uh, but we just wanted more out of life. We were living what we now refer to as our groundhog, groundhog day existence, just rinse and repeat day after day.

And I just, I felt like I was missing out on time with the kids. My husband and I would just. You know, we were so tired from, from, you know, just doing it all, all the time. And, uh, and so we took a break and, and discovered another way of living. So, and now eight and a half years at this point, um, later, and we don’t ever want to stop.

stop. It’s been absolutely amazing.

David: That’s really cool. That’s very cool. 

Breaking Free from the Traditional Lifestyle

David: What aspects of that traditional Australian life were Fulfilling for you and your family at the time.

Karen: I think, you know, we had all the, all the things that society says you need to have to be successful. You know, we had two kids, we had a big, beautiful house that we built and, and, you know, designed to suit our needs. We had a family business, you know, we had all the things that [00:06:00] should have made us happy.

But what we were What we were finding was it was just that, that constant activity. You know, we, we had to get up early, feed the kids, get them to where my son to school, my daughter to daycare, go in and run the family business and, get home late and, you know, get the kids fed and into bed and then, you know, we’re falling into bed at sort of, you know, eight or nine or 10 o’clock and then, and then just starting to have a little bit of time for ourselves and then just, you know, rinse and repeat day after day.

And for me, the turning point was when my daughter came home, um, it was mother’s day. And so at kindergarten, they, they all made these beautiful paintings for their mums. And the teachers helped them write a little message. And what they were tasked to do was write, um, or to paint something that, you know, my mum’s favourite thing to do on the weekend, I think it was.

And my daughter’s favourite My daughter’s response was my mom’s favorite thing to do on the weekend is stay in bed and sleep. And I thought, [00:07:00] no, that’s, you know, that that’s not what I love to do. The reality was that, you know, running our own business, working six days a week. By Sunday, I was so busy. So exhausted.

I just didn’t have any energy. And that painting, she, she hates me telling this story. I tell this story all the time now, but that painting was a real eye opener. It made us realize that the kids grow up so quickly and that I was missing out on so much time with them.

You know, we were running this business to have a better life, but life was happening. Whilst we were busy doing other things. Um, and so we, we, we, at that point we didn’t realize we had much other option. You know, we were doing all the things that we were meant to be doing. 

The Lightbulb Moment: Discovering Location Independence

Karen: And it was only that we started traveling and I read the four hour work week and learned the phrase location independence, working online and living anywhere.

David: And that was an absolute [00:08:00] light bulb moment. And at that point. Our lives changed forever as a result. Wow. Very cool. Yeah, that is a, that’s a good gateway book for a lot of people getting into this kind of lifestyle.

Karen: Yeah.

David: it, it, it definitely helped us out too. So,

Karen: ironically, we I’d already been doing a bit of work online. Um, and so it felt like something I should have already understood. But of course, society teaches you that you go to school, you grow up, you get a job, you get a house, you like, these are the activities that you do. To be successful and happy.

And it never occurred to me. And it was a big, big, you know, moment to say, Hey, you know what? We’re going to sell everything that we own and just leave. And, you know, kind of be deliberately homeless.

David: Yes. Oh, that’s a good, yeah. Deliberately homeless. I get it.

Karen: Yeah.

David: All right. 

Adjusting to a New Way of Life

David: Alright, well let’s take a few seconds to get to know you a little bit better with a little lightning round. Alright, so, water, [00:09:00] coffee, soda, or tea?

Karen: Coffee.

David: Cat or dog?

Karen: Oh, dog. Absolutely. As long as they don’t drop too much hair.

David: Pool or beach?

Karen: Oh, ppool I think. Yeah, pool. I’m getting to know myself here.

David: yeah. City or country?

Karen: I grew up in the country, but I love cities now. I love, yeah, I’d have to say city. I,

David: Now, would you rather have unlimited free flights or a magical RV that can take you anywhere?

Karen: RV! You know, we’re at a point where I just, I love having my stuff. We traveled so quick for so long. I love having our stuff, even though we don’t have much of it. And I’ve always said, I love to be able to move with all of that, you know, have our house moved with us. So that, that would be awesome.

David: All [00:10:00] right, and if you could hop into a time machine and visit any historical event or era with your family, where would you want to go and what would you want to experience?

Karen: Oh, that’s a good question. I don’t think I prepared well for this one. Oh, there’s so many things that we’ve seen over, over the years. So many historical moments that, oh, goodness me. I can’t pick one. I don’t think, you know, we’ve seen so many as you travel, we’ve been to nearly 50 countries now and we’ve done all the big monuments.

You know, we’ve been, been through Italy and we’ve been through, you know, all of these places where you see these massive, you know, big historical things, any or all of them would be an incredible experience. Honestly.

David: Yeah, I think it would be cool to go back to like the creation of something like the Great Wall and just watch it in a time lapse, you know, just sit there in a bubble, watch it being built in a time [00:11:00] lapse or something.

Karen: Great. Well, it was incredible. That, that was a surreal moment. Like you see the pictures, but to actually stand on there and go, Oh my God, like we’re, we’re actually here. This is our life. Like, this is what we do. Incredible.

David: Yeah. Well then, how did you, how did the decision to world school come about for you and your family? Was it gradual, a defining moment? What was it?

Karen: Uh, it was, so I read the four hour work week and I learned the phrase location independence and to backtrack a moment. I read the first chapter and in the book, he says, if money was no object, what would you do for the rest of your life? And honestly, I didn’t know. I was so out of touch with what I enjoyed.

I was so busy with my business and life and all of those sorts of things that I didn’t know the answer to those questions. Um, and so all I wrote down was travel. and help other people. And, [00:12:00] you know, at that point there was no mention of location independence, but I went on to continue reading and all of these things sort of fell into place.

But as I said, we were so far, this is so far outside of our norm. Like when I first mentioned it to my husband, he said, well, we’re not hippies. Um, you know, we were brought up in this very traditional, um, lifestyle. So. So for me, it, I’m very impulsive. Like, you know, if, if I say, Hey, you know what? I feel like going to London next week.

Well, you know, I, I float it with the family and if we can, we just go. So in this instance, that was kind of what happened. It was like, Oh my goodness. Like we could live. Live anywhere and work online. Hey, we should sell everything and just travel the world. And of course my husband’s first question was, well, how do we educate the kids?

I’m like, well, I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. So it was, it was a very impulsive. It wasn’t an idea that sat with us for a long time. It was very impulsive, which is, as I said, much to my nature, but then it took a good year [00:13:00] of planning because we had our business, we had a house, you know, that was kind of.

So we had to finish that off and sell it and all of that. So the decision to do it was quite quick. Um, I’m lucky that I’ve got a husband that just trusts me and my crazy ideas when they come up. Um, but yeah, you know, there, there was a bit of, uh, you know, there was a planning stage involved. We didn’t have online, you know, online income at that stage.

