We’ve only just begun…

It is hard to believe that we’ve been Riveted Kids for a whole year. We decided initially that we’d take a year to see how it went. We had very few expectations about what success looked like. In addition to Riveted Kids, we were (and still are) both working full time and are focused on all the balls that parents and people with engaged lives need to keep in the air. Our goal was modest: to share our travels and tips with other adventurous families. The good thing about keeping expectations low is achieving them is easy!

We are 56 blog posts into our adventure. Now it is time to set our sights a little further toward the horizon and we have ambitious plans! We have three new projects that we are really excited about: day camps in Seattle, two travel camps for kids, and are nearly ready to share our custom immersion tool / travel journal.

Meanwhile…life takes a turn for crazy

One of the tremors we had in our lives this year was Jay’s decision to leave the tech industry—without a full-time gig on the other side. He wasn’t feeling fulfilled and it was time for a change. It was pretty scary for all of us leaving the security that comes with more than ten years in a career and the resulting paycheck.

I won’t lie, I had a lot of sleepless nights. Especially because what he went to was teaching. After a long-term sub assignment in computer science and teaching a summer school engineering class Jay has landed as a middle school Spanish teacher. There have been lots of ups and downs. I felt a little on my own getting content out to all of you while he worked nights and weekends (honestly, he is still working most nights and weekends) but there’s an upside that benefits all of us.

What does that mean for Riveted Kids?

Free summers means open time for summer camps!

Day Camps

We are working with Summer Quest at The Meridian School in Seattle where our daughter spent many a summer week during elementary school and put together three one-week sessions of Riveted Kids curriculum for 9 to 12-year-olds: Day of the Dead, Street Photography, and Coding for Girls. You can send us a note so we can notify you as soon as we know the date that registration opens for Summer Quest.

Summer Travel Camps

We wanted to share our kidsperience with international adventures, so are taking two sets of kids to Oaxaca for a week each! Jay is going to lead Teach Coding Oaxaca a trip for four high-school kids who have some basic coding and Spanish skills to volunteer at a school for homeless/low income kids in Oaxaca city. The following week Jay and I will both lead Riveted Girls a group of six middle-school girls on a global citizenship and Spanish language experience in Oaxaca City, the Sierra Norte, and Teotitlan del Valle. Check out each of the links to see more information on these trips.

And Coming Soon…Custom Immersion Tool/Journals!

We’ve been testing our guided family travel journal Go Far, Travel Deep: A Journal for Fearless Families for two years. We’ve taken iterations on four of our family trips and have made versions for two sets of friends taking adventure travel trips. We love it. They loved it. Now we are almost ready to share this opportunity with you too! Watch for information coming soon.

Wrapping Up

I see a fun future ahead for Riveted Kids and want you to join us in the adventure. Let us know what product of service would help you to dive into the world with your family!