Chantal: ‘Our children developed faster on the trip’.

Chantal: ‘Our children developed faster on the trip’.

Months in distant places, spending a lot of time with your family and immersing yourself in other cultures. Many parents dream of this but do not see the chance to do it with children at school. Chantal and her husband Roel did. Together with their children Fey (10) and Nova (8), they went on a world trip. 'They have made progress they would never have made so quickly in the Netherlands.'

Stop dreaming

In 2009, Chantal and her husband Roel worked for a year in Peru. Both always had the dream to return and see more of the world. With school children, it is quickly thought that this is not possible, but Chantal and Roel did it differently. ‘We decided to stop dreaming but find out how we could make this possible,’ says Chantal. This is how a plan was made to travel for eight months with their children Fey and Nova through South America and the United States. ‘It is not easy to save money for it, but people also spend a lot on, for example, a wedding. It is a matter of setting priorities.’ A tip from Chantal is to compare the costs per destination. ‘For example, Asia is much cheaper than South America,’ she explains.

Compulsory education?

The first step is a conversation with the school principal. Although the principal said it would not be for her, she was immediately enthusiastic about Chantal’s plans. ‘The school said it was enough to teach the children math, language, and spelling and that they would learn enough on the trip.’ But how about compulsory education? Chantal explains that if you are not in the Netherlands for eight months or longer, you are required to deregister with the municipality. You then indicate that you are emigrating. This cancels the compulsory education of the children. You can re-register when you return. ‘It says in our record that we were in America. That was our first destination.’

Schedule: Math and caring for turtles

‘We usually spent the mornings on school tasks. We tried different things but noticed that the focus in the afternoon was much less. ‘But there were days that were so educational that we also did nothing for school.’ They cared for turtles, went on hikes and the children played a lot with local school children, Chantal explains. ‘The children do not speak Spanish, but one of the nicest things was that they played with children everywhere very quickly. Children’s games like tag and hide and seek are of course the same.’ The family also stayed for a while with Americans with children of the same age. ‘The children really experienced American life here and the nice thing was: Fey talked for hours with these children, in English!’

Teaching yourself is tough!

Chantal, herself a pedagogy teacher at the University of Applied Sciences, says that it is tough to teach your own child. ‘It is tough to suddenly be a teacher instead of a mother. They argue with me much more than they would with a teacher. And they also found it the boring parts of school. It was hard work to motivate them.’ Chantal and Roel also searched for the right way of teaching. ‘We started with the idea that each of us would guide one of our children. But we noticed that it put too much pressure on them if one of us was busy with them all the time. They then had no space to make mistakes while that is also educational.’ Chantal says she would choose a fully online program or an online tutor next time.

Children’s pace

Not only children learn a lot on a trip. Parents also learn from their children. Chantal: ‘Our travel pace is slower with children and that is very nice. Without children we went from place to place quickly.’ Chantal says her family stayed about one or two weeks at each place. ‘So the children, but also we, could really settle, experience daily life, and join the culture.’ Chantal also noticed that children handle tough moments differently than adults. ‘We made a kayak trip on a glacier lake in Chile: ice cold, strong wind, and tough going. Roel and I were very tired from rowing and the children could no longer continue. We were exhausted. Once back at our sleeping place, we collapsed at the thought of doing it again, but the children had already recovered and were enthusiastic about the adventure.’

Back in the Netherlands

‘The children are in grades five and seven and during the trip focused on school goals.’ The family returned in May and after the May holiday both children could join their own class again. ‘Fey has to get used to not having someone to ask questions all the time. But she was very happy to be with her girlfriends again. And Nova loved being welcomed in class as a world traveler, partly because of our Youtube videos. The fun of going to school wore off after a few days when he was firmly scolded by the teacher. ‘Hard work is not always what he feels like,’ says Chantal laughing. ‘Parent teacher meetings just took place and you could say they are a little behind in math. I accept that trade-off. They both grew a lot socially and emotionally from the trip. They make contact faster now and are more self confident in this. They made progress they would never have made so quickly in the Netherlands.’