We had a cake decorating business, and obviously you can’t pack that up and take it on the road with you very easily. So, um, you know, we just, we had to plan accordingly. And, um, yeah, so I think all up from the time we first come, you know, first thought about it, it was about 13, 14 months before we, we hit the road.

David: Wow. So, yeah. But it was just like a spur of the moment decision, but then a lot of planning after the fact to actually go.

Karen: Yeah, absolutely. Cause there’s, you know, When you’re in that lifestyle, you’ve got, you’re sort [00:14:00] of stuck in so many ways. We had a house, we can’t just pack up. We had a huge mortgage on the house and kids in school. And, and of course, there’s a lot of questions that come up when you say, Hey, let’s break the mold.

Let’s not do what everybody else does. Um, and at that stage, I remember at one point I sat in, in my car, we’d already made all the decisions. We’d sold the house. I think we were maybe a month off of leaving. And I remember sitting in my car bawling my eyes out because I was terrified that we were doing the wrong thing.

Now, that was probably 10%, but, uh, you know, that 10 percent of me sort of, you know, surfaced on that particular day. But at that stage, I wasn’t aware of a lot of people doing this. And eventually, you know, we found our community. We found Facebook groups and now there’s thousands and thousands of people out there doing this.

And so I think today there’s a lot more support around this. Um, but at that time we felt a little bit isolated. And of course, as a parent, you want to do the right thing by your kids. So taking [00:15:00] them out of school and, and trusting that, that they would learn without teachers, that was, you know, that was a, a big thing for us.

Cause as I said, we’re traditionally educated. We’ve, we didn’t take them out of school because we had any concerns with the school system. We just wanted more out of life than, than what we had at the time.

David: How long did it take for that hesitation, that, uh, um, isolation feeling really to go away for y’all?

Karen: You know what? I was absolutely shocked when. When we started traveling, I was, I was really kind of, I had this lingering fear, first of all, that I was going to be stuck with my family for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Like I, I was a, a motivated career orientated type person. And, um, I was never sort of the.

You know, I didn’t grow up longing to have kids or anything. I knew I would have kids, but I was very career orientated. Um, and so suddenly being the idea of all being stuck together [00:16:00] for 24 hours a day, seven days a week was scary. Um, and I also feared. That we’d be out there by ourselves, that we, you know, we were leaving our friends and our family and everything that we knew and loved.

But that, that fear could not have been any further from the reality. We got so busy socializing with other families that were traveling. We would have moments where we’d say, you know what, can we just go to a country or go to a place where there’s no, no one else. Don’t tell anybody we’re there. Let’s just have some time where it’s just because we were exhausted from socializing.

We made so many friends and I, I wouldn’t describe myself like growing up. I felt like I struggled to make friends. I’ve made so many friends on the road. Like there’s this instant connection you have with other traveling families, because you all love this similar thing.

And so when you connect with these people, it’s, it’s an instant connection. And some of the, some of my very, very [00:17:00] best friends in the world are world schoolers. And you know, when I love that we can now, you know, jump from country to country and catch up with all of these people as we travel. So yeah, it, it didn’t take long.

We went straight to Southeast Asia. And, you know, I joined a couple of these, these smaller groups and I said, Hey, you know, we’re in Kuala Lumpur and all of a sudden we were, we were house sitting and all of a sudden every weekend. We had a group of world schooling families come to the pool area in the complex.

David: We were house sitting and we had these gatherings every single weekend. You know, we had five, six, seven families and, and I don’t know, 15 kids or something like that. So it was incredible. And that’s been pretty much our experience, uh, you know, except for COVID for, uh, for most of our travels. Wow, that sounds like a very interesting experience for sure. 

Cultural Experiences and Challenges

David: It started off by going to Malaysia, I mean, that’s pretty cool, because, I mean, first off, that’s not too far from Australia, so it’s not too big of a jump. [00:18:00] But it’s a big cultural jump.

Karen: Yeah. 

David: how is it, uh, the, the, like experiencing these cultures?

Karen: incredible. Um, for the most part, I guess most of the countries that we’ve been to are used to having tourists, so, you know, sort of, we’re in countries where we don’t necessarily, I would say 95 percent of the time we’re in non English speaking countries, and, um, you know, we learn the basics when it comes to language, but we’re not there long enough to, you know, become fluent by any stretch of the imagination, so Google Translate has, has been our best friend throughout the years, um, it, but it’s, It’s really interesting.

We do find that we, when we get to a new country, we tend to go straight to a supermarket and I’ve, I’ve learned from other world schools that we’re not alone in that. Um, you know, supermarkets are an amazing way to, um, to learn about a country and contrast what you know and how this country does. And it’s always interesting to compare.

Um, but for the most part, it’s just been really fascinating. Um, [00:19:00] Trying to connect with locals when you don’t speak the language has been a little bit more difficult, but where we can, we just absolutely love to. We love to learn about the culture and the differences. That’s been for me. One of my favorite parts of travel has been the differences between.

You know, our life as we grew up and how other countries do it. And that can be in the smallest little things. When we first left, I didn’t realize that Australian English can be so different to, you know, American English or British English. And I just thought we all spoke the same language. But I very quickly got told that people couldn’t understand us.

that’s been, that’s been fun. It’s been fascinating and fun to see day to day tasks. And, you know, we all have our way of doing these things, but to go to a new country and just the simplest of, of little things, um, it’s, it’s just been absolutely fascinating to see those differences.

David: I love to hear that you say that you also go to [00:20:00] the grocery store first thing and notice all the differences. And it, it does, it helps you. Are they, is this culture into spicy food? Are they salty? They, uh, what do they consider as import food? How big is the import food section? Is there a halal section or is it all combined?

All these things you notice. Yeah.

Karen: only place where we really struggled was South Korea. We were house sitting in, um, in an area about an hour out of Seoul and the supermarket there, I walked in and I didn’t recognize anything. I couldn’t understand anything. Um, even the fruit and veg section, I couldn’t, you know, of course they had lettuce and you know, the basics, but there were fruit and veggies in there that I’ve never seen in my life, but not a lot that I actually recognize.

So, I mean, I in a foreign country, my husband was back in Australia. Um, I couldn’t sort of even just grab something that looked a little bit familiar. That was the one country where we [00:21:00] really, we, we really suffered from culture shock. Like we, we really found that harder. I don’t know why, but you know, it’s, uh, it’s beyond that though, for the most part, we all have similar things.

Um, we get a little excited when we see some Australian brands or, you know, things that we recognize in, in, in Supermarkets around the world, but, um, for the most part, we all, we all sort of have the same tasks we do in a day. So, you know, you can buy a toothbrush everywhere. You can buy toothpaste everywhere.

 so yeah, it’s been fun. 

