Tessa Hawes wanted to create her dream life by travelling the world
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Tessa Hawes, 46 from Chelmsford, Essex, and her husband Arron, 47, aren’t fans of the UK’s schooling system.
Instead, they’ve taken their children Oscar, 11 and Annie, 6, out of class for ‘world schooling,’ which sees them travel the world.
‘Five years ago my husband and I asked ourselves, what would be doing if we were living our dream life?’ says Tessa. ‘We both agreed that travelling the world as a family was it so we set about putting plans into place.’
While Tessa had a successful job as a financial advisor and senior leader in the City for 23 years, she found it challenging to do both roles, so quit in 2013 to be a more present mum.
The family began planning their escapades and to change ‘the norm,’ and set off in 2022.
Tessa and her family picked out the fave places to travel to
She says: ‘We sat around our kitchen island with a huge map of the world in front of us and five sticky post-it notes each. We stuck them on the map where our dream locations would be – with a few tweaks that was pretty much our route!
‘The kids were involved in the planning and were fully invested in the vision and excited about the adventures to come.’
The children’s school wished them well
As they finalised details, Aaron quit his job in retail and began two franchises that would enable him to work more flexibly, a lifestyle coaching company, Boss Your Morning, and MiniMe Mindfulness.’
‘We then worked on renting out our home, finances and speaking with the school,’ says Tessa. ‘As it’s a private school Oscar was already one year ahead, and they encouraged us to carry on reading and writing with Annie.
‘Once they knew we were leaving, they just wished us well and said based on what we wanted to do it sounded like a wonderful educational trip!’
Tessa says that once the wheels were in motion they shared the news with friends and family.
‘The first question that anyone asked was ‘But what about school?’ and ‘What are you doing to do with your house and jobs?’ As a society, we are hardwired to go to school, college, university, get a job and retire.
‘Therefore people’s responses are expected when challenging what’s normal.’
Tessa’s family decided to book one-way tickets only (Picture: Supplied)
She adds: ‘Some didn’t actually make any comment but raised an eyebrow at our choice, so I would say that maybe they are disgruntled with their own lives and don’t have the courage to change.’
Tessa had no reservations that this was the best thing to do for her family and decided to book one-way tickets only.
‘We wanted the flexibility to decide how long we wanted to stay and the ability to change the route if we desired,’ she says.
The first country they visited was Cape Town, South Africa.
‘When stepping off the plane, I felt ecstatic and extremely proud that our dream had become our reality. The kids loved that they had their own bedroom in our apartment!’
The children started ‘world-schooling’ which doesn’t involve sitting at a desk (Picture: Supplied)
The family mainly stays in apartments so they can cook their own food and have so far visited 15 countries.
This includes South Africa, Zanzibar, Uganda, UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Costa Rica.
‘With the use of technology it’s been easy enough to translate things, and find flights, coaches, accommodation and our way around,’ she says.
‘The only real challenge was packing so Arron and I could carry everything from place to place. With three backpacks and a small rucksack each, there were plenty of Barbies and gaming tech, which took up space!’
Pacing themselves has been important, she adds, so the family take regular rest days without travel and sightseeing so the young children can stay energised.
‘Knowing that whatever we put our mind to we can do is very empowering for us’ (Picture: Supplied)
The adventure serves as a significant learning experience for her children, argues Tessa, who believes the UK schooling system is flawed.
‘Most teachers do a wonderful job with the tools and time that they have but are often so bogged down with red tape that they don’t have the time to get the very best out of each student,’ she says.
‘We are big fans of kids doing school but mainly for the social aspect, to play team sports and learn in the traditional sense.
‘However, there’s a big wide world out there and I truly believe education, fun and experience have benefitted our children far more than sitting at a desk in a classroom in the last year.
‘Plus the school system is largely based on achieving academic grades and we have opened our children’s eyes and hearts to a world that is focussed on so much more than a grade on a piece of paper.’
Tessa believes that conventional school is not the only option
So, what does ‘world schooling’ actually involve?
‘There’s no fixed curriculum because every day is a school day,’ says Tessa.
‘For us, learning about the slave trade in East Africa whilst sitting in one of the dungeons in the old slave market in Zanzibar is way more impactful than learning in a classroom from books and videos.’
Tessa tells Metro its not luck that made their world travelling happen.
Being immersed in different cultures and integrating into local communities is a key part of their journey.
‘There’s the practical skills that children learn such as travelling by boat, coach, plane as well as understanding money, how to budget, convert currencies and spend wisely,’ Tessa adds.
‘Then there’s the social skills, courage, kindness, and wisdom that all come with world schooling.’
The family have encountered some challenges along the way, such as language barriers and not always having the right cooking facilities.
‘In South America, we were naively surprised that people didn’t understand us and mildly frustrated that we didn’t learn Spanish on route (which we planned to do but in reality, didn’t prioritise it).
‘We got by with Google Translate and hand signals!’
The parents believe this adventure has already taught their children to live life the way they choose.
‘They say ‘the magic happens outside of your comfort zone’ and the one comment disgruntles me is “You are so lucky!”‘ she says.
‘We are lucky that we were born into a country which allows us many choices – but the rest was dreaming, planning, working hard and making it happen.’
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‘Some people raised eyebrows, but that’s their problem.’