June 24, 2025 • 32 mins
Ready to dive into a world of adventure and education? This episode features the incredible Janelle Schroy, a full-time world-schooling mom who has taken her four daughters to a staggering 47 countries over the past five and a half years! We explore how she turned the traditional idea of education on its head, making the entire globe their classroom. From road trips to immersive experiences, Janelle shares how her family has embraced a lifestyle filled with learning through travel, proving that education can be as exciting as a zipline through the Amazon. Plus, we chat about the unique challenges and joys of traveling as a family, and how they manage to balance schooling with exploring the wonders of the world. Buckle up, because this episode is packed with inspiration, practical tips, and a whole lot of heart!
Takeaways:
- Traveling with kids can be a wild ride, but it’s totally worth it for the memories and learning experiences.
- World schooling turns the globe into your classroom, proving that education can happen anywhere—yes, even on a beach!
- Planning a family trip? Forget the stress! Embrace spontaneity and let adventure lead the way!
- Connecting with local cultures while traveling enriches education beyond textbooks—your kids will learn lessons they’ll never forget!
- Creating impactful experiences for your children through travel can spark their passions and shape their futures in ways you can’t imagine!
- Don’t just travel for fun; travel with purpose! Mix education with adventure and watch your kids thrive!
Need a little with your travel planning? Sign up for the Traveler's Mindset Course .
Links referenced in this episode:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, travelers. My name isGrace Simmons and this is the Random
and Wonderful podcast. Settlein and listen to stories of wanderlust
and transformation as you gaintips to inspire your next travel
experience. The Random andWonderful is brought to you by the
Amethyst Palaver Hut, LLC.
(00:23):
All right, Janelle, thank youso much.
For being my guest on theRandom and Wonderful.
How are you doing today?
I'm great. Thank you so muchfor having me.
You're very welcome.
So we're gonna, the listenersare gonna have a chance to read through
your bio, but I wanna get alittle bit more into what you do,
who.
You are, and what is this experience.
And relationship that you havewith travel?
(00:45):
Yes. Well, I am a full timeworld schooling mother of four daughters
and we have been traveling nonstop for the past five and a half
years. We've been to 47countries and counting and we live
in every sort of four to eightweeks. And when we're living in that
country, we are either roadtripping around or we're based in
(01:08):
a place and doing sort of ahub and then going out to do different
day trips further out into thecountry. So we explore this way because
of the fact that I have alwayslearned best through immersive experiences
and travel being at the coreof that. And so when I had my kids
starting into school age and Ilooked at the different schooling
options, I wasn't pleased withthe education opportunities that
(01:32):
the schools provided. And Ifelt like, well, we both have, my
husband and I haveentrepreneurial endeavors, so why
not just travel and workremotely and educate our kids through
traveling. So we set this biggoal as a family. We were living
in San Diego, California andwe set this goal to go to one quarter
(01:52):
of the world's countries,which is approximately 50. And so
we said just however long thattakes, or if one of the kids or several
of the kids decide theyactually hate traveling, we'll, you
know, but so far that hasn'thappened. Everybody is, you know,
all six of us are justcompletely crazy about traveling.
And so we love our lifestyle.
(02:14):
How so? I think I've had theopportunity to talk to people who
have traveled, you know, as asolo traveler.
Right.
Or maybe with a spouse orpartner. But to have your entire
family and having such a steepgoal, right, to bring this entire
family on. What was thatplanning process even like?
(02:37):
Well, you wouldn't believe it,but actually our lease was coming
up in our San Diego apartmentin three weeks and we were trying
to decide if we were going torenew it and sort of over pillow
Talk at night. My husband andI were like, well, well, maybe we
can renew it or maybe we cango somewhere else. And we're just
very sort of big thinkers. AndI don't remember which one of us
(02:59):
floated the idea of let's justtake off and travel for a while.
And it was kind of laugh. Itwas like, oh, sure, yeah, let's do
that. That's funny. And theother person said, why not? I mean,
we can, we can anywhere.There's WI fi, there's work, so why
don't we just do it? And sothen it snowballed over the next
couple of days to become like,let's do 50 countries and let's start
(03:21):
a YouTube channel and let'sshare the experience with other kids
all around the world througheducational videos. So we didn't
really plan. We literally soldall our things in three weeks and
we took off and we said, we'lltry to do as many of the states as
we can. So we've done 46 ofthe 50 US states on a big road trip
and then we took off and wentto Europe and went off from there.
(03:42):
And we just take it one stepat a time. We buy one way tickets,
we don't plan too far aheadand we stay approximately a month,
sometimes longer, sometimesshorter. Yeah, so we're not huge
planners. In fact, it soundslike a logistical nightmare. How
do you plan that, Marva? Well,we don't. We just don't.
So you said that you were aworld schooler, which I love that
(04:05):
title. Can you give me alittle bit more of how are you providing
and balancing like educationwith the adventure of travel and
actually going from place toplace? Like, how do you pull education
out of that or infuse it intothat experience?
Yes, great question. Well, theidea of world schooling is really
(04:26):
more of a way of thinkingabout education and it has, I don't
know, are you familiar with itat all or.
No?
No. Okay. So the idea is thatthe whole world is the classroom
and everything in it is alearning opportunity. So there's
no walls, there's no school,there's no. Some people will use
a curriculum that's tied to aparticular course of study. We don't
(04:47):
do it that way. The way thatwe do it with my. So I've got a 7
year old, 10 year old, 12 and14 year old. So I've got one in high
school, two in, one in middleschool and two in elementary. And
so they're all in differentplaces. And we started when the youngest
was two so you know, this hasbeen five and a half years we've
been doing this. So each oneof them need different things at
different junctures of theireducation. But essentially I feel
(05:10):
like when we're in aparticular destination, that place
provides the core ofeverything that they're learning.
So when we're, for example,right now we're in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. Brazil is a massivecountry, approximately the size of
the United States. Andeverything that we're learning, most
of what we're learning, Ishould say maybe 80% of it is about
(05:31):
Brazil. The food, the history,the culture, the geography, the science,
what the museums hold, whatkind of music everyone's listening
to. All of that is what mykids are learning now. We do two
hours a day of sit down work.I've just completed it before I came
onto this interview. And sothe kids, they do digital learning
(05:52):
on their iPads mostly. Acouple, a couple subjects have workbooks
like math. And we do 20minutes in six subjects and that
takes us two hours. So we justback to back, 20 minutes, set a timer,
they do this, this subject andthen 20 minutes, 20 minutes and in
two hours we're done. Sousually by 10 o' clock in the morning,
we're out the door and we havethe whole day to explore. And so
(06:13):
world schooling is this mixbetween fully immersive place based
learning and supplementingsome of the more classical education
stuff. But it's really rootedin liberal arts education coming
from the thinkers from ancientGreece and how they saw what education
is. So that's how I wouldapproach world schooling. Other world
(06:37):
schoolers might answerdifferently. There's a broad range.
