DTK is moving online!
DTK is moving to a new way of working! As you may have already seen, from January 2021 we’re no longer going to be creating printed or downloadable workbooks. Instead we’re becoming an online platform, with all our content available as part of a subscription package.
We thought we’d take a little time and explain why we’re making the change and what it will look like going forward.
It’s been a busy year for us...
We started making workbooks in the first crazy days of the COVID-19 lockdown. One of us had planned to set up a business in the travel industry, the other was made redundant. We had a lot of time on our hands, so started to think how we could help others out, and give ourselves something to do.
Our first workbook - England - was sent out in March, to about 10 people. We created the workbooks as a way of keeping kids busy and learning during unprecedented times. We had and have a strong urge to teach kids about the world and different cultures. A lot of the time kids' content gets dumbed down, and countries reduced to their stereotypes or basics. So we decided to address that too.
Initially we planned DTK workbooks to be just for family and friends. Now we’ve had 40,000+ downloads. We’re fairly sure that people like what we’re doing. While initially we wanted workbooks to be as easy to download as possible and for them to be free to help out struggling parents.
Now we’re trying to find a way to grow and survive as a business, so we’re changing how we work.
The problems with printed and downloadable workbooks...
There are quite a few problems with printed and downloadable workbooks. Printing, packaging and shipping are expensive. We have a lot of tax and customs issues related to shipping, made worse by Brexit looming over us. Our downloadable workbooks are only PDFs so they’re not protected content. Anyone can resend or resell them.
However we still want to keep creating our content, especially for our customers who value us and enjoy what we do.
So, we’re switching to an online platform…
From January, all our workbooks will be transformed into digital content. Instead of being a PDF or printed workbook, each country will be a webpage - filled with a combination of online and printable activities. Kids will still learn about countries through activities, but will need to be online to access the puzzles and questions. Some content will be completely online, like this quiz for example:
Other content will have online instructions with a printed component.
That way there will be fewer pages for parents to print (and you can print them in black and white!) while protecting our content.
We’ll be making one new workbook each month, starting with Spain in February, and continuing on as follows:
All the old workbooks will be available as well, including our Jumbo Workbooks (Mexico, Scotland and India) and our special workbooks (the Netherlands).
We’ll be making additional content too! We’ve got a bunch of ideas lined up to make a DTK subscription more engaging and educational for kids and families, which will address a bunch of different educational needs. Some of our new features will include:
DTK Postcard Programme
Family Quizzes
Sibling sheets
Physical Challenges
Quarterly special workbooks
DTK Story Archive
CLICK ON EACH ONE TO LEARN MORE
There will also be opportunities to participate, monthly prize draws and a DTK Map and Certificate when you sign up.
We’re really excited to be able to grow as a platform, to be able to deliver to a broader audience, to be more of a solution for homeschooling parents, to help more schools out with fun learning materials and to have the opportunity to create even more content. We’ve got so many additional ideas for other things we’ll eventually be able to add to the DTK platform, like podcasts for kids, a YouTube series and collaboration with other experts around the world.
Helping kids to learn more about the world is our fundamental goal and we believe this online platform is the right way to do it.
As you can imagine, this version of DTK is quite a bit of work particularly as the DTK team has been halved recently. Nevertheless, we plan to launch in the first week of February!
Become a member!
Subscriptions will be available on a monthly or annual basis (12 months for the price of 10). We’ll be running Early Bird Discounts through January when you can get a membership option for a significantly reduced price.
To be notified when the Early Bird Prices are ready, leave your email address below. We won’t sign you up to the mailing list, just let you know when the prices are ready. There will only be a limited number of Early Bird spots so make sure you sign up early.
If you know anyone who might be interested in Deliberate Travel Kids, please do let them know! We’ve got tons of information on our website, and the online Lapland workbook is free to access and complete. It gives a little insight into what the platform will look like, and what you can expect from online workbooks.