I refused to let my travel dreams die when I became a mom. Here's how I budget to keep my family of 4 traveling the world full-time.
12.02.2024 - 00:57
/ insider.com
"Look, kids, the shark is right under the boat!" I shout, pointing at the disappearing fin. My 7-year-old pinches her nose and dives in.
"Wheee!" my 5-year-old screams, already halfway down the boat's ladder. I snap a quick pic and scramble after them. I'm just as eager to see the shark up close.
It's Tuesday, and technically, we're "at school." Instead of drawing out different ecosystems while sitting in a classroom, today's lesson plan includes snorkeling off the coast of Tahiti to observe black tip reef sharks in their natural habitat.
Although not your average school day, that's been the usual fair since I left my teaching job to homeschool my kids over three years ago. We've since traveled across Europe, Mexico, French Polynesia, and most of the southern United States, all on a modest budget.
Our transition to worldschooling was a long time coming.
Back in college, before I got married, I told my now-husband I'd never be happy with settling down. "Alright, let's travel the world!" he said.
Travel did not begin right away, as we took a few years off to have kids and get started in our careers. But after teaching in Texas for 7 years, gun violence and the school system's disregard for staff's well-being prompted me to speed up what had always been my plan.
After my husband landed a job that allowed him to work online, I quit my job, we pulled the kids out of school, rented out our house, and moved to France for three months.
We learned the hard way that financing worldschooling is easier when you don't have much debt. Our first trip was planned without tackling this issue, as at the time buying plane tickets sounded much more appealing than paying off old credit cards.
These days, we look out for the the best travel deals before deciding on a plan. Our biggest find was when we paid less than $200 a piece for tickets to France from the US, including our pets.
To enjoy worldschooling without the stress of worrying about money, we have to balance being financially responsible against our desire to travel.
We began downsizing early on and have tried to embrace minimalism whenever the kids let us.
Choosing what to do with our car and house was another big piece of the puzzle. Now, we rent out our house so that we can still accrue equity while someone else pays the mortgage. We keep our car at my parents' house and also bunk with them when we're in town in exchange for helping out on the farm.
These days, our family is constantly on the move. We take road trips around the US and make it a point to venture abroad at least once a year. We homeschool and work full-time from our laptops on the road.
To keep our lifestyle sustainable, we're constantly tweaking our budget. Back when we were teachers, we used