Pearce On Earth

28/04/2020

So proud of our Marie .elise.pearce who is getting so good at the harp! I love hearing her practice. Very soothing and beautiful.

She's learning through tutorials she's finding online. She thinks she might be ready for a teacher now, though. If you know of a good harp teacher willing to teach online, please let us know.

11/04/2020

One of my new favorite hobbies: saving the trees in our backyard forest from the English ivy that is overtaking it.

I love cutting and ripping out the ivy, revealing beautiful trunks and roots and prevent the ivy from reaching the tree tops and choking out the light. For some trees, it may already be too late, but there are plenty of gorgeous trees here still to save.

Along the way, I hope to make some beautiful walking paths through this forest for us to enjoy.

Unfortunately, I discovered some poison ivy shoots in the forest as well, so will have to find a way to get rid of that without harming myself or the ecosystem... @ Greenville, South Carolina

29/03/2020

Let the outdoor active fun increase! This week, we bought a trampoline (Amazon delivered) and worked together to assemble it and make a place for it in the backyard.

As our backyard is just dirt, we dug a hole to make it level, ordered a truckload of woodchips, and shoveled them in. It was a good project for all of us. And now the kids will have another reason to get outside, get some exercise, and enjoy the increasingly warm weather. (We've had a few days in the 80's F this week!) Lots of fun ahead. @ Greenville, South Carolina

22/03/2020

I'm so grateful these friends have had each other this week. It's been so special seeing the bonding that's been happening through their late night talks, art projects, gaming, movies, music making, and the building and gardening projects we're doing together.

22/03/2020

One of the fun ways we've chosen to pass our time during this week of self-quarantine is to get outside and do some building!

We're fortunate that we have friends living with us during this time. And also that is a master builder. With his expertise and ideas (and tools), our families took down the wood fence in our back yard that seemed to be serving no purpose except blocking our view of the forest. And we repurposed the wood to build raised planter beds to grow vegetables.

It was a lot of work ripping out the planks, pulling out nails, measuring, sawing, screwing, nailing, digging, and more. But it felt really good to be doing some physical work outside together as two families and seeing our results by the end.

Actually, it's not over. Next, we're going to build a retaining wall, lay down wood chips, and set up a trampoline for the kids – really making the backyard usable. We've also been experimenting with cultivating moss in the front yard, which has involved a lot of weeding. And we've continued cutting the sometimes thigh-thick ivy trunks off the base of our beautiful trees so they don't get overtaken.

How have you been enjoying additional forced time at home? @ Greenville, South Carolina

07/03/2020

Our beautiful Aysia, during our last days in San Miguel. @ San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

23/02/2020

We're back in Mexico! But just for a few more days as we make final preparations leading up to selling our house here. It feels great to be back but it also feels like it's time to be living somewhere else.

I've missed the food and the color and energy and the convenient walkability of this town, and I'm sure we'll find our way back here at some point. Until then, I'm soaking it all up as much as I can.

@ San Miguel De Allende Guanajuato Pueblo Mágico

09/02/2020

Snow has landed. It's what the kids have been waiting all winter for. Glad they could make their snowmen and we could enjoy the white landscape all from the comfort of home. @ Greenville, South Carolina

30/01/2020

Family Adventure Summit tickets are on early bird sale until January 31! Come join your worldschooling friends in beautiful Penticton BC, Canada this Sep 5-9, 2020. With dozens of activities for the kids, an awesome teen program, and many interesting discussions, sessions, and non-cerebral activities for adults, it's an event you won't want to miss.
Get discounted tickets today at http://familyadventuresummit.com
Last year, we had 300 people join us in Bali. This year, we're returning to the first place we held the event in 2017. Here is a video from some of our 2017 attendees about their experience:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAPIqvhme7A&feature=emb_logo

The Family Adventure Summit is an in-person gathering of 400+ inspiring people intent on living with purpose and adventure. It’s a super fun, high energy, and family-focused event to celebrate family connection, life learning, long-term travel, community, creative living, and enjoying life to the ...

