Welcome to 4 Four the Road

I am Sharise Kent and this is 4 four the Road.  A space dedicated to sharing my families road trip travel adventures! From day trips around our home state of New York to cross country road trip travel, I share tips for traveling with kids, destination ideas, recommendations and some product reviews. We are all about creating memories with our kids before they fly off to adulthood.

As a busy mom of 2, wife, working professional, published author and freelance writer I know the value of time. I’m here to help you save time and to remind you to treasure the time you have with family.

Pre-Kids Travel Story

Fresh out of college, I started my career in higher education as an admission counselor. Basically, I travelled around the country to different high schools recruiting students for over a decade. I still work part-time in higher education and occassionally travel for work.  When on business travel you don’t get to see too much because of work but, I saw much of the United States and I racked up hotel points at an awesome pace back then!

I also have a group of girlfriends that has always been down to hit the road or the friendly skies.  From our college days of trips to Caribana in Toronto, jumping the pond to Paris, to cruising the Caribbean, friends travel was the way I saw many parts of the world.

My experiences as a business, solo, friend-group and couples traveler are all paying off now. Traveling with kids is a whole different story but my knowledge of hotels, ability to read a real road map, and the miles I’ve logged on the road were all good preparation.

Why we road trip

As a kid, I caught the travel bug from my dad. Our summer road trips up and down the east coast in our big brown conversion van were the best. So many core memories, and smells that take me back to those days. Part of the reason we were a road trip family was 1) it was expensive to fly 6 people and 2) my dad was afraid to fly. I didn’t take my first flight until I was 22 and I managed to finally get my dad on a plane in his 60’s!

Enter my children! When we started our family, I couldn’t wait to fill their little heads with the same types of memories of vacations and road trip across the country. We’ve been traveling with our kids since they were both born and they now share the same excitement for long trips, travel, hotels and seeing new things.

When my Dad passed away, he left me with a legacy of an appreciation for the outdoors, love of the open road and sense of adventure. With him gone, our interest in capturing these moments for our kids is even more important for us. Life moves fast and our goal when we travel is to slow it down for a moment.

Homeschool Family

As a homeschool family, we believe the world is our classroom and learning takes on many forms. We’d considered homeschooling but like many families in 2020 we found ourselves doing school from home.  In fall 2020, we opted to take the leap and become a homeschool family.

Part of our inspiration for travel and homeschool is my goal to bring to life, people, places, history and culture for our kids. I don’t want them to just read, but touch, taste and feel the world around them.

Homeschooling is a journey and we are constantly learning and growing how to do it. I have learned that homeschool does not look the same from home to home and the pathways are different for every family. I share what I do know, and continue to learn from others as we navigate this homeschool world.

Mom the Writer

I’ve always loved to write so early in my higher education career, I went back to grad school to earn my M.S. in Professional Writing from Towson University.  I worked briefly as a marketing editor for a publishing company. After a year I returned to my passion of helping students navigate the college admissions maze as an Admissions Counselor.  At the same time, I continued my work with small businesses and organizations helping to create content ranging from website copy, to brochures, email campaigns and other written content. Now, as a freelancer I write this blog as well as content for others (hire me).

Drawing on my experiences of personally interviewing, mentoring and coaching hundreds of students and reviewing thousands of resumes, I penned my first book The Internship Manual: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting the Internship of Your Dreams (Divine Garden Press). I started the Internship Manual blog to support and empower students in finding paid internships and launch careers after college.