Financing the Worldschooling Adventure

David: Let’s move it along to financing the adventure, because the topic of money is foremost upon a lot of our listeners concerns, and I wanted to explore the financial realities of world schooling. So did you, your husband, did y’all have any specific strategy for funding this full time travel lifestyle when you left, versus [00:22:00] now?

Karen: Well, the initial plan was that I was going to launch an online business. So I’ve always been very entrepreneurial. So I said, it’s fine. You know, we had some savings. So I said, let’s just go. We’ll be fine. We sold the house. We sold all of that belonging. So we had some money in the bank, but I didn’t think we’d really need to touch that too much because I had full faith in my ability to build an online business.

What I didn’t factor is in was once we got out there, The world’s just so exciting and you know, there’s so much to see and do and trying to make yourself work online can be a little bit difficult. Um, so in the beginning, believe it or not, and, and I guess this is why we initially chose Malaysia. My husband actually commuted back to Australia to work offshore on the oil rigs where he’d been working for, uh, I think 10, 11 years.

Um, and so he commuted, he’d come and see us and then he’d head back there, do his, his work off. Sure. And then he’d head back over to us. So in the beginning it was great because we had, we still had an amazing income. And for him, he [00:23:00] didn’t, uh, he didn’t mind the travel because when he came and joined us, he didn’t have any house maintenance.

He didn’t have, you know, all of those day to day things that you have to do when you get home, he didn’t have to do that. So he was having a, you know, a vacation every time he came and hung out with us. Um, so that was good. That was the first nine months of our travel. We, you know, At that point, though, he, the contract that he was part of, um, finished and a whole heap of people were, were made redundant.

So, um, for a while we, we lived off our savings. We were very, very budget conscious. Um, we, in the first, I’d say in the first four years, we averaged Probably, I think, I think we, we tracked it, um, quite closely in the beginning. I think we averaged about two and a half thousand US dollars per month. And that included everything.

And we, we didn’t, we, we traveled a lot. We went to a lot of countries, but we primarily, um, house sat, so we were getting free [00:24:00] accommodation around the world. And so that, that, um, saved us a fortune on our budget. And the other thing that we realized very quickly was instead of going constantly day in, day out, we, we opted to do a day at home, a day out a day at home, which essentially doubled our budget because we’re only going out half as often.

Um, but yeah, in the beginning, the idea was to, to launch an online business. Um, It didn’t come into fruition all that quickly. We did a lot of bits and pieces over the first few years. We really, it was just a matter of what do we need to do to continue this lifestyle? How much money do we need? And we, we really were budget.

As I said, we didn’t have a lot of money coming in. Um, trying to be consistent was, I think I probably could have been a lot more consistent if I put a lot more time and money or time and effort into it. But again, I was balancing that with, I want to see the world. So, um, I think, you know, had we had [00:25:00] that before we left, that would have been amazing.

But I don’t regret the way that we did it. You know, it’s, we were spending a fortune in Australia. We were spending 4, 000 Australian, so about 3, 000 US per month just to live. A basic life, you know, pay the mortgage, pay the car leases and you know, all of those things, insurance, all of those things just to get by without going out for dinners or, you know, going and doing things we were spending that, that money.

Um, so when we started traveling, we were spending less, um, and doing a whole lot more. So yeah, it’s, uh, it was, it was tough, but I wouldn’t, wouldn’t do it any other way. Wouldn’t, wouldn’t give that up for the world.

David: Yeah, it’s awesome that you can spend, spend less and do more, um, outside of some of these countries. And a lot of these are the countries people want to visit on their vacations. The U. S., Australia, England. I mean, you, people want to come there. [00:26:00] They want to visit, but it’s not very affordable to live there long term for some folks. It’s easier to live outside with that kind of income. Yeah.

Karen: Definitely. And like your money can just go so much further. Like at the moment we’re based in Bulgaria and what we spend per month on our two bedroom apartment, my son, who’s now back in Australia, he spends that per week on his two bedroom unit. So, uh, it’s hard to, when I know how much we can do and how much we can see and experience the idea of returning and, and, Spending so much more money and doing so much less really isn’t all that appealing.

Impact on Children’s Education and Development

David: well, speaking of your son, um, I also wanted to really discuss the impact of world schooling on your children’s education and development. Um, so can you share some specific examples of how your travels shaped your children’s worldview?

Karen: Absolutely. So [00:27:00] as I mentioned earlier, we didn’t pull the kids out of school because we had any issue with the school system. We were traditionally educated and You know, I, I went to university and like, that was just the way that we did things. We wanted more out of life. So we pulled our son out who had done five or he’d done six years of school.

Our daughter had gone to kindergarten, but hadn’t started. So we pulled the two of them out. And what we’d heard, um, when, you know, when you first pull a child out of school, everybody was recommending deschooling, which is essentially, doing nothing in terms of formal education for one month. Per year that they’ve been to school.

And when we pulled our son out and started traveling and we’d go somewhere, I’d say, Oh, this is going to be amazing. We’re going to learn so much about. Blah, blah, blah. And you would just watch him glaze over to him. Learning was that horrible thing that happened at that place that you have to go for, you know, six or seven hours per day.[00:28:00] 

Um, our daughter on the other hand was an absolute sponge and like, she just loved everything that we did and everything that we saw. But when it came to our son, you say that L word learn, Oh, that was, you know, that was a scary word because that’s what happens. You know, that’s it’s forced on you. And so that was a massive eye opener for us.

As I said, We didn’t have any negative opinions about school at that stage because we didn’t know any differently. So we pulled him out. We, uh, we started traveling and we, we just didn’t do any formal education for the first six months. And it was absolutely incredible to see his, his, Almost reignited. I guess you could say he, all of a sudden he was seeing these things and doing these things and nobody was forcing anything on him.

We were just doing things and asking questions and all of a sudden you’d see him start to ask questions. And so at that six [00:29:00] month mark, Despite our, our best intentions and our guts telling us, Oh, no, we should be doing, you know, formal lessons and we should be testing and doing daily sort of, you know, hours of learning.

We decided to opt for more of an unschooled approach. So letting them learn through experience as opposed to forced learning. And it’s been absolutely incredible, which, you know, for us, having been formally educated, it was a big jump to say, Oh, you know, they, we don’t need to teach them. But watching them learn and watching them enjoy learning was, was incredible.

We did, we did test our daughter, I think, maybe a year into our travels. Um, Just for our own peace of mind, like just to know that we weren’t ruining them. and she was so far ahead of where, you know, the Australian standard was like, we’d done this sort of preliminary test when we started travel and like for maths, for example, she was already, um, I think we’d already [00:30:00] worked it out as, you know, grade five or grade six.

