When we first stepped into this travel lifestyle, most of our days were spent with the boating crowd. It made sense, we were living on the water, and naturally, those were the people around us. But over time, our circles grew. Not because we set out to “find more community,” but because it unfolded that way.

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned is that travel communities overlap more than you’d expect. You might start out identifying with one group such as sailors, RVers, backpackers, or worldschoolers, but over time those lines start to blur. You end up swapping stories, sharing meals, and building friendships that reach far beyond any one label.

Looking back, I love that part the most. We didn’t just stay in one lane. We opened ourselves up to people who were on their own journeys, in their own way, and that made ours richer.

Different Journeys, Same Lifestyle

When we first set out by sailboat, most of the people in our circle were boaters, it just came with the lifestyle. But as time went on, we realized that travel has a way of broadening your connections without you even trying.

It wasn’t forced; it was simply the natural outcome of meeting people. One winter in La Paz, for example, we started making friends through the Clubhouse app. Later, when we missed the big flotilla of kid boats heading north to the Sea of Cortez for hurricane season, we found ourselves connecting with a whole new group of travelers.

Pretty soon we were spending time with RVers, van lifers, worldschoolers, and families who travel by plane and rental car. The RV crowd in particular reminded us of the boating community, the same like-minded mindset of freedom, the same challenges of living in a small space, and the same conversations about educating kids on the go.

Full-time and extended travel families often face different logistics, things like airline baggage limits, road conditions, or even civil unrest, but in many ways, the conversations overlap. The core struggles and joys are the same: storage is always limited, plans shift with the weather, and there’s a constant balance between flexibility and structure.

What stood out most to us, though, is the shared mindset across all these communities. Whether on water, road, or in the air, so many families are chasing freedom, education, and meaningful experiences. Everyone is on their own journey, and that’s what makes it beautiful. Some travelers give back by volunteering or lending a hand along the way. For us, giving back has meant sharing what we’ve learned, helping other families figure out how they can shape this lifestyle in their own way.

Why Sticking to One Group Can Feel Limiting

Sticking to just one group can start to feel limiting, and honestly, a little boring after a while. A lot of that has to do with the conversations. They tend to revolve around the mode of travel the group identifies with.

For example, sailors often talk about sails, boat setups, and anchoring spots. RVers discuss water fill stations, solar setups, and campground logistics. You get the idea, the topics are useful, but they can start to feel repetitive once the honeymoon phase of a new lifestyle wears off.

That’s why branching out, even if it doesn’t feel as natural at first, can be so eye-opening. Inside your group, you’ll definitely find strong friendships, we have. But the connections we’ve made outside of our main circle have been just as meaningful.

Making friends outside your usual community may feel daunting, but it’s worth it. In our experience, it can shift your perspective, spark new ideas, and even elevate your family’s life in ways you didn’t expect.

Real-Life Examples of Crossover

Making friends outside your usual group isn’t always easy, but for us, the rewards have always been worth it. Take our friends Sam and Blake, for example. They’d been abandoned by what RVers might call a “buddy rig” (like the boating community’s “buddy boat”), and we spent evenings swapping stories about it over beers by the campfire. Their experiences mirrored some of our own, and the conversations became learning moments for everyone.

We first met Sam through the Clubhouse app, and our friendship grew from there. When we found out they were heading to Baja, we kept in touch via Instagram and ended up meeting on different beaches over the years.

More recently, when we were staying in Cortez, Colorado, we even drove three hours to Grand Junction to celebrate their son’s birthday. Those are the kinds of bonds that make this lifestyle so meaningful.

We’ve also connected through worldschooling groups on Facebook, which help us see who’s nearby. While in La Paz, we met up with a family at different times over several months, a mix of parents and kids from Russia, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. The kids didn’t care one bit about group labels; they just wanted to play, explore, and enjoy being together in the moment.

It reminded me of growing up in the ’90s, when you could find the neighborhood hangout just by spotting all the bikes in someone’s yard. Those moments still exist, though they’re harder to find with today’s busy schedules, travel logistics, and family dynamics.

