so they each bought a journal and reading book with the plan on picking more up along the way. We reasoned that the trip itself would be a wonderful learning experience and we could work out ways to do subjects like maths and science as we travelled.

Our four month journey in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Taiwan was a true education for all of us. We learnt ancient history at the temples of Angkor and heart wrenching modern history about the Kymer Rouge's reign of terror in Cambodia. We watched locals worship at the Buddhist and Taoist temples in Taiwan. In Thailand and Cambodia the way people lived in small tin shacks, children without shoes and a day's visit to an orphanage helped us all to appreciate our blessings. We ate everything from Thai curries and bright green noodles to pizza. One menu in a restaurant in Taiwan read like a zoo, so we made a very quick exit.

Some days we did manage to sit down and do some maths, writing or drawing, but mostly we read lots and saw a great deal. These were things that we could never teach our children from books and we are grateful that we had the opportunity to show them a different side to life.

At present, after our trip we are settled in Florida again, back to a more formal way of learning, with two fantastic libraries close by, bookstores galore and busy involvement in our church. We are probably more organized than ever, starting everyday with reading a chapter of the bible, before getting on with our day.

At sixteen Candace is working part time in our family business while continuing to study maths, English and to read voraciously. She is always crafting something. The latest creations have been some origami bird mobiles, knitted blankets for some friends and jewellery. We are lucky to live near the beach so she sometimes takes her Austen down with her for an hour or two.

Lara's favourite phrase is 'did you know?' as she always has her head in some fact book or website. A while ago we realized that she had a whole different way of learning than her sister so we decided to use some correspondence courses for her. She is currently studying maths and psychology. She mostly works through it herself and sends in assignments to her tutor via email. A couple of times a week we sit down and study an English literature course. When she isn't reading she is usually drawing. I keep promising to write a book so that she can illustrate it for me!

Our decision to home school seems to have been taken so long ago and yet it feels like yesterday that we were setting off on this journey that has taken us through more than seven different countries, and led us down paths we never even considered we would be taking. It's only on looking back over the last ten years that we can happily say, without a doubt, that we made the right choice.

Learn more about this author, Georgia Fowler.
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