Family sold up Dunbeg life to live the dream
A Dunbeg family who took their three children out of school to ’learn around the world’ are still living the backpacking dream.
Scott and Chrissie-Leigh Felgate left Oban last July quitting the rat race and using funds from selling all their belongings - apart from a Christmas tree and decorations, and a few keepsake boxes, to help pay for the adventure of their lives.
So far they have visited Vietnam, Australia and are currently in Thailand for another couple of weeks before heading off to Malaysia as the next stop.
The couple gave up their gym business in Oban to go travelling - taking their two daughters Freya and Willow and youngest son Torran, with them to homeschool and ’world’ learn.
Willow, 10, is autistic and Torran, 8, is ADHD autistic and both were struggling at school but are ’thriving’ now says Chrissie-Leigh was makes sure their days are filled with learning opportunities like using maths to go shopping in the local markets, visiting temples, trying out new foods, experiencing new cultures fist-hand - they also have a tutor and use home-education apps.
Leaving busy lives behind in Scotland and spending so much more time together has brought the family even closer.
"There was no big crazy plan as such we thought let’s just do it. The children’s education was a big part of making that decision and they are thriving now," said Chrissie-Leigh - the couple also have a 17-year-old son Harrison who is living and working in Australia.
In July the family will need to make a big decision whether or not to return to Oban, the only safety-net they had was being able to keep their housing association house as an open option to return to within a year.
"We’ve not made that decision yet. We’ve got another couple of weeks here in Thailand then we move on to Malaysia. We don’t know where exactly we’ll be going or staying but the plan is to be there for about three months," said Chrissie-Leigh who along with Scott now run an online life and fitness coaching business with customers from Scotland, England and also Australia.
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