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All of our excursions have been a highlight of the year how many we go on an experience that was really special in Mexico.
They were setting up for Dia de los Muertos, which is where they celebrate the dead.
And we all got our face painted.
That's 12-year-old Charlie, whose classroom is the world.
Actually, right now, it's in Brazil.
But earlier this year, it was in Quebec, Canada, and next fall, it'll be Spain.
She's one of a dozen students ranging in age from 10 to 14 who are part of the Together Explorers program.
They travel with their families and a professional teacher to multiple countries each year where they live and study in a variety of rented locations.
As your school year winds down, Charlie and her program's founder, Johanna Cart, join me now on Kid News Convos to tell us more about a very unique classroom experience.
Hi, and thanks for joining me.
Thank you.
And tell me where, Charlie, where are you located right now?
We're in Jaipur, Brazil.
Wow.
And what is it like?
What do you think of that location?
It's nice.
It's a beach, so it's hot.
But yeah, it's really fun.
And how long have you been doing this Together Explorers program?
This is my first year, so almost one school year.
And what do you think so far?
It's great.
It's really good.
Everybody's super nice.
How would you compare it to a regular classroom?
I assume you were in a Yes, so I went to public school for around five years.
So comparing it to that, it's definitely, it's really engaging.
So it's helpful to be able to learn while doing excursions and being able to have a lot of hands on.
There's only...
Normally in public school when I wear it, there is around 25 kids.
There's only 12 of us now, so it's not as big.
And we only have one teacher for all of us.
So we all learn the same things just at different levels.
So Johanna, you started this school three years ago.
Tell me why.
Yes, absolutely.
For a very simple reason.
We're a family who love to travel.
And we also think that it's important for our kids to get a job. good if not great education.
We were never homeschoolers, and so for me it made a lot of sense to travel with a teacher.
But at the same time, full-time travel can be very isolating, and so it was really very special to be able to do this with other families and just hire collectively a teacher.
It was supposed to be a one-year experiment and it's been so wonderful that we've.
This has turned now into our third full school year, traveling the world.
Wonderful.
And how do you decide on the locations?
That's a great question.
It's so hard to narrow it down to just six countries per year.
It's really heartbreaking to have two plus up on some, you know.
So we have a list of criteria that are kind of non-negotiables.
Safety is usually very important.
Affordability, accessibility and obviously, educational opportunities.
The first year we explored Europe and part of the Mediterranean.
Last year we explored Asia from east to west.
And this year we explored the Americas from north to south.
And so my idea was really to try and get as much of the diversity that the Americas provide as a continent.
And it was very interesting to restart in Quebec.
So here, French all around, and then we moved down to Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
So we got to feel of the Caribbean.
And so I've tried to also compose the itinerary by trying to balance a mix of stays in large cities and more quiet beach towns, and to get a very different feel of what we get to experience.
So Charlie, are your parents traveling with you or any siblings?
Yes.
So both of my parents, my mom and my dad, both travel with me and my little brother Max, he also travels.
So it's our whole family.
And is Max in the program also?
Yeah, he's 10 and he also goes to school with me every day.
Okay.
So what is it like having your brother in school with you?
Sometimes it can be really fun and I learn a lot more about him than I definitely would honestly, living back in Charlotte every day.
But sometimes it can be tiring, and sometimes you just need a break from your little sibling.
I understand that.
That's probably a common, common feeling.
I'm kind of curious, though, Charlie and Johanna, maybe you can pipe in after.
Obviously, there are some topics that just are perfect for travel, you know, whether it's history or culture or art.
But Charlie, do you feel like you're learning about math and science and some of the other basics?
Yeah, so no matter – we have certain subjects everywhere we go, but even –
Though normally we do focus on those subjects like in Quebec we were focusing on history we still do everything, all the normal stuff as well.
So we use iExcel and we just do ELA and we do math on that.
So we just learn all the basic things, but also focusing on what we're learning in that country.
Yes, the idea from the very beginning was that we didn't really want to make any compromise between just a regular education that you would get at school and but also experiencing and learning from the world.
And so there's always been a.
It's a bespoke curriculum and it mixes everything, all the core academics, so it's usually math, ela and uh and languages, and then, depending on the location we, so our teacher, decides on one big, uh you know learning theme for each country.
Like charlie mentioned, in quebec it was history, in mexico was art, and you know we've had science, we've had business uh, we've had a writing unit session, this time around in brazil, and so it's a very comprehensive approach and i think that really, what makes us so different is that there's so many experiences, you know, so many opportunities to learn from the world.
We have tons of excursions and school outings.
We have a lot of workshops and cultural talks and we have sometimes partnerships with local schools.
So we get to meet other students.
So it's really, it's quite a, you know, a very well-rounded approach.
You're listening to Kid News Convos about a school that travels around the world.
We're going to take a quick break.
