Audio OCSPLORA

I ask my friend, Ingo Antons, about the state of Germany in quarantine, conspiracy theories, getting married during a pandemic, and his and Janine's pet-sitting and WOOFing trip around the world last year.

Joy dispenses valuable knowledge and wisdom gained from the trenches of homeschooling 3+ kids before it was the thing everyone did. We talk about how she and her family decided to homeschool, how they structure their days, rules about screen time, her qualms with traditional schooling and takes on different flavors and curriculums of home education, including unschooling. Unfortunately, the quality is not great, but it's worth listening through the pops and crackles if you're deeply interested in the world of homeschooling and how its lessons apply to distance learning in the time of quarantine.

In the first episode of our pandemic series, Matt Wood and family are coping with life in the time of quarantine by taking on backyard projects, enjoying their son's developing vocabulary, and trying to give and get enough space for one another. We also get into their current thoughts, struggles, and research into the process of adopting a child.

This episode sponsored by: sitting at a cafe with your favorite drink, working on your laptop or skimming random stuff on your phone, with no distractions except the ones you choose. Ahhhhh.

Episode 14-

Listen as I, Nate, read aloud a short post I wrote about four years ago which consistently gets more reads on Medium.com than anything else I've posted there. I mean, not like a ton or anything, but, you know. More.

We used to live near Walden Pond and that led to learning more about its historic hero, Mister H.D.T. himself (Henry David Thoreau for those of you not in the know).

This post was a deep dive on the overlap of two completely different topics, Thoreau and Fashion, for an issue of OCSPLORA focused on different elements of fashion, design, and clothing.

As it turns out, it is mostly quotes from Thoreau's most famous work, Walden, and a few quotes from his contemporaries, so I really didn't write it so much as assemble it.

Enjoy!

Cori and Jennie traveled the U.S. in a van, which they modified themselves into a tiny traveling home, with a small dog and a bird. They lived to tell the tale of their adventures, from Maine to Florida to California and back again. Here's the story from Cori about how it all went down.

Episode 12-This episode is adapted from a story I wrote in 2011 called Bad Luck And Good Times On The Appalachian Trail.It's a short episode-in which I mispronounced the word vomited many times (some of which you can hear in the cold open blooper reel intro)-but the story is one of my favorite pieces I've written.In 2011, a few friends and I did a quick three day trip on the Trail. We planned everything perfectly...except for the possibility of rain.Hope you enjoy!NotesA Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson on Goodreads.comどうかしてる (Paste this into Google Translate to find out how to correctly pronounce Do Kashiteru, the name of the band that does the music I use for the show.)

Episode 11-

Wendy talks about Marie Kondo, hoarding tendencies, and the struggle to give things away. She lays out her cleaning process and goals and we reminisce about our big move from Massachusetts to Florida and all the stuff that came with us.Notes

Marie Kondo's website and link to her Netflix show, Tidying UpTop photo by Max Hofstetter on Unsplash. Sidebar selfie by Wendy Green.

Episode 10-In which I ask Jeremy Slough about running with the bulls in Pamplona, having malaria in an airport, and Pauly Shore, and in which he tells me about the California beach bum lifestyle, working with a non-profit in New Zealand for a few years, becoming a tour guide, building a travel tour business, Instagramming the world, working credit cards for frequent flyer miles and cheap travel, letting go of plans and comfort and security and just going for it, and more.Enjoy this last episode of 2018 and have a very creative, adventurous, and generous new year!NotesFollow Jeremy on Instagram for beautiful photos from around the globe (highly recommend)Check out his travel tour biz, Immeasurable JourneysLearn the basics of travel hacking from Chris Guillebeau, travel hacking enthusiastLearn the specifics of different credit cards and point programs from The Points Guy

Episode 09-

Nate asks his friend Kim a bunch of questions about how she celebrated her 40th birthday by walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela for ten days.

Notes

•The Camino de Santiago on Wikipedia

•American Pilgrims On The Camino Facebook group

•Say hi to Kim on Twitter

Photo by Jorge Luis Ojeda Flota on Unsplash. Sidebar photos courtesy of Kim Priore.

Episode 08-

Ed has lived and worked in Haiti for 23 years, going around with his guitar and making peoples' lives a little brighter. He went on a couple trips to Haiti in the late 80s and got hooked on the country and the people, then finally moved there from the U.S. in '95. We talk about corruption, danger, church missions trips, the 2010 earthquake, what Haiti needs, and Ed's hopes for his adopted country.

Notes

Ed's Facebook Page

Missionary Ventures

Wikipedia's Haiti Entry