Human beings are complex. The choices we make often appear bizarre to our peers. Yet the most radical of experiments originate from the simplest of feelings rather than some grand epiphany.
I was taking a nap. A luxury I had started allowing myself on occassion, since Sanaa and Samaa were both enrolled in school. Sanaa in kindergarten, and Samaa in day care. As I was about to doze off, I took off the socks I was wearing and felt the relaxing, cool touch of my bedsheet. Then it struck me. It struck me that when my one and a half year old takes a nap at her daycare, the teacher probably does not remember (or even care?) to take her socks off. The thought was simple but the sense of guilt shook me. Now, as a mom, I have felt pangs of guilt countless times. Yet, there was something so powerful about this image that it grasped my heart in a way that previously my maternal instinct had not.
More subtle changes were occurring in the background. Every day, the repetitive rhythm of seeing my daughters off to their respective schools, for nearly the entire day was another new phase in my life. It slowly began to dawn upon me that school, exciting as it is for both of them, was keeping them away from each other in these playful years. We chose to have them so close together so they could spend all of their childhood hours together, and not see each other on a part-time basis.
Then one day, I had an acute realization, one that I could not let simmer…that the baby days are receding into the past. When I was having my first baby, my then manager at Bank of Canada gave me the best advice — “ Your baby will be a baby only once”. That is what had led me to take my full 52 weeks of maternity leave which Canada’s enlightened government makes possible. And now, once again I could hear her voice in my head. The fact that I was now working full- time, building my niche in the AI industry meant even if I could set time aside, I had nearly no energy to plan and engage in educational activities with my daughters. I love teaching and not being able to teach them creatively feels like a loss. There is a place for whiling time away together, it is beautiful to hygge together. Yet my idea of a parenting experience necessarily involves learning and discovering together.
Since my daughter’s debut into school life, I’ve observed that kindergarten is nothing but learning through play. This is excellent because all the misguided emphasis on skill building and rote learning hinders wild imagination that children are naturally predisposed to. Yet, why should this “play” occur for nearly 8 hours a day in a confined space? Why in just one classroom? Or in just one building? or just one town for that matter? The wheels of my mind had started turning, and they would not stop until I landed upon the idea of travel-schooling my family.
Over the next year or so, until Sanaa enters Grade 1, we are running an experiment. We are going to engage in experiential learning as a family. I am going to pursue my AI enthusiasm in ways other than my job, my husband is taking a sabbatical from SimpliFlying. This storyline of students, single professionals or even young couples taking a “gap year” to travel is not new. However, we would like to craft our travel-schooling journey differently — here the focus is not on the travel and not on seeing new places/cultures , but it is on the sustained immersion in a few curated experiences that amaze, amuse, enthral. Be it near home or on a faraway island, we want to witness the wonder in their eyes, first hand.
We begin in late February, in Tahiti. I hope you will follow us on our journey virtually through the stories I’ll be posting here.