The crossover is real, and sometimes humbling for adults. We’ve seen firsthand how the sailing community can feel a bit clique-like, almost like high school. That experience pushed us to open ourselves up to friendships with RVers, overlanders, and van lifers, and it has enriched our journey in ways we couldn’t have imagined.

How to Create Your Own “Blended Community”

Building community looks different for everyone, depending on your travel style, preferences, and even your budget. Some families find their people within one type of travel, while others, like us, end up blending groups naturally over time. The good news? You don’t have to force it. With the right platforms, apps, and a little openness, you can create your own version of a “blended community.”

Sailboat Community

When we were living on the water, the Kids4Sail Facebook group was a lifeline. Each month they post a roll call where families list their location, kids’ ages, and boat details. It makes it easier to connect in real life, and spotting another boat with the Kids4Sail burgee flag was an instant icebreaker.

Another great resource is the Sea People app, founded by an Aussie couple raising two kids aboard their boat. Their platform helps sailors connect, share updates, and combat the loneliness that can come with long stretches at sea.

RV and Van Life Community

Our friendships with people like Mindy, Kevin, Sam, and Blake taught us quickly that the RV community is one of the most approachable. Unlike anchoring out in a bay, where it’s tough to just “pop over” to a neighbor, campgrounds naturally foster closeness.

Kids can run between sites, and adults often end up around a grill, smoker, or campfire swapping stories. Apps like Sēkr and Driftr (founded by two van lifers) help break the ice before you even arrive, making it easier to build friendships on the road.

Facebook Groups Around Homeschooling & Worldschooling

Social media groups are one of the best ways to find your travel tribe, whether it’s just for a few days, weeks, or months. There are plenty of homeschooling groups across the U.S., but if you’re traveling internationally, worldschooling groups can help you connect fast.

Many of these groups are region or location-based, so keep that in mind when searching. You’ll also find interest-based groups that focus on hobbies like Dungeons & Dragons or sports like soccer and baseball. Others lean toward academics, including subjects like robotics, STEM, and math.

Often there’s opportunities to join groups in new locations. Pop ups and those are easily searchable. They require more effort but it’s how we’ve made connections with others from all sorts of travel backgrounds.

Hosting Your Own Meetup

Don’t be afraid to take the lead. Hosting a casual meetup, a hike, a beach day, or even a dinner out can bring like-minded travelers together. Some of our best connections have happened in the most unexpected places, like airports or while waiting in line. By putting yourself out there, you create opportunities not just for your family, but for others craving connection too.

The Travel Community Is What You Make It

The travel community is beautifully diverse, filled with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and walks of life. If you’re searching for your “tribe,” don’t be surprised if it ends up looking more like a mosaic than a single, uniform group and that’s the best part.

By blending with people who travel in different ways, you create a stronger, more flexible community. Your tribe becomes richer because of the variety of perspectives, experiences, and lifestyles within it. The connections you build won’t always look the same as the ones you started with, but they’ll give you a deeper sense of belonging.

At the end of the day, the travel community is what you make it—open, varied, and stronger when you allow it to grow beyond one lane. For families like ours, that diversity doesn’t just shape friendships, it becomes part of our children’s education.

Worldschooling isn’t just about learning from museums or history books; it’s about learning from people. By surrounding ourselves with travelers from all walks of life, our kids are exposed to perspectives, values, and experiences that no classroom could ever replicate. And that, to us, is the greatest gift this lifestyle has given.

As this guest post beautifully shows, the richest connections often come from mixing worlds, not staying inside familiar ones. The more we lean into that blend, the more meaningful our travels become. Here’s to creating communities everywhere we go.

For more inspiration from the SaltyVagabonds family, you can follow them on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or visit their website. 

