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Suzy: thank you Tara for visiting with us today!
Tara: Thank you for the opportunity!
Suzy: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your family?
Tara: We're a family of three currently living and learning full-time on the road. We travel in a small RV powered by solar and waste veggie oil. We're passionate about so many things: sustainability, unschooling, mindful parenting, gaming, connecting with people, hooping, sculpting...we love life and learning and the freedom we've discovered on the road.
Suzy: I think it is so amazing that you are traveling around and experiencing so many new things on a daily basis. What moved you create this lifestyle for yourself and what keeps you going?
Tara: It was really a financial decision at first. Justin was facing a layoff and we knew we'd need to move out-of-state for work. So we decided to roll with it and turn a potentially negative situation into a seriously awesome one! At first we assumed it would be short-term, but we're loving it more and more and it's become hard to imagine settling down just yet. We love watching Zeb (our 10 year old son) embrace and explore the world through traveling and unschooling and that is definitely one part of what keeps us going.
Suzy: Can you talk about one of your favorite places or experiences that you have had on the road?
Tara: It's only been two months and it's already impossible to narrow it down! It seems that anywhere we are is our new favorite place! The whole experience just continues to get better and better. We really love meeting so many amazing people and making profound connections. We love experiencing the history of a place firsthand or just slowing down and enjoying a quiet evening in the middle of nowhere.
Suzy: How do you make a living while traveling?
Tara: We like to do lots of things! I've been a massage therapist for 10 years and I do that where I can. Justin is a carpenter and jack-of-all-trades and finds side jobs or short-term work as we travel. I'm also slowly branching out into freelance writing and working on a few other projects that I will hopefully be ready to reveal over the summer!
I've also just begun to offer personal coaching [http://theorganicsister.com/unschooling-coach/] for families interested in moving toward unschooling and/or mindful parenting. I really love helping families move past conflict or stress to embrace trusting, loving relationships and a lifelong passion for learning and this has given me a perfect way to offer support and validation for other parents on this path.
Suzy: Do you have any advice for other families who are interested in trying out this lifestyle?
Tara: Do it! The opportunities available to unschooling and full-time traveling families are so amazing and the experiences are far beyond what we imagined. It's impossible not to be profoundly influenced by the freedom and joy you find within a nomadic and/or unschooling lifestyle.
Suzy: Any plans to settle down in the future?
Tara: We'd like to someday find a place that feels like home. I'd love to have a homestead again. But we're not making plans just yet. We're enjoying this too much! :)
Suzy; Thank you so much for sharing with us today, Tara!
Tara: Thank you Suzy!
The Giveaway: Tara is giving away a free 30 minute unschooling coaching session to 1 winner. If you or someone you know would be interested in this, please leave a comment here. We will announce the winner on Friday June 4th.
Congratulations Missy!
Missy said...
"I would love to have a coaching session. My son is currently a Montessori kid and I'm scared to transition to unschooling, but super interested. We are working toward getting out from under our house and doing the RV thing for year to travel the country and "find our place". I also have a daughter, age 2. I'm scared about reading and writing and spelling and math and about whether or not I'M strong enough and dedicated enough to unschool my kids. "
How interesting! My husband is laid-off too, I wonder why I never thought of this.
ReplyDeleteThis does sound so interesting. I'm thinking about homeschooling my kids when the time comes and would be very interested in a coaching session.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Taras blog. They are such a beautiful inspiration. My husband and I are in the midst of planning for a very similar lifestyle. Hopefully we will be on the road with our 3 young unschooled boys within the next 6 months! Just need to get rid of this house 1st :)
ReplyDeleteI love her blog too! We are seriously considering this for our family as well. Hubby may be out of a job and our lease is up in a month. We are starting homeschooling this summer anyways. Would love to have a coaching session on it all.
ReplyDeletei love tara's blog and would *love* a chance to talk with her.
ReplyDeletethanks for this great interview!
