Have you heard about worldschooling (AKA world schooling)? All the cool parents are doing it, it’s the latest buzz word in alternative education. Is it simply taking your kids on holiday to learn about other countries?
In this post we try to answer that question, what is worldschooling? We did it for 6 years, during full-time long term travel. It’s a type of education we know well, and it works.
Worldschooling can be a lifestyle and a whole-life commitment. Can worldschooling be something you do on weekends or school holidays? Is there a timetable and a curriculum?
You can do it all-day, every-day. It is life. Worldschooling is a lifestyle choice, a wonderful one, but one you can try for a short time. Try it and you may never go back to regular school.
The best online learning program we used when our kids were young was Reading Eggs. If you register via our link (here) you can test this learning program for 30 days, for your worldschooling kids. It’s much easier to travel with than books! You can use a US, UK, or Australian version with appropriate spelling and accents.
What is Worldschooling?
Worldschooling is providing and finding education from the real world. It includes experiences, places and people from all over the globe. The more you can travel, the more destinations and the greater variety of cultures, climates, histories and societies you can explore, the more that world school education grows.
Worldschooling removes teachers, classrooms, schools and set curriculums, it opens doors, opportunities and possibilities. It gives freedom in education and life.
Worldschooling is born through a love of travel and a love of learning about and from the world. There are many versions of worldschooling, some academic, some less so.
There is a thriving global worldschooling community and numbers of worldschooling families grow daily. You can join this community.
Our Worldschooling Story
Back in 2012, we decided that travelling with the kids would be a great lifestyle choice for our family and a phenomenal way for the boys to get a better education. I invented a term, travelschooling.
The boys were already out of school and we were very happy with that choice, but we could see that their environment was limiting their learning.
They needed more diversity and to see, touch, do and experience it all.
Not much further down the road, I discovered that somebody had already named what we were doing as worldschooling and that it was actually a fairly commonly used term.
So travelschooling was ditched and I started embracing our worldschooling project. These days everyone is jumping on the band-wagon and I don’t like the dilution of the original idea.
Worldschoolers do not go to school, sorry, non-negotiable you can’t be a worldschooler only on weekends.
If kids go to school they are main-stream educated, nothing different there at all, how can there be?
They will be tied to a timetable, grade, and a curriculum with insufficient time to experience their surroundings and follow educational paths and projects of their own choosing.
Some worldschooling families do put their kids in school as they travel. It’s their choice and you see it more often where parents want full language immersion and for the child to become bi-lingual.
That said, every homeschooler is different, every unschooler is different, every child and family is different.
There is no one fixed right way to homeschool or worldschool and that is absolutely fine.
Education should never be one-size-fits-all and that is the massive elephant in the room with the standard education system.
Not everyone is free to take up a digital nomadic family lifestyle but what you can do is try worldschooling.
Give it a go, take your kids on a voyage of discovery and freedom on a family gap year. Even 1 year, a taste of worldscholing, could be very good for their world outlook as you strew the world before them.
You may find you never want to put them back in school again.
Unschool, Homeschool or Worldschool?
Worldschooling can be unschooling or it can be homeschooling, it really just depends on what you want to call it.
We call it homeschooling, others may look at us and call us unschoolers. We’re certainly not unschoolers because we are not fully child-led.
Now, after many years, we do some unschooling, some homeschooling and a whole heap of worldschooling. I think a lot of homeschoolers are that way.
We can fit in with most alternative education communities.
Obviously methods of providing, facilitating and enhancing a child’s education change with need over time, age, environment and interests. Education comes is seasons.
In Australia we tend to use homeschooling as an umbrella term to cover all methodologies, in the UK they prefer to use home education, rejecting the “schooling” term altogether.
I usually stick with the term homeschooling, it’s simpler.
We do our own thing, ignore the school system, and the kids get a great education. But that education has absolutely zero involvement with school.
That’s important and a whole-life commitment for however many years family and children choose that path.
We are full-time, full-life homeschoolers or worldschoolers and that education is an active process, one we put a lot of effort into.
If you’re in doubt take a look at our 1 year of homeschooling highlights to see just how much learning happens, naturally, out in the wider world.
One teacher commented that our style of learning was what schools try to reproduce in the classroom, and fail
World Schooling and Homeschooling Terms
For the uninitiated, here is a brief run-down of the usual terms in the alternative education world:
School-at-Home is doing what they do in school, at home. I don’t personally know anybody who does this. I think this is what homeschooling is taken to mean in the UK and why they prefer to call themselves home educators.
These children will probably be fitting back into the school system at some point, maybe taking the usual exams. Many people believe that home educated children are “taught” by a parent.
In reality, this rarely happens.
Unschooling is a 1970s term John Holt used, he was never happy with the term, but it stuck. He preferred the term “life”.
Unschooling involves a complete rejection of the school system and trust in the children to learn through their own interests and curiosity at whatever pace they prefer.
Unschooling is fully child-led learning. Parents and other human beings are involved as key facilitators of that learning. You can see Hannah’s post on “What is Unschooling?” here.
Radical Unschooling takes the unschooling philosophy even further to include all aspects of life.
Sandra Dodd came up with this term and it totally rejects any distinction between educational and non-educational activities.
Radical unschooling removes limits and allows children to make their own choices in all areas of life. I’m no expert if you’d like to know more try Sandra Dodd, or Dayna Martin, prominent radical unschoolers.
Worldschooling is more difficult to define. Some class it as a type of unschooling, some children are world-schooled as they’ve been home-schooled.
When I look back at my first year, 2 years, of being a home educator, it really wasn’t that great.
Luckily those first 2 years were before we started travelling and were highly regulated by the government.
We found our way through trial and error and were able to hit the road with confidence.
Worldschooling and World Travel With Kids
A year on the road probably isn’t long enough to find your educational groove which is one of the reasons I tell parents taking kids on a short trip to just do nothing about “school”. Don’t spoil the experience, just enjoy it and learn naturally.
The youngsters will have more time for reading, and that in itself is great for them.
To me, worldschooling is a home education approach of any sort with a good measure of travel and active learning through travel thrown in.
The partners in the process, the educational facilitator (parent) and the student have to seek out the learning in the location, it is by no means a passive absorption process.