The post Finding Community on the Go: Why We Don’t Stick to Just One Travel Tribe appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

We park in the lot and walk a few hundred feet to where campsites are nestled in the hillside or tucked under trees. We claim a flat site in the shade of a statuesque cottonwood, leave a couple of camp chairs, then head back out to get on our bikes. We never make it. Johnny is sucked into a vortex of youth—five kids ages six to fifteen are sitting at a picnic table, busily unwinding utility 550-gauge paracord in colors like hot pink, Day-Glo yellow, lime green, purple, and black. They are making DIY survival bracelets. Johnny slides right into the circle, and they show him how to measure the length, loop the paracord, and knot it to create a bracelet. The kids demonstrate how to fasten the finished bracelet and burn the ends to prevent fraying. Johnny picks his colors and gets to work with ten eyes and fifty fingers showing him the way.

This impromptu pod of traveling kiddos sits together for over an hour. Their finished bracelets, knotted with six feet of paracord, would be long enough when uncoiled to tie up a tarp, fix a snowshoe, hang a bag of food, make a sling, or lash some branches. One bracelet would be strong enough to hold 550 pounds of static weight.

On the way out of town, we stop at Walkers Hardware to pick up several yards of paracord. Johnny is over the moon for having made new friends and acquiring a new survival skill, and handsome Max gets a new orange-and-yellow survival dog collar!

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

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Many families experience transitions galore during their worldschooling journey, sometimes even before they leave home. As your launch date nears, feeling sorrow or grief is perfectly normal. It’s also totally fine to feel none of that and just be excited about the trip ahead.

When it comes time, involve your kids in saying farewell to the things you can’t take with you—family, friends, your home, beloved pets. Ceremonies of any kind, whether they are small goodbye dinners or a big bash to send you off, can help kids feel a sense of closure.

Family Dynamics

Once on the road, it’s often the things we take for granted, which are routine or otherwise under the radar at home, that pop up and demand our attention. These changes and transitions may unleash a roller coaster of emotions as everyone adjusts their stride and becomes a traveling family.

Roles and Responsibilities

One of the biggest adjustments is establishing new roles and responsibilities. That process has a bit of an undoing of what was and a bit of creating something new. At home, our days and identities are established and distinct. Kids go off to school. Parents do their work. The bicycle gets parked in the shed; the garbage goes out on Tuesdays. When you begin a road trip, the pieces of the family puzzle may get shuffled. It’s likely that your traveling roles are going to diverge from the ones at home you’ve sorted out over years of practice and living together.

Basic needs remain: food, shelter, hygiene, clothing, medicine, sleep. Toss in education, navigation, recreation, and transportation, and many deliberate choices must be made about who does what. If you are traveling domestically in an RV, someone will have to drive, someone will have to navigate, and someone will have to learn the peanut butter and jelly two-step: open fridge, grab jelly, close fridge before the driver turns or brakes. If you are on a boat, only one person can be the captain. If you are traveling internationally, someone needs to be the keeper of the tickets, the linguist, the wrangler, the reservationist.

For families with more than one adult, there may be friction as you adjust to being a traveling couple or traveling co-parents. Perhaps at home you grew stronger in your relationship by working through sensitive topics like gender stereotypes and parenting styles. Some of these may reappear, as traveling has a way of shaking loose feelings that have settled over the years. There may be a sorting-out period in the early weeks or months of your trip. Treat it like the changing of the seasons: you may need to adjust the thermometer, change your base layer or outerwear, or eat cool food instead of spicy. Adaptation is a learning opportunity, and you’ll come together by recognizing the demands on everyone and having each other’s backs.

Adults who were accustomed to working outside the home may be less familiar with performing the day-to-day tasks of managing a family. For those who identify as a traditional earner, extended time away from work may challenge ideas of identity and self-worth. Who are you on the road, and how do you matter? The upside is that you might have time to develop or deepen a hobby or skill. Maybe you’ll find new uses for your carpentry or navigational prowess or language proficiency. Maybe you’ll spend more time with your kids and teach them how to work on engines, fix flashlights, or calculate rates of currency exchange. Perhaps you’ll just hang out with them a lot more than you ever did at home, doing both extraordinary and oh-so-ordinary things.