04/01/2020

Marie loves her new fairy lights. She's thrown a couple "Under the Sea" dance parties for our family in her room as the lights change colors. The mermaid tail she got from her sister also fits the theme.

29/12/2019

There has been a lot of moisture in our front yard this week, and a sweet little mushroom garden has sprouted up right outside Aysia's window. "Winter" this week has been particularly warm, with highs in the upper 60's. So far, I'm quite pleased with winter in the South. @ Greenville, South Carolina

26/12/2019

A beautiful winter sunset. We can see it a lot better in the winter when the leaves are gone. Such amazing colors this world offers! @ Greenville, South Carolina

07/12/2019

On our date this week, Jen and I stumbled into this artist studio / maker's space in Traveler's Rest (isn't that the perfect name of a town for us?), where they hold weekly classes for homeschoolers, including teen groups, to learn about art, science, history, and more, in fun and creative ways. We look forward to our kids checking this out in the weeks ahead. I love that there are opportunities like this here!

06/12/2019

Look who has learned how to ride a bike! @ Greenville, South Carolina

03/12/2019

Highlights from the 2019 Family Adventure Summit in Ubud, Bali!

http://familyadventuresummit.com - The Family Adventure Summit in Ubud, Bali was a huge success! 300 people (around 75 families) gathered to celebrate living...

03/12/2019

Are you interested in long-term family travel? Join me this April in Portland Oregon for the next Family Adventure Academy! Watch this video to learn more and I hope to see you there!

02/11/2019

Do you know of an amazing venue that would work for the Family Adventure Summit?

Do you know a good place to hold Family Adventure Summit? Is there a city, town, or a specific venue you think would be perfect for the event? Or would you like to help us find one? If so, we invite you to become one of our official Family Adventure Summit Location Scouts! The world is a big p

31/10/2019

Two Weeks in Kerala, India

With the dozens of countries we've visited over the past decade, we kept putting off traveling to India with our kids mostly because we heard it can be a bit intense, and a place where it's easy to get sick. We've always wanted to go, but with young children regularly putting fingers in their mouths

30/10/2019

7 Things to Do in Luang Prabang, Laos

After a full and beautiful two weeks of running our At Home in the World Retreats in Bali with the Kaponay Family, we decided to renew our visa by taking a quick 2-week trip to Luang Prabang, Laos. Why Laos? Because: We had never been here before It looks absolutely beautiful from the pictu

30/10/2019

The colors!!! We had such a fun time driving the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, North Carolina yesterday, seeing these beautiful leaves turning in their various stages.

There's also a lovely folk art center on the journey with beautiful pottery, paintings, crafts, and more.

The weather was perfect and we're so glad we're getting to enjoy this season this year. Now we get to watch the leaves change color in our backyard over the next few weeks.

🍁🍂 @ Blue Ridge Parkway

29/10/2019

How to raise Entrepreneurs!

It's exciting to see my kids learning important life skills at a much younger age than I did, and actually earning money with these skills! I suppose when I was around 14 years old, I did start doing random work for people, including typing documents, computer repair, or consulting people on comp

26/10/2019

We have arrived in Greenville, South Carolina! And we love it! This is really quite a charming city. Downtown is so beautifully developed and landscaped with the tree-lined main street and the river with waterfalls, bridges, and walkways that weave through the beautiful downtown park. Buildings are tastefully designed, using bricks in a way that kind of merges an classic old style with a new one.

The city (beyond downtown) is much bigger than I expected –around 500,000 people in the surrounding areas. And we can find pretty much everything we're looking for. Shopping is easy. The people seem very friendly and also have incredibly good manners (in conversation, meals, and driving) and I realize I have some things to learn there.

We're starting to tap into the homeschooling community and the various classes, co-ops, and activities that exist, and are looking forward to meet more families here that we resonate with. The kids are also getting excited about Halloween.

