They once stood on the ruined steps of the senate building in Rome where Julius Caesar uttered, “And you, too, Brutus?” and was assassinated. They once peered down into a mysterious cenote in the Mexican jungle where the Aztecs used to perform their human sacrifices. For the Lane family from Nashville, who spend about half the year in their suburban home and the rest adventuring, this is homeschooling.
Don’t get the Lanes wrong, they read books galore while globetrotting in search of adventure. But one thing is certain: there will be paddle boarding, canyon hikes, and visits to the beach in Florida and beyond along the way.
“We’re standing looking into the cenote, they’re like, ‘This is where they would do those sacrifices that we read about,’” mom Lindsay Lane, 41, told The Epoch Times, telling of their field trip to Mexico. “This is where they would do it!”
Lindsay and her husband, Derek, 43, are convinced that to spur their five kids to “love learning” is to spur them on to success in life, because if you love learning, “you can do anything,” she said. Literature is their gateway into the world. After reading a book about ancient Rome, they flew to Italy and walked among the ruined columns.
And so it went.
It’s been 18 years since the Lane kids first started homeschooling in their previous home near Dallas. They’d had all five kids by the time they set out on their first big sabbatical: an early American history road trip to see Thomas Jefferson’s house, Ben Franklin’s printing press, Mount Vernon, and some places Lewis and Clark once explored.
In 2018, when the kids were older, the Lanes sold their Texas home, bought an RV, and embarked on their dream of homeschooling across America. They read books on the road, paddleboarded in state parks, and hiked to their heart’s content. After two restless years, they settled permanently in Tennessee, where they joined a thriving homeschooling community.
“When we started homeschooling, 18 years ago, homeschooling was weird,” Lindsay said. “From the minute we started homeschooling, I immediately sought out local homeschool groups.” Life for the Lane kids has never been isolating, she added. There were no shortages of socialization opportunities, so they wouldn’t grow up “weird.”
The mom admits she was scared at first to deviate from the herd of public school education. But she soon found her footing on seeing her kids succeed by following their natural talents. Their model, called “unschooling,” centers around self-motivation. The Lane kids aren’t forced to fit into a uniform mold but are allowed to blossom in their unique strengths.
“We’ve allowed them to move into their natural gifting to pursue what they want to do in high school, and they’re both successful at it,” Lindsay said. “This really does work!”
The couple’s eldest, Elisa, 23, is a budding artist who proposed a mural design to their city, complete with a budget, and got to execute her vision on a wall outside a public school. Now, she’s a sought-after tattoo artist who is booked months in advance. She sets her own prices and has moved out of the nest.
Her younger sister Ava, 20, holds her family’s Christian values dear and aspires to be a homemaker and mother. For now, though, she chooses to work as a nanny. “She’s always been very gifted with kids,” Lindsay said.
Audrey, 17, has a following on Instagram that’s really paid off. She’s a musical artist who was invited onto “America’s Got Talent,” though she turned the offer down, Lindsay says. One day, she might take clients on paddleboard tours on the water because the ocean captivates her.
Their brother Owen, though only 15, ambitiously pursues a career as a real estate mogul and aims to own his first rental home by age 20. “And I believe he’ll do it,” Lindsay said. “He’s very driven.”
Last but not least, their youngest, Everett, 13, doesn’t know what he wants to be yet but loves playing tackle football with his older brother on the local homeschool team.
In general, the couple discourages their kids from attending college. They figure the debt that often accompanies higher education is foisted upon young men and women by the government as a form of slavery. College isn’t necessary “unless our children are going to pursue a career that requires a degree—[like] if they want to be a doctor,” said Lindsay. On her podcast, she promotes that message: “College is not the only way to be successful.”
Since settling near Nashville in 2020, the Lanes have embarked on global sojourns for six months of the year. They visited a black sand beach in Iceland to stand on stones that look like giant hexagonal pillars. They fell in love with the geometric architecture of Florence, Italy, and stood under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In Mexico, they marveled that the pyramids they saw at Chichen Itza were the ones they’d read about. The beaches of Akumal weren’t bad either.
Sacrifices were made to fund their travels, however. The Lanes bought a smaller home in Tennessee to keep costs down. That way they had more funds to see the world. Fortunately, Derek has a stable job in the IT industry, and their partnerships on Instagram bring in extra cash.
The globetrotting has eased lately as the Lane kids work on establishing themselves stateside. Tailoring an education to fit each child has paid off, Lindsay said. “The key is giving them the ability to figure that out in a safe space of our home and not squash it,” she added. “We did a lot of stuff wrong, as does every parent, but this is working.”