And she was. Six years of age. So she’d done that because she loved to do it. I told her one day, I’ve got this really cool game. I want to play with you. And we started doing addition. And then that turned into, you know, multiplication, multiplication, and she just loved it. She would sit there for days and days on end, bugging us to write out all of these math sums for her, because she just thought it was the best game in the world.

Here I was thinking we’d never have to do another math sheet again. And then our daughter just wanted to do them all the time. So, um, yeah, Yeah, there’s, you know, they learn so much through experience, um, through just being places, seeing things, asking questions, and then looking for the answer. And that, that’s probably the one thing that I really, truly love about our experience is that our children have learned how to learn.

David: Our son said to us at one stage, Oh, I’m learning Japanese. And I said, Oh, okay, when did that start? He said, Oh, about two, three weeks ago. Oh, okay. No worries. He just decided he wanted to do it. So he [00:31:00] had the resources to be able to go and start doing that. So it’s, it blew my mind what they could learn, through experience and through actually being out in the world and seeing these things. That’s amazing. And what ages were they when, when you guys left?

Karen: So my daughter was five and, uh, my son was 11. 

David: So yeah, those are some prime ages. I can see why your daughter was a sponge at that age. 

Karen: yeah, absolutely. 

Deschooling and Learning Through Experience

Karen: The one thing that I would add though, and I didn’t, I didn’t appreciate this, that Deschooling applies to adults as well. We had never heard anybody say anything about that as an adult. And, you know, I’d done 18 years of school and. For 18 months of our travels, I really struggle.

I just, I had this horrible guilt that I should be, you know, they should be learning. They should be like doing formal learning. And all of a sudden, and I think we were about 20 months into our travels. I just noticed one day that I just didn’t have the same. [00:32:00] Stress levels about this. And when I thought about it, it had been about 18 months when, you know, things are just kind of clicked.

David: And I certainly hadn’t been thinking, Oh, well, I’m deschooling at 18 months. It’s going to be fine. But when I looked back, it was 18 months, one month per year of school that I needed to deschool. And nobody had told us anything about that. So that’s, that’s definitely something to take into consideration, too. That’s very interesting. Yeah. Cause I can relate with that, but going on five years, I still have those moments where I pop up and I’m like, am I doing the right thing? Does he need more? Uh, and then my wife points out what he’s doing and some of the things that he knows, and I’m like, Oh yeah, that’s right.

Karen: Yeah. And, and we still do like, you know, we still have our moments. The big one for me was our daughter was due to start school the following year, and in that first year, she would’ve learned to read. And so as a mom I was like, oh my God, is she still gonna learn to read? Like, like I don’t know how to teach her to read.

And I was so stressed about being the teacher. [00:33:00] And then in that first year of travel, she didn’t learn to read and she didn’t learn to read in the second year. And I was getting very, very stressed by this, but she just wasn’t interested. But the minute she was interested, it came so easily. Um, she said to us one day, because, you know, of course, if we wanted to plan something or do something, we’d spell things in front of her and we knew she couldn’t understand us.

So one day she said, you know what? I’m so sick of you spelling things in front of me. I’m going to learn to read now, uh, read and read and spell. And so she did. And interestingly enough, and I think this is, this is one of the. The world schooling moments that really opened my eyes up. She learned to. To write and to spell a lot of that.

She learned from our Google hub device, because we’ve, we’ve had a Google hub with us pretty much most of our travels and wherever we are, we use it to research. So, you know, if we’re, if we go for a walk and the clouds look. Strange to us or something, you know, we’ll go [00:34:00] back and, and she would get, she would ask Google, you know, questions about this.

And she used to love to bake. And so she would say, okay, I will, I’m going to cook. This is, you know, at eight or nine, she’d say, I’m going to cook dinner tonight. And. She would go and she would sit with Google and say, okay, I need a recipe for such and such. And she would ask Google to spell this out. And so she would sit there and write, and she’d have to say, you know, Google, spell the word oven.

And it’d say O V E N, and she’d say, spell it again. And so she would sit there and she would write out the entire recipe, just getting Google to tell her this stuff. And she’d walk out with pages and pages of instructions. But that’s, it was so much fun for her. And you know, that’s way more fun than being forced to sit down and read from a book.

And we had horrible troubles getting our son to learn. He just wasn’t interested at all. So it was really cool to see the difference between the two.

David: Yeah. 

The Power of Interest in Learning

David: Interest is the [00:35:00] greatest motivator, uh, for children, for adults, everybody. When you’re interested in it, you want to know. If you’re not interested, you may, you may have to learn it, but you might not retain it.

Karen: Absolutely. And that, that’s the key to everything we’ve done. You know, our, I look at, so many things we’ve, we’ve done along the way when you’re there, it just makes so much more sense. I hated history at school. Absolutely hated it because being in Australia, we were so far away from everything that had happened that it didn’t feel relevant.

But when you go to these places, you know, when you go to Pearl Harbor or you go to Berlin, all of a sudden, Even for myself, I was absolutely fascinated and you know, it’s no different for the kids.

David: And I know that you get a lot of questions in your Facebook group as well as personally from travelers. What would you say is the biggest question you normally get from people new to this lifestyle or thinking about jumping into it?

Challenges of Transitioning to a Nomadic Lifestyle

Karen: I would definitely say it’s the money [00:36:00] aspect. It’s, it’s a big jump for most people to go from a nine to five to working online. And so there’s a lot of different things that you can do, but for most people it’s, you know, It’s easy to go to work, do the job, get paid, you know, come home, get paid. And, and it’s, you know, you rinse and repeat it.

The money just kind of appears in your bank account when you’re traveling there. It’s a completely different, um, different ballpark, but there’s so many different things you can do. And honestly, what I’ve, what I’ve loved about it from a career perspective is that this has forced me. To really sort of tune into what I love to do.

And we’ve built a business around doing that. Um, so I would recommend to people, you know, ask that question before you head off and, and look at those options, look at different things that you can do, but don’t think for a second, just because, you know, you’re, You’re a chef or a cake decorator or an office manager or, you know, one [00:37:00] of those jobs that is very much sort of location dependent.

Don’t think for a second that that you’re not going to be able to work online because there are so many things that you can do. For a long time, we, we worked remote jobs. I, for a long time, I was on the phone selling courses for a company and I just had my hours blocked out each day that I would sit and do that.

And then in the rest of the time we’d go off and, uh, and explore. So you don’t like it’s very, very, very popular with people to start a business. Um, but there’s so many different ways that you can do it

David: Okay. 

