Meet the Kaai-Fines (🇺🇸)

Please introduce yourself; who are you, where are you from, where are you currently, what do you do for a living/currently? Please include kids’ ages on departure day.

We are Ezra, Lea, and Noah (10 yo). Lea is originally from Hawaii and Ezra is from Colorado. We met in college and moved to Los Angeles, California. After 14 years in California, we have decided to take a sabbatical and jumped into van life. We are currently road-tripping around the United States and deciding on where we want to spend the winter before heading to the village in Vietnam in January.

Why did you decide to get involved in this project?

Worldschooling has always been a dream for us. We were so excited to learn about this project as it sounded like such a great fit. We love the idea of traveling with a community of like-minded parents and the places chosen for this experiment were on top of our list to visit. 

What kind of interests do you have?

Noah is always singing, skateboards regularly, and loves to try new food. He is interested in sneakers, Minecraft, and capoeira and just starting to dabble with magic. 

Lea is passionate about exploring new cultures, and the ocean and loves building community. 

Ezra loves all things multimedia and is excited to document our adventures. He is also excited about pho, muay thai, and onsens.

Tell us some interesting random facts about you guys. Don’t hold back, this is your time to shine 🙂

We LOVE all board sports, skating, surfing, and snowboarding. The boys prefer the cement and Lea the water. 

Lea just got back her ancestry.com results and learned she is made up of 11 ethnicities. 

Noah has modeled for Disney and hopes to be an entertainer someday.

How do you educate?

Since kindergarten Noah has attended a public hybrid charter school where he attends two days a week in a classroom and three days a week at home. Lea led a co-op that created semester-long projects for the kids sprinkled with lots of field trips. Since leaving Los Angeles we’ve been schooling solo and are really missing the collaboration. We can’t wait to join a community where we can dive into shared experiences.

What do you think will be the most difficult about this experiment?

The time change for work is going to be hard to get used to, find our rhythm, and be away from family. Our adult son Isaiah lives in Hawaii and he’s going to be missed.

What kind of work groups or projects would you be excited about joining on the trip?

Lea is interested in co-creating child-led learning opportunities for the kids (and parents). She’d love to coordinate family excursions and help with the communal meals as she comes from a family of restaurateurs and caterers. 

Ezra is interested in working on the documentary and helping with the general administration of the group. 

Noah has also expressed interest in helping design experiences for the kids.

Will you be working while we are traveling?

Yes, we will both be working. Ez is working on launching a consultancy focusing on live streaming and virtual production. 

Lea property manages our rentals and builds online shops.

What do you hope to learn or take away from joining this experiment?

We hope to make lifelong friendships and are interested in learning more about the framework used to create this community. We are ready to experience and learn from the world around us and take home ‘new to us’ perspectives that we can incorporate into our daily lives. It’s amazing to think we are building a footprint for other communities to follow.