I don’t want my kids in school, be that junior, middle or high school. I want them to learn at the source when they are ready or interested.
I want them to know that they can teach themselves just about anything because times have moved on and the internet can replace a teacher.
We parents have to facilitate education and totally shoulder the responsibility of our child’s education. It’s a big responsibility that we home-educating parents take on, and we need to be 100% committed to it.
It’s not something to mess about with.
Is it Possible to Worldschool and Not Travel?
If you take the simplest definition of worldschooling that I’ve found, then, of course, you don’t need to travel. Worldschooling is learning from the world, we are all in the world, just some of us see more of it than others.
That sounds more like a definition of unschooling than worldschooling, I think.
Eli Gerzon claims the term worldschooling as his invention. He says
“Worldschooling is when the whole world is your school, instead of school being your whole world.”
Eli Gerzon
His definition seems to take travel out of the worldschooling scenario completely, it certainly removes school.
I guess it could work, but it would be a narrow form of worldschooling to not see the world.
What Does Worldschooling Look Like?
Wherever we worldschoolers are in the world we actively seek out the learning. It involves visiting temples, museums, markets, hotels, railway stations and playgrounds.
Worldschooling involves meeting people from every background, faith, nationality, age and race.
It involves the facilitator, doing research and having knowledge and ideas to share with the kids. We won’t have every answer, no, nor would a teacher, but we do have Google.
Finding your own information sticks better than being told and parent and child learning together is an exciting way to do things.
For us, the worldschooling always starts before we reach a destination. We all, together, find out as much about our next country or region as we can before we get on the plane.
Before heading to Scotland and the UK we spent some time watching YouTube videos and finding out about, for instance, Hadrian’s Wall. If the kids didn’t know what that wall was before we got there they’d probably be totally disinterested.
Now most things we see will have some sort of “wow” factor.
After visiting we’ll try and wrap things up and find out more. The destinations always bring up more questions.
I read, I read a lot about our destinations and always have, about their history, culture, beliefs and traditions and I try to take kids to places that will introduce those ideas and spark an interest.
I work very hard at worldschooling.
The regular home education is still there too, when I first took responsibility for educating my children I was, like most new homeschooling parents, very school-at-home.
I thought that was what you had to do because I had no experience of any other way of learning.
Every day we became more and more unschool as I saw how the learning was actually happening (this is called de-schooling).
Before we left Australia I was happy to call myself an unschooler for a short period and totally embraced the term and the philosophy. We were, of course, worldschooling in our tropical home in Far North Queensland with the reef and the rainforest as a playground and classroom for all of us.
These days I rarely use the term unschooling at all.
In actual fact, I rarely use the term worldschooling. We are just getting an education. Education through adventure.
Over time, elements of school-at-home have crept back in because they needed to.
When we aren’t actively travelling we use workbooks and online learning programs. One item in our educational arsenal was the Minecraft Homeschool courses and the boys got a lot out of those as tweens.
My worldschooling teenager progressed to some Open University courses but teenaged kids become more and more self-directed as time passes by.
Kids’ audio guides, tours and talks slot into life easily on the road and becoming more important as the kids get older.
We always did some written maths and English and sometimes a science work-book as a sort of check list of topics. I also own curriculum books to remind myself and to see if my 10-year-old does actually know what he would be expected to know if he were in school in the UK.
This is, after all, a big experiment and I need to monitor the results.
If he didn’t, I would be failing him, everyone needs to know some basics.
He does, he has the same knowledge base as any child leaving a UK junior school should have. He hasn’t been taught it, he’s just picked it up.
I say should, because of course, many normally educated children won’t. Too many slip through the cracks and come out of school functionally illiterate.
These workbooks are needed reassurance for me and a sneaky way to get him writing and spelling, he enjoys science, like his mum, and writing not so much. He’s cool with it and we make it fun.
Workbooks we use include the series below, all are available online. We’ve tried many, these are our favourites. You’ll often find people suggesting that travelling kids simply keep a journal.
Nice idea, but my kids would rather extract their own eyeballs with spoons than journal, so workbooks it is. Try these, for math, science, English and more.
Buy our favourite worldschooling workbooks on Amazon here.
At the same time we’re still worldschooling, homeschooling and sometimes unschooling, we’re learning from Australia, the USA, Asia, London or wherever we happen to be.
Worldschooling kids learning from museums, zoos, historical places, diverse people, geography, lifestyles, food and cultures.
The kids made new friends and saw how local people live. In London the boys and I went to Forest School for 2 hours per week because it was fun and a good way to experience nature while meeting new people.
We’re always learning from the world wherever we are. When we slip into slow travel mode, which is rare for us, a time usually comes when we feel we’re done and need a new environment to learn from
Worldschooling FAQ
Can worldschooled kids sit exams?
Yes, kids who have been worldschooled can indeed sit exams and gain access to higher education. There are many ways to do this. My kids (worldschooled through to 14 and 16-years-old) will be sitting iGCSE. The “i” stands for international. Independent students can also sit regular GCSEs. You will need to find an examination centre, they are all over the world, and show up tosit the exams. A levels can be sat in the same way.
Will worldschooling kids be behind or ahead of their peers?
You can only gauge “ahead” or “behind” in a school environment where all kids are learning the same things, at the same time. In this scenario we have to assume that all kids in the year are considered to be the same age. Which of course, they are not. Kids who are worldschooled generally learn a different set of things. Our experience, when our kids started highschool, was that they were among the most able students in their classes. They slotted into years 9, 10 and 11, with no difficulty whatsoever. No prior school experience was needed. The content that is included in school examinations is very limited. For instance, my son’s History exam covered just three topics, whereas in worldschooling the kids have covered a broad spectrum of world history that most schools never touch on.
Does worldschooling give greater exam success?
This is an impossible question to answer as every child is different. My own findings are that the kids had very strong background knowledge, more-so than their class-mates. They had never sat exams before, nor written an essay. They did just fine. We can never know if they would have done better or worse had they been in school for their entire childhoods. I was very happy with how well they did when they re-entered conventional school.
What’s the best age to start worldschooling?