Okay. I genuinely thought thatwas something that you came up with
actually. So no, I have notheard of it before. That's interesting.
In fact, they think thatthere's approximately 80,000 families
like us in the world who aretraveling full time with kids for
the purpose of education whowould identify as world schoolers
(06:58):
in some form. So it's far morethan just us.
Yeah, well, I think that'salso a very unique community to be
able to look to and connect.Are you able to then connect with
some of these other people whoare in the same world schooling?
Thought when you're out andabout, do you all connect? Do you
exchange information or. Yeah,how does that work?
(07:19):
Yes, there's lots of differentways that people connect. Facebook
groups tends to be the placewhere people, people get to know
each other and hear aboutdifferent world schooling events.
We tend to not do what'scalled world schooling hubs because
they can add up. When you'vegot four kids, there's a price tag
to it. So you would go to aplace, for example, in Luxor, Egypt,
and there's a whole hub that'sset up where you can pay a fee and
(07:43):
then your kids can engage intheir program for a month or two
months or however long andeverything is established. It's not
traditional school subjects,it's around what's there in Egypt.
Some families absolutely lovethat. They have a fantastic time
doing that. For us, we lovebeing together. That's one of the
reasons why we travel and wehave this built in community with
(08:03):
our four kids. So we kind of,in some ways don't need to be around
other people all day longbecause we prefer to be around people
who are from the culture wherewe're traveling. We don't travel
to be with other people whoare Americans or Europeans who are
also world. So we mightconnect briefly, but we tend to not
seek them out as much as someworld schoolers might because we'd
(08:26):
rather, if we're in Egypt, wewant to be with Egyptians and we're
in Morocco, we want to do withMoroccans. But yeah, the world schooling
community is rich and deep andI know lots of people in it and it's
great to be able to help eachother out where we can.
We're either you, yourhusband, like travelers. So the idea
of traveling around, like,yeah, let's take a break. But where
(08:47):
does traveling even come fromfor either of you?
For both of us? Well, we grewup doing service projects as teenagers,
so we would, in thesummertimes we would take off for
a month and sign up with anorganization where we'd go to the
other side of the world andhelp do something. And so as teenagers,
that was just the way that weoperated. It would be a school in
nine months and then we, inthe summertime, instead of working
(09:09):
summer jobs, we would go andserve. And we loved it, both of us.
And we didn't know each otherduring high school, but we actually
met in Thailand when we wereteenagers and lost touch for eight
years and then remit again.And then we moved to Africa where
we lived in South Africa andall of our kids were born there for
10 years. And so, you know,our life has been marked by international
(09:34):
intercultural experiences andwe both still study that. In college
we studied internationaldevelopment and relations. So yeah,
it was all part of the, thefabric of our family, I think.
No, I, I think that'sabsolutely beautiful because sometimes
you have this Idea of like,yeah, let's, you know, why not? Let's
travel, let's explore. But toknow that that was something that
(09:56):
is one a practice that youalready have, you studied it for
sure. But like it's already aningrained practice that the both
of you have. I think thatprobably makes your, your foundation
of learning through travelsomething that is that you can pass
on to like your kids and youcan share that experience with them.
100.
(10:17):
It's amazing.
And our kids all say that theywant to travel full time when they're
grown ups and so they'realready thinking, well, I've got
to marry a guy who likestraveling as much as me because you
know what I mean, I can't nothave someone who just wants.
These are the requirements. Exactly.
Yeah. We keep thinking, I meanwe've got a 14 year old now and she's
(10:38):
in high school and she'sgreat. I mean she has no interest
in going back to America andyou know, just going to a normal
high school because to her itfeels narrow. To her it's like, well,
this month I'm in Brazil andnext month I'm in Chile and next
month I'm in Peru. Why would Igo and live a normal experience?
It just sounds kind of boringto her, I think. So we'll see what
(11:03):
happens.
That's the fact that like thatmindset, the possibilities are literally
endless for her. That'sincredible. That's great.
Yeah, yeah. And I think earlyon we identified our kid things that
our kids were passionate aboutvery early, like from the age of
four or five. And so thenwe've tailored our travels very specific
(11:24):
specifically to help feedthose passions. And so in addition
to all of the richness that Idescribed of being immersed in a
place and experiencing all thethings that that has to offer, we're
also setting up mentorshipsand apprenticeships with different
people according to what ourkids want to do. So we've got one
that is into art and music andso we're always connecting her with
(11:46):
different artists andmusicians. And she's interviewing
the archivist in Carnegie halland the next months she's in Paris
with the, interviewing theperson who's in charge of the Paris
Opera House. And so these areexperiences and we're filming it
and we're producing videosaround it. And we have another daughter
who's interested in rocks andminerals and geology. And so we are
(12:08):
just taking her up to allthese science museums and we'll try
to get with the person who'scurating These exhibits and have
her be the travel journalistwho's guiding that through from the
time she was 7, 8, 9 yearsold. So anyway, and we've got a daughter
who wants to be a chef whenshe grows up. And she's hilarious.
She's bought her dot com, sheknows what her business name is gonna
be, she's gonna open arestaurant, it's gonna be Michelin
(12:29):
starred. You know, she's got awhole thing. And so whenever we're
in a country, we look for whois a chef that is known, that speaks
English, who makes the food ofthe country. And then I email them
and I say, hey, would you liketo cook with a 10 year old? And we'll
film it so that all the kidsaround the world can see what you
(12:50):
do. And they always say yes,always, because it's a wonderful
give back for them, you know.
Janelle, that's so cool.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Imean, I hope that my kids realize,
looking back, you know, whenthey're grown ups and they look back
on this, they don't think wewere crazy and that they never had
a home, you know, that theylook back and think, man, my parents
(13:13):
were cool and they took us toa lot of amazing places.
Yeah, yeah. So from my niecesand nephews, I know that kids can
be very resilient. And so whenyou're able to provide them different
opportunities where they canlearn, it's sort of like ingraining
that knowledge into them. Soas adults, you know, you kind of
look back like, I didn'trealize what an opportunity I had,
(13:34):
but it's amazing how they'reable to like grow through it and
learn from it. And thenthey're sharing this experience with
others who maybe have neverleft their state. Right. And they
probably sound like, how couldyou have done that at such a little
kid, you know, such a youngage? But that's fascinating. That's
absolutely fascinating.
Yeah. It was important to usfrom the beginning that what we experienced,
(13:56):
knowing that a lot of kidsdon't have that opportunity that
we were to create somethingthat wasn't just about us. It was
something that the kids couldlearn. They have a responsibility
when they have an experienceto share it with others for the purpose
of their benefit. Right. Soit's not just, oh, I did this and
I did that, but it's I didthis and this is how we're going
(14:20):
to share it with you. So wecreate, on one of our TV shows, we
create five to 10 minuteepisodes. There are four kids, ages
4 to 12 years old. And my kidsare the lead travel journalists and
they're interviewing someone,they're having an experience and
they're teaching otherchildren their age what they're learning.
