Blessing in Disguise

Several years ago, my family made a huge life-changing decision. Homeschooling. Because this is not the “norm” in society, people thought we were crazy, weird, would become non-social, etc. Every typical stereotype you can imagine. However, it was totally the opposite.

You see, the first year when we were reading about the Mayans in history books, we decided let’s go truly discover these places. Soon we were on a plane to Belize! This ignited our love for travel. Being able to experience this hands-on, we all learned things we will never forget. It was the beginning of the Barefoot Nation lifestyle, but we did not know it yet.

After this trip, we were hooked. We began to realize that life is too short to stay in one place and do the same mundane tasks day after day. Once we were free to make our own schedule, learn at our own pace (fast or slow depending on the topic), spend quality time with each other, it opened so many doors. It was on our road trips and travels to other countries that we were able to learn together, how to live simply, slow down, enjoy each other, experience other cultures, foods, traditions. This led to our family trading ideas and having in-depth conversations about life. Quickly, it became our passion. Without knowing what was to come, Hailey began doodling in a little glitter notebook. All the designs on our apparel, all the sayings, is a direct product of her creative imagination while traveling.

Since we are free to make our own schedule, we can attend festivals, tradeshows, and different events for our brand. We are still two average teenagers in high school, but we just do things a little differently. Sometimes, we have to do math or science lessons in car, write blogs instead of papers, learn geography by reading a map or arrange travel plans, write emails to our retailers, make sales calls, take inventory, or ship orders. It’s not always easy tasks, but anything is possible if you believe it can happen and have the determination to make it happen. Looking back, I now know none of this would have been possible if we had not made the decision to homeschool. Truly, it was a blessing in disguise.

~Ryker