If we consider worldschooling just in terms of accumulating knowledge, I’d say that the older the child, the more they pick up. Prior to about ten years old my children remember very little from their travels. However, the other benefits of worldschooling, such as being with their families, having freedom to play, the ability to follow their interests and, not being confined to a classroom, do, of course, apply at every age. It’s worth noting that if your child enters the school system and you decide to pull them out later they can find it hard to adjust. Kids get used to being in school.
What are the best destinations for worldschooling?
Try to provide as many diverse locations, countries, continents, cultures and climates as possible to make your worldschooling curriculum. Take your kids to places that are most different to their home environment. If your child has a particular interest, for instance in Greek mythology, art, coral reefs, wars, mountains or deserts, take them to those locations. Include activities such as skiing, scuba diving, craft classes, art tours, cooking or any location-specific or just fun activity on offer. If you’re chasing exam passes find out what topic are on the exam paper. For instance, my son studied the Vietnam war for history GCSE. His time in Vietnam was really useful.
How Do Worldschooling Parents Afford to Worldschool?
Some people worldschool for just one year, others, like us, adopt worldschooling for many years. Family gap years are normally funded through savings. Multiple year worldschooling travel requires an income. Digital nomad families, with one or both parents working online, are increasingly common. I fund our worldschooling by being a travel blogger. You can read our posts on how to sell everything and travel, how we saved $30,000, and how travel bloggers make money.
Are There Online Schools for Worldschooling Kids?
Yes and no. Online schools exist and my kids attended one during lockdown because we were not able to travel and continue worldschooling as such. There are also schools of distance education and all manner of tutors available online. We use Outschool to find classes and tutors. Can you combine online school with travel? You could, but the set timetables would restrict your freedom and your child’s learning. A child following a set curriculum probably won’t have the time to follow their real academic interests nor to read the books they want to read. They certainly won’t be out fully experiencing the destination. I know that we could not have stuck with the online school while travelling full-time. It would have been too difficult to fit around travel. There are many options in education these days, we wholeheartedly recommend a pick-and-mix approach to suit you and your child.
Update: This post was originally written a few years ago, want to skip forward to worldschooling a teenager? It’s all worked out great for my kids. How about homeschooling a 12-year-old? Maybe you’d like to know more about the homeschooling resources we use on the road, if so, click through. My kids are teens now and eventually, unexpectedly, went to school. Read why we stopped home or worldschooling here.
Find more worldschooling ideas on our worldschooling Pinterest board here.
It worked. As they get older more and more of their learning comes from their own reading and online explorations. They are happy, they read, they are technologically competent, they know more than me on many subjects and they can do maths. The elder child earns an income and passed his iGCSE exams. He’s now taking A levels online. They’re the proof that this works. They continue to be worldschooled when and where lockdown allows but now, as teens, we keep them off the internet. Their lives are their own and we respect their privacy. I’ve never wanted them to go to college or university, but that option is still there should they choose it, as it is for all homeschooled kids. Any questions about worldschooling? Or maybe you’d like to buy this book, I’m the author of the chapter on worldschooling and a homeschooling author in several others.
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I wonder if there is a group, where families meet up and travel together with their kids educating them along the way?
Is there such a thing? Our son is already home schooled but we all need something more. This would be the perfect opportunity for us all to explore our gem of a planet.
Thank you.
Dane
There are various worldschooling hubs and communities. There’s one in Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Hoi An. There are also places where people just gravitate to, like Hoi An. We even bumped into a family who recognised us in Tibet! When you’re on the road you often get messages from people wanting to meet up. Just regular Facebook groups like our “Living Differently” group. Honestly, this sounds awful to me, we like our freedom. Have you taken group tours and enjoyed them? I find waiting for people, having to be “on duty” socially, not having enough time to yourself, very, very tedious, particularly with kids involved.We all have different food needs, bedtimes, getting up times, interests, stamina, fitness, and parenting styles. Not to mention beliefs politically and even in religion, you meet some very “different” people if you just hang out with other travelling families. So I’d dip your toe in the water and test it out before you commit. Even taking a day trip with other families, we’ve done it, hated it. They wanted to do xyz, we wanted to do something else that suited us better, honestly, we have much more fun as a family unit than having to compromise for other people. But I’m an introvert with very low social need and the kids hate being forced to be around other kids that they may not like. When you do find a family you gel with its great, but it’s rare. Remember mum,dad, and the kids all have to get on and be together a lot. It’s a big ask. And I’d rather talk to locals, you get more insight spending time with the local people.
Hi! This post was fantastic and super informative. I especially liked the section Are There Online Schools for Worldschooling Kids because I am an online private math tutor. I wholeheartedly believe in what these Worldschooling families are doing and I want to be able to support them with their educational needs. Any recommendations on how I can connect with these families to see how I can help?! – Vanessa
I would suggest that you list yourself as a maths tutor on Outschool. Specify which country’s educational system, so when I was looking for a maths tutor for my son I searched “GCSE” or “iGCSE” maths tutor, year 10, 11 etc. GCSEs are British, so you need to specify if you’re teaching the UK, USA, Australian etc, maths curriculum. We found a wonderful lady, she goes by the name “Aunty Matherine” on Outschool, and was a great help when my son did finally, in year 10, take formal maths classes. Kids only need one year, if that, (in our experience) to learn everything then need to pass those maths exams with flying colours. If they choose to sit those exams, of course, there is no requirement to sit them for worldschooled kids or homeschooled kids and a child can sit exams as an external candidate at exam centres all over the world. But really, this system is a big money making scam. Buy into it or not, it’s personal choice.
✨✨🌸 amazing. THabn you for showing an example of children having gone through this process and are basically adults. Pls keep updating as they get older as this is the “study research” and backup we all wait for and proof that it works to strengthen our own case
Our most recent trip was Jordan, you’ll find that post if you search our site. Still more “worldschooling” for all of us.
So basically, I’ve been doing world schooling without knowing it. LOL.
I’m happy to come across this post and see what you’ve been doing and what others do. I also do a combination of all of these things.
I had that locked down stopped travel but as soon as that was over and Europe started opening up, I hoped on a plane.
In terms of online schooling, Accellus Academy or power school is cheap and self paced. There is no time table so kids can do it when they feel like, for their grade level and also work ahead at a higher grade level. That’s if kids want to have a curriculum to follow but do it at their own time, not live lectures and time tables to follow.