And so these episodes havebeen picked up by several different
(14:42):
streaming platforms, one ofthem being epic, which is in all
public schools in America. Allof the schools have it. So it's an
audience of 46 million kidsand teachers are using these videos
on big screens in theirclassrooms to teach about different
countries and cultures anddifferent things. And so it's been
really humbling and beautifulto see that our family experience
(15:04):
and our travels and have beenable to it wasn't just something
that we experienced, but nowit can be a tool that other kids
around the world can learnfrom and grow from. It's an impact
that we can have together as afamily in addition to a beautiful
record of what we experienced.
That's wonderful. I do lovethat it's a full circle opportunity
(15:26):
and you're able to give backin that way.
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(15:48):
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Could you tell me a little bitabout Bravely?
Yes. So bravely is a newopportunity that I have created in
(16:08):
the last couple of months.I've launched to engage with other
families who are interested intraveling with kids specifically
for the purpose of education.So my niche within the travel industry
is around world. Schooling isa part of it. But the bigger idea
is can and should education bea part of travel or can we see travel
(16:29):
through a new lens for thepurpose of education? It's a very
different thing to go to CostaRica and to book a resort and to
sit poolside with your Mai Taiand put the kids in kids club and
chill as a mom. And there'snothing wrong with that, but it's
a shame that you would miss indoing that. The opportunity to experience
(16:50):
the richness and thebiodiversity and the opportunity
for learning that a countrylike Costa Rica would provide to
your kids. So what I do atbravely is I take parents on a journey
of thinking about what theirkids are learning in whatever their
education situation is. So iftheir kids are in full time traditional
(17:12):
school or homeschool orwhatever it is and think about what,
what are they notexperiencing? Okay, yes, they have
science classes and tests, butdo they understand what it's like
to stand under a waterfall inBali? You know what I mean? Do they
understand what it's like towalk the Arctic Circle line with
(17:32):
wild reindeers running aroundthem? Can they go into the Sahara
Desert in Morocco and on theback of a camel and camp out there
with the river tribe? Theseare things that we've done and I
want to share that with otherparents. Not to boast about what
we've experienced, but to say,you can do it too and let me come
(17:52):
alongside you and empower youso that you don't feel alone in that
and I'll help to guide you onwhatever your. I don't have an agenda
for you. If you're a parentand you want to educate your kids
or supplement their educationthrough travel, my plan is not to
say you need to do this, thisand this, but to say, what do you
value as a family and how canI help you achieve that goal through
(18:14):
travel? How can I help youthink around the edges of that, to
broaden it and push it out andexpand it a little bit. And then
to help you craft trips orlonger term travel experiences like
a gap year or some people callit a wonder year or a longer term
travel journey, 2, 3, 4, 5years, and whatever that might look
(18:35):
like. I serve as aneducational travel consultant. So
I created really cool, Ithink, itineraries around educational
family travel that people canaccess for free on bravelytravel.com
and they can see very quickly.Oh, okay. If I go to Paris for the
purpose of education, here'san itinerary that unpacks all the
(18:57):
different things that relateto kids in Paris. And they're organized
into days and there's bedtimereflection questions and there's
crafts and activities thatthey could do if they wanted to.
And there's a park playscheduled in every single day so
parents don't have to thinkabout all that and do all that research.
I've done it for them andother parents, they don't. They need
to jump on a call with me andjust talk about the ideas that they
(19:20):
have. And then, you know, Iserve as a coach and a consultant
for them. So it's many things,but that's the big idea behind Bravely
I was going to ask about.
So like, for the parents whomaybe say, you know, this is really
interesting. However, how doyou kind of coax parents into this
mindset, especially whenthey're talking about, you know,
(19:41):
the education of their kids.
You know, parents who are inespecially who pay big fees for private
schools, you know, tuition canbe insane, especially in America.
You know, you're talking over$10,000 a year per kid, and there's
incredible schools. But Ithink it's very easy to defend that
when you're paying the bill.You know, If I've got four kids at
(20:03):
10, 10 grand a pop, you know,I'm looking at 40 grand a year. And
if someone were to say to me,are you sure that your kids are getting
the best education they couldreceive? I always say, hi, Kat, do
you know what I'm paying for?But as they really think through
it, I think most parents, ifthey're honest, would say, is there
pieces that I could add to mychild's education experience that
(20:28):
would make the learning thatthey're doing in their educational
path come alive in a new way?And so if I can get them to think
about sparking that throughtravel, it starts to become really
fun. Because it's not about ahave to, it's about an I can. And
it ties into things thatpeople value as a family. So, for
(20:49):
example, we love fine artsmusic and opera and jazz and, you
know, all different kinds ofmusic and paintings. And we seek
out those opportunitieseverywhere we go. We greatly value
adventure. So we're alwaysdoing cool sports and different things,
but organized sports likebaseball and soccer is not our jam.
(21:12):
But for another family, that'sreally important, right? So I can
help them think throughwhatever you value as a family. Organize
your travel around that. Like,if your kid's into race cars, where's
the Monaco Grand Prix? It's inMonaco. Go to Monaco and watch the
Grand Prix live. So, yeah, soI have a lot of fun just guiding
parents through a series ofquestions and helping them to arrive
(21:35):
on their own. That at the ideathat they can travel for the purpose
of education and it can be alot of fun, and then that can help
them take the headache out ofit so that they can just enjoy the
experience of being with theirkids and having these awesome experiences.
That's really cool. I thinkthat's really nice. I know one of
(21:56):
the issues, I think whenpeople are trying to understand traveling
outside of, like a touristexperience. Right. An issue is trying
to figure out the logistics ofall of that. And so to have someone,
especially when you have anentire family with you, but to have
someone help you through thatis so key. And then There is heart
(22:18):
behind it. Right. So it's.You're not just going out and learning,
you are actually bringing yourfamily along on this entire experience.
So.
Yeah, I think that's such a cool.
Program that you have.
Yes. Yeah. Last year westarted a different TV show called
Journey into Wild. And it wasbirthed out of the need that parents
(22:41):
were expressing to me. Theywere watching our other show, Adventure
Family Journal, which isfocused on kids. And as parents,
they were watching it andgoing like, okay, but what is it
like for you as a mom? How,how do you actually do your day?
How do you get everythingdone? When do you work? How do the
kids keep up with their math?You know, how do they learn the foreign
language? How do you do it?And what is it like for you to journey
(23:03):
through a country with afamily of six? And so we started
this. We had done a ton oftravel through Europe and a lot of
cities, and we navigated Covidwhile doing all of this. And we got
to a place where we said wejust need nature and a lot of it.
