Worldschooling is getting a lot of attention today, and well it should. On today’s episode, I talk with Jen Silver about how her family discovered worldschooling after the real estate crash and a number of other personal tragedies made them reassess their family’s life and education.
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Worldschooling and Family Travel
What is worldschooling? Well, it’s defined differently for different people, but in general, worldschooling is using the “world as your classroom.” Jen Silver is now an administrator of the largest Worldschooling group on Facebook. Today she talks about how worldschooling and family travel have guided her and her children into a more meaningful, “Silver-lining” life.
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The Worldschooling Approach
Jen’s approach to worldschooling does not come at the cost of their children’s education. Both she and her husband had very successful academic and business careers (Jen: MENSA member, colleges at 15, attended Cornell & Wharton School of Business, Dan: graduated with a 4.0 summa cum laude Masters from Berkeley). However, they realized that the conventional process of schools, university and career was not the only way to achieve a successful life.
Instead, Jen says that “We want to teach our kids about investing, business ownership (we have started a company with them), residual income, creative pursuits, volunteerism, and multiculturalism. We prioritize giving them the skills that we feel will give them the best chance at financial freedom and personal health and happiness, hopefully with a concern for the world and those who share it.”
Listen in as she explains their long journey, and their present approach to worldschooling and life, including a HUGE list of resources.
IN THIS EPISODE
- 04:16 Intro & Origins
- 15:02 Starting RV
- 17:30 Kids’ perspective
- 22:39 An intro to homeschooling in North Carolina
- 24:55 Creating community
- 31:18 Work and funding travel
- 40:32 Managing money and living frugally
- 55:54 More on education and worldschooling
- 1:07:33 Online resources
- 1:15:48 Recommended destinations
ABOUT
- Names: Jen Silver, her husband Dan, and three kids: 14, 12 & 5 and a half. Oldest son (Alex, 29) lives on his own in Montreal.
- Hold passports from: USA
- Type of travel: RV travel, backpacking, worldschooling
- A few places they’ve been: Italy, Greece, Turkey, and other places in the EU / all of the USA in the RV. Alex has also traveled in Europe, Japan, and Costa Rica.
IN THEIR BAGS
- Peet’s ground coffee
- 2 Lenovo laptops bought on a Greek Island
- Dell Inspirion 15
- Samsung 3 (“We were lucky enough to get in on Verizon’s unlimited data plan on the last day it was available in 2014.”)
- Android Tablet
- Makala Ukulele and an autotuner
- plug-in space heater (“So we don’t use propane when electricity is free.”)
LINKS & RESOURCES
- Worldschoolers Facebook Group (search “Thursday Learn-day” for resources each week)
- Full-Time Families
- Thousand Trails
- Time4Learning
- Prodigy Math
- MIT’s Radix
- Khan Academy
- Crash Course
- TED Talks
- IXL Online Learning
- Study Ladder
- ABC Mouse
- Reading Eggs
- Math Seeds
- Jumpstart & Mathblasters
- Dragon Box
- Udemy
- Coursera
- Wharton Online Learning
- Youtube Education
FIND THEM ON
Silver Lining Life | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
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