We also do Outschool.
We travel frequently and usually live abroad. Sometimes I am also in the states.
Registering for local school depends on the destination and sometimes I prefer that route for language immersion and socialization.
I don’t have anything against universities except that it’s bloody expensive in the USA and free (or cheap) in Europe. So I’m thinking for her to go in Europe when that time comes. She’s 12.
Of course university educated means nothing but you increasing need a bachelors or even a masters to have any sort of job in the world if you’re not doing your own business. As of yet, I have no idea what she wants to do. But she’s a phenomenal artist and I’m looking for ways to support that talent. Fashion design, product design, architecture, game design, graphic design, illustrations all could be potential professions and those can be done remotely.. at least she can have a fall back if she doesn’t go do something traditional like lawyering. 😂
Yeah, my job as a medical scientist (before starting my own business and earning 10 x more) required an approved degree. It was ridiculous, a trained chimp could have done it. But that’s just the system now. I had fun in university, passed well, never used that knowledge again other than to pass on to my kids. I never went to lectures I just memorised it all from books. I’m a visual learner, so lectures, I don’t even hear, they send me to sleep. We did sent the kids to an online school during lockdown, an accredited international school that cost a fortune. It wasn’t very good. But it was something to do other than stare at the walls. My kids both decided against university which I’m very happy with. It’s not free in the UK, hasn’t been for a long time. I was one of the last intakes to get a grant, which didn’t cover everything. You’d probably need to become a citizen or resident to use free tertiary education from another country – I guess. Never looked into it. I think places like Sweden do this. Best of luck with whatever path you choose.
This is brilliant. My family are considering this in the next few years. How are you finding lockdowns and travel?
We were stuck in Australia the full 2 years Nicol, couldn’t leave. So we bought a farm. My elder son is now 18, studying and working, so the “worldschooling” is officially done. It was rough, I felt like we’d had 2 years stolen, but the kids were happy enough. We’ll be back on the road shortly, for shorter trips (meaning a month or so).It’s taken months to get passports renewed and we still don’t have them. We’ll have to take it in turns being home with the animals. There are posts on our site about how they sat exams etc. And if you want to see the farm, it’s here. https://tropicalfoodgarden.com/we-bought-a-farm/
Hi, I am SO invested in this blog. I read it daily, making sure I haven’t missed anything. We’re a family of four from a small town in Cornwall (UK). My son is 6 years old and my daughter is almost 4 years old. My son is struggling with school, he is in year one so his second year of primary school, he has friends but when it comes to education he is far from interested. The school are “investigating” ADHD, however I just don’t think he’s ready for mainstream school. The strict schedules and “being behind” compared to other children in his class, I feel like it just isn’t working for us. He is well behaved but he cannot stay focused long periods of time. Travelling would be something new for us, the thought of selling my house and belongings to go travelling as a family whilst worldschooling is so daunting yet thrilling to me. My question is, with the children being so young, would you recommend?
Yes! Your son sounds like mine, he had a ball and is now a great student taking his A levels online. 4 and 6 is a bit young, they likely won’t remember much, but if you’re confident you can keep them safe, as you do at home, on the road – Go for it! Best of luck Lauren, stay in touch.
My name is Anisha Sara Babu. I am a mother and a homeschooler to my daughter. I do believe in worldschooling. We are from kerala lndia. Could you please sponsor our family for kerala trips
Hi There
I would like to know the workbooks that you went through with your kids? The link wasnt above. We are currently worldschooling and we have stopped in New Zealand during Lockdown and found ourself staying here for a while. We have travelled for 6 months and now just want to pause for a while so would like to use the opportunity to do some basics. But not too much.
Workbooks are one of the homeschooling resources mentioned in the second to last paragraph. Alternatively, try here, also my site. https://homeschoolgrouphug.com/homeschool-workbooks/
How did you get started.. did you travel and work before you started to make money from this blog? We are saving for a year off and hoping to find a way to make money while traveling but i would like to start looking for ways to make money before we start travel and maybe help us save money faster… I work from home right now because of covid. But I still have to work an 8 hour day and I could not travel and do this job they will not let us do that yet …
Hi Donna, if you buy our e-book it’s all in there. But yes, I started this site about 12 months before we left. It didn’t start making good money until maybe 3 years in. Blogging is getting harder these days, there are so many huge sites skimming every blogger’s content and cherry-picking their ideas that bring the best traffic, then there was Covid. I’m not making enough money today to support us and our traffic is at 10% of normal levels. Things will probably pick up again, eventually. No, you will not be able to work and travel and have fun at the same time. Unless you’re me and get up at 3am to work every day. The top travel blogs are all huge businesses now and there’s no room for the small sites. I’m struggling. It’s just me, I have no team other than my family. One big travel site invested 100 million dollars, they must have thousands of writers, SEO experts, social media managers… it’s just hard now. If you want to start a blog to make money I’d go into pets or gardening, or food, something more recession-proof. Or go super niche, start a travel site about your home town for instance. There are almost a thousand posts on this site and each one now takes several days to create. That’s a lot of time! But if you pick one location and cover it well and in total detail, you’d get there faster.
I’m pregnant with our first child and worldschooling is definitely the method we’d like to pursue. I was homeschooled (from the USA) until I was 13 and I always felt like I learned better in that setting than in a traditional classroom. But, unlike my parents, my husband and I love to travel and we can’t wait to integrate our adventures abroad into learning opportunities for our kid.
Wonderful! I hope the world settles back to normal for you just as soon as possible. You’ll see in our latest post that my kids are now in school. The current problems forced our hand. It’s a shame but it’s something different for now. Good luck!
What a fantastic post! So glad I found your site. I love this idea and can’t wait to share this article with my wife to talk about what we might do along these lines in the future!
Hi..
I have a 13 year old and an 8 year old. We have homeschooled/world schooled since they were born. We lived on a sailing boat for their earlier years so it was more world schooling then moved ashore to Bali 6 years ago. I homeschool with the help of tutors. I have stuck with this despite the tough times where I double guess myself and end up feeling ‘lost’. I have no support really and my husband is not involved.