So we really formed a travelplan for. It's been. We're closing
(23:24):
two years of travel aroundthis theme of biodiversity and unique
biomes in the world. Sobiodiversity hotspots and unique
biomes. And so we literallygot out a world map and we're like,
where are the cool places,interesting places where there's
rich nature or there'ssomething that's really different
and unique, like, you know,the northern lights or, you know,
(23:49):
the Nile river or the Africansavannah. Places where we wouldn't
typically necessarily thinkare top destinations. But in that
journey, we have had thecoolest experiences. And we created
this show, Journey into Wild,to show the parents perspectives.
So it's my husband and I onscreen leading it, and the kids are
(24:09):
there, obviously, but it'sreally directed toward parents and
saying when you go to Malaysiaor Thailand or Bali or Australia,
this is what it could be likefor you as a parent. And that's been
a really fun experience. Acompletely different expression of
our family unity and what wedo together creatively.
(24:29):
When you're going to thesedifferent places, are you learning
the language each time? Do youhave a few basic phrases that you
carry with you and aretranslatable or how do you navigate
language in other countries?
Well, it depends on whichfamily member you ask. I love languages.
And my, my little seven yearold, she's like, she's a linguist.
(24:51):
I mean, the girl can navigatelinguistically and the. And my girls
are, they're all veryInterested. So we're always studying
Spanish and French. They are.That's what they've chosen to consistently
study, English, Spanish andFrench. We go back to Italy a lot.
I am crazy about Italy. And soI'm always studying Italian. And
(25:11):
then as we're in othercountries where if we're in Israel,
we're studying Hebrew, or ifwe're in Egypt or Turkey, we're studying
Arabic, it's hard. Like, theseare not easy languages. They're definitely
not Romance languages. They'reso definitely different than the
European ones that we studyall the time. But it's important
(25:34):
to us that we dedicateourselves to every single day. We're
going to put in 20 minutes aday just to study the language of
the country that we're in. Soright now we're studying Portuguese
because we're in Brazil. Andyeah, it's super fun. And I, you
know, in Europe, it's verynormal to speak five or six languages
(25:54):
as an American, if you'rebilingual, it's already badge of
honor. Super cool, right? ButI would love for my kids to be, you
know, 18 and speak three orfour languages and to feel, feel
confident that any language onplanet Earth that they want to learn,
they have the skills to knowhow to learn a language and the confidence
to do that. So my husband, onthe other hand, caveat, is not a
(26:18):
language guy, doesn't studythe language. He is. He does Google
Translate. So, you know, if hetries to speak French to someone
in France, they laugh at him.So he just decided Google Translate
is his friend. He speaks intothe app. I would like three baguettes,
please. And he holds it up atthe cashier and it sweeps in the
midbridge. So, you know, weall do it differently.
(26:43):
What has been a country thathas stood out for you, maybe in the
way that they treat oneanother. So if you see another family
unit and the way that they areconnected or you can kind of notice
their unity. What's a countryor culture that may have stood out
to you?
I would have to say Greece. Welove Greece. We've spent maybe, I
(27:03):
don't know, eight months or sothere over the years. We keep going
back, and we don't currentlyown a home or a car or furniture,
any of that stuff, but if weever were to, we would buy a villa
on an island in Greece,because it is. There's just no place
like it. I love the way thatthe Greeks handle family. And so
it's one of the things that wekeep going back for is, is that that
(27:27):
beautiful, beautiful way thatthey love families.
Yeah.
What is, before we, we wrapup, what is your like self care practice
that you incorporate into your travel?
For me personally, well, I'mnot very good at that. I'm an eight
on the enneagram and I'm aneight on the ennEagram. I'm an entrepreneur.
(27:51):
I love travel and I love beingin new places and new cultures and
that for me is, is joy and islife. I'm not someone who needs a
lot of downtime. I'm a totalextrovert. And so the more people
I can be around, the happier Iam. So to be really honest, being
out in a city, being out in aculture is self care for me because
(28:12):
that's what feeds my soul. Iwork when my kids go to sleep. So
when they go to bed at 9 o'clock and I love to work and they
go to bed at 9 o' clock and Iwork from 9 until 1am and that's
my time. That's also a form ofself care for me because I'm alone
in my business mind and I'mdoing the things that I love because
it's my business and mypassion. But I don't sleep a ton.
(28:36):
I'm, I'm sort of a six, sevenhours a night kind of girl. And we
eat very healthy. That's alsoa form of self care for, for me and
for us. I cook almost everynight. We, we don't eat out a lot.
Maybe a few times when we'rein a country, but usually we're cooking
the food from the country. Soall of those things kind of tie together
(28:59):
for me in that journey.
Yeah, I like it.
Hey look. So self care looksdifferent for everyone. For me it's
like I need a spa and a nap.But I like that there's that intentionality
behind especially when itcomes to your meals.
When I get all my kids tothrough that'll, that'll be my kind
of self care right now. I'mall in on this.
(29:22):
Yeah, you have a lot to do.
So this is true.
Janelle, thank you so muchfor, for being on the podcast and
for sharing your story. Beforewe go, what's next? Maybe what country
is next for you? And thenwhere can we find you?
Yes, well, we are finishingour 50 country goal. So right now
(29:44):
we're going back to, toWashington D.C. for the next couple
of months. My kids are, arenot very familiar with American holidays
because they've lived theirwhole lives in other countries mostly.
And so we're, we're going tohave Halloween and Thanksgiving and
Christmas and all that. Butthen at early next year we will have
completed our 50 countries andwe are going to be tackling a different
(30:06):
form of travel which is goingto be around deeply skill building
for the kids. So we're goingto start stay three months in each
country for them to focus onbuilding a skill. So all the girls
have worked together to choosewhat they are. And so we're going
to be in England in theCotswolds. They're going to do English
horseback riding for threemonths and they're going to do a
(30:28):
sailing course in the south ofSpain to learn how to handle, you
know, knots and ropes andsails and all that. They are going
to do three months of skiingin Northern Italy in the Dolemite
mountains, skiing andsnowboarding and then we are going
to do a aerial silks course inSydney, Australia. So yeah, so it'll
(30:51):
be, well, it's, it's adifferent kind of travel for us.
It's, it's much slower thanwe're used to but it's going to be
a full three months of settingup home and really digging into those
things. So that's what's next. Yeah.
Okay. And so you have, yousaid you have two shows. What are
the name of the shows? Wherecan we watch them?
(31:12):
Yes. So Adventure Familyjournal is on YouTube and that's
the one for kids and there's138 episodes filmed in 47 countries.
And then we have Journey intoWild there. Those are a different
form. Those are made for TVcontent. So we've got different conversations
happening with streamingplatforms that are interested in
picking up that show whichwould be amazing. So those are 30
(31:34):
minute episodes also onYouTube at the moment, Journey into
Wild. And then my coachingbusiness is called bravely. So bravelytravel.com
and we also have a blog forAdventure Family Journal which is
much more family focusedcontent and less more our family
story than it is otherfamilies and what they're doing with
Bravely.