When we come back, Charlie will share one of her favorite school moments of the last year, her favorite country for food and what it's like to basically live out of a suitcase.
More Kid News Convos right after this.
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And we're back with more Kid News Convos.
I'm Tori with Together Explorers World School founder Johanna Cart and 12-year-old Charlie who, along with her brother Max, is one of the students.
So I'm curious Charlie, any in the last school year, do you have any favorite moments, something that really stood out for you?
All of our excursions have been a highlight of the year.
How many we go on and just how great they are.
There have been some An experience that was really special in Mexico.
We got to experience they were setting up for Dia de los Muertos, which is where they celebrate the dead.
So we got to see everybody set up and we got to be a part of it.
We made a school of frienda.
And then we went trick-or-treating on Halloween together.
And we all got our face painted.
And if we had any costumes, we dressed up with what we had.
So that was something that was really special.
There's always a lot of great people that we meet as well.
And what about the food?
Do you like trying different food?
Yes.
So the food is definitely...
A big part.
Sometimes it's really, really good.
And sometimes there's not that many choices or varieties.
Mexico was probably my favorite place we went.
That was connected to food, because there are so many different types and so many different flavors.
I think it really depends on where you are.
And how is it basically living out of a suitcase?
Sometimes it's fine.
And sometimes I sort of realize how much I do travel with.
And sometimes I really want to bring my Alexa with me or I want to bring more clothes.
I think a lot of people feel that way.
So Johanna, just as far as administrative logistics I mean, obviously living out of a suitcase has its challenge, but I'm just thinking medically or male, how do families deal with those type of everyday issues?
So there's different situations.
Some of us have a house, you know, a home somewhere waiting for them and then receive the mail.
They, you know, they have their whole life kind of waiting for them.
Some people, some families, actually don't have a home base and they just travel from country to country and they do like literally, you know, leave a suitcase.
So I think medically it's been quite straightforward.
Most of us have, you know, health or travel insurance and whenever we need to see a doctor, we do.
At the end of the day, it's very much regular life.
I mean, it sounds very exotic, but really our daily life is very normal.
There's like, you know, school drop off and then there's pick up at 3 p.m.
And then there's after school activities and there's play dates sleepovers, and so i mean we have a nice balance between spending time just with our own families but also spending some time.
You know like sometimes on weekends we all go on like different trips together or adventures or activities.
So charlie, would you recommend this type of experience to other kids?
I think it kind of depends on what they like and if they like to travel or if there's somebody who just like, if they do like to stay in their hometown and in their city.
For me, it was something that I've done.
I got my first passport when I was six weeks old.
So I've been traveling since I was six. pretty much a baby.
So it's just something that I was, me and Matt were both prepared for, and but we also wanted to go to school every day and we wanted to have our friends.
So I think it does really depend on who's wanting to do it.
Are you going to continue next year?
Are you going back home?
To Charlotte.
For the summer, we're going back home and then we'll be starting again.
We're doing it to get explorers next year as well.
Awesome.
And where are you going to go?
We're starting in Valencia and then I think we're still figuring out the rest.
So it's going to be a little bit of a different format next year.
We're going to travel a little bit slower.
And so we will go to three countries only.
And our main focus will be learning Spanish or improving our Spanish, because Charlie speaks great Spanish already.
And so we will go only to Spanish speaking countries Spain, one country in Central America and one country in South America.
I just have to ask I'm just curious, Johanna for the parents who are traveling.
Do they work remotely or are they retired?
How does that work?
There are several situations.
We've had a lot of us work remotely.
Either they have their own business or they have their employees remotely.
We've had cases of families who took a gap year, for instance, and who traveled the world and then just went back to their regular life.
And there's also cases where one parent works and the other is not working.
We've had cases in this year or two of families where one parent is actually back home and the second parent travels with the children and you know, with a lot of back and forth.
So people just make it work depending on that.
But yes, you need to have at least partially of the geographical independence.
So that makes sense.
So Charlie, do you like to listen to kid news to stay informed about what's going on in the U.S.?
Yes, me and Max we both do are always waiting until eight o'clock every morning before you go out the door to listen.
So yeah, it's really fun.
One time we shared it with the class here and we just like to listen to everything that's going on.
It's really nice.
That's wonderful.
Well, thank you, Charlie, for talking with me.
And Johanna.
If anyone wants any more information on this program, how would you suggest they get it?
Well, they can go and check our Instagram or Facebook pages.
The name is Together Explorers.
It's a good way to just, you know, see a few pictures and see our learning approach and what we do.
Well, thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
And thank you for listening to Kid News Convos.
I'm Tori.
If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, please send us an email at wehearyouatkidnewsorg.
We plan to offer more Kid News Convos during the summer and we look forward to resuming our regular Monday through Friday podcasts in August.
Have a great day.