Exploring World Schooling Adventures

David: And what would you say are some of your more, your, your favorite world schooling adventures, your, the experiences that pop into your brain when people talk about, uh, this lifestyle?

 there’s just been so many, I think it’s those moments that you, you know, you’re going somewhere and. You realize that this is life. That was one of the big things for us that I had to realize. This is not a vacation. This is life. [00:38:00] And so, you know, we don’t always do a lot of touristy stuff.

Karen: We, we live our lives wherever we are. 

Adapting to Life on the Road

Karen: And you know, when you suddenly realize you’re, you’re doing the grocery shopping and you’re in, you know, Barcelona, for example, and you’re looking around and you’re seeing all the differences and that moment of realizing that you’ve got the freedom to do these things.

And to appreciate that this has become normal life. Um, but even just, you know, to see all those things that you’ve seen in the media that you’ve seen on TV, like I mentioned earlier, walking the great wall of China for us, when we first started traveling, we went, we went really hard, we averaged 10 days per location.

Um, for the first 18 months of our travel, I don’t recommend it. It’s very exhausting. Um, but you know, just for us, the second month of our travel was going to Paris and touching the Eiffel Tower and going to London and seeing Big Ben and, you know, all of these sorts of things. Those things are kind of the [00:39:00] preliminary things that you’ve seen and heard of all these things, and you get to go and experience them and pinch yourself that you’re actually there.

But then it’s the, the day to day stuff, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. It’s the connections that we’ve had with other world schooling family. It’s, you know, watching other families, kids grow up when you meet them, you know, in eight or nine different countries over the years, um, and, and things like that.

It’s living a different lifestyle and having, having the freedom to, to do what you want, what works for your family. Um, and you know, it’s scary in the beginning, but oh my goodness, like when you have that freedom, it’s just incredible.

David: Yes, definitely. It’s so incredible to have that freedom. 

Impact of COVID on Travel and Community

David: Now, unfortunately, I know that you were traveling while I was traveling during COVID and we had to settle down for a little bit. Were there any, anything that you learned during that [00:40:00] period, uh, that helped shape your travels now going forward?

Karen: Uh, that I never want to be stuck in Panama during a lockdown again. We were, uh, we were in a very, very strict lockdown in Panama. Um, what I appreciated was, and I think when, you know, I mentioned earlier about being, being scared in the beginning of, All being together 24 seven. What I realized during the pandemic is just how much I valued that.

Like you find your space, but the relationships that we’d created, what I didn’t realize that was, we’d spent, you know, four or five years preparing for COVID because when we went into lockdown, not a lot changed. Sure. We couldn’t leave the house, but we were used to being around each other 24 seven. Um, I love the relationships that we’ve.

we’ve created as a family. Um, I think the big one would probably be the community [00:41:00] aspect. I think, you know, we’ve, we’ve always factored in being in places where other world schooling families are. Um, but I think that really came into play after being sort of locked in our house for, for so, so long. That community aspect is, is invaluable, like to be able to hang out with other world schooling parents and, and see the kids, you know, go off and, and have their freedom and live their lives.

It doesn’t have to be in one location as we were in Australia. My daughter’s right now at the skate park with two good friends that she’s made here in Cyprus. Um, you know, you can, you can live those, those things that you want your kids to have. It doesn’t, it doesn’t have to disappear because you’re, um, because you’re not in, in the one location.

So I would say COVID really showed us how important that community is, but also showed us that anything’s possible. You know, our daughter did six months of, uh, [00:42:00] gymnastics lessons via Zoom. Um, you know, it really made us what we had and, you know, Made us, made us appreciate even more that anything was possible and we just, we had to decide what we wanted to do with it.

David: Yeah. I love that you mentioned community. There’s so many really good communities out there. I mean, we’re hosting a pop up hub with world school pop up hub in June, uh, down in Oaxaca, Mexico. Uh, Oaxaca. So it’s going to be cool. And those things that I like to find everywhere we go as well, because it does, it, you can meet new people.

You see some of the same people, your kids have the same relationships. They get to find people all the time. It’s really great. Yeah.

Karen: Yeah, absolutely.

David: That’s awesome. 

Raising Well-Adjusted World-Schooled Kids

David: Now, you’ve been living this lifestyle long enough that I’m sure you can attest to its effect on your children as your oldest has now grown to be an adult. Um, it’s great to have you on the, on that [00:43:00] part alone. Do you talk to parents out there about how, um, he is? Is he, is he well adjusted? Is he having trouble getting into school, work, any of that stuff? Do you have a good story or something you can tell us about that?

Karen: Absolutely. And of course, as a parent, that is one of the fears. And that’s probably the second most popular question we hear is how they’re going to get into university. And of course, I lived with that. I trusted all the people that had been ahead of me, um, that have walked that path. And I’ve got a really good friend who she has been the dean of the university.

She’s world school, all of her kids. She’s got five kids. Um, and they’re, you know, some have gone to university, some are, you know, just excelling in whatever area they love. Um, so there’s, there’s definitely avenues for that. It’s been really interesting to watch Brody returned to Australia and, and watch that play out because that, again, that was a fear that we, well, I know I had for, [00:44:00] for quite some time.

What I loved was when he returned to Australia. He went and started applying for jobs. He just wanted a normal 17 year old life. So he went back, lived with my parents for a year and, uh, and started applying for jobs, you know, as you do when you’re 17, McDonald’s or KFC or any of these, he interviewed for five jobs.

And he said every single interview, all they wanted to know was about his world schooling experience. He said, you know, what he expected of a traditional interview went out the window. And all they did was sit there for half an hour and just talk about everything that he’d done. Um, and he got offered all of the jobs, like they just absolutely loved him.

And they loved that experience. that he’s, he’s got, and I think that’s one of the things that you see with world schooling kids is there’s no, there’s no barrier. Like the conversations I’ve had with, you know, seven year olds and 12 year olds. And, you know, there’s no, um, There’s no difference like our kids and, and the world school and kids I [00:45:00] see they’re communicating with people of all ages.

So for him to sit there and just have a conversation, it comes the experience that he’s had and his communication skills and all of that. They, it makes him stand out from other people that have been through the school education and, and, you know, Don’t have those life skills. Um, in terms of the piece of paper to get into university, obviously, that’s a little trickier because, um, he doesn’t have that.

We’ve, we didn’t do a formal program or anything like that, but that certainly doesn’t need to stop him. If he wanted to go to university, there are, um, in Australia, we have, uh, like TAFE courses or, um, exams that he can take that once he’s done those, they become a pathway into university. So there’s, You know, it’s a different way of getting into university as opposed to what you might do through the traditional sort of school system, but it certainly [00:46:00] doesn’t need to stop him.

And if anything, it’s just going to enhance his application when it comes to university or to TAFE or whatever the case may be. Because he’s got that that life experience. And I hear time and time again from people that universities are looking for people that that have that sort of experience. And so many times I’ve heard people say that, um, that that life experience.

