Mrs LikeFood and I are pondering jacking it in for a year with our 7 yr old and doing something completely different. It’s something we’ve thought about before in an abstract way and obviously as a pipe dream, but seems closer to reality now than ever before.

Ideas include cycle touring, touring in a camper van, working abroad, doing temp work and travelling month on/off… Or just totally reloacting.

As a background we both have professional jobs, financially we could rent our house in the UK and cover the mortgage and have savings that allow a year of off-grid type living.

Would you? Have you?

Or do we just need to tough it out, not uproot junior from school and realise we have first world mid-life issues?

Definitely do it. Friends did a 1yr rtw trip taking their kids out of school (ages 8-12?) came back and kids went into the same classes. I think the educational benefit of the trip will be huge for your 7yo.

If you have the opportunity then take it, as it may never come along again, and when you’re old and grey, you’ll regret not taking the chance.

At 7, a year travelling will teach them significantly more than being in a classroom. Formal education is over rated anyway.

Personally I’d just travel an not bother working as that will just defeat the purpose of what you’re trying to do.

Do it.

In some countries kids don’t even start school till 7. If you’re that worried about his education then you could take the textbooks with you and try and teach him on the road! Personally, if I could do it, I would. My parents sent me to tour a different country at 15 to play sport. Missing a term of school made no difference to my O/Level results.

Missing a term of school made no difference to my O/Level results.

How do you know?

How do you know?

Oooh, I know this one! Because you can’t get more than the highest grade in all subjects?

Richpips did just this I think. It sounded amazing.

Or do we just need to tough it out, not uproot junior from school and realise we have first world mid-life issues?

Get on and do it, youve germinated an idea now let it grow……. YKTR

Why do you want to do it? Is it to run away from things? In which case my answer is no. The stresses of travelling especially with a kid will not help at all if you are wanting to get away from something anmd it will not change anything else ( unless its work stress yo want away from)

If it s a positive thing -then Yes. at 7 he will make up any missed schooling and its better now than later for him – so its now or not for another 11 years

Thanks, loads of helpful advice and stuff to think about.

@tjagain. That’s probably the crux of it, but when you’re deep in ‘it’ it feels hard to unravel the real motivation.

Oooh, I know this one! Because you can’t get more than the highest grade in all subjects?

Swooon arent you wonderful

Oooh, I know this one! Because you can’t get more than the highest grade in all subjects?

😀 yeah I think you fair owned him with that one. On the other hand, being so smart, you should also know that such a limited data set is hardly a valid base from which to extrapolate a theory to the general population.

I recently found out that a guy I’d been good riding buddies with at school undertook a bike ride from China back to the UK via Mongolia with his wife and two children (who were seven and four at the time). It took them eight months.

On the other hand, being so smart, you should also know that such a limited data set is hardly a valid base from which to extrapolate a theory to the general population.

Especially if you are part of the tiny numbers in the population who get 8 A’s at o level or whatever you got.

recently found out that a guy I’d been good riding buddies with at school undertook a bike ride from China back to the UK via Mongolia with his wife and two children (who were seven and four at the time). It took them eight months.

Awesome stuff!!

Yeah, go for it.

Overlanding is great. Gives you a real feel of progression as you see the differences between each country.

Get an old Landcruiser with a roof tent and you can go anywhere. Or, if you prefer fixing things, a Landrover. 😉

It might be good and if planned well positive for son/daughter. However, last line suggests that real motives need to be addressed first possibly. Unlikely to be resolved in the back of a camper van.

CY :D.

I spend much of my waking moments thinking there must be a better way than the ‘normal’ day to day existence.

Go for it! Modern society sucks…

It’s an idea so crazy it might just work! We travelled for a year pre kids, had we not I would have considered taking the kids at some point, happy now with 2-3 weeks of school holiday adventuring.

At that age I can’t see a problem with a block of time out of school, the sooner the better, school gets more difficult and important as they get older. Of course you would be wise to spend some time each week tutoring, so they are not staring from scratch on return.

Do it.
You won’t regret doing it – the fact that you ask the question shows that.
At that age kids will be better off with the experience as you will all learn so much by doing it.
Just look at the amount of formal education in Finland, and they have one of the most successful education systems in the world

If you don’t do it, you will look back and wish you had – been there.
It’s not a long time.

Bit out there, but does it really matter what his motives to travel are?

Ultimately, you’re not going to regret spending 7 months with your family are you? Even if it brings things to a head and forces you to confront what you’re avoiding then it will be time well spent. I don’t know OP’s personal situation, but sometimes it can be good to spend time away from it.

I took a couple of months of unpaid leave to travel with my family (GrahamS off here told me about unpaid parental leave. I’m in his debt if he ever decides to collect!) so I”m definitely biased. It did help me realise how much work my wife did, how demanding childcare is, how I could help and how quickly children grow up.

If you’re worried about what he’s missed at school you could always catch him up once he’s back. There are so many resources out there these days. If you could save up for 7 months of travelling then I’m sure once you’re back and working you can put some money towards tutoring for your son if you absolutely had to.

Re limited datasets and all that. First, it’s not about me, it’s about OP. Ultimately, he’ll have to decide what’s right for his family. Second, I don’t have access to information about what happens when you take a child out of school for an arbitrary amount of time, so I hope anecdotes will suffice. If either geetee or aa have evidence then please feel free to share!

If either geetee or aa have evidence then please feel free to share!

I have no evidence and its not something I’d worry about much. I was just tickled by the “it made no difference to me comment”. Fair enough if the poster got all A’s or whatever.

If either geetee or aa have evidence then please feel free to share!

I was just being cheeky! I thought the ‘oooh I know this one….’ remark laugh out loud funny.

We have done it twice, fantastic. Be prepared for the possibility of living differently for ever more.

Just sitting down and catching up with everyone’s replies,thanks for all the input.

I guess the real brake for me/us (and perhaps most people?) is loss aversion. Life isn’t ‘bad’ by anymeans and we count our blessings as my mum used to say every day so stepping away from that (critically leaving good jobs) seems almost impossible. But there is that nagging sense of wanting to start an adventure that seems to crop up.

At the very least this mini mid-life crisis will help us focus on what we really want tongue doing with our time/money. Although the idea of a land cruiser with a tent on the top is hugely appealing!

My friend took is two kids out of school for a years adventure, they are 8 and 11. Travelled from NZ basically all the way round the world with a few months in various places and shorter blasts inbetween, the kids learnt heaps and when i saw them recently the stories and experiences were definitely defining rather than limiting. They did home schooling all the way round and the kids have settled back into school and performing really well. The whole family really enjoyed the experience which isn’t all easy by thw way. Respect to them for doing it and hitting some interesting places like Iran !

@tang how would you say you’re living differently?