You might be more familiar with the terms homeschooling or distance learning, but have you heard of the term worldschooling? Worldschooling is a term used to describe a way of education that uses the world as a classroom.
Imagine your children interacting with Leonardo Da Vinci's amazing inventions, exploring the ramparts of Medieval castles, or learning about World War II on the beaches of Normandy. Worldschooling creates endless opportunities for our children to live history -- to connect with people from different cultures -- to grow in their comfort and confidence -- and ultimately, to expand their worldview.
You may be wondering how families do this? How do kids continue with school? How do parents make money AND travel? What do people do about their houses and cars? Is there a certain curriculum to follow? Is there a right way to do it?
The beautiful and simple answer to all of these questions is -- it depends. There is no right or wrong way to do it. In fact, there are as many different modes of worldschooling as there are types of families. You get to decide as a family what model will fit best.
Some families save up money and take time off to go on their adventures. Some parents continue to work remotely and register their children as homeschoolers. Some families rent out their houses and vehicles or do home swaps so they can return. Other families, like us, sell everything to free up their budget.
For kids, school can be more formal and linked to a remote public school curriculum or it can be more informal using a variety of hard copy and/or on-line courses. Many families take an unschooling approach while traveling and let experiences and interests lead the way. While others, like us, use a hybrid model where most of the learning is experiential and based on where we are traveling, but other aspects are more formal and online -- like Math. These examples represent just a handful of combinations that you will find in the worldschooling community -- the possibilities are truly endless, and again, there is no one right way.
Worldschooling families do seem to share some traits though. Some of which are:
a curiosity and openness about the world around them
a desire to experience different cultures, see new places, and meet new people
a desire to learn about different worldviews
a desire to create an educational environment that uses holistic, experiential, and immersive methods to enhance learning
If you are curious about the possibility of traveling and worldschooling your children for a period of time (or maybe forever), just start by doing a little bit of research. There are thousands of families who are currently worldschooling and many of them like to share their travel pictures and tips -- like we are starting to do :) It is crazy to think that it was only back in March of 2022 we decided to take the leap. We ended up selling the house (and almost everything else including the camper and car) two months later, and after traveling to visit family and friends, we were on the plane in September! Click here to read about how and why we decided to take a family gap year. While not everyone will have the timeline we did, it is never too early to begin the fun of planning.
Where do you think you would go first? We all wanted to go to Germany and it was a perfect landing for us. Comment below with some of your choices -- would love to see where you are dreaming to go!
Warmly,
Nancy and family
P.S. -- You don't have to be a long term traveling and worldschooling family to create an epic family vacation that is both fun and educational. You can travel based on interests, volunteerism, eco-tourism, and more. The important thing is to have fun!
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