Is really what’s putting them ahead of other applicants. Uh, so yeah, it’s a, it’s a different way of doing it, but there’s certainly no reason for it to hold you back.

David: Very good. Yeah, I’m sure that helps a lot of parents out there that are listening and they’re like, wow. Okay, so he’s moved on. He’s doing well. That’s awesome.

 So how often do you get to see him now that he’s moved out?

Karen: Well, he actually works for me now. So, uh, we do zoom calls a couple of times a week, but in terms of in person, the, uh, we’ve sort [00:47:00] of come and come and gone. So at least once a year, um, the deal is at the moment that he will come and visit us once a year and we’ll go and visit him once a year. So, um, you know, it’s a long way.

Like it’s, it’s, it’s a long way. It’s hard because Australia is a long way away anyway. But on one hand, I’m so proud of the fact that he’s off living his life and enjoying that. Um, but ironically, I think, you know, when he left. The travel lifestyle that we had, he just wanted to be in one place. He wanted a job.

He wanted to go to work and be with his friends. And he said, I’m never working online. I’m like, I don’t like that lifestyle. And I felt like I’d ruined his, uh, you know, passion for travel. And then I think it was about 18 months later, he started doing some work for me. And he’s like, mom, this is amazing. I can work wherever I like and whenever I like.

And. It’s incredible. And I said, yes, hello. So, uh, I’m hoping that, uh, that that continues, but he’s now got a girlfriend who has never traveled. So it’s chalk and cheese when it comes [00:48:00] to their travel lifestyle. She’s never had a passport, but she’s excited to. to travel and he’s excited to show her the world.

So she’s, uh, she’s, my family are actually all chipping in and buying her a passport for, uh, for her birthday. I think it is so that she can come and ski with us at the end of this year.

David: Wow, that’s so cool. That is very cool. Yeah, and it’s interesting to hear because, yeah, even my son, he’s like, uh, that he doesn’t think he’s gonna work online or he’s not gonna travel, he’s gonna settle down when he’s older. And like I hear your kid’s story, he’s settled down for a bit, he’s seen what it’s like to be sedentary, and now he wants to get back out there a little bit more.

Karen: Yeah. All I hear from my daughter is when I’m, when I’m 17 or 18 and I moved back to Australia, like honestly, We hear that all the time. She loves the travel and she keeps saying to me, I don’t know. I’m going to keep traveling as an adult. I’m going to have a base in Australia so I can be, but you know, near Nan and pop and near Brody, obviously, you know, for, for as a world schooling family, our kids were [00:49:00] incredibly close.

They still are, but obviously location wise. We were all together. Um, and so it’s been, it’s been hard for, for her, particularly for him to be back in Australia and, and for her to be so far away. So she’s looking forward to moving back there. But I, I think she’s far more entrepreneurial, so I can see her, you know, using Australia as expensive as it is, as a base and, and continuing to travel.

Um, but yeah, you know, they, they’ve gotta experience it for themselves and I think if he wants. If he loves to be in one location and have a job, I, I’m just encouraging them to choose. A career or choose a job, um, that can be location independent because even if he wants to be in one location, he has the freedom to choose if he wants to be in Australia and then just wants to go on holiday for a month, he can take his laptop, he can work as needed, and then he can return.

So it’s more about the freedom that he would have from location independence as opposed to [00:50:00] having to travel full time.

David: You’re, you’re a great mom. There’s a lot of moms out there, parents out there, period, that, uh, they don’t even want their kid to go out of state for college. You know, yours is like a continent and a half away.

Karen: Yeah, I know. Well, interestingly, his girlfriend. Uh, so we’re planning another, we, our, our Facebook group, World Schooling Central, we do, um, trips with families and we’re in the midst of planning our next Egypt trip. So we, we take like 10 families and create a traveling community. And so I’ve said to my son and his girlfriend, well, you can come and run like a kid’s club and create a program and do all of this sort of stuff.

Um, sitting around the table. At home in Australia, her family were with us that night for a barbecue and, and we’re talking about it. And, you know, in my world. There is nothing that stops you from just getting on a plane and traveling. And it was a real eye opener because we talked about the fact that, you know, she would come and travel to [00:51:00] Egypt to do all of this.

And her mom’s first question was, well, are you going to have enough leave built up for your work? Like you, you know, you have to check if your boss is okay with that. And, and I, I’d forgotten that life was like that because we’d been on the road at this stage, like eight years or something. And so it was a real eye opener to.

To look at that, you know, that’s what we always lived. But now we have the freedom where, you know, as long as I’ve got my laptop, it doesn’t matter where we are. So like, if we want to go somewhere next week or somewhere next month, we just go and the business comes with us. So interesting to compare them to, um, I

David: That is so cool. That is so cool. Well, do you have any, like, challenges that you guys have faced while you were on the road, or anything, any obstacles that you’d like to talk about?

Overcoming Financial and Emotional Struggles

Karen: think for the most part, like I said, the money was, was, was challenging. Um, There were times where we really, really were scraping by, um, especially, I mean, COVID, but [00:52:00] then, you know, that that’s not the norm. Um, but I would say that, you know, we were scraping by in Australia as well. We were doing all the right things, but the cost of living was so much higher that I remember thinking at one point, I’d much rather be scraping by traveling the world full time than scraping by living in Australia.

Um, so that, that was certainly challenging. And I think, you know, it is hard.

It’s hard when you are so far away and especially for us, like if our family were in Europe, then we could pop home far more easily. But when your family is so far away, you have those moments where things happen and, um, you know, Christmases and Easter’s and birthdays and all of those sorts of things.

But with technology today there’s ways around that. We had Easter. Well, Easter dinner for my family in Australia recently, and we did an Easter breakfast. So we do a Zoom call and we set the computer up and we all just sit there and have our meal together. So there are ways that you can, can work around those things.

[00:53:00] Um, I think you just have to be adaptable. You just have to appreciate what you’ve got and why you want it. And You know, when you do, when things are important, my dad had open heart surgery early last year, and we happened to be back in the country at that time. But had we not been, we would have gone home for it.

Like these are the things that, that happen and you’ve got to be there. Um, but you do have to appreciate that there’s so much that comes from this lifestyle. It is, you know, at times it is a compromise, but the good, obviously for us, because we continue doing it, the good far outweighs the bad and we just, you know, we adapt.

So, uh, but I think, I think they’re the main, main struggles that we’ve had. 

The World Isn’t Ready for Nomads

Karen: Um, I guess the only other thing that I would say is that the world is not quite ready for people that don’t fit the norm. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, but the world’s not quite ready. So, so many times you [00:54:00] check into a hotel and they, they ask you for your address and you’re like, well, here, because this is where I’m living at the moment.