(31:55):
Nice. Okay, well, thank you again.
Well, thanks for having me.
It's been on absolutely. No,this has been so cool. I'm glad I
got to learn a little bit moreabout world school schooling as well.
Yes.
So thank you so much.
What a pleasure.
Hey there, Grace here. I hopeyou enjoyed today's episode and gained
some useful takeaways. Thankyou so much for listening and staying
(32:17):
until the end. Don't forget torate the show or share it with some
friends. Have a wonderfulweek. Take care and remember, be
bold. Be curious. Be ready totell your story. You never know.
Who needs it?
Bye bye,
Hello, travelers. My name isGrace Simmons and this is the Random
and Wonderful podcast. Settlein and listen to stories of wanderlust
and transformation as you gaintips to inspire your next travel
experience. The Random andWonderful is brought to you by the
Amethyst Palaver Hut, LLC.
(00:23):
All right, Janelle, thank youso much.
For being my guest on theRandom and Wonderful.
How are you doing today?
I'm great. Thank you so muchfor having me.
You're very welcome.
So we're gonna, the listenersare gonna have a chance to read through
your bio, but I wanna get alittle bit more into what you do,
who.
You are, and what is this experience.
And relationship that you havewith travel?
(00:45):
Yes. Well, I am a full timeworld schooling mother of four daughters
and we have been traveling nonstop for the past five and a half
years. We've been to 47countries and counting and we live
in every sort of four to eightweeks. And when we're living in that
country, we are either roadtripping around or we're based in
(01:08):
a place and doing sort of ahub and then going out to do different
day trips further out into thecountry. So we explore this way because
of the fact that I have alwayslearned best through immersive experiences
and travel being at the coreof that. And so when I had my kids
starting into school age and Ilooked at the different schooling
options, I wasn't pleased withthe education opportunities that
(01:32):
the schools provided. And Ifelt like, well, we both have, my
husband and I haveentrepreneurial endeavors, so why
not just travel and workremotely and educate our kids through
traveling. So we set this biggoal as a family. We were living
in San Diego, California andwe set this goal to go to one quarter
(01:52):
of the world's countries,which is approximately 50. And so
we said just however long thattakes, or if one of the kids or several
of the kids decide theyactually hate traveling, we'll, you
know, but so far that hasn'thappened. Everybody is, you know,
all six of us are justcompletely crazy about traveling.
And so we love our lifestyle.
(02:14):
How so? I think I've had theopportunity to talk to people who
have traveled, you know, as asolo traveler.
Right.
Or maybe with a spouse orpartner. But to have your entire
family and having such a steepgoal, right, to bring this entire
family on. What was thatplanning process even like?
(02:37):
Well, you wouldn't believe it,but actually our lease was coming
up in our San Diego apartmentin three weeks and we were trying
to decide if we were going torenew it and sort of over pillow
Talk at night. My husband andI were like, well, well, maybe we
can renew it or maybe we cango somewhere else. And we're just
very sort of big thinkers. AndI don't remember which one of us
(02:59):
floated the idea of let's justtake off and travel for a while.
And it was kind of laugh. Itwas like, oh, sure, yeah, let's do
that. That's funny. And theother person said, why not? I mean,
we can, we can anywhere.There's WI fi, there's work, so why
don't we just do it? And sothen it snowballed over the next
couple of days to become like,let's do 50 countries and let's start
(03:21):
a YouTube channel and let'sshare the experience with other kids
all around the world througheducational videos. So we didn't
really plan. We literally soldall our things in three weeks and
we took off and we said, we'lltry to do as many of the states as
we can. So we've done 46 ofthe 50 US states on a big road trip
and then we took off and wentto Europe and went off from there.
(03:42):
And we just take it one stepat a time. We buy one way tickets,
we don't plan too far aheadand we stay approximately a month,
sometimes longer, sometimesshorter. Yeah, so we're not huge
planners. In fact, it soundslike a logistical nightmare. How
do you plan that, Marva? Well,we don't. We just don't.
So you said that you were aworld schooler, which I love that
(04:05):
title. Can you give me alittle bit more of how are you providing
and balancing like educationwith the adventure of travel and
actually going from place toplace? Like, how do you pull education
out of that or infuse it intothat experience?
Yes, great question. Well, theidea of world schooling is really
(04:26):
more of a way of thinkingabout education and it has, I don't
know, are you familiar with itat all or.
No?
No. Okay. So the idea is thatthe whole world is the classroom
and everything in it is alearning opportunity. So there's
no walls, there's no school,there's no. Some people will use
a curriculum that's tied to aparticular course of study. We don't
(04:47):
do it that way. The way thatwe do it with my. So I've got a 7
year old, 10 year old, 12 and14 year old. So I've got one in high
school, two in, one in middleschool and two in elementary. And
so they're all in differentplaces. And we started when the youngest
was two so you know, this hasbeen five and a half years we've
been doing this. So each oneof them need different things at
different junctures of theireducation. But essentially I feel
(05:10):
like when we're in aparticular destination, that place
provides the core ofeverything that they're learning.
So when we're, for example,right now we're in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. Brazil is a massivecountry, approximately the size of
the United States. Andeverything that we're learning, most
of what we're learning, Ishould say maybe 80% of it is about
(05:31):
Brazil. The food, the history,the culture, the geography, the science,
what the museums hold, whatkind of music everyone's listening
to. All of that is what mykids are learning now. We do two
hours a day of sit down work.I've just completed it before I came
onto this interview. And sothe kids, they do digital learning
(05:52):
on their iPads mostly. Acouple, a couple subjects have workbooks
like math. And we do 20minutes in six subjects and that
takes us two hours. So we justback to back, 20 minutes, set a timer,
they do this, this subject andthen 20 minutes, 20 minutes and in
two hours we're done. Sousually by 10 o' clock in the morning,
we're out the door and we havethe whole day to explore. And so
(06:13):
world schooling is this mixbetween fully immersive place based
learning and supplementingsome of the more classical education
stuff. But it's really rootedin liberal arts education coming
from the thinkers from ancientGreece and how they saw what education
is. So that's how I wouldapproach world schooling. Other world
(06:37):
schoolers might answerdifferently. There's a broad range.
Okay. I genuinely thought thatwas something that you came up with
actually. So no, I have notheard of it before. That's interesting.
In fact, they think thatthere's approximately 80,000 families
like us in the world who aretraveling full time with kids for
the purpose of education whowould identify as world schoolers
(06:58):
in some form. So it's far morethan just us.
Yeah, well, I think that'salso a very unique community to be
able to look to and connect.Are you able to then connect with
some of these other people whoare in the same world schooling?
Thought when you're out andabout, do you all connect? Do you
exchange information or. Yeah,how does that work?
