Would you consider homeschooling your kids to travel the world with them? Meet three Aussie families who did just that.
The mother-daughter duo
Evie Farrell felt as if she was being torn in too many directions and not spending enough time with her daughter, Emmie. It’s a common problem. Not enough hours in the day to juggle job and family, and that constant feeling of spreading ourselves too thin. But Evie decided to do something about it.
She resigned from her communications job, put her belongings in storage, enrolled Emmie, then six, in distance education and bought one-way tickets to the Philippines.
They then spent three years travelling to Taiwan, Malaysia, Borneo, Thailand, China, Japan, Myanmar, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Making the choice to travel
“I was a solo mum and I adored my daughter but I could never spend enough time with her. Then a friend of mine who had two little girls passed away, and that had a huge impact,” she tells The Weekly.
She’d saved money to renovate the kitchen of her Sydney home. Instead, Evie used that money to kickstart an unforgettable adventure.
“The day we left, Em and I passed through immigration at the airport and everything lifted from my shoulders. It was just the two of us and there were no time limits. We were totally free,” says Evie.
Staying in local hostels and guesthouses kept costs down and they lived on the rental income from their home. Evie also did some freelance work to keep their adventure going. Emmie’s homeschooling work fitted around trips to local markets, temples and national parks to see wild elephants.
“We joined a small group and hiked to a deserted part of the Great Wall of China and camped at the top of a watchtower. The wall was like a ribbon, weaving into the distance as far as we could see. Em and I woke early the next morning to watch the sunrise and we both sensed how special the atmosphere was at that moment,” recalls Evie.
“I also remember being on the train in Sri Lanka, sitting in the doorway with Em, and the long grass brushing our feet as we passed by. As we travelled through tea plantations there were women in colourful saris picking the tea leaves. At times like that we knew we were a long way from Sydney.”
Learnings from homeschooling and beyond
Safety was top of mind and Evie used official taxis and buses and avoided staying out late at night unless she knew an area well. She pre-booked their accommodation before arriving in a new place.
“The biggest challenge was persuading Em to do her schoolwork but kids learn so much through travel. Em read maps and street signs, counted in different currencies, learned how people live in other cultures and saw wildlife she’d usually see in a book,” says Evie of what Em learned outside of her set homeschooling.
Travelling as a single parent also created a new career for Evie. She founded Mumpack Travel and now organises trips to Asia for mums and their children. Most importantly, their travel experiences have created an unbreakable bond between Evie and Emmie.
“We got to be mum and daughter every minute of every day, and I’m so thankful for that,” says Evie. “Em wants to do a gap year after high school and she wants us to do that together. I can’t wait!”
Homeschooling three boys on a boat
Two years and two months after watching a documentary about a 14-year-old who sailed solo around the world, Erin and Dave Carey and their three young sons flew to Grenada. There, for the first time, they saw the boat that would become their home for the next four years.
The Adelaide family cruised the Caribbean islands and eventually crossed the Atlantic. But when they began planning their voyage, the closest Erin had come to sailing was in a dinghy with her dad on a lake in Wagga Wagga.
“Dave and I had government jobs and were in the rat race. We had a decent-sized mortgage, a kid in private school, and we worked for the weekend. Life was out of balance. Then we saw that documentary and said, ‘let’s do that’,” says Erin.
They saved, hosted international students for extra cash and found a coach who taught them the day-to-day practicalities of living on a boat and planning a long voyage. They had sailing lessons, crewed on yachts at their local yacht club, did sea survival courses and first aid, and got their boat licence. Eventually Erin set up her own PR company, Roam Generation, so she could work as they travelled.
The moment of truth
When they arrived in Grenada and finally saw the boat they’d purchased, they knew they’d made the right call.
“The morning we left Adelaide, our hallway was lined with bags, kids and our parents, who were supportive but thought we were crazy. I’d had nightmares where my kids drowned and I woke in a cold sweat, but we were also very excited,” says Erin.
After familiarising themselves with the boat, they spent 18 months sailing the Caribbean. The boys did their homeschooling work on deck, saw dolphins and turtles, and explored the islands.