I love the freedom the children and myself have to learn, to create our days…but I struggle now that my son is becoming a teenager if this is what is best for them…I feel so much pressure. Currently I use my own head, internet etc for resources..I love the teaching part but not devising the program or curriculum, Do you have any advice on sites that are not just standard curriculums to teach at home. I am reaching out as I feel quite overwhelmed currently. I don’t believe in formal education per say but do believe in helping structuring the children’s days and tangible learning to a degree so we can see how they are getting on….
Hi Rosanna, Well, I’m a few years ahead of you so I’m probably a good person to talk to. Both my boys are teens now, one 16. It’s fine, all will be fine. I don’t know your nationality, but as we’re British we buy curriculum linked work books for KS3 moving into KS4 ( we like Collins, I order them from Amazon or Book Depository) . Around age 13 my elder one just would not do any more maths, I couldn’t persuade him that maths was even remotely a good idea but now, this week, he’s started going through those work books starting at the beginning of year 7 of KS3. That’s about 12 years old. He finsished that book in 2 or 3 days, he’s now well into year 8, I suspect another 3 days or so. He’s flying along and where he comes across maths topics we’ve never covered he just Googles it. Sometimes he asks me and we figure it out together. I’ve explained that all this is totally pointless and he’ll never need any of this in real life, but he just wants to do it. I’ve seen other world or home schooled kids do this around 15 / 16 too. I think it’s peer pressure and a perceived need to do what everyone else does. That said school is totally out of the question, he doesn’t want that nonsense. So for the last few years he’s been doing various Open University courses and a bit of Khan, just picking topics he was interested in. He went off on a tangent yesterday and started watching the history of algebra on Khan ( which was actually very interesting and topped up his ancient history ) and it’s all sort of flowing. What I’m trying to say is – don’t worry. No, we don’t use any online school thing at all currently, but Khan is always there to dip into And Open University of course. I don’t believe in structure. The freedom to be unstructured and follow interests is a large part of the world or home schooling philosophy, so no real structure here. Of course, we take off up mountains and he goes off volunteering for weeks at a time so there’s no way structure would ever work. If you want to check in with the school curriculums they’re all available online if you look. But I wouldn’t advise it, all those outcomes and learnings are written in teacher-speak. We’re not aiming for exams ( although they may still happen) are you? If you’re not aiming for exams what are you worried about? If they’re not sitting exams they don’t need to follow the curriculum, that’s its only purpose. Best of luck and * breath* .
After reading this post and another post on unschooling, I’ve realized how mistaken some parents have gotten. “Unschooling” and “worldschooling” are two ideas that should have never been made legal.
How much education do you think your children are really getting by being able to do whatever they want all day? Thinking about it honestly, they won’t be able to go to good schools or get good, high-paying jobs in the future if they don’t have fundamental education.
Children are obviously satisfied and happy now, travelling the world and not studying basic math, science, and languages, but they truly aren’t getting proper education. I watched a documentary on a family of “unschoolers” and the parents insisted their children was learning a lot and knew basic math and English, but the oldest child, a ~10 year old, couldn’t solve a simple multiplication problem.
Seriously, travelling the world and not getting any education isn’t okay. What’s the point of learning survival and cultural skills if they won’t have any money in the future to travel? The children will rely on YOU, the parent, for money.
I’m not trying to hate, I’m just want to let you know that “unschooling” and “worldschooling” really is not good and the children will not get their basic education needed to go to college and get a job.
I’m a mother, to a son who was (unfortunately) “unschooled” and “worldschooled.” His father insisted that my son follow him (my husband) around the world on business trips and learn about different cultures, so my son lived in many places for many years (France, England, China, Japan, etc.) and though he insisted he was really studying and learning, he’s a community college drop out working at iHop, and he relies on me and his father for money to live.
It hurts to see my son, who was so happy and vibrant, travelling the world and being free to do as he pleased-so reliant and disappointed in his life.
I just wanted to warn you.
Unschooling and worldschooling is not education.
Please, at least homeschool your children, or send them to school.
They need basic education to be able to do what they love in the future.
I’m sorry your son’s life doesn’t please you – just yet. My mother probably felt the same about me. You know, at 21 I had never had a job. I spent over a year after university doing nothing, not sure what to do, not wanting a job at all. I eventually started my career based on my university degree at 22. My mother could finally be proud of raising a “successful” child who had passed all the right exams and had a socially acceptable job. I detested my career and just went through the motions for 20 years. In my 40’s I taught myself how to make websites. This website now earns more – and is far more fulfilling – than my old career. I also earn more through this website than my husband did at the top of his career, as high as he could go in his industry. Every skill I use today is self-taught (and multiplication has never been involved) Do you see my point? A “good” job isn’t necessarily what makes you happy. A “good” job doesn’t necessarily require formal training. A “good” job and a good life don’t have to start the moment you leave school or university. Also, you don’t seem to understand world / home / un schooling. The divide isn’t what you think. You have seen one sensationalised TV show designed to show a negative side of unschooling. Good unschooling, done well, is superb. Some don’t do it well, I’ll give you that. Unschooling does not equate with worldschooling. Homeschooling is not school at home. We are not unschoolers, yet we worldschool ( it’s actually not a term I particularly like, I seldom use it, but our years of travel make us worldschoolers by default) My two both have income streams already, they are experimenting with various Open University courses which may or may not take them into degrees. If they choose study, that’s cool, if not, that’s also cool. You know, plenty of kids come out of the hugely messed up school system with no exam passes, illiterate, bullied, with depression or other mental health issues. Plenty don’t even come out of school alive, suicide rates are crazy in pressured teens – things could be much worse and your son has his whole life ahead of him. I figured out my life’s calling in my 40s. Expecting kids to choose careers as young teens is insane and depressing. I hope he will find his way in his own time, he has so many choices and possibilities and there are many, many ways to do life. I think you’re wanting to find someone or something to blame. That’s impossible to do as you don’t know, can never know, if outcomes would have been different had your child taken a different path. None of us do.
