Backpackers who homeschool their children

(CNN) — Backpacking is associated with a lot of responsible youth.

But more and more parents are choosing to take their children on extended trips around the world in the past few years.

In fact, American Express Travel’s recent travel trends report found that 76% of parents surveyed plan to travel more with their families by 2022.

For those traveling with children for extended periods of time, this means taking them out of traditional school and homeschooling while on the move.

However, in some cases trying to provide high quality education to their children while leading a backpacker lifestyle coupled with working remotely is not an easy task.

Here, parents who choose to backpack with their kids discuss the joys and challenges of homeschooling while living out of a suitcase.

Traveling family

It was a love of travel and adventure that brought Emma and Peter Tryon together in 2011.

The UK couple, who are both teachers, started dating while they were both on separate backpacking trips in Cambodia, and enjoyed many holidays together before marrying and having two sons, Hudson, now five, and Darren, now two.

Once parents, while they plan to stay put, they soon become restless and their desire to hit the globetrots with their children becomes too tempting to resist.

“We were drawn to the idea that there was another way to live,” Emma Tryon told CNN Travel.

After months of saving and planning, they sold their house, officially took their oldest son out of school, and started traveling.

“I understand why people think we’re dark,” she added, admitting they doubted they were doing the right thing at first.

“When I actually had to sign the papers to get out of UK education – it hit me in a different way. I saw it in black and white. I thought, ‘This is a big deal’.”

Under UK law, there are no specific requirements for the content of home education, but parents must provide a suitable education for their children.

Peter Tryon explained that one of the main factors behind their decision was their desire to spend more time with family.

“We’ve found that the adventure, spontaneity and challenges of travel bring us together and create an opportunity to bond in a unique and strong way,” he says.

Over the past year, the Trions have traveled through most of Thailand, as well as Singapore and Malaysia, all covering homeschooling.

Although they have no regrets, neither admits that their new lifestyle has come with its problems. Although being a teacher has proven to be rewarding in many ways, Emma Tryon feels that they probably “took too hard at the lessons” at first, explaining that they have since moved on to a more relaxed approach.

“Typically, you’re so used to skipping school,” she explains. “We’ve got a lot of misconceptions about homeschooling.

“But it’s amazing how fast, quick, natural, and easy learning becomes when you’re living and learning intentionally as you go.”

In terms of structure, the couple found that their one-on-one “intentional” teaching time with their two children in the morning was about 30 minutes, which set them up well for the day.

World education

According to the couple, Hudson and Darin are making good progress and benefiting greatly from private lessons.

“One of my favorite things to watch lately is ours [eldest] A child is actually waking up and asking when we’re going to go to school,” says Peter Tryon. “He’s really excited about it.”

Apart from the early morning class, their teaching sessions are relatively informal.

A self-proclaimed “science geek,” Peter Tryon says he often uses swimming sessions to do buoyancy and diving experiments with kids, and recently taught his oldest son about buoyancy while underwater.

“There’s a lot of science in everything we do,” he says. “So instead of teaching in the classroom as a theoretical lesson, we have access to all the experiences and resources around the world.”

The couple recently started working on a new structure where they spend a month backpacking and spending the next four weeks in one place.

Emma Tryon added: “It’s working really well for us as a family.

Once out of Malaysia, the family hopes to travel to Cambodia and then Vietnam before heading to Bhutan, Nepal and Indonesia.

They also have some education-based trips to Egypt, Israel and Jordan in mind, but are keeping things flexible for now.

Although they hope to continue indefinitely, Emma and Peter Tryon say they will continue to reassess things based on their children’s needs and wants.

“We must continue to be alert to their evolving needs and developments on a day-to-day basis,” said Peter Tryon.

Now that they’ve spent a year traveling while homeschooling their kids, they both say it’s completely natural, and they have no regrets.

“It’s not a gap year [for us]Emma Tryon added. “It’s a real, profound life change.”

Nomadic lifestyle

The prospect of carrying and traveling with their children indefinitely was something Astrod Vinje and Clint Bush often thought about.

But it wasn’t until 2009 that the Seattle-based couple attended a family travel conference in British Columbia and talked to other parents who had done it themselves.

“That [the conference] It was the beginning of the school year and we had plans for the end of the school year,” Vinje told CNN Travel, explaining that she and her husband were both burned out and worried about not spending enough quality time with their children.

Their original plan was to spend three years on the road full-time with their two children. (Bush has an older son from a previous relationship.) Mira, now 12, and Julian, now nine.

Although Bush and Vinje are not trained teachers like Tryon, they both met while in an after-school program and also have nieces and nephews who were homeschooled, so they had some idea of ​​what they were signing up for. .

The family He started traveling in 2018 and continued to travel around the US as well as to Costa Rica, the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Bush, now a software engineer for a bank, was working full-time early in their journey, so much of the homeschooling fell to Vinje.

Educational journey

“I guess I felt a little disconnected from what was going on with the kids,” Bush said. “So once we got into the flow of things, it was nice and I felt more engaged in what they were doing in terms of education.”

Although their schedules varied depending on what they were doing at the time, Vinje said they usually spent around one to three hours a day studying.

“Some days we visit a museum,” explains Vinje. “Then on other days, we have an hour of math, an hour of reading, an hour of writing practice and then language class.

“I really don’t think children need many hours to learn because they learn only by looking at the world.”

Although both she and her husband have some concerns about taking their children out of the traditional school system, they feel they have benefited greatly from learning on the go.

“I feel there are a lot of topics that are often missed. [in traditional school,] Because they’re focused on following certain standards,” she says. “History is big for me.”

Vinje emphasized that they try to teach their children about the different groups that used to live in different places to get a “more balanced perspective”.

“In that sense, I feel like they are. [the children] Getting a better education,” she says.

Social development

While Bush admits they were initially worried that not having regular contact with children their age might negatively affect their social skills, he was delighted to see that this was not the case at all.

“Our kids are amazing now with other kids in other areas,” he says.

After four years on the road — their trip was extended by a year because of the pandemic — they returned to the U.S. this summer and are now regrouping to return to the same place.

“If it was up to me and my husband, I think we would travel indefinitely,” Vinje said, before explaining that it was her son and daughter who wanted to return home.

Mira and Julian will be going back to school this September, but Vinje says they can go back to homeschool more down the line, depending on their needs.

While they may be holding out for the time being, Bush and Vinje hope to embark on a similar journey at some point in the future if the children are willing.

But if you can do it, I think it’s very important.

Top photo credit: Astrid Vinje