Children can have—and may even need—meaningful roles, too. Age-appropriate work is not only a great way to get stuff done but also builds confidence in our kiddos and can help with their focus and self-esteem. On the road, it may be easier to be patient and give kids time to try tasks and make mistakes. Older kids can read manuals and maps or become experts of any system; they can plan trip segments, make reservations, or even drive the rig. Tweens can check the hours a museum is open or wash pajamas in a hotel sink; they can plan a meal, shop at the market, and cook. Younger kids can help count backpacks, fold bandannas, stir the oatmeal, look under beds for missing socks, or hold someone’s hand when walking through an airport to make sure no adult gets lost. Go ahead and delegate! It’s good for everyone.

You may have some team building to do as everyone gets tossed into the fishbowl. Be patient. Be kind—including to yourself. Balance the challenges by finding new ways to bond. Maybe it’s dinner together every night. Maybe it’s setting an intention for 1:1 time with each of your kids. You might have fun coming up with a family nickname, a name for your vehicle, or a theme song for the journey. Roll with your new roles.

Personal Space and Boundaries

In addition to sorting out roles, it’s important to make space for yourself and for family members so you all have room to breathe.

For one, your living quarters may be smaller than what you are used to. Maybe you’re on a boat, renting small apartments, or living in a string of hotel rooms. You’ll have to play Rock Paper Scissors to see who gets the bed, who gets the top drawer, or who gets any drawer. For another, you may find yourselves cramped together in sweaty trains and taxis. The smaller physical spaces may also be tough for family members who aren’t comfortable changing into pj’s or putting on a swimsuit with everyone around. Might be time to perfect the “deck change”—wrap a towel around yourself, drop whatever you’re wearing, replace it with something new—all in the privacy of your terry-cloth “changing room.” It’s a good skill to have, so there is no better time to learn it.

Physical proximity is one aspect, but adapting to social proximity can be more nuanced. It’s all out there in the open. When you’re always together, you’re always together. Skye White put it like this:

*“When you’re full-time traveling, sometimes you just want to shut the door, but you can’t. There’s no door.”*

Be prepared to say everything aloud, in front of your kids. Even if you think you are whispering, they can probably hear you! Setting boundaries and claiming alone time can provide great role-modeling opportunities. Maybe you commit to a solo morning walk or time to listen to a podcast or music. Some couples trade off one morning a week or a monthly overnight away to do their own thing. Other families designate “quiet hours,” downtime, or headspace time. These physical and mental breaks could coincide with kids’ naps or be a new period in your daily or weekly rhythm.

If you are traveling with a partner, the time you spend together can nurture a relationship. Traveling reveals different sides of ourselves, and that may be exciting, interesting, and novel. Parenting in broad daylight is full of surprises and full of potential. Simply being together for three meals a day can feed the love.

Finding time for date nights, privacy, and intimacy can be a challenge when you are on the road. You probably need to plan rather than be spontaneous, and think about where your kids will be and who can look after them; then you need to stay awake! Our advice is to make your time together a priority. Your kids will appreciate seeing their parents hugging or holding hands, talking with each other, working through the ups and downs of travel, and being supportive partners. It’s a rare and beautiful thing for children to witness their parents’ unfolding as a traveling couple, and they will recognize authenticity in these loving moments.

We can’t predict how traveling together will affect your relationship, but we can say from experience that good intentions and openness always help.

Siblings

Sibling dynamics can be wildly tested as your family travels full time. Twenty-four seven in-your-face togetherness may take some getting used to, so be deliberate about creating space for everyone. We’ve talked about the value of making 1:1 time between a parent and each child. Maybe that can be expanded to create some physical space between siblings. Perhaps there’s a suitable event or excursion that would work for a parent and child or for a solo teen. When everyone cannot go off to their own room, you can get creative with how and where you carve out physical space for a quick break. When tensions rise, try calling for quiet time, and redirect kids to get their book, throw a ball against a wall, or head outside for some downtime.