(07:19):
Yes, there's lots of differentways that people connect. Facebook
groups tends to be the placewhere people, people get to know
each other and hear aboutdifferent world schooling events.
We tend to not do what'scalled world schooling hubs because
they can add up. When you'vegot four kids, there's a price tag
to it. So you would go to aplace, for example, in Luxor, Egypt,
and there's a whole hub that'sset up where you can pay a fee and
(07:43):
then your kids can engage intheir program for a month or two
months or however long andeverything is established. It's not
traditional school subjects,it's around what's there in Egypt.
Some families absolutely lovethat. They have a fantastic time
doing that. For us, we lovebeing together. That's one of the
reasons why we travel and wehave this built in community with
(08:03):
our four kids. So we kind of,in some ways don't need to be around
other people all day longbecause we prefer to be around people
who are from the culture wherewe're traveling. We don't travel
to be with other people whoare Americans or Europeans who are
also world. So we mightconnect briefly, but we tend to not
seek them out as much as someworld schoolers might because we'd
(08:26):
rather, if we're in Egypt, wewant to be with Egyptians and we're
in Morocco, we want to do withMoroccans. But yeah, the world schooling
community is rich and deep andI know lots of people in it and it's
great to be able to help eachother out where we can.
We're either you, yourhusband, like travelers. So the idea
of traveling around, like,yeah, let's take a break. But where
(08:47):
does traveling even come fromfor either of you?
For both of us? Well, we grewup doing service projects as teenagers,
so we would, in thesummertimes we would take off for
a month and sign up with anorganization where we'd go to the
other side of the world andhelp do something. And so as teenagers,
that was just the way that weoperated. It would be a school in
nine months and then we, inthe summertime, instead of working
(09:09):
summer jobs, we would go andserve. And we loved it, both of us.
And we didn't know each otherduring high school, but we actually
met in Thailand when we wereteenagers and lost touch for eight
years and then remit again.And then we moved to Africa where
we lived in South Africa andall of our kids were born there for
10 years. And so, you know,our life has been marked by international
(09:34):
intercultural experiences andwe both still study that. In college
we studied internationaldevelopment and relations. So yeah,
it was all part of the, thefabric of our family, I think.
No, I, I think that'sabsolutely beautiful because sometimes
you have this Idea of like,yeah, let's, you know, why not? Let's
travel, let's explore. But toknow that that was something that
(09:56):
is one a practice that youalready have, you studied it for
sure. But like it's already aningrained practice that the both
of you have. I think thatprobably makes your, your foundation
of learning through travelsomething that is that you can pass
on to like your kids and youcan share that experience with them.
100.
(10:17):
It's amazing.
And our kids all say that theywant to travel full time when they're
grown ups and so they'realready thinking, well, I've got
to marry a guy who likestraveling as much as me because you
know what I mean, I can't nothave someone who just wants.
These are the requirements. Exactly.
Yeah. We keep thinking, I meanwe've got a 14 year old now and she's
(10:38):
in high school and she'sgreat. I mean she has no interest
in going back to America andyou know, just going to a normal
high school because to her itfeels narrow. To her it's like, well,
this month I'm in Brazil andnext month I'm in Chile and next
month I'm in Peru. Why would Igo and live a normal experience?
It just sounds kind of boringto her, I think. So we'll see what
(11:03):
happens.
That's the fact that like thatmindset, the possibilities are literally
endless for her. That'sincredible. That's great.
Yeah, yeah. And I think earlyon we identified our kid things that
our kids were passionate aboutvery early, like from the age of
four or five. And so thenwe've tailored our travels very specific
(11:24):
specifically to help feedthose passions. And so in addition
to all of the richness that Idescribed of being immersed in a
place and experiencing all thethings that that has to offer, we're
also setting up mentorshipsand apprenticeships with different
people according to what ourkids want to do. So we've got one
that is into art and music andso we're always connecting her with
(11:46):
different artists andmusicians. And she's interviewing
the archivist in Carnegie halland the next months she's in Paris
with the, interviewing theperson who's in charge of the Paris
Opera House. And so these areexperiences and we're filming it
and we're producing videosaround it. And we have another daughter
who's interested in rocks andminerals and geology. And so we are
(12:08):
just taking her up to allthese science museums and we'll try
to get with the person who'scurating These exhibits and have
her be the travel journalistwho's guiding that through from the
time she was 7, 8, 9 yearsold. So anyway, and we've got a daughter
who wants to be a chef whenshe grows up. And she's hilarious.
She's bought her dot com, sheknows what her business name is gonna
be, she's gonna open arestaurant, it's gonna be Michelin
(12:29):
starred. You know, she's got awhole thing. And so whenever we're
in a country, we look for whois a chef that is known, that speaks
English, who makes the food ofthe country. And then I email them
and I say, hey, would you liketo cook with a 10 year old? And we'll
film it so that all the kidsaround the world can see what you
(12:50):
do. And they always say yes,always, because it's a wonderful
give back for them, you know.
Janelle, that's so cool.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Imean, I hope that my kids realize,
looking back, you know, whenthey're grown ups and they look back
on this, they don't think wewere crazy and that they never had
a home, you know, that theylook back and think, man, my parents
(13:13):
were cool and they took us toa lot of amazing places.
Yeah, yeah. So from my niecesand nephews, I know that kids can
be very resilient. And so whenyou're able to provide them different
opportunities where they canlearn, it's sort of like ingraining
that knowledge into them. Soas adults, you know, you kind of
look back like, I didn'trealize what an opportunity I had,
(13:34):
but it's amazing how they'reable to like grow through it and
learn from it. And thenthey're sharing this experience with
others who maybe have neverleft their state. Right. And they
probably sound like, how couldyou have done that at such a little
kid, you know, such a youngage? But that's fascinating. That's
absolutely fascinating.
Yeah. It was important to usfrom the beginning that what we experienced,
(13:56):
knowing that a lot of kidsdon't have that opportunity that
we were to create somethingthat wasn't just about us. It was
something that the kids couldlearn. They have a responsibility
when they have an experienceto share it with others for the purpose
of their benefit. Right. Soit's not just, oh, I did this and
I did that, but it's I didthis and this is how we're going
(14:20):
to share it with you. So wecreate, on one of our TV shows, we
create five to 10 minuteepisodes. There are four kids, ages
4 to 12 years old. And my kidsare the lead travel journalists and
they're interviewing someone,they're having an experience and
they're teaching otherchildren their age what they're learning.
And so these episodes havebeen picked up by several different
(14:42):
streaming platforms, one ofthem being epic, which is in all
public schools in America. Allof the schools have it. So it's an
audience of 46 million kidsand teachers are using these videos
on big screens in theirclassrooms to teach about different
countries and cultures anddifferent things. And so it's been
really humbling and beautifulto see that our family experience
(15:04):
and our travels and have beenable to it wasn't just something
that we experienced, but nowit can be a tool that other kids
around the world can learnfrom and grow from. It's an impact
that we can have together as afamily in addition to a beautiful
record of what we experienced.
