Deciding to go abroad for 1 year with 4 kids

“Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings.” - ~ Hodding Carter

The past two years have been a whirlwind — both good and bad. Like everyone else, for several months we didn’t see family, friends or get to do any of our “normal” activities. At the same time, our business took off (we had pivoted into facemasks) and it was quite exciting. Our 4 kids, who were 2,2,4,4 at the beginning of Covid, got to participate in countless community service activities and got a front row seat in our donations of nearly 250,000 face masks, as well as national and international press. My husband, Adam, and I had never worked harder in our lives, balancing a scaling business and taking care of our 4 children, but, it all felt worth it. At the same time, we missed our traveling days and while we are so thankful of having a beautiful home, and being close to family and friends, we had the itch (IYKYK).

Adam runs a business called Timroon, which is based in Vietnam. They help companies manufacture products in Asia. This business had allowed us to live between Saigon and Boston for the past 6 years, but with Covid, we stayed put in Boston. Our other business is Rafi Nova; it started as a lifestyle accessories brand on a mission to empower women and get families out for adventures. It pivoted into face masks, then back to travel accessories. However, my gut tells me that Rafi Nova is destined for something new… something else… any guesses? (more on that later).

It seemed that the stars aligned for us to do a year abroad starting September 2022. For some time, we kept it from close family, as we didn’t have any solidified plans, just that we knew we wanted to go, somewhere! Over the past 2 months, things just started to fall into place. We notified the kids schools (little twins going into pre-k, big twins going into 1st grade) that they won’t be attending school next year, we found a great school in Vietnam that will take the kids on a term by term basis, we reserved an apartment where we used to live in Saigon, and we told family and friends the news!

Our plan is to stay in Vietnam until January 2023, and then pick one country per month and return summer 2023 (will homeschool when the kids aren’t in school).

Of course, some people weren’t fond of the idea, “don’t you know first grade is a pivotal year in your kids development?!”…. As their parents, we feel that “worldschooling” (while also attending school and homeschooling) is the best for our kids. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and to each their own, but this is what we want to do as a family.

We are really excited for our family, specifically our kids, to spread their wings and experience the world. It is so important to us, their parents, for them to be culturally aware, culturally diverse and to know where they came from but to see, explore, consume, learn, give, teach… all around cultures.

Stay tuned for all of our adventures!

xoxo,
MARISSA + ADAM