Um, or, um, I’m trying to think so many other things where, you know, we’re not in Australia. And so we can’t. Um, we can’t do the things that we ordinarily would. You know, we’ve got residency in Panama where in the process of getting residency in Bulgaria and, um, we have a company in the US and the UK and shortly Bulgaria.

And, and, and we just don’t fit the mold of what society normally expects. But the beautiful thing about that is there are ways around it, and there are thousands upon thousands of people that have traveled this path. Um, already. And so, you know, there’s groups like World Schooling Central that you can get in and you can ask those questions.

So nobody needs to feel alone when it comes to this, this lifestyle anymore, because there is just a wealth of information out there. 

The Mission of World Schooling Central

Karen: Um, and the whole reason I launched World Schooling Central was [00:55:00] because I wish I’d learned about this 10 years earlier. I wish somebody had told me. That this was a possibility.

And so we launched that just to help one family. I said, like, if I could help one family. this lifestyle and help change their life, then, that will be well worth it. And I’ve got one, one family, the mom now works for me and she, she first heard about world schooling through the work that we’d been doing and she’d, we’d connected on Facebook and she’d been.

friends with me on Facebook for years. And we finally met in Turkey, um, the year before last. And she said it was like meeting a rock star to her. She’s like, Oh my goodness, I’m meeting Karen King. But for me, I was just so excited that, you know, they’re now traveling. They’ve been traveling, I think for three years and, and they’ve completely changed their life and are loving, um, loving what they’re doing now because of that.

So, and, um, You know, there’s, there’s, you know, [00:56:00] not just myself, obviously, there’s lots of people out there that are living this and we all love helping and encouraging other people to, to be able to achieve the same thing. So, yeah.

David: That’s amazing. Yeah, that’s a really good summation of everything as well. I, I, I love what you’re doing there with world’s going central and I want to talk about that for in a minute. 

Travel Trivia and Future Plans

David: But before we do, um, I want to, I want to have a little fun with some travel trivia so we can wrap up, uh, with, your Worldschooling Central at the end..

So, let’s start it out hopefully easy. What is the? What is the largest city in Australia? 

Karen: Sydney.

David: Yes, I did.

Karen: That would be really embarrassing if I got that wrong. Oh, my travel knowledge is, oh, I’m nervous now.

David: Uh, and you’re applying for, uh, citizenship in Bulgaria, so, what is the capital city of Bulgaria?

Karen: Sofia.

David: Okay. [00:57:00] Uh, I know that you visited Malaysia, so can you tell me what iconic twin towers are a landmark in Kuala Lumpur? And, uh, what famous canal connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean?

Karen: The Panama Canal?

David: The Panama Canal, yes!

Karen: We drove over it so many times. Learn the Panama Canal.

David: Yeah, that first time was fun.

Karen: The

David: Alright, and um, What is the national animal of Australia?

Karen: emu and the kangaroo.

David: Ah, yes, very good. Ah, I can’t wait to

Karen: You know what? If you ask my daughter that though, I do wonder if she’d be able to answer it because she spent more time out of Australia than she has in. And somebody asked her the other day, what’s the capital of Australia? And she’s like, I don’t know. Oh my God. Bad parents, bad Australians, 

David: [00:58:00] Well, the big question is, alright, you left when she was five. Uh, does she have an Australian accent?

Karen: No, she has an American accent.

David: Oh my!

Karen: Um, yeah, she says she like Australian, Australian English and American English is very, very different. And what we didn’t realize, we grew up watching, you know, friends and, and, you know, American TV and in our eyes. It’s the same thing. And when we first traveled to the US, I remember we got to the airport and our son, we, we came out, we’re at LAX and somebody started talking to my son and he looked at me and he’s like, what’s he saying?

Um, um, and he had a very, very strong, I think it was Boston accent and I had to translate for him. Um, so yeah, so there’s a lot of words that we use that are very, very different to American English. And, and so my Daughter has grown up watching a lot of this sort of stuff. And she’s got a lot of American friends.

So she uses a lot [00:59:00] of words that, uh, that we don’t use. And so when we go back to Australia, everybody, uh, has a little bit of a giggle at her accent and she loves it.

David: I can understand. Like, I, uh, I’m told normally that I don’t really have much of an accent, but if you get me down South, uh, with some of my, my relatives, the Southern accent comes out and yeah, uh.

Karen: I got told, and I’ve been told quite regularly, um, or people have picked me for being British. And, um, it’s worried me a little bit from time to time somehow, man, am I losing my Australian accent? But you know, when I get chatting, obviously not, but a couple of times, even just two days ago, someone said, Oh, what’s it like living in Britain?

And I’m like, I don’t, I’m from Australia. So what do you do?

David: Well I kind of want to, I wanted to wrap things up with your future, world schooling future, just to be exact. Do you envision world schooling indefinitely? Or is there a timeframe for [01:00:00] returning to a more settled lifestyle? 

Karen: I have no desire to, well, I have no desire to return to what was. the normal sort of traditional life. Um, we have definitely slowed down, as I mentioned earlier, at the start, we average 10 days per location. And that’s, we see a lot of world schoolers do that in the beginning. And, you know, it’s exciting to be out there and, um, but typically we also see a lot of people burn out quite quickly.

And we did our Our first second month, we averaged 2. 5 days per location. So we were all in. Um, so we travel way more slowly. Now we’ve set up for the last well since 2019. Actually, we’ve had a base. So we had Panama for a few years. That was a little longer than expected because we got locked in there for a couple of years.

Then we went to Turkey and had a base in Turkey for a couple of years. And now we’re sitting ourselves up in Bulgaria. So we’re using a base. exploring the area around that. So we [01:01:00] spend about six months at our home and then we travel for the remainder of that, we’ve picked up a dog along the way. So, you know, we, we have kind of the best of both worlds when I’m in Bulgaria, in our apartment, any more than a month that I start getting itchy feet.

And then when we’re traveling, if we’re going too fast, I’m just exhausted all the time. So the big realization is that this is not. This is not a vacation. We don’t have to do everything today. We don’t go to places anymore that are, you know, we stay there for five days and then go to the next one and go to the next one.

Like it’s not. It’s not sustainable long term. So, so we travel a lot, a lot more slowly, but no, I mean, we’re still talking. We plan on being in Europe for the next two to three years and, and then plan on going to, uh, Latin America for a few years. And by then the kids will both be, you know, Probably gone. I don’t know, back in Australia or something.

And so then my husband and I will just continue doing whatever we want to do. But, um, we love the freedom that we have and [01:02:00] it can be whatever in whatever makes sense for you. Like if you want to go and live in Europe. Then find a base. We love Bulgaria because it’s cheap. It’s, you know, our apartment is we’re moving into a new one next, uh, next month, that’s 400 euros per month to have this apartment so we can have that long term and, uh, and then we can go and explore other parts of the world and come back and, um, so it’s a really nice balance, but no, I’ve got no desire to stop.