This city has so much to offer, and we're all kind of feeling like we've found our next home.

@ Greenville, South Carolina

25/10/2019

We love our new home here in Greenville, South Carolina! We're renting it for at least 3 months but it's kind of a dream home for us, with everything we've been wanting and more coming together in one place:

- a forest in the backyard (almost 2 acres!) with views from the house
- a bedroom for each of our kids
- two offices complete with external monitors
- a place for guests to stay (this house has 6 bedrooms and two kitchens!)
- a library of books
- a digital piano
- easy temperature controls and combo door locks
- tastefully and simply designed and furnished
- an abundance of toys for the kids, as well as art supplies, and games for the family
- well-equipped kitchen(s) with tools like a vitamix and waffle maker
- a short drive (or even walk or bike ride) to a great grocery store
- less than 15 minutes drive from the city center (and a beautiful city it is!)
- short bike ride to beautiful trails that span the city.
- super fast internet (over 100mbps down and 10-20mbps up).

In short, we feel really grateful that this opportunity fell into our laps and we look forward to seeing what comes over the next few months.

@ Greenville, South Carolina

25/10/2019

We had such a warm welcome from our friends () to their beautiful home here in Greenville, South Carolina, that we're going to be renting for the next several months.

We're glad we could spend a day or so together before they left, getting to know each other better, while the kids had a lot of fun laughing and playing and doing art projects. And we're grateful to have such a beautiful and well-equipped home to enjoy while we're here.


@ Greenville, South Carolina

24/10/2019

This is our back yard for the next 3+ months here in Greenville, South Carolina!! - We're excited to enjoy almost 2 acres of beautiful forest to explore and bask in!

The leaves will start turning any day now to bring some beautiful colors as well. Should be a lovely Autumn and Winter here. :) @ Greenville, South Carolina

22/10/2019

Fun day at Manhattan Beach near El Segundo with LA friends! So grateful to be able to spend time together again, see the kids having so much fun, and to feel the California vibe near the beach.

@ El Segundo, California

20/10/2019

Our family has taken hundreds of flights together in the past ten years. While much of it has become routine, and there is still the occasional motion sickness, trouble sleeping, or irrational fear of crashing, we love the time the chill and be in our own thoughts, to read, watch movies, or talk.

Today, we flew from Bali through Hong Kong to Los Angeles. And despite the second flight lasting 12 hours, we arrived before we left! Fun time zone magic. :)

20/10/2019

This is by far the most luggage we've ever traveled with! Too much to roll ourselves: 2 large bags, 5 carryons, 5 backpacks, and a ukelele. We've realized it's just not worth leaving stuff in Bali for very long, as it just grows mildewy. And... at the moment, we don't know when we'll be back. So we're taking nearly everything with us. And we've collected some things...

We're in transit here at the Hong Kong airport (after breakfast at a cute airport restaurant), waiting for our flight to LA where we'll hang out with friends for a day or two. And then it's onto Greenville, South Carolina for a new adventure into Southern American culture for at the next 3 months.

Despite the lack of sleep on the plane, and some sadness to leave Bali behind, we're all feeling excited to see what awaits us. @ Hong Kong International Airport, Gate 201

19/10/2019

These past months in Bali have been a whirlwind of emotion, connection, frustration, elation, love, and support. We're feeling sad to be leaving Bali today, but we're carrying with us so many wonderful memories of friends, deep conversations, and fun times. So grateful to have had this chance to be together where our paths crossed. And we look forward to seeing each other again soon.

@ Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

15/10/2019

Do you know a good place to hold Family Adventure Summit? Is there a city, town, or a specific venue you think would be perfect for the event? Or would you like to help us find one?

Do you know a good place to hold Family Adventure Summit? Is there a city, town, or a specific venue you think would be perfect for the event? Or would you like to help us find one? If so, we invite you to become one of our official Family Adventure Summit Location Scouts! The world is a big p