That's wonderful. I do lovethat it's a full circle opportunity
(15:26):
and you're able to give backin that way.
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(15:48):
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Could you tell me a little bitabout Bravely?
Yes. So bravely is a newopportunity that I have created in
(16:08):
the last couple of months.I've launched to engage with other
families who are interested intraveling with kids specifically
for the purpose of education.So my niche within the travel industry
is around world. Schooling isa part of it. But the bigger idea
is can and should education bea part of travel or can we see travel
(16:29):
through a new lens for thepurpose of education? It's a very
different thing to go to CostaRica and to book a resort and to
sit poolside with your Mai Taiand put the kids in kids club and
chill as a mom. And there'snothing wrong with that, but it's
a shame that you would miss indoing that. The opportunity to experience
(16:50):
the richness and thebiodiversity and the opportunity
for learning that a countrylike Costa Rica would provide to
your kids. So what I do atbravely is I take parents on a journey
of thinking about what theirkids are learning in whatever their
education situation is. So iftheir kids are in full time traditional
(17:12):
school or homeschool orwhatever it is and think about what,
what are they notexperiencing? Okay, yes, they have
science classes and tests, butdo they understand what it's like
to stand under a waterfall inBali? You know what I mean? Do they
understand what it's like towalk the Arctic Circle line with
(17:32):
wild reindeers running aroundthem? Can they go into the Sahara
Desert in Morocco and on theback of a camel and camp out there
with the river tribe? Theseare things that we've done and I
want to share that with otherparents. Not to boast about what
we've experienced, but to say,you can do it too and let me come
(17:52):
alongside you and empower youso that you don't feel alone in that
and I'll help to guide you onwhatever your. I don't have an agenda
for you. If you're a parentand you want to educate your kids
or supplement their educationthrough travel, my plan is not to
say you need to do this, thisand this, but to say, what do you
value as a family and how canI help you achieve that goal through
(18:14):
travel? How can I help youthink around the edges of that, to
broaden it and push it out andexpand it a little bit. And then
to help you craft trips orlonger term travel experiences like
a gap year or some people callit a wonder year or a longer term
travel journey, 2, 3, 4, 5years, and whatever that might look
(18:35):
like. I serve as aneducational travel consultant. So
I created really cool, Ithink, itineraries around educational
family travel that people canaccess for free on bravelytravel.com
and they can see very quickly.Oh, okay. If I go to Paris for the
purpose of education, here'san itinerary that unpacks all the
(18:57):
different things that relateto kids in Paris. And they're organized
into days and there's bedtimereflection questions and there's
crafts and activities thatthey could do if they wanted to.
And there's a park playscheduled in every single day so
parents don't have to thinkabout all that and do all that research.
I've done it for them andother parents, they don't. They need
to jump on a call with me andjust talk about the ideas that they
(19:20):
have. And then, you know, Iserve as a coach and a consultant
for them. So it's many things,but that's the big idea behind Bravely
I was going to ask about.
So like, for the parents whomaybe say, you know, this is really
interesting. However, how doyou kind of coax parents into this
mindset, especially whenthey're talking about, you know,
(19:41):
the education of their kids.
You know, parents who are inespecially who pay big fees for private
schools, you know, tuition canbe insane, especially in America.
You know, you're talking over$10,000 a year per kid, and there's
incredible schools. But Ithink it's very easy to defend that
when you're paying the bill.You know, If I've got four kids at
(20:03):
10, 10 grand a pop, you know,I'm looking at 40 grand a year. And
if someone were to say to me,are you sure that your kids are getting
the best education they couldreceive? I always say, hi, Kat, do
you know what I'm paying for?But as they really think through
it, I think most parents, ifthey're honest, would say, is there
pieces that I could add to mychild's education experience that
(20:28):
would make the learning thatthey're doing in their educational
path come alive in a new way?And so if I can get them to think
about sparking that throughtravel, it starts to become really
fun. Because it's not about ahave to, it's about an I can. And
it ties into things thatpeople value as a family. So, for
(20:49):
example, we love fine artsmusic and opera and jazz and, you
know, all different kinds ofmusic and paintings. And we seek
out those opportunitieseverywhere we go. We greatly value
adventure. So we're alwaysdoing cool sports and different things,
but organized sports likebaseball and soccer is not our jam.
(21:12):
But for another family, that'sreally important, right? So I can
help them think throughwhatever you value as a family. Organize
your travel around that. Like,if your kid's into race cars, where's
the Monaco Grand Prix? It's inMonaco. Go to Monaco and watch the
Grand Prix live. So, yeah, soI have a lot of fun just guiding
parents through a series ofquestions and helping them to arrive
(21:35):
on their own. That at the ideathat they can travel for the purpose
of education and it can be alot of fun, and then that can help
them take the headache out ofit so that they can just enjoy the
experience of being with theirkids and having these awesome experiences.
That's really cool. I thinkthat's really nice. I know one of
(21:56):
the issues, I think whenpeople are trying to understand traveling
outside of, like a touristexperience. Right. An issue is trying
to figure out the logistics ofall of that. And so to have someone,
especially when you have anentire family with you, but to have
someone help you through thatis so key. And then There is heart
(22:18):
behind it. Right. So it's.You're not just going out and learning,
you are actually bringing yourfamily along on this entire experience.
So.
Yeah, I think that's such a cool.
Program that you have.
Yes. Yeah. Last year westarted a different TV show called
Journey into Wild. And it wasbirthed out of the need that parents
(22:41):
were expressing to me. Theywere watching our other show, Adventure
Family Journal, which isfocused on kids. And as parents,
they were watching it andgoing like, okay, but what is it
like for you as a mom? How,how do you actually do your day?
How do you get everythingdone? When do you work? How do the
kids keep up with their math?You know, how do they learn the foreign
language? How do you do it?And what is it like for you to journey
(23:03):
through a country with afamily of six? And so we started
this. We had done a ton oftravel through Europe and a lot of
cities, and we navigated Covidwhile doing all of this. And we got
to a place where we said wejust need nature and a lot of it.
So we really formed a travelplan for. It's been. We're closing
(23:24):
two years of travel aroundthis theme of biodiversity and unique
biomes in the world. Sobiodiversity hotspots and unique
biomes. And so we literallygot out a world map and we're like,
where are the cool places,interesting places where there's
rich nature or there'ssomething that's really different
and unique, like, you know,the northern lights or, you know,
(23:49):
the Nile river or the Africansavannah. Places where we wouldn't
typically necessarily thinkare top destinations. But in that
journey, we have had thecoolest experiences. And we created
this show, Journey into Wild,to show the parents perspectives.
So it's my husband and I onscreen leading it, and the kids are
(24:09):
there, obviously, but it'sreally directed toward parents and
saying when you go to Malaysiaor Thailand or Bali or Australia,
this is what it could be likefor you as a parent. And that's been
a really fun experience. Acompletely different expression of
our family unity and what wedo together creatively.