Oh my, Amiana, how sad I am for your disappointing son! Transitioning into adulthood is hard. I’m glad my 21 yr old self isnt who I am now at 44. I got pregnant (unmarried and in college) at 19. My daughter is now 24 and about to graduate college. She LOVES to travel, but her passion is changing our broken public school system (in the US). She’s also interested in learning how the rest of the world educates children. My son is home/world-schooled. Besides being wild as a March hare, he knows more history and science than most high schoolers, he’s athletic and has been successful playing 4 sports so far, AND he knows how to multiply. Go figure! He actually started doing addition and subtraction at age 4 while learning to play and keep score at basketball. Everyone is different. While homeschooling isn’t for everyone, it certainly is for some.
We are unschoolers and also love to travel, although we’re not radical unschoolers. Child-led learning has worked very well in our house. Building a radio (by himself) at age five, publishing a book in middle school, and enjoying pre-calculus in 10th grade are a few things our three boys have done recently. I am not particularly worried about their capabilities. The thing I really hope they gain from their education is the knowledge that they can learn anything they’re interested in, without having to take a class or be “qualified” to learn it. It’s very sad when unschooling, homeschooling, and regular schooling are done poorly; everyone loses in those cases. I hope your son finds what he wants to do and is happy with himself.
@Amiana Just popping by to tell you that my elder son got fantastic grades in his exams and is now taking higher studies. He has a job and his employer thinks he’s wonderful. You seem to have some very weird experiences, I’m sad that you’re sad.
Hi Alyson I love your post it’s very educational. I’m desperately seeking information. We want travel the world with our kids 4 & 2 and when my daughter turns 5 we want start world school as we traveling . Do you have any tips please
Thank you
Sure, just follow the links on this page to our other homeschooling and worldschooling posts, there’s loads !
I’m desperately seeking info about doing homeschooling or even better world schooling while we travel Oz with our two kids 10 & 12. I’m finding the bureaucracy in Australia incredibly frustrating ? Have you got any tips for me?
Hi Kristy. What nationality are you? If you’re Australian you have a problem. If you’re travelling to Australia from another country, no problem. If Australian home schooling revolves around being – at home. For a big chunk of the year. So travelling with your kids is technically not allowed. The only get around is to register them with a school of distance education, but that’s terribly limiting. If you’re from outside Australia, Australian regulations don’t apply to you, you’re a tourist. If Australian check your state’s regulations. Feel free to shoot me an email.
Hi Alyson
This post interests our situation.
We are Australian, the two middle boys are in year 9 and 10 of high school, Charlotte in year 3 and the eldest is out and doing an apprenticeship.
We would love to”Worldschool” Charlotte so that she doesn’t go through high school here, can you point me towards the right sites to see what we can do?
If this is not possible do you know any exchange programs that you can relocate as a family?
Everything you need to know is on our site Hannah. I’m not really sure what other information on homeschooling you need. Let me know if I can help and best of luck.
I got interested in the subject of world schooling after my sister told me she wasn’t taking her kid to school. Naturally, I feel concerned about my niece’s education and her future.
I do realize it’s not reasonable to make the school your whole world. On the other hand, I can’t say the world along with parents, the Internet, and other facilitators can completely substitute a regular school. I agree the world schooling provides a kid with more freedom to develop interest and curiosity, study at one’s own pace, and discover his or her talents. But at the same time, home education burdens kids with greater responsibility for their learning. Parents normally have their own work to do, rather than facilitating, monitoring and assessing the learning progress, which is teachers’ responsibility at regular schools.
Therefore, I support the idea of world schooling, but I still consider a kid should appear at school for testing on the regular basis. In other words, a home-educated student is free to choose when to study—in the morning/afternoon/evening, on weekdays/weekends, but there should be some deadlines set. So it’s not about 100% own pace, but a kind of a compromise between the home and school education, total freedom and dependence. That’s how I see it.
What would the purpose of this testing by the school be?
You are assuming that the school’s curriculum represents the perfect or only set of information a child must memorise before the age of 16.
What if the child and parent would prefer a different set of information than one set out by a particular government?
Trust me, kids educated outside school have no burden whatsoever. They have freedom to be kids. But of course, no 2 families will do it the same way and I can’t comment on anyone else’s methods or abilities.
Thanks for the wide variety of interpretations in this post Alyson. We’re 17 months into our worldschooling slow traveling journey but as our little one is only 4.5 right now part of me feels the real tests are still to come. At the same time, we’d committed to home education before she was born so despite ‘play’ still being our number one priority for her, we’ve been actively facilitating her learning since birth and are more than happy with her development. We’re looking forward to the uncertaintaties of the road ahead and the longer we’re on the road, and the more worldschooling families we meet, the more comfortable we feel about the choices we’re making for all our family’s development.
This is a ridiculous concept and is the 2018 version of a counterculture hippie. You are setting your kids up for disaster.
Do you think the technical and conceptual applications of the internet were bred by a kid sightseeing? What about structural engineering, medicine, real pillars in this world, not history and cultural enthusiasts. The latter experiences round out your world outside of true hard skills, but those soft skills will not get one by.
Not to mention the social depravities of your children not being grounded with roots and friends that they can grow with and cherish for years. The constant jumping around with no base creates a nomad society. Never playing a team sport, never being able to recall childhood memories with someone you know, kissing your first girl after courting, partying, the list goes on and on.
Every ones has a place in this world and everyone plays their role, but if this concept goes beyond trend and minute proportion of society, we are in trouble. It won’t though b/c people are smarter than that and understand the evolution of society was created in structured environments teaching real skills with proven methods, not riding horseback in the ocean.
Those videos you want to watch to learn, the people creating them are formally trained LOL. Math, reading and comprehension cannot be taught on the internet.
Give yourself a shake and be a responsible parent.
YAY!! My first negative comment out of…maybe 2 million hits a year. Go you, you’re awesome, thanks!
And did you really just say “courting” LOL. That gives your age away.
Real world says and I state:
‘Everyone has a place in this world’
This is their place. Everything can learned at anytime, any age. I failed school, did not attend 3/4 years of high school. I now run 3 successful businesses with 3 children under 6. It’s amazing what discipline, determination and passion can do for someone.
Alison I think you are amazing, I understand this post is a little old but you have been wonderful to follow. Thank you
“Do you think the technical and conceptual applications of the internet were bred by a kid sightseeing? What about structural engineering, medicine, real pillars in this world”
PMSL, do you think they were bred by a child at school? You think the innovators of the world learnt that from a standardised curriculum? Sounds like you need to step in to the real world.
