Tell me about yourself and your family. What do you do?
I was a stay-at-home mother and home-schooled my children for 8 years, and they actually just started going to school. I do love to teach my kids from home, though! You can’t expect school to cover everything; there’s always going to be something else that you’d love for your children to learn and I love being able to be a part of their learning process.
Interesting! Have you always loved traveling?
My husband and I have always had a heart for traveling and culture. Before we had children, we both lived overseas. I left the States, moved to Spain, and enrolled in a university there to take an immersion class. While I was in Spain, I traveled all over the country by myself. My husband was in the military and stationed in Germany and while he was there, so he traveled constantly. Now we are able to travel together! We have such a love for different cultures.
That’s wonderful. So how did you first discover Try The World?
I started a blog to get the word out and find supporters to cheer us on as we go “around the world” with the kids. A friend of mine sent me a Try The World link, and the rest is history! We soon bought our first box. Try The World is a great fit for the dream that my husband and I have: to educate our children out of school and to travel the world with them. We really believe that the world is a better classroom than a school classroom.
We loved the Morocco Box! It has the makings of an entire meal. My children love to be a part of the cooking process. We used the spice rub on a chicken, argan oil on the beans, and ate the cookies for dessert. Furthermore, one of my daughters even tried sardines! I’m also thinking about gifting a Morocco Box to my nephews; they would love it. In the Argentina Box, we thought to put some dulce de leche on s’mores. It was a huge hit—the girls loved it! We also loved the green olive paste; it was unbelievable. The boxes do a great job connecting food and culture and that is so important for us.
Wow! It definitely sounds like your kids enjoyed the box.
They loved it! With school and after school activities, it remained unopened for a few days. The day of the big unveiling, the girls were bouncing up and down with excitement. They were even more excited the second time around because of how much fun they had had with the first box. Once we’ve pulled everything out, I always ask “what’s the one thing you want to try?” For Morocco, one of my daughters chose the cookies (not surprising) and the othe chose the sardines—definitely surprising!
Do you think that the box enhanced your ability to teach your kids about different cultures?
Without question! I sent some of the links to other homeschooling families. I absolutely think it’s a great way to teach children about different cultures. There are many families like ours who would appreciate Try The World. We love it and hope to continue!