I think I would just be really bored if I stopped.

David: I feel that way too. I really do. Uh, and like early, a little bit ago, you mentioned, uh, the, the mission of World Schooling Central. What are your hopes for the future of it for that platform?

Karen: So again, the whole goal was always just to introduce, um, introduce world schooling to, to people and be able to create that community. We had to put the whole thing on pause for a [01:03:00] few years over COVID. Um, but our, our big focus now we’ve just launched a newsletter, um, designed to educate. And, you know, I’ve always been, this is, this is my passion project.

I have a business, um, That is, you know, generating the income that we use to travel. Worldschooling Central is very much a passion project. So a lot of what we do is, you know, community led and really free to users. We then also run trips for families. So, um, you know, a couple times a year. We’re just just about start ramping these back up again.

We’ll we’ll do trips to different parts of the world, and essentially we’re bringing Like a little traveling community together and traveling through a country. So we’ve done a couple of trips to Egypt at this point. And I absolutely love those trips because I it’s that community that I’ve said, I’ve mentioned so many times on this call and just, you know, being able to hang out with other.[01:04:00] 

Travel enthusiasts, other world schoolers and watch the kids create their community. Like it doesn’t matter our son when he was with us, he was 16 and the youngest person on the trip I think was two and everything in between and you just see these kids just traveling as a community. It’s just, it’s absolutely incredible.

And what I love about those is we get a lot of new world schooling families come on those trips. And so they essentially get, you know, two weeks access to my husband and I, uh, to other world schooling families as well. And they can learn, you know, ask all the questions that they want. And time and time again, we see people go home and pack up and maybe not sell everything.

You know, some have sold everything and started traveling the world, but it’s, it’s been a really lovely sort of launching point for a lot of people that is, you know, new and, and sort of. dipping their toes into the water. And so I [01:05:00] really love those trips. Plus we see people come back again and again. So I’ve got people from past trips now saying, well, when are we doing another trip?

Because it’s time for a reunion. Our last Egypt trip, I think we had five or six of the families had been to our, um, Indonesia trip, uh, in 2019. So, so it’s always going to be about. Helping people learn about world schooling, have a place where they can ask the questions. Because, like I said earlier, I didn’t feel like I really had that when I first started traveling.

And so, you know, we post daily content in there, just designed to spark conversations. And it’s really fascinating to see the answers that you get from people, um, and really just educate. And, uh, and then if, if people want to come and hang out with us on these trips that we do.

David: That’s really cool. Yeah. I hope maybe we can come to one of those trips one of these days. We’re going to be over in that area really soon. So that’s really cool.

Karen: Egypt is, an amazing place to go, um, with a [01:06:00] group trip. We, our, our traveling communities are typically 40, which I know sounds like a lot. And in the beginning, and I always ask this question of our, um, guests, how did you feel in the beginning that there was going to be 40 people? And they said, Oh, I thought it was going to be a bit too much.

And then I asked them how, you know, at the end of the trip, how they feel. And every single person has told me, I cannot imagine. Even one of those people not being there because like it’s a full on community traveling around the place. 

David: Was that, is that, is that Forty counting the kids?

Karen: Yeah. Yeah. So typically it’s about 50, 50 adults versus kids. So kids being 12 or under. Um, and what, uh, what we see is especially with Egypt, it’s a place that is so, so different. In so many different ways, but it’s a place that you absolutely have to go to once in your life. The beauty of having the traveling community is that you’re, you’re a little [01:07:00] bit insulated, you know, Egypt is there’s a lot of, a lot of pressure from, you know, some of the, in the tourist areas, there’s a lot of pressure.

From people to buy, buy, buy. And, um, you know, they, you can get hassled a lot. We literally have our guides paying people to not hassle our community. And at the end of the trip, everybody is always fascinated because you still get hassled, but they’re always fascinated to hear at the end of the trip. Well, you know, we paid them not to hassle you and you still felt hassled.

So imagine what that would have been like if, if we hadn’t been doing that. Um, so everybody has always said, glad we came to Egypt. once in a lifetime opportunity. Glad we came as a group. Never need to come back because it’s, it’s like, it’s pretty, it’s really full on, but it’s an amazing place to go. So I really love our trips because of that.

David: that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Yeah, and I can attest Forty is not too much. When we had our pop up in [01:08:00] Buenos Aires a few months ago, It, we had 40 people there, counting kids and adults, and I, I got to know every single person, I got to know all the kids, uh, we were only there for a week, but it was still awesome, it was actually the best time I had in Buenos Aires, I didn’t love Buenos Aires, but I loved it with the people,

Karen: absolutely. And the community aspect will always be the highlight for me of, of everything that we’ve done, um, as Worldschoolers is because the connections you make are so much quicker. Yeah. So much easier and they just last, you know, for so long, especially when you then go and meet everybody again in different, different parts of the world.

That’s really cool.

David: Yes, definitely. It was great having you on, uh, today. Is there any parting words or anything you finally, like, how could people get in touch with you, get on your newsletter, any of these things?

Karen: Absolutely. So if you, are on Facebook, look for World Schooling [01:09:00] Central, you’ll find our community on there. We’ve got a website, worldschoolingcentral.com. Really, our main focus is is in the Facebook group, but we’d love to have people come and join the community. And as you come into the community, we’ve got a, uh, an amazing guide that we give away to people for free.

Um, and as part of that, you can join the newsletter and get weekly content from my son, who’s back in Australia running it for me. Um, and yeah, again, that’s all just designed to help people do more and see more and in terms of. I guess, parting advice. I would just say, just, just do it. Like, honestly, give yourself, give yourself a year.

Go and have this experience with your kids. They will grow up way faster than you could ever possibly imagine. And the one thing that someone said to me that just stuck with me is you can always go back to your normal life. You know, even if you sold everything today, quit your job. traveled for a year.

You can come back. You [01:10:00] can find another house. You can find another couch and another bed. You can get another job. But that year that you’ve spent with your kids, you’ll never get that time back. But you will treasure that, um, that time forever. So I just, I can’t recommend it enough. Just get out there, see the world, create those memories and enjoy every moment of it.

David: I love it. Yeah. Memories are integral. They’re, they’re what we’re going to sustain us as we get older. Uh, when your muscles give out, your back gives out and you can’t walk as well. Uh, you can’t go travel anymore, but you’ll have those memories.

Karen: Absolutely.

David: right. Well, again, thank you, Karen. It was great having you on today.

Karen: Thank you.

David: We just want to see someone like you. We just want to travel the world, the world, [01:11:00] the world.