Sunday, 31 July 2016

Worldschooling programme for this coming week



These are our plans for this week - it would be lovely to see as many worldschoolers as possible so I hope you can come.

Monday at 10.30 pm 


Nerfwar - we will meet up in the play park near petrin and find a central field where we wont loose too many darts! We have some extra guns we can lend. Bring your own ones if you have. We will play in the play park in Jiriho z podebrad in the afternoon.

Tuesday at 1:30pm


Play date in the play park in Kinsky gardens. if you dont know where it is ask us or check the maps. A regular play date with picknick! I think we will bring a football.

Wednesday at 10 am 


Programming workshop for kids + 4 years old in our house in Kosire - try Scratch with us and bring your own laptop! If the weather is lovely we can go to the water play park or swimming afterwards

Friday at 1:30


Nature day! Do you have a suggestion? Otherwise we are keen on trying out the Botanical gardens. If the weather is really 
 
If you want to come to any of these activities please let us know so we know how many will come. 


Back from roadtripping!

We had some family stuff, and other stuff to do in England so we drove there and back over a little more than a week.

We had a little more ups and downs on the journey than usual - It was lovely to see friends and family and it was very nice meet new likeminded friends, but we also had some unfortunate events too like our friends dog got killed by a car just in front of our eyes so our friends kids have been really sad and we have all been chocked. We were interviewed by a british tv-programme about our unschooling, leaving Sweden and living as digital nomads so I will post a link to the programme when its up.

We will keep the Prague worldschooling project going of course. The worldschoolers here all still in summer mode so i will figure out the plans for this week and post them here soon. We dont really have the regular activities we are aiming to have until summer is over but its good to be a bit more flexible then usual now when we have summer weather. We are having worldschooling visitors here this week and some worldschoolers will leave soon so I will try to make these quick plans extra special anyway and I hope that as many of you as possible can join. Ill add the programme for this week in a little while :)

Picknick near river cam with a punting boat in the background - a typical sight in Cambridge.


Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Swimming in Hostivar Reservoir on Wednesday 20th July

Tomorrow a couple of worldschooling families will cool down at the hostivar reservoir from 11 am. I will go there later in the afternoon. This lake seems to be quite easy to get to with public transport. You just take the red metro line to "Haje" and then walk 1.4 km. See the map here.


Monday, 18 July 2016

9 work and play places for a worldschooling digital nomad family in Prague


Something that I think is absolutely fantastic with Prague is that there is so much to do for kids here. There seems to be a never ending supply of kids activities and kids play areas that fits well with the digital nomad family life style. Here in Prague many restaurants and cafes often have something called a "Detsky Koutek" (which means "kids corner").

I think the reason why there are so many "detsky kouteks" in Prague is probably because its cheaper to run places like that here as the running costs are lower for staff, rent and the things, it doesn't seem to be as many rules here in eastern europe, and that the parental leave is longer than a lot of other countries. I heard that most kids stay at home until they are 3 years old. Some of these "detsky kouteks" are staffed. Its some kind of very temporary child care that is perfect for us that are digital nomad families and don't want to sign up our kids for a school.

I prefer these kids corners because I don't want to leave my children really with someone else but I need to work sometimes when my husband also needs to work. And I can work in or near a temporary child care place like this where our children can see us and go to us if they need to.

Prague is a fantastic place for the digital nomad families who need this kind of temporary child care. Nowhere else have we found such a wide range of opportunities for digital nomads as in Prague. Here is a list of our favorite places that we have been working (and playing) in and some that we have been recommended to try:


Králík v rádiu


Králík v rádiu (Rabbit on the radio) is a very child-friendly cafe that we've been going to several times. There is a small black rabbit there. The café is perfect for families who are digital nomads or for families who need a little break. They have a separate playroom that is staffed. You pay Kc 50 which is a little more than £1 for your kid to play there up to 3 hours. Most of the toys they have are for the younger children such as baby toys, DUPLO, cars and games. Our children loves it. (They are 4 and 6 years). They have a cozy area with a little house, a market stall and activities with the teachers such as rythmics and singing. The staff speaks Czech and English. They have good internet and good homemade food like that I would make at home. The raspberry lemonade is yummy!



Lego School Kiddum


Our boys go to the Lego school Kiddum where they build robots and learn programming while we work. If you are not enrolled in any course you can go to their drop-in play area that is sometimes staffed and play there. They have giant Lego for building houses with, DUPLO and some other stuff. Enough to keep them busy for a while. The broadband speed ​​is very good - we had 60MB / s and a good ping last time we were there.There are tables to work from just next to the playroom. It's not very cheap but it's fun for the kids. I think they've had good teachers and it is not just play - they learn a lot with lego. The school is located right next to the subway stop Flora.



IKEA


There are two IKEAs in Prague. We usually go to the Zlicin one because it is closest to us. It is perfect to leave the kids to have some fun for 1-2 hours while enjoy a little bottle of wine or some cheap coffee while we work. The kids love to jump in all the balls. We justify our free child care in IKEA with our purchases for our two previous homes in Sweden and that we will get a new kitchen from there soon to our worldschooling rental flat so I think its ok! Plus, we often eat at IKEA so I really dont think they loose out on it!



