ALL ABOUT THE JACKSONS

We are the Jacksons. A family of four: Mike, Cathy, Lilli and Greg. Mike is an entrepreneur in the mining industry while his wife, Cathy, has been a stay at home Mom for the last 10 years. Lilli has started this trip as a 10 year old going into grade 5. A lover of dance, circus and books, she is ready for adventure. Greg is our 7 (almost 8) year old boy going into grade 3. He too loves dance, loves camping and all animals (real and imaginary). For years we have had family discussions about travelling around the world. “Overland” as we refer to it. The kids never knew a world without “The Overland Trip”. They knew it was always intended and never questioned if, just when. We would have talks now and then about what we would want to see on Overland, about the importance of trying new foods in preparation of Overland and about various routes and equipment we needed.
In March of 2016, we made the decision that now was the time.The planning began in earnest and what was casual conversation on our route between Mike and Cathy over wine and cheese in the past became an all consuming research project: camping throughout the world (what had others done? We joined Overland Sphere, Overlanding families and PanAm Travellers Association on Facebook), determining various shipping routes, scouring home schooling resources, discussions with various medical persons the required and precautionary vaccinations and debating vehicle choice. It was March and we wanted to leave in August. All this and we needed to sell house as well. It was daunting.
Our first decision was the vehicle. A 1997 VW Eurovan. Details about Koko (we Christened her that after “Keep On Keepin’ On”, our motto), can be found under the heading “KOKO”. We decided then to venture the Pan Am highway as the first leg of the journey. It is well travelled, well documented by fellow overlanders, and requires little in the way of documentation. After much reading on the subject we chose to home school using the eclectic method. We chose to structure lessons in math with research projects in science and social studies with less structured reading and writing (via blogging, emailing etc.). We are also concerned about second and third language development and would like the kids to understand the workings of running a business and involve them in the budgeting of the trip. The kids want basically Phys. Ed scheduled in between recesses, lunch with dessert and if there is time, games on their tablets. And if having Mommy as a teacher wasn’t bad enough, before overland even started we jabbed them with a series of needles, vaccinating them against everything from typhoid to rabies.
We departed August 28th, 2016. Overland has officially begun.