Wild Motherhood

I looked out over the back yard, flowers blooming and chickens wandering about catching bugs. I took a sip of my coffee admiring what we created, admiring the beauty of the meadow and surrounding woods, but feeling certain this view was not our forever. The town, the house, they were not home. I saw things differently now – I had my freedom. I got the paper in the mail, falling to my knees in shock and relief – sole legal and physical custody. It came as a complete surprise. He had went to the court and declared he did not want custody and I was not expecting it. I thought it would be long, I thought I had more uncertainty to navigate, but here it was. A piece of paper declaring the girls and I had our freedom to choose what is best for us. I didn’t know it before, but now I saw the ways I had settled, the ways I had made safer choices to navigate the divorce and custody. I had always wanted to travel the world, I had done some traveling before I had the girls, but I was working full time and going to school full time and never really created the opportunities for my self to travel.

Hey there, I’m Birdie, a single mom who chose to trade the familiar comforts of homestead life in the US for the wild adventure of traveling the world with my two daughters. This is the story of our journey— the pursuit of a life filled with meaningful experiences, creation & connection over consumption, and finding the flow in all the wildness that is life.

The Journey Begins:
It all started with a bold (& scary) decision to leave behind the serene landscapes of our farm in South Carolina. Homesteading was my comfort zone, but I knew to grow, and find my true alignment in my external life, I had to step outside of that comfort zone and be open to expand. I rehomed our farm animals to local farms, sold and donated nearly all of our things, and condensed our whole lives down to three carry on bags. I listed our old farmhouse for sale and started our journey by heading to Florida to leave our pets with family until we found a new spot we would like to settle. Once everything was arranged for the sale of the house, I bought our one way plane tickets, and went off to get same day passports for the girls (a whole other story). After the chaos of the huge transition, everything was finally ready, we headed to the airport for nearly 24 hours of travel from Florida to Boston, MA to Barcelona, Spain. We fell head over heals in love with Barcelona and the beautiful Spanish culture. However, we knew we had more places to visit to decide where is the best fit so only spent a week and hopped on another flight to Italy. In Italy we landed in Venice and took the train down to Pisa where we spent a week eating the most amazing pizza, gelato, and see the beautiful architecture. We had the cutest little apartment. I was also very impressed with the amount of amazing gluten free options available. Our next spot was Rome. The girls and I studied the history and the mythology of Rome, packed our bags, and grabbed a train to Rome, to stay at a campground in a pod hotel room. (Which for the most part we loved because there were outside hangout areas, a playground, and a restaurant). However, we definitely experienced some mold in our rentals in Italy, which was not great and our immune systems took a hit. We ended up being sick a few days in Rome, so took things a little slower. We still had the best food of our lives and saw some of the most beautiful historic sites.

After spending a few weeks in the cities, we were feeling we needed a location that would be a slower way of life with more access to beautiful nature to explore. After checking out a few options, we chose to catch a flight to the beautiful island of Madeira which is where we currently are.

Passive Income and Homeschooling:
After getting an MA in Child Development & working in traditional schooling, I knew I wanted to find an alternative for my own children that allowed for more curiosity, play, movement, and experience based learning
As I learned my first daughter I knew traditional school & traditional homeschool would not work for her, she was passionate, rebelious, and had a strong presence & personality, all of which can get you named the “bad kid” in traditional setting. I dove into learning more alternative options and stumbled upon “unschooling.” After learning how it allowed space for big passions, I knew it was the right path for us.

As a single mom, I knew early on that I needed to find a way to support my family while prioritizing my daughters’ education. Drawing on my background in child development and my passion for alternative learning, I made it my mission to create a lifestyle that allowed me to homeschool while generating passive income. I had to find ways to opt out of the traditional system of trading my time for money because as a single homeschooling mama, my most precious asset, and the most limited, is time. Knowing I wanted to homeschool, have a passion based business, and create financial freedom, I dove into learning everything I could about passive income.

Resources:
Through my own journey, I’ve developed two invaluable resources to help other moms navigate the complexities of balancing work, education, and family life. My guided workbook on passive income for moms offers practical advice, actionable strategies, and a wealth of resources to empower mothers to build sustainable income streams from home.

Similarly, my guided workbook on child-led homeschooling with confidence is a reflection of my belief in a passion and curiosity-based approach to education. Rooted in my master’s degree in child development and years of hands-on experience, this workbook provides parents with the tools and support they need to create a nurturing and enriching homeschooling environment confidently for their children.

My journey from homestead life to world travel has been nothing short of transformative. Through the ups and downs, I’ve discovered the beauty of being fully present, that life should be lived and experienced as art, there is so much more than “scraping by” and there is true value in staying in flow and trusting the process. As I continue to navigate this adventure with my daughters by my side, I’m grateful for the opportunity to inspire and support other mamas and alternative thinkers on their own paths to passive income, homeschooling, and just finding their own individual freedom and flow in this life.