The Spontaneous Travel Mom: An In Depth Interview

Looking for a little travel inspiration? Look no further! Maddy from School Less in Seattle is my go to resource for all things hiking, Pacific Northwest, and family travel. She is the adventure mom I aspire to be!

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Travel Mom Maddy By The Numbers

Maddy is a busy mom of two energetic boys, ages 6 and 8, who balances travel with parenting and homeschooling. She’s been to 25 states and 11 countries, proving it’s entirely possible to travel after becoming a parent!

Have You Always Loved Traveling?

I have loved traveling since I was a little kid. I have a very fond memory of being 7 years old and looking through travel books with my mom as she planned our family trip to Europe to visit family living in Germany at the time and her letting me pick where we stayed in England. I felt so grown up and thrilled to be in charge of choosing the hotel for our family for a few days. As a kid we went on lots of camping trips and weekend trips to southern Utah to hike in the beautiful red rocks and enjoy some warmer weather. My mom took us to lots of national parks since she grew up in national parks. My grandfather was a park ranger. I always loved visiting the parks she lived in as a kid and now I get to take my kids and show them where their Tutu lived and explored as a kid (sometimes with my mom along with us!).

Why Is Travel Important To Your Family?

Wow, what a great question. We feel like experiencing both new and loved places together is one of the best ways to live life, to spend time as a family, and to learn. 

How Do You Find Time For Travel?

We homeschool and my husband is self-employed and works remotely. We have prioritized that lifestyle so we can travel and adventure frequently and spontaneously. This spring we will be starting a new lifestyle of traveling full-time in our travel trailer and cannot wait for this new adventure. 

Biggest Travel Mistake You’ve Made?

Road tripping when the weather calls for snow. I grew up driving in the snow a lot but there is a big difference between driving 10 minutes to the grocery store in the snow and driving many hours on a lonely highway in the snow. Don’t do it!

Craziest Travel Story?

This is related to the above. Our first son was 8 months old and I felt desperate to retreat to the desert for a few days on a winter weekend. We found a deal on a hotel in Moab, UT and were really looking forward to a little getaway. The day we left called for snow but we figured if we rerouted and took a more southern route it would just be rain. We were wrong. We ended up driving in a blizzard on a very empty section of I-70 without cell reception, crying baby, afraid we would get stuck in the snow if we pulled over at all, so I climbed in the back and nursed my baby boy by leaning over his car seat so he could stay buckled and we could keep driving. 10/10 would not recommend. 

What Is One Piece of Advice You would give to families who are nervous to start traveling?

Be as prepared as you can be and let the rest go. Make a packing list, pack extra snacks, bring and do the things that help you feel prepared and ready.  And then accept that you can’t prepare for everything and that something will probably go awry and that it will still be worth it. And it gets easier every time. 

Favorite Travel Destination And Why?

It feels impossible to choose one so I will share a few favorites. I have completely fallen in love with the PNW and love the many places we explore close to home: Mount Rainier, North Cascades, the Oregon Coast, Olympic National Park. The water and forests of the PNW are hard to beat. We also spent a month in Baja, Mexico this winter and fell in love with it as a family: surfing, cactus everywhere, whales and sea turtles. I also love exploring the desert of the Southwest. I’m originally from Utah and absolutely love the red rocks of southern Utah and taking my kids to the places I explored as a little kid. We haven’t taken the kids yet but I am always wanting to get back to Positano, Italy. We went on our honeymoon and it was an absolute dream– gelato and pasta and the most gorgeous beaches and charming coastal town.

Where would you recommend as a family vacation destination for first-timers to the pNW?

Another hard question to answer as the whole region is absolutely gorgeous but if I have to choose one I think I’d say the Oregon coast. We love camping near Cannon Beach and hiking to Short Sands Beach to surf. Crescent Beach is another gorgeous hike in the area, as well as Ecola State Park. The whole coastline is out of this world beautiful. 

How did you decide to start homeschooling? What is wildschooling or unschooling?

Our journey to homeschool was very gradual. We talked about it in terms of “if” for a long time, even before our kids were born and then “if” gradually turned to “when.” I was a classroom teacher before staying home with my sons and have always been passionate about education. A big reason we decided to homeschool is because of my experience teaching in the classroom and the contrast between traditional school and the play-based, outdoor-focused, child-led approach I want for my kids.

Wildschooling is all about learning outdoors and in nature. It’s place-based learning: learning the names of the birds you’re hearing and the plants you’re observing along the side of the trail. Unschooling is a child-led self-directed approach to learning. We aren’t strict unschoolers and do use some curriculum but we have a relaxed approach to our children’s education and much of how they spend their time and what they learn is up to them. 

how do you incorporate homeschooling into travel?

A lot of our learning while traveling is experiential learning. We visit museums and explore nature, learning the flora and fauna of a new place. Reading practice is often reading signs on trails, roads and maps. Math is calculating times, distances and speeds. Much of the homeschooling we did on our most recent family road trip was skiing. We skied every day for a week on our recent trip to Utah and our kids progressed and learned so much about skiing during that focused week of practice. We bring journals on our travels for the kids to document their experiences and to practice writing and drawing skills. We bring books and kindles along on trips so they can practice their independent reading and I can continue our daily read alouds. We play math games with grandparents and friends.

One of my favorite parts of homeschooling while road tripping is that we often have in-depth conversations with the kids while driving for hours at a time. On our drive to Bend a few days ago we had a deep discussion of the risks, benefits and concerns of self-driving vehicles. The kids came up with so many great questions and ideas and didn’t even realize how much they were learning through conversation. 

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I loved getting to know Maddy more. She has been such an inspiration to me on Instagram, I hope she has made you feel like being an adventure mom is within reach!

If you’d like to learn more about adventure mom Maddy check out her Instagram profile . Looking for more travel mom inspiration, don’t forget to learn a little bit more about me too!