Here is an introductory video that Jeanne has made which explains more about her and her family. We were supposed to include this with the original post. Apologies for our oversight.
We are a very ordinary family and we are into our third year of an open-ended world tour, living well and traveling to four continents, 29 countries and over 75,000 miles while living on $25K a year! Today, one can live and school anywhere in the world and all you need is a laptop (or three in our case). We have found that it is easier, cheaper and more rewarding than most people realize, so we want everyone to know that.
We did not set out to be trail blazers, but we seem to be doing this longer than any other family and we have learned a lot along the way that we are more than happy to share. We did not expect so much interest in our journey, but then we recently read that 70 percent of families would like to do extended world travel. Thus, we realized that we already know a lot of the keys for living that dream and want to support it for others.
We are thrilled that we have inspired others to go for their own journey and see this trend toward digital nomadic living increasing in these turbulent economic times. Families have different needs and concerns than singles or couples do when it comes to a digital nomadic life.
One of our main reasons for our world tour was to educate our child. We have found that there is no better educational opportunity for tomorrow’s global citizen of the 21st century. There are many obvious advantages of life as a field trip and the world as one’s classroom, and we have been astounded by the incredibly beautiful sights and generous, kind people that we have met.
There are also simply amazing educational opportunities online that supports our daughter’s education. Little did we know when we began, but education is going through a major shift now and in our searching for answers, we have met and collaborated with some of the best educational innovators on the planet.
My daughter was five when we began and just turned eight this fall, so she does not spend much time on the laptop yet, but as a digital native, she will be doing more and more of her work there. Even now she takes her piano lessons in Spain via live Skype webcam with a teacher in Chicago.
She loves e-libraries, does some of her home-schooling on the computer, talks to family and friends at home using her webcam, has her own blog, and is taking a course this semester with John Hopkins University’s CTY program online with kids from around the country. She has even been interviewed by school kids in Boston live via Skype webcam calls!
We also do volunteer work by taking disadvantaged school kids (from Harlem, South Bronx etc ) with us virtually through an award winning non-profit called ReachTheWorld. (Please feel free to donate to this fantastic program and tell them that Soultravelers3 from the Journey to Europe sent you!).
Our daughter was a full participant in the Powerpoint presentation when we met the kids in person at their schools and she helps with the journals and live chats as well. She helps a great deal with the planning of our trip and is a master now at maps plus a multitude of subway and bus routes from cities around the world. It is astonishing that this child who had never taken a bus before we left, is now an expert on travel by freighter ship, train, buses, sailboats, ferries, horses, bikes, hiking, camels and more!
One of the highlights for her when she rode in on a camel into the Sahara in Morocco at the age of six and played a violin concert for 60 Berber children who had never seen a violin and who live without running water.
I never imagined that a middle-aged mom like me with mobility challenges could do a camel trek deep into the Sahara with my family via independent travel, but it turned out to be a great blessing as so much of our trip has been.
If you have ever dreamed about extended travel with your family, I am here to be a witness to let you know that it can be done and extraordinary things can happen to very ordinary people. The hardest part is making that choice, the rest is easy!
Oh, and one hazard of this world digital nomad life is you some times end up with bad haircuts, so sorry we don’t look our best in the video. 
One learns to be ever flexible on the road and little things like colds and bad haircuts,thus they can’t stop us from getting the message out!
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This is a great post and provides some great insight into what you do when you’re traveling as a family. I’m writing this to you from sunny Monterrey, Mexico, where I am absolutely living as a digital nomad blogging on my Dell Mini 9 netbook for my trip here to work with local orphanages. I start each day early as most of the people in my group sleep much later than I do and also to have some quiet time before the day gets busy.
I try to write 2-3 posts per day as all the families are trying to keep abreast of what we’re doing down here and how their spouses and some of their kids are doing. We’re taking rented local buses to the children’s homes each day so I can take advantage of doing some writing while driving and then finish up when we return home in the evening. We’re working with an organization called Back2Back Ministries, a Christian organization that trys to help provide for some of the physical needs of the homes and their children. Wifi is available at the campus where we’re staying and I can occassionally find a signal while we’re driving but it doesn’t last long.
Cheers to all the digital nomads where ever you are today, tonight!
It is so great that you are doing this, that your daughter gets to experience this! I was just telling my boyfriend recently that if I had kids, this is what I would want them to do, learn through experience, not from a book in a classroom. I’m sure you have some great information to share and maybe you will inspire other families to do the same.
Happy Travels to you!
Waving to you Bruce in Mexico, from my laptop here in Spain!
Thanks MantaTravel and Bruce for the comments. Studies do show that experiential learning is one of the best ways to go and that we actually stay more ” in the moment” while traveling which helps in learning too. I love it that she can do lots of her schooling outside in nature.
I can really relate to the writing in the quiet hours and while driving! You would be amazed at how much work I get done on long drives even without wifi and it sure makes the time pass quickly. My daughter even does a lot of homeschooling while we drive.
Sounds like a fantastic program that you are involved with in Mexico! My daughter’s best friend from California has gone the last two years on a similar program called ” Club Dust” in Tecate, Mexico and even her 4 year old sister helped! Keep up the good work.
Carpe Diem everyone!