All that together time can also lead to better sibling relationships. We’ve heard from many parents that they were pleasantly surprised by how much closer their kids became when they had time to sort out their needs and work as a team. When there’s a limited number of playmates, siblings start to look pretty good. Or maybe it’s because they’re not competing for their parents’ attention or because they’re sharing rooms, beds, and inside jokes. Sometimes the causes of rivalry wash away in shared adventures, and siblings might become best friends.

Teens

Worldschooling with teens can have glorious tension. On the one hand, it creates unique opportunities to pull together and deepen connections before they leave the nest. Being on the road can relieve pressure and give teens a break from academic demands and social expectations, which in turn creates openings to connect. Without their peers around, teens also don’t have to worry about the “(un)cool factor” of hanging with parents and siblings when the family is on the road.

On the other hand, some teens start to want independence from their parents, make their own money, go on dates, and form a community of peers. These wants might feel antithetical to full-time family travel, and while it can be challenging for all, there are ways for everyone to thrive. Some parents allow their teens the freedom to plan travel segments, take off for a solo jaunt for a couple of weeks or even months, return home for a while, or meet up with friends and then reconnect with their families later in the year. They might connect with other teens at worldschooling gatherings. There are also social media communities and online forums that can help fend off feelings of isolation.

Teens wishing to work and earn money during a Wonder Year can find online business opportunities. For instance, they might engage in digital design, writing, podcasting, and other content creation. They can look for tutoring jobs or ways to broker goods in online or physical marketplaces, too. Talk to your teens and help them explore opportunities as global citizens—they may find inspiration and influence from their unique traveling vantage points.

Only Children

Travel can make it easy to celebrate the relative independence and maturity of many an only child. And while they are accustomed to navigating their childhood with mostly adults around, it is still important to think about their personal space and boundaries. Finding 1:1 time is not the challenge. Finding 0:1 time is! You can create comfortable spaces where the parent(s) gets out of the way and the kid rules. Sometimes there are relatives or other trusted adults who are happy to help. Look for ways to connect your kid with peers at drop-in classes, camps, or clinics or at in-person or online worldschooling communities. When traveling kids find each other, it’s magic.

One-Parent Families

Traveling as a one-parent family presents an amazing bonding opportunity between parent and kid(s). As the sole adult decision maker, there’s no need for negotiation; single parents may enjoy freedom and ease in matters of planning, education, and spur-of-the-moment decisions. (We recognize that the language around families is evolving; here, we use the term single parent with broad and inclusive intent.)

At the same time, there may be unique challenges. There’s no other adult to navigate the logistical hurdles at airports, bus stations, and guesthouse check-ins, or to help juggle all the gear. No one is there to respond when you yelp, “Hold this, take that, watch Aidan, I’ll be right back.” If there’s an appointment or meeting you must take care of, there’s usually not another adult who can easily stay with your child or children. As a single parent, you may be well synched with your kids, but they can’t provide you with adult-sized shoulders for support when you need it.

Other single-parent travelers are out there, and many are savvy, resourceful, and eager to connect and share advice. Check out the increasing number of meetups and local chapters of single-parent travelers as well as social media communities that have helpful information. Some parents tap into expat networks to get recommendations for nannies or babysitters so they can get in some extra work time or enjoy an art-museum visit or dinner out on their own. Others find great utility in a regular Zoom call between kids and family back home.

Visits from family and friends can also provide a welcome interlude. If your budget allows, consider travel companies that cater to one-parent families. Their excursions can offer great adventures as well as opportunities for adult interaction.

Family Communication

Traveling as a family can be a giant exercise in communication. You’ll have to talk about logistical, financial, and parenting matters and make decisions about immediate next steps or longer-term arrangements. Travelers may find that their dialogue—even about sticky subjects like finance or work—on the road is better and more immediate than when they are at home. We encourage you to keep the lines open with your family members. You can model what it looks like to listen and agree, or listen and disagree, and come out on the same page. Not always that simple, but do keep trying.