~erin
Great interview - I love the life we have right now, but it's exciting to think that we could make such a radical change and reap such great benefits. I'm curious, though, whether you retrofitted the camper yourselves or were able to find such an environmentally-friendly model?
ReplyDeleteI'd love to win this session with Tara!!
ReplyDeletei just found tara's blog the other day and i've been reading the whole thing backwards. it all sounds wonderful to me. we're unschooling our 4yo so far, but i have lots of questions about the future! :)
ReplyDeleteStill scheming to get our family of nine on the road:)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful!! I would LOVE to be entered for this giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI love all of Tara's interviews. She's a really fun person.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading The Organic Sister for months now and she has been a tremendous inspiration in so many ways. I would love to have her input about unschooling!
ReplyDeletei would love a chance for a coaching session. I have an unschooled 11 yr. old and feel like we are hitting some road blocks. a new perspective would be helpful.
ReplyDeletePlanning (and hoping) to be a mom soon and would love this insight.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Great interview, great pictures! Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeletewonderful interview, I would love the conversation with her.
ReplyDeleteI love her blog! its one of the few I check regularly. I too would love the oppertunity to chat with Tara :)
ReplyDeleteYes! I would loove a coaching session. That is to say also that I neeed a coaching session :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a coaching session. My son is currently a Montessori kid and I'm scared to transition to unschooling, but super interested. We are working toward getting out from under our house and doing the RV thing for year to travel the country and "find our place". I also have a daughter, age 2. I'm scared about reading and writing and spelling and math and about whether or not I'M strong enough and dedicated enough to unschool my kids.
ReplyDeleteBoy! Could I use that coaching! I listened to your interview on Humans Being and got instantly hooked. I'm now also receiving your emails from The Organic Sister, so as you can see I'm a big FAN. I unschool my 8 year old daughter and we've just started this journey. My concern is that I have been doing SO much research on unschooling but all the kids who I've seen interviewed on movies/websites and such seem BRILLIANT. It wouldn't matter if they were unschooled or went to free democratic schools or even would make through the terrain of public school. My daughter is NOT INTERESTED in learning on any level. Is she deschooling still?? It's been 4 months. She balks at ANYTHING that even RESEMBLES academic learning, doesn't even want to practice the piano or read a book or anything. How do I chill out???!
ReplyDeleteWe could use some help being more gentle parents. My husband in particular is getting stricter and harsher with my son. I want to unschool but I wonder about the core of the parenting relationship right now. sassandfras at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteI would love to chat with Tara about improving my parenting relationship.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to be entered in the giveaway! Thanks to you both for the opportunity!
ReplyDeleteI love Tara's blog. We live in Australia. We are unschooling our two girls, and my husband lost his job last week. I am actually excited, as I see it helping us to spend more time together. I would love the chance to talk to Tara about helping my husband embrace unschooling more fully and how our new way of life can help that!
ReplyDeleteTara does a great job laying it out with her blog. A worthy read. The coaching would be great.
ReplyDeleteI have been a fan of Tara's blog for a few months now. I will be taking my 9 yr old daughter out of public school (in two weeks) to homeschool her. She has special needs. A consult with Tara would be such a gift...and I imagine...fun too. Thanks for such a groovy giveaway! : )
ReplyDeletei would love a session with the organic sister! trying to move away from "too schooly" homeschool but the hubs is afraid they won't learn anything...we have 5 children so i'm not sure how everyone can persue his/her passion without chaos... :}
ReplyDeleteI just found her blog and love it! I am debating this with my oldest for sure...thanks!
ReplyDeleteJamie :)
Love her blog :)
ReplyDeleteI would also love an unschooling session. My son is nearly 3 so we're starting to think about schooling methods and suchlike!
it's fate i landed here tonight...we are currently facing a major schooling dilema as my oldest dreads started K in the fall, and i dread "making" him...i'm a recovering public school teacher, so i know what school is, what i want (not school), and what's possible. BUT, i have two younger children, and i just don't know what to do. this would be such an awesome thing to win....keeping all digits crossed! ;-)
ReplyDelete