(24:29):
When you're going to thesedifferent places, are you learning
the language each time? Do youhave a few basic phrases that you
carry with you and aretranslatable or how do you navigate
language in other countries?
Well, it depends on whichfamily member you ask. I love languages.
And my, my little seven yearold, she's like, she's a linguist.
(24:51):
I mean, the girl can navigatelinguistically and the. And my girls
are, they're all veryInterested. So we're always studying
Spanish and French. They are.That's what they've chosen to consistently
study, English, Spanish andFrench. We go back to Italy a lot.
I am crazy about Italy. And soI'm always studying Italian. And
(25:11):
then as we're in othercountries where if we're in Israel,
we're studying Hebrew, or ifwe're in Egypt or Turkey, we're studying
Arabic, it's hard. Like, theseare not easy languages. They're definitely
not Romance languages. They'reso definitely different than the
European ones that we studyall the time. But it's important
(25:34):
to us that we dedicateourselves to every single day. We're
going to put in 20 minutes aday just to study the language of
the country that we're in. Soright now we're studying Portuguese
because we're in Brazil. Andyeah, it's super fun. And I, you
know, in Europe, it's verynormal to speak five or six languages
(25:54):
as an American, if you'rebilingual, it's already badge of
honor. Super cool, right? ButI would love for my kids to be, you
know, 18 and speak three orfour languages and to feel, feel
confident that any language onplanet Earth that they want to learn,
they have the skills to knowhow to learn a language and the confidence
to do that. So my husband, onthe other hand, caveat, is not a
(26:18):
language guy, doesn't studythe language. He is. He does Google
Translate. So, you know, if hetries to speak French to someone
in France, they laugh at him.So he just decided Google Translate
is his friend. He speaks intothe app. I would like three baguettes,
please. And he holds it up atthe cashier and it sweeps in the
midbridge. So, you know, weall do it differently.
(26:43):
What has been a country thathas stood out for you, maybe in the
way that they treat oneanother. So if you see another family
unit and the way that they areconnected or you can kind of notice
their unity. What's a countryor culture that may have stood out
to you?
I would have to say Greece. Welove Greece. We've spent maybe, I
(27:03):
don't know, eight months or sothere over the years. We keep going
back, and we don't currentlyown a home or a car or furniture,
any of that stuff, but if weever were to, we would buy a villa
on an island in Greece,because it is. There's just no place
like it. I love the way thatthe Greeks handle family. And so
it's one of the things that wekeep going back for is, is that that
(27:27):
beautiful, beautiful way thatthey love families.
Yeah.
What is, before we, we wrapup, what is your like self care practice
that you incorporate into your travel?
For me personally, well, I'mnot very good at that. I'm an eight
on the enneagram and I'm aneight on the ennEagram. I'm an entrepreneur.
(27:51):
I love travel and I love beingin new places and new cultures and
that for me is, is joy and islife. I'm not someone who needs a
lot of downtime. I'm a totalextrovert. And so the more people
I can be around, the happier Iam. So to be really honest, being
out in a city, being out in aculture is self care for me because
(28:12):
that's what feeds my soul. Iwork when my kids go to sleep. So
when they go to bed at 9 o'clock and I love to work and they
go to bed at 9 o' clock and Iwork from 9 until 1am and that's
my time. That's also a form ofself care for me because I'm alone
in my business mind and I'mdoing the things that I love because
it's my business and mypassion. But I don't sleep a ton.
(28:36):
I'm, I'm sort of a six, sevenhours a night kind of girl. And we
eat very healthy. That's alsoa form of self care for, for me and
for us. I cook almost everynight. We, we don't eat out a lot.
Maybe a few times when we'rein a country, but usually we're cooking
the food from the country. Soall of those things kind of tie together
(28:59):
for me in that journey.
Yeah, I like it.
Hey look. So self care looksdifferent for everyone. For me it's
like I need a spa and a nap.But I like that there's that intentionality
behind especially when itcomes to your meals.
When I get all my kids tothrough that'll, that'll be my kind
of self care right now. I'mall in on this.
(29:22):
Yeah, you have a lot to do.
So this is true.
Janelle, thank you so muchfor, for being on the podcast and
for sharing your story. Beforewe go, what's next? Maybe what country
is next for you? And thenwhere can we find you?
Yes, well, we are finishingour 50 country goal. So right now
(29:44):
we're going back to, toWashington D.C. for the next couple
of months. My kids are, arenot very familiar with American holidays
because they've lived theirwhole lives in other countries mostly.
And so we're, we're going tohave Halloween and Thanksgiving and
Christmas and all that. Butthen at early next year we will have
completed our 50 countries andwe are going to be tackling a different
(30:06):
form of travel which is goingto be around deeply skill building
for the kids. So we're goingto start stay three months in each
country for them to focus onbuilding a skill. So all the girls
have worked together to choosewhat they are. And so we're going
to be in England in theCotswolds. They're going to do English
horseback riding for threemonths and they're going to do a
(30:28):
sailing course in the south ofSpain to learn how to handle, you
know, knots and ropes andsails and all that. They are going
to do three months of skiingin Northern Italy in the Dolemite
mountains, skiing andsnowboarding and then we are going
to do a aerial silks course inSydney, Australia. So yeah, so it'll
(30:51):
be, well, it's, it's adifferent kind of travel for us.
It's, it's much slower thanwe're used to but it's going to be
a full three months of settingup home and really digging into those
things. So that's what's next. Yeah.
Okay. And so you have, yousaid you have two shows. What are
the name of the shows? Wherecan we watch them?
(31:12):
Yes. So Adventure Familyjournal is on YouTube and that's
the one for kids and there's138 episodes filmed in 47 countries.
And then we have Journey intoWild there. Those are a different
form. Those are made for TVcontent. So we've got different conversations
happening with streamingplatforms that are interested in
picking up that show whichwould be amazing. So those are 30
(31:34):
minute episodes also onYouTube at the moment, Journey into
Wild. And then my coachingbusiness is called bravely. So bravelytravel.com
and we also have a blog forAdventure Family Journal which is
much more family focusedcontent and less more our family
story than it is otherfamilies and what they're doing with
Bravely.
(31:55):
Nice. Okay, well, thank you again.
Well, thanks for having me.
It's been on absolutely. No,this has been so cool. I'm glad I
got to learn a little bit moreabout world school schooling as well.
Yes.
So thank you so much.
What a pleasure.
Hey there, Grace here. I hopeyou enjoyed today's episode and gained
some useful takeaways. Thankyou so much for listening and staying
(32:17):
until the end. Don't forget torate the show or share it with some
friends. Have a wonderfulweek. Take care and remember, be
bold. Be curious. Be ready totell your story. You never know.
Who needs it?
Bye bye,
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