“We did excursions to local museums and markets where we bought groceries and took them back to the boat in our dinghy. The kids wore board shorts for 18 months, watched turtles laying eggs on the beach and climbed volcanoes,” recalls Erin. “Grenada was my favourite place – the people are happy and there’s music and dancing everywhere, even on the buses. We’d have barbeques on the shore and made new friends. It was the best time of our life.”
The highs and lows
There were tense moments. During their first passage from Grenada, the boat’s engine died in 40-knot winds and big swells. They radioed a friend who offered to tow them back to shore. Erin reached peak stress trying to hold the boat steady in rough waters and avoid ramming their friend’s boat while Dave secured the tow rope.
“It was night and I was at the wheel, crying and thinking, ‘what are we doing here?’ Everything below deck was all over the floor, and it was a mess. But we’ve never been in real danger.”
In June 2019, they spent 17 days crossing the Atlantic to Portugal and the Mediterranean.
“At night we were alone in the middle of a pitch-black ocean underneath a sky full of stars,” Erin says with a smile. “The bioluminescence in the water was like sailing through a sea of glitter, and dolphins dived around us.”
In late 2022, they returned home so their children could enrol in high school, but Erin dreams of setting sail again when the boys finish school – homeschooling not included this time!
“When we were travelling they had freedom and they get restless and crave adventure,” she says. “The time to travel will come again – 100 per cent.”
Finding love and family in Latin America
The first time Ariana Svenson boarded a plane, it took her from her family’s farm in Western Australia to the United States. She was one year old. Her American-born father had settled in Australia in the 1960s but made frequent return visits to his homeland.
“We’d fly to Los Angeles and board a train across America to family in Pittsburgh,” Ariana tells The Weekly. “Dad was an adventurer, so we always flew via Europe or New Zealand, and at home, he often took us camping and fossicking for gold. Now I’m emulating my childhood with my kids.”
After university, Ariana travelled up and down Australia’s eastern state,s but in 2000 she began exploring further – initially in China and then South America.
A last-minute change of direction
“I planned to go to the UK for a couple of years but decided to go to Brazil instead,” she says. “I loved South America, so I applied for jobs and found a job at a school in Cusco in Peru.”
She stayed for several years and co-founded a not-for-profit, Threads of Peru, that helps Indigenous women earn a living by selling their handmade clothing and gifts. She also opened a travel business, Apus Peru.
During a trip to Nicaragua in 2008, Ariana met her future husband, Norman, who was her taxi driver. They had three children together who are now aged five to 15.
“Having children didn’t slow us down,” she chuckles. “I trekked the Andes until I was eight months pregnant. We raised our children between Peru, Nicaragua and Australia and continued to travel to America and Costa Rica and many places in between.
“There are complications when you travel with children, but there are complications at home because kids have to be at school, child care and after-school sports at certain times. On the road, you let all that slide.”
An unforeseen tragedy
Tragically, while Ariana was pregnant with their third child, Norman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died in 2019, a month after their new baby’s birth. It was heartbreaking, but Ariana continued to travel – this time as a solo mum.
“Travel was and is my solace,” she explains, “and within six months, we were in Thailand and Singapore, although no matter where we were, there was no escaping our loss.”
COVID-19 temporarily grounded Ariana and her family, but recently they’ve been making up for lost time. They’ve since spent months in Costa Rica and Colombia, took Norman’s ashes home to Nicaragua and visited his family.
What matters more than homeschooling
“We went to Machu Picchu and my daughter spent time with Indigenous women in the mountains and learned how they live,” Ariana recalls. “We journeyed into the Amazon jungle – my son is obsessed with capybaras [the largest rodents on Earth] and I said I’d make sure he saw one! The Amazon is an incredible place, and we sailed down the river in a boat – I was confident my four-year-old wouldn’t fall out of the boat. I can’t describe the magic of those moments.
“You can’t substitute the education that children get from travelling, and how much they begin to understand other people and how they live. They all have a sense of wonder about how amazing the world is.”
In 2025, Ariana will return to South America. Next stop after that, who knows?
“I want to travel Europe,” she says gleefully. “I want to live in a little Spanish village, learn the language, ride our bikes, become part of the community and watch the sunsets and seasons change.”
This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Subscribe so you never miss an issue.