Some families relish the chance to make travel decisions together at a set time or in an impromptu huddle. When kids take part, they have the chance to learn practical skills such as brainstorming, active listening, sharing feedback, negotiating, articulating trade-offs, compromising, and contributing. They can also present some fantastic ideas—you might be amazed by what your kiddos will come up with when given the “speaking baton” and permission to contribute.

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It is our last day at Pousada Uacari. Situated at a tight bend in the Japurá River, a wide feeder to the Amazon about a mile away, it is a place so remote that its location was described to us simply as “two hours by boat from Tefé.” Our small room, at the end of a narrow wooden walkway, floats atop the river on enormous Styrofoam pontoons. It contains four single beds and a small bathroom with a shower that pumps recycled river water from a rooftop tank. Our countless roommates—roaches, spiders, and lizards—make us grateful for the bed nets that Mark tucks around the boys and me each night before crawling under his own.

The day before, Asher had speared a river piranha, and we ate it sushi-style for lunch. We’d ventured out in a narrow aluminum canoe for an evening paddle surrounded by giant caiman watching us from the water, all eyeballs and teeth. I’d been sucker-punched in the face by an airborne fish attracted by our boat’s headlight in the pitch black. Gathering on the floating dock back at the lodge, we had stayed up late to view a total lunar eclipse, munching popcorn like we were watching Earth’s biggest blockbuster movie. We would have liked to sit at the edge of the dock and cool our feet in the water, but we didn’t dare. We are fine to take nothing home with us. Even touching anything is risky business.

Our trackers meet us early this morning for a hike across a peninsula lying between the main river channel and an intersecting tributary. They are three local tribe members whose family roots run deep into the basin. Carrying blue jugs of water and red backpacks with white crosses, they have machetes hanging at their sides. We all do our best to bridge Portuguese and English, and with earnest intent, hand gestures, and lots of smiles on both sides, are able to communicate fine.

Our hike is an hour away by canoe. Ronan spends the journey deciphering birdsong and monkey howls. Storm clouds gather above the forest canopy, bathing the jungle in a grayish-yellow light as we slide our boat onto the bank. Disembarking into shin-deep mud, it’s clear that the land has spent most of its year underwater. Leaves with no crunch cover dank earth dotted with stagnant pools of water. There are thickets of thorny shrubs and beautiful orchids perched in the crooks of spreading branches.

There are no trails, and I hang a few paces back, watching my boys bushwhack their way through the dense vegetation. Everyone but Asher and our lead tracker, João, who are the same height, have to bend forward as we walk. The river fades from sight, but we can still sense the low hum of its flow as we trek to an enormous kapok tree taking center stage in the marshy glade. Its roots stand taller than all of us, and vines drape around its trunk, creating eerie spaces to walk through. Ronan spots a line of giant ants carrying larvae from one home to another. A guide shows Asher the tracks of a large jungle cat. Captivating creatures abound, but we’re in search of one in particular: the elusive sloth. Travelers from around the world come here to spot them, and we haven’t seen one all week. The boys are especially excited by the possibility of finding this exotic, smiley soul.

It’s Ronan who spots one first. Tapping João on the shoulder for confirmation, he points to his own eyes, then holds up two curled fingers. It is a mother two-toed sloth with a baby wrapped tightly around her back. After that, sloth “hide-and-seek” comes more quickly, and we soon locate several, so well camouflaged that they blend into the mass of leaves above. Our guides eye a three-toed male slowly returning to the heights of a giant fig tree. Sloths live in the trees and come down only once each week to poop in an ever-growing pile on the ground. Now, on his unhurried return climb, he is so close above our heads that we can see the gnats buzzing around his exposed face.

One of our guides points to his watch—time to go. We hack a new path through the jungle to the boat, where our gear is already loaded for the long trip back to Tefé. At the port, we heave our bags to the taxi driver on the other side of the gangplank and pile into his small car. Inside the tinted windows with the air-conditioning on max, the heat is staved off, but the smell is thick, ripe, and overwhelming—something like rotten fruit.