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. ” – Albert Einstein
Hi! We have just returned after one full year of travel and we…. took our kids out of school for the whole year! (gasp) Guess what?? They are now back at school, they have more confidence than when we left, they are ahead of their classmates in maths and literacy and at the expected level for all other areas. Traveling, being nomadic, homeschool/worldschool/unschool – it all works… Different people choose different paths. There is no RIGHT way to be educated. And just to say this loud and clear Mr Real World – before we embarked on our travels our Psychologist (yes she trained at University…) said that what children need is stability and love…. AND that stability does not come from being in one house/suburb/country… it comes from Us as parents. What better life can we give our children than one of wonder and joy to explore this incredible world. Learning things by actually being there is so much better than text books and blackboards, as far as we are concerned… AND we will do it again.. soon… I hope more people realize that it is possible and that it is so much better than using an antiquated system that was designed during the industrial revolution to produce people to work on the factory floor. I want my kids to imagine and create “Imagination is more important than knowledge” – Albert Einstein!!! (we saw where he lived with his first wife in Serbia) REAL WORLD SCHOOLING!!
I love that you had such a great result, and an enjoyable year spending time as a family. But I think what old Real World is talking about is those of us who opt out of the school system fully, as we have. The homeschoolers who add to that educational model but throwing in a huge side order of travel. It most certainly enriches and extends the child’s learning environment. His points are all pretty ridiculous and factually innacurate which is why I really couldn’t be bothered to respond/ But I started writing a counter-response post yesterday. Watch this space 😉 It’s gonna be good.
I once met someone who had spent his childhood travelling with his parents , he was homeschooled on his travels. I was very impressed by him , his intelligence was obvious , he was non judgmental and very empathetic and a very larger than life happy confident persona. He was only 26 years hold and now in the uk co -running a prosperous business.
Where I was originally waiting to backpack on my own when my last child had grown up, I am now realising that rather than just homeschooling at home, I can do this travelling with my children and enrich their lives with experiences at same time and let them understand there is far more to life than following social expectations . I will show there a choices and they are free to make them .
I know this is a bit older post, but I’m just curious; have you thought of involving your kid(s) in learning about the place you are going by doing what you do with google? I think that research is one of the best things to learn for anyone!
I’ve been traveling for a year and a half while programming (digital nomad) and I see now that this is the best way for learning about surroundings, and think it would be best way when I find a partner that is interested in raising kids this way as well 🙂
Good article, and site! I will try to read more of your content when I get a chance.
Bon Voyage
Unfortunately the kids don’t find researching very interesting and if they’re not interested, you’ve lost their hearts and brains. That’s where schools fail. But present them with something interesting, entertaining, or fun, and they’re yours. So if my 12 year old is researching the latest bit of video editing kit for his YouTubing, he’s a sponge. If I tell him that today we will be researching Mongolia…I’ve lost him. But give him John Green’s World History series on the Mongols and, bam…back again. See how it works 😉
Personal opinion here, I don’t really think many kids would benefit from worldschooling… Do not get me wrong, I don’t agree with public education and structured learning, I also think that experiencing other countries and cultures is also really important–not in a “tourist buying things from the giftshops and staying in their resort hotel” way, I mean actual backpacking, living with the host family for a few months, eating their food, learning their language, celebrating their holidays. That’s really great, especially when the child is old enough to appreciate it. However, I also don’t think a child would benefit being in a new country every year or six months, and having no home-base . Most kids appreciate stability, familiarity, consistency. Traveling is usually for the “leaving the nest” phase. There are adult kids from military families, or like me who switched schools and houses more times than they can count, who absolutely crave roots, long-term friends, community who’ve grown up with us, and not always having to constantly readjust to a strange world and new people. We crave having a home we can come back to, but usually that “home” is scattered, and since we spent such less time there the people we met have usually been lost, and forgotten us. It seems you would have these problems with ‘world-schooling’, and even more so, would be having double the stress of learning a new language, new customs, and new culture. After that, when your kids want to develop actual practical skills in their home country (or whatever country) to pursue education and a career, how is that established? Unschoolers at times will pursue courses in community colleges, become part of clubs, or projects, and build their educational portfolio there, but I wonder what world-schoolers will have to offer besides perhaps learning different languages, and how much harder it would be to be part of projects, or activities when you’re learning a new language and the country you’re occupying may not have these opportunities. Those are my concerns.
But overall, I do think that worldschooling makes a point of the stagnant state of most western lives, where we are more worried about paying bills than living to make ourselves happy, and similarly our kids learn in classroom boxes or tv-screens instead of having genuine memories and experiences.
Interesting Kaila, I can only really speak from personal experience, so here goes. Firstly, we rarely need to learn languages, almost everywhere we go, everyone speaks enough English for us to manage. There are exceptions, parts of Romania, Central America and China are the only countries where we’ve ever hit a language barrier. Some parents make a focus of language learning, we don’t. If they pick some up that’s fine, if they don’t, also fine. I quite like the fact that I can speak some Romanian but the kids really don’t care, so…meh. I don’t think learning languages will help them in the long-run much other than just being ” nice”. I come from a background, a school, where languages were a compulsory focus, it’s nice that I know a few languages, but it’s never been much use. It could be useful in future careers, but also, it could be pointless, we don’t know what direction our kids will choose, it’s up to them. Secondly, what you describe, long-term slow travel isn’t what we do. Some do, sure, but personally, I find it really boring and would rather be a regular backpacker, more travel, less of the mundane. We find that we now have many bases, good friends all over the world that we see regularly, so the roots and friendships you mention do exist. With regard to fitting into a particular country, well we don’t have one. The kids can choose the UK or Australia when they’re old enough to choose, if they want to choose, but for now, we’re not interested in living in Australia. The kids feel British and consider London their real home. Had we remained in Australia they may have become “stuck” there and probably followed the herd into local employment and never really doing much outside their comfort zone. It’s physically and financially hard to get out of our end of that country, very isolated up there. They are learning life and business skills. They’re learning how to make a living without being tied to a job, not just from me, from many people we are good friends with. It’s a very cool clique that we move in and we have some incredible people in our inner circle. I’m sitting in one of their houses right now. The people you mention who ” crave roots” yourself included, are maybe craving something they imagine others have. Maybe it doesn’t exist? In my experience few people stay where they were born. None of my old school friends now live in our home town, we all moved on. That’s modern life. Had I stayed in my home town I would probably have killed myself through boredom by now, as it is, life is way more fun and far more stimulating. Also, lots of people claim that kids need or crave consistency and routine, well I think that’s hogwash and an idea created by parents who enjoy routine in their lives so that child rearing is simplified. Routine helps when lives are lived to timetables and scedules, for us routine is redundant. I don’t buy into that school of thought at all. I have several friends with kids who have Aspergers and Autism, they demand routine and certainty, some kids do, mine don’t. They love the freedom of doing what they want, when they want. Routine actually kills me, I hate it, so my kids weren’t ever going to get it. They’re stuck with me, no choice there as no child gets to pick their parents. You talk about adapting to other cultures, fitting in and host families. None of those things ever happen so I really can’t comment. Living like a local is a total myth. We live as observers, as travellers, even in countries that we know inside out, we will never truly integrate, we will always be different. Truthfully, we wouldn’t want to, understanding comes through observation. Hope that answers some of your questions and thanks so much for commenting and raising them. Cheers!
