The rumors are true: the Jarosky Family is headed to Costa Rica for the 2023-24 school year!
In January, Joel let his school know that he would not be returning in the fall, and just like that, our year of change began! We had no real plans, just a dream with so many pieces yet to fall into place. Our hope was to move our family down to Costa Rica for the school year, but we still had no idea how we were going to do this. When were we going to go? Where in Costa Rica would we settle? How we were going to afford this move? We did know one thing: we both want nothing more than to experience a new way of living, which we think Costa Rica will be able to provide us.
This Costa Rica dream has been in the works for two years now. However, our connection to Costa Rica goes back to 2011, when my father purchased land in the Toucan Valley Resort in the Osa Peninsula. In 2016, Joel and I took our first trip to Costa Rica together. In 2022, we made the trip down to check things out with Justice and Caspian, who were then 2.5 and 3.5 years old, but it still didn't seem like the right time. However, as we prepared to welcome our third child this past fall, we began thinking a lot more seriously about moving down to Costa Rica. Now that Sonny is here, it feels even more like the right time.
Why the move?
The main reason for the move is to spend more time together as a family, and not just time together, but quality time together. To simplify our lives. To live more fully with less. To live a healthier, more balanced life style. To be more connected to the world, and nature around us. To introduce our boys to another culture and learn to speak Spanish. After meeting in the Peace Corps, Joel and I knew we would move our family over seas at some point. Joel puts it well by saying that he wants our kids to have a similar experience that I had living in Mozambique and Ukraine while I was growing up. And I couldn’t agree more.
Do we need to move to Costa Rica to do all of this? Probably not, but Joel and I have been down to Costa Rica numerous times (once with two kids in tow) and we really love the country, the slower pace of life, the connection to nature and the countries approach to being more sustainable & eco friendly. So, here we go!
What will we be doing in Costa Rica?
The idea at first was for Joel to teach English virtually since CR has a digital nomad visa. We thought that he could teach online at odd hours of the day to students around the world, which I am sure he could have made work. But as we followed that path we realized something was missing… and that something was a connection and purpose that was IN Costa Rica. So we changed our focus to finding a school in CR that Joel could teach at. We learned that there were two types of schools in Costa Rica: those that follow the CR school year which went from February to July and then from August to December and those following the American school year. We needed to find something that aligned as close as possible to the American schedule so that I could return at the end of May for my job as Director of Camp Wingra. We realized early on that my ability to keep my job for the summer was a huge financial support for us, and we also knew that we didn’t want our family to be apart (me in Wisconsin and Joel and the boys in Costa Rica) for more than a few weeks. So we had limited schools to choose from, and none of them said they were hiring, but we polished up Joel’s resume and he sent it out to every school in CR on the American schedule that we could find.
Two days before baby Sonny was born, Joel was offered a teaching position with Tide Academy, a personalized, alternative school based in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It finally felt like a puzzle piece had fallen into place. We had a direction, a place and a purpose driving this crazy move forward. Just a few days later, we welcomed Sonny Dean into the world, and as we spent the exhausting wonderful first week together as a family of 5, it felt even more important to protect these early years- to be more intentional on how we want to live and raise our children. And so we listed our house for rent on SabaticalHomes.com and within hours we had people asking for showings. This lead to some frantic cleaning sessions, lots of help from family, and a deeper desire to get rid of all of the massive amounts of stuff that we don’t actually need.
A departure date has been chosen, what's next??
Since then, our house has been rented, Joel has signed a contract at Tide Academy, tickets have been purchased for August, 19th (my last day of camps is the 18th, and Joel needs to be in training in person August 21st). There is still a ton to do before mid- August, but we are excited, and we hope that you’ll follow along on our blog and Instagram as we embark on this new adventure.
Could not be happier for your family! I learned so much watching Debi& Dave travel with all of you to numerous new places which enhanced and enriched your lives and the lives you inspired! I look forward to visiting in January ♥️