After we’ve been dropped off at the airport and are waiting in line, I notice Asher holding his nose. “That taxi smelled pretty awful, didn’t it?” I ask. He squeezes his nose tighter, shakes his head, and with his other hand, points at Mark.

Our heads lower to Mark’s “mud”-coated hiking boots. He was the one who had stood directly under the sloth. “Dad, you took something out of the jungle…” Asher says, with a grin spreading across his face.

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

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A week before, we’d taken our final safari drive in the lush rains of Botswana, parked the jeep at an airstrip, then flight-hopped across thirty-seven hours and nearly ten thousand miles to land in the frigid, leafless suburbs of Cincinnati. Jarring, but worth it to reach my parents’ welcoming home and spend the holidays together. Especially since we had no home to go to—not even a hometown. That also meant there was no pressure to return to a house and unpack, or to be anywhere else. No one knew we were back, so we could fly under the radar and get our bearings.

We’d been watching this house as we trekked across two continents. It needed loads of work, but there were job opportunities nearby, and it was on a sweet bit of land at the intersection of mountains and prairie. Having spent so much time in nature while on the road, we needed space to breathe as we put down new roots. We negotiated the purchase, but the house wouldn’t be ready for a while, so first we settled into a bland corporate apartment furnished with hard mattresses and hotel soap. It was bigger than most of the places we’d stayed during the past two years; I preferred the coziness of our RV and single-room rentals. We sold the RV, and I was sadder to see it go than anything we’d ever owned.

We tried to calibrate into a semblance of “normal,” although I wasn’t quite sure what that meant anymore. Ronan, fourteen, enrolled in an entrepreneurship program so he could meet some kids his age. He wouldn’t start school for many months and was navigating a rocky social road in the meantime. We visited California so he could spend some time with his old crew. For Asher, now eleven, we found a temporary spot in a quirky experiential school with self-paced learning, a chicken coop, and daily chores. He was psyched to be with peers again, but missed unstructured days and the ocean.

Setting up shop in a new place was like a tailwind of our Wonder Year, and we threw ourselves into becoming Coloradans. The boys learned to ski, and Mark and Ronan ran the BOLDERBoulder 10K with fifty thousand new friends. We went to concerts at Red Rocks. I worked for a state ballot campaign and joined a hiking group to stay connected to my boots and the earth. Our home served as a rest stop for friends and family heading into the Rockies, giving us a chance to be the hosts rather than the hosted.

That fall Ronan and Asher both started at new public schools. District administrators didn’t blink an eye at their unusual academic histories, slotting them into grade years based on their birthdays with no questions asked. Asher was elected to student council, and Ronan attended his first homecoming. Mark found a good job, the two-year gap on his résumé inconsequential. He was away a lot, and I missed him.

Months in, I couldn’t shake my attachment to the old crossbody purse that held my essentials while traveling. Remnants of both jungle and desert were ground into its worn surface. I missed the weight of the camera pack that was usually slung over my shoulder with it. Mostly, I missed being outside a ten-mile radius and spending time together as an unhurried, unscheduled family.

It became a running joke that we kept finding ourselves together in the same room of the house—four humans and a canine. Timber, our dog, was enthralled by the elk that passed through our woods but terrified of Colorado thunderstorms. One evening, we returned home to an enormous black bear in our front yard. For a fleeting moment, life felt wild again.

But: a creeping realization set in. The structure of our lives was looking a lot like before. Unconsciously, we had recreated the way things were prior to our worldschooling journey—and what a folly that was, since we had intentionally stepped away from the before to find ourselves. There was no shedding the impact of a Wonder Year; we were fundamentally changed, and things couldn’t just go back to the way they were. So why had we rebuilt our lives to look almost the same, just in a new place?

With that awareness, we spent the next several years undoing it all again. Finally untethered once more, we took a Wonder Summer, and some Wonder Weeks and Wonder Weekends, to recover the real us. We had a better sense of what us looked like now. We recognized those people when we saw them, and we liked inhabiting their skin.

The post Coming Home – Angela’