Cafe Pointa


I have heard that this café is one of the best ones for indoor play rooms for kids in Prague. They have a kitchen to play in and some other things. I heard the food is good too and very kid-friendly. We haven't tried it out yet but it is on our list for this week! The café is located in Prague 6.



Dětské koutky Time Out


They should have thought twice when they named this playland! Fortunately, it's not at all about any time out. It's a nice little place that is staffed that they have in shopping malls here. There are several places in Prague. It's the perfect work and play place for digital nomad families where the kids will have good fun for a few hours and the parents can get their work done. We tried the one in the Metropole mall in Zlicin. There is a cafe attached to the play area where you can see the kids from while you work - which is exactly what we prefer. It was pretty quiet when we were here so I would say this is good if you need to make some calls also. The internet was fast in the morning but went slower in the afternoon. I guess it is all the shoppers using the same network. We used our phones as hot spots in the afternoon. This play area is good for kids from 3-12 years and is quite cheap.





Sweet Life


This is a wonderful little café located right next to a really nice nice playground just above the metro stop Jiriho z Podebrad in Vinohrady. There is a small separate play area inside and a nice work area for the parents. The kids can busy themselves for a good 1-2 hours and then one adult will probably need to take them to the play ground on the other side of the street so they don't get bored of it. We ordered some really nice homemade lemonade and delicious cupcakes.





Restaurace Hanspaulka


This restaurant doesn't quite look like a work place for digital nomads but I can assure that it is very nice in the summer! There is an outdoor area with chunky wooden tables and benches that has a play area which is also outdoors. It is a bit worn out but it's got a house and slide which our younger one liked. What we especially liked here was the amazing "Nefiltrovany"-beer, (unfiltered beer that looks like a latte). In Bali we always had a latte next to our lap top. Here at Hanspaulka we have beer :)

The food is czech and very good with kid-friendly options. The ginger lemonade is really refreshing. The restaurant is right next to Tesco by the bus stop Hanspaulka in Prague 6th. This place looks like it belongs to Tesco! When the kids have enough one parent can walk down the hill with them to a nice green area with some play grounds.



Vinohradsky parlament


We have not had time to visit this Czech-Belgian restaurant yet which is located in Vinohrady but I've heard it's a good candidate for a digital nomad family work space! There are two restaurants that are connected with a playground in between. The kids can play a good few hours while the parents are working.


Zlute Lazne - summer camp


Zlute Lazne is a summer park next to the river. There are swimming pools, a kids area, a beach and lots of summer activities. They also have a summer camp for kids where you pay kc 700 for a full day. It is an educational activity with teachers who take care of the kids and do things with them all day. It includes food and beverages. It is quite expensive for being in the Czech Republic so I can imagine that they spend some money on doing good things I hope. We haven't tried it yet as our children are not interested in being away from us a whole day yet. I think it may be more suitable for older kids. Maybe we will try it later this summer for our older son.




The digital nomad life style has made it possible to run our business from anywhere (well..as long as we have good internet!) We spent the last 19 months in more than 25 countries in 4 continents. Of all these places we think Prague is one of the best places for a digital nomad family. We also liked northern Thailand and Ubud in Indonesia. We enjoyed Egypt a lot although the bad internet was holding us back a bit.

Here I am working hard sipping on a cup of coffee while posing in one of our hammocks that we sell on  one of our websites www.hammockheaven.co.uk!

Sunday, 3 July 2016

Konopiště forest castle


In the forest south of Prague, there is a UNESCO-listed fairy tale castle nestled in the forest. The castle is called Konopiště and was first built in 1280 in French Gothic style by a bishop. The reason why there are so many castles in the Czech Republic is partly the country's strategic location in central Europe and partly that in the Middle Ages they found plenty of silver here which meant that the country became rich. A little more than 400 years after the Konopiště was built the castle was plundered and occupied by the Swedes, so you can probably find one or another treasure from here in a Swedish museum. Konopiště was rebuilt again in 1725 in a slightly different style in which they built a stone bridge over the moat instead of having a drawbridge there. Therefore, the castle looks much younger than its 800 years. 

Today it is a more or less well-known destination for Prague's inhabitants about an hour south. In the castle moat lives two bears (who happened to sleep in their dens when we were there), and around it there is a lake, a park, a rose garden and a terrarium in which one can see spiders and chameleons. Inside the castle there is a large collection of medieval weapons and horns that can be seen during guided tours - for us it was enough with what was on the outside of the castle. Perfect for getting away from Prague's city pulse when you want to experience nature and be able to check out some castles as well. Here you will find practical information to get there. You can go by the train to Benesov and then walk 2.5 km if you dont have a car.

The castle is located at a hilltop above the treetops.

No castle visit during a hot day is ever complete without an ice cream break!

Henry found a knight of the same size as himself!

In the park there are statues and small trees scattered here and there.

The beautiful lake just by the entrance.

These kinds of statues can be expected to be found in the garden.

The castle gnome takes a break with the pipe.

The rolling landscape on the way there.

Top photo borrowed from  http://en.czech-unesco.org/13_4675_konopiste-chateau-benesov/ where you will also find more information about Konopiste Castle