Ah isn’t it great we can all live our lives the way we desire? It is good to be skeptical, but try not to judge until you’ve tried it. Education is around all of us everyday no matter where we are in the world. It is our jobs as parents to ensure it is absorbed. We find it amazing how naturally curious the kids are and what they have learned from travel. They have life skills which would not likely have presented themselves, like adapting to change. I moved around quite a bit when I was growing up and had 5 siblings. Only 2 of us still crave that change and feel our “roots” are where ever we have planted our feet. Our kids have roots, basic routine, and tradition no matter where we live. It is our surroundings which change. I can’t imagine living in the same home, same place, same city for many many years. That is the beauty of our lives. We can do what suits us.
🙂
I am a single mom of a 6 year old! How do i make money while abroad? ????? I want to learn how to be free and fearless like my daughter.
Well Jody, have a look at our blogging section. There are many ways but it takes A LOT of hard work and commitment + time. Good luck.
This is GREAT! And exactly what we seem to be doing! LONG story! But we were living in Germany for 11 years, the school system was messing up our kids. With that not being the reason for pulling them out of school, it was more of me needing to go back home to the states, we were forced to so something out of the box. We returned to the states and started homeschooling using a state system. Over time that has evolved into a traditional online schooling that I have COMPLETE control over and we are traveling the world so they are also being worldschooled! We don’t really have a permanent home but are in Spain for the time being. Your post was so motivating to keep the momentum going! Not sure what the end goal with them will look like without a diploma but we’ll figure things out as we go. Thanks SO much for sharing! Robin
All the best to you Robin!
Hi! I enjoyed this post. We are a military family so we world school. We have found co-ops helpful. We’ll move again in the summer and the kids will be going to a co-op/charter school 2 days a week and they’ll do homework with us the rest of the week. This will give them a little bit of structure and my oldest is getting to a level of math that is hard for me to teach. I’ll teach two classes at the co-op.
Great post! I love knowing (and peeking in on) people who refuse to let themselves be boxed in by one way of learning. We’ve been unschooling for the past 3 years, and since we’re also location independent, worldschooling is a very natural part of our flow. Our daughters are learning so much about HOW they learn, and they get the time to immerse themselves in their interests, instead of dabbling here and there, and memorizing stuff along the way.
I am particular happy to see how you share the ways that more traditional schooling models “sneak” in when you’re not traveling; same here. Our daughters are 10 and 8, and we do use some workbooks at times, but by and large, we flow through our days and our environments being as present and engaged as we can. When we do that, plenty of learning takes place. Happy to have come cross your blog! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Alyson,
I love your post and enjoy reading your blog. We are worldschooling our daughter since birth and want to continue that in the future. We are thinking about letting her attend Kindergarten in Germany, does that contradict the whole concept in your opinion? I think it might be possible to see it as part of a continous immersion in new cultures and lifestyles.
Have a great day
Jennay
Hi Jennay, I’m honoured that you thought to bring that question to me, so thanks. No, of course it’s not a contradiction, so long as it’s what she wants.Does she know her own mind? If she’s keen to go, there is no anxiety, no worry or tears, fine, she’s choosing her own path and that’s fine. But if it is in any way traumatic for her, even for a short while, I personally wouldn’t consider it at all. I feel kids are better off with the people who love them, there is no need to “toughen them up” or get them used to being away from their source of comfort and support in the name of socialisation. It’s too big a topic to cover here, sorry.
I can’t believe we’ll be starting to home-school in only a couple of months! When we first had our kids, never in a million years did I ever imagine I’d be a homeschooling mom someday – but our travel plans make that a necessity. I love reading about others like you who have walked this path before us – it gives me the courage I need to go against the mainstream norm and try it myself!!! 🙂
I’m excited to read that you’re planning your next move – I can’t wait to see where you end up next!
Good luck Sheralyn! Very soon you’ll be wondering why on earth you ever thought it was a good idea to send them to school, such a waste of childhood.
Great post, Alyson! I don’t like the idea of labels either but it does seem to help us find other families with a similar lifestyle. One thing I like about worldschooling is that it’s so flexible. Like you said, it can have a different meaning for each family. I wrote a post about how worldschooling relates to many of the other major forms of homeschooling: http://tinathetinytraveler.com/2014/05/04/worldschooling-defined/
Hi Alyson! Love your last post! So true and so enjoy schooling the kids out of the classroom! We touched base awhile back before our travels RTW from NS, Canada. We are now almost 6 months into our trip and have arrived in Japan and loving every minute! We are heading soon to Southeast Asia and looking forward to rereading some of your previous posts to get some good ideas on where to go. Our travel blog is away4now.com.
Enjoy your travels!
Cheers – Kari
@Kari, If you’ve been homeschooling for a while, you’re probably aware that the topic of socializing is utterly irrelevant. You’re undoubtedly aware that the stereotype of a strange, unsocialized homeschooler does not apply to the majority of home-schooled children. If you’re new to homeschooling, have recently relocated, or live in an area where there isn’t a vibrant homeschooling community, you might be wondering how to assist your child make friends.