The final episode of 2023 is here, and what a wonderful, insightful and fun conversation this is with author, speaker and teacher, Dr Sarah Pye.
In this episode, Sarah shares her fascinating childhood of being boat-schooled across the waters of Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean, and how these experiences shaped who she is and what she does.
We also discuss:
- Experiential learning
- The importance of nature in childhood learning and development
- Connecting children to nature
- How Sarah got her Doctorate, even though she did not go to school
- How the Wildlife Wong book series came about
- Why Universities love homeschoolers
- The importance of libraries and librarian teachers
- Plus so much more
Where to Find Sarah:
Website: Dr Sarah Pye - Author & Speaker
Facebook: Sarah Pye Author Speaker Environmentalist
Instagram: @author_sarahrpye
Resources Mentioned:
Fourteen Wolves by Catherine Barr
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Wombat Warriors by Samantha Wheel
ABOUT SARAH:
Sarah may be a writer, speaker and teacher, but that hasn’t always been the case. Sarah was born on a tiny British outpost jutting into the Mediterranean called Gibraltar and spent the summers of her first decade plying the waters of the Norfolk broads aboard a classic clinker-built wooden boat. When she was 13, Sarah’s teacher parents moved their family onto a 30ft ketch. Sarah was boat-schooled by the world around her — holding night watches, grocery shopping in foreign ports, and hunkering down in ranging storms.
At 17, Sarah left her floating home for college in the United States. Then, with a hospitality management degree under her arm, continued her westward migration to Hawaii, and on to Australia’s Whitsunday Islands. Sarah’s business, Ocean Rafting was awarded the Queensland Tourism Award for Best Adventure Product in 2001.As a single parent, Sarah completed her Master of Communication degree at the University of the Sunshine Coast and published a guidebook called Kids Welcome to Queensland in 2009. The resulting travel business led to Sarah being named Sunshine Coast Small Business Woman of the Year in 2010.
A trip to Borneo with her daughter changed the trajectory of Sarah’s life when she met Wong Siew Te. She commenced her Doctor of Creative Arts Degree in 2016, exploring how narratives can be used to engage non-scientists in conservation. In 2018, She took a break from the books to walk 800km across Spain, and in 2020, Wong’s biography, Saving Sun Bears was published.
Sarah hopes there are many more adventures to come. Next, she plans to kayak down the Murray River, following in the wake of her inspirational parents who completed something similar a quarter of a century ago.