1KHO 908: I’ve Never Finished a Project I Didn’t Start | Jesper Conrad, Neufeld Institute

**Ginny Yurich** (0:00)
There are so many things we think about when we think about our kids' future. What will they become? Who will they marry? Where will they live? What will our family look like 10, 20, 30 years from now? And somewhere along the way, we realize that planning for their future also means planning for the possibility that life doesn't go exactly the way we hope. That's why we have life insurance. Not because we live afraid of what might happen. Actually, it's the opposite. It gives us peace of mind, knowing that if something happened to one of us, the other wouldn't suddenly be trying to figure out how to support five kids while also dealing with unimaginable loss. If you've been putting this off, ethos makes getting life insurance remarkably simple. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and potentially get same-day coverage. There's no medical exam, just a few simple health questions. You can get up to $3 million in coverage with some policies as low as $30 a month. You spend your whole life taking care of your family. This is one more way to take care of their future. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through ethos. Get a free quote at ethos.com/1000hours. That's ethos.com/1000hours.
Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
Welcome to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast. My name is Ginny Yurich. I'm the founder of 1000Hours Outside. And I sure do have a treat for you today. Jesper Conrad is here. He has so many projects in the works. And that just in and of itself is inspiring. But Jesper is out. They've traveled full time as a family, a father of four kids, homeschooling, unschooling, working with Gordon Neufeld, writing books, helping with parent consulting, business consulting. It was just thing after thing after thing, Jesper. And so it is an honor to meet someone who is so full of life and who has so much going on. That's wonderful. Welcome.

**Jesper Conrad** (1:42)
Thanks a lot.
What a presentation. I hope I can live off to some of it.

**Ginny Yurich** (1:48)
So you're a Danish dad, you're creative, a consultant. You have your own podcast with your wife. That podcast is, I just, I got to find it in my notes because I have so many notes here. That podcast is called The Self-Directed Podcast. It's a guest-based podcast about life learning and raising free thinkers. Then you also have, your wife has a podcast called Ladies Fixing the World, with some just incredible guests you've had on both.
Can you give a little bit of your story about how you got connected with Gordon Neufeld and about your passion for helping dads?

**Jesper Conrad** (2:21)
Absolutely, yes. So it is a long journey.
Gordon Neufeld, well, I most likely heard of him more than 20 years ago when his book was published because my wife read it. She's a trained psychologist and had shared about homeschooling and home education for many, many years in Denmark as we were among the 10 families that started homeschooling more or less. It was very new when we started out. People had a lot of questions and she started blogging. But like every regular husband, I kind of listened to what she told me, but didn't really. I was like, she knows, I trust her. So I've heard the name back then. I picked a little bit up, but not a lot. But then the biggest life change, I think, came when we had started traveling more and more. But then back in 2010, my wife got the leukemia and was very close to dying and was at the hospital for a half a year. I was home alone with three kids.
As life wants it, it can be full with beautiful surprises. Then we were so lucky that she's still here. She survived. Apparently, I thought she was very beautiful with no hair because out of the blue came a baby we hadn't planned. As she was still sick, she was still coming over being sick, I could take full paternity leave. We celebrated that baby with taking a four-month road trip throughout Europe. No, three months, 100 days, throughout Europe.
As a Copenhagener, that's wild because I got my driver's license when I was 37 Never driven a car before. Got my driver's license inside for half a year. We went away, traveled Europe on car, and it was quite a journey with a four-month-old baby, and then the rest of them, we have four children, as you said. I think being on one of these vacations, even though it's just maybe a one-month vacation, or sometimes you sit with this feeling of, I don't really want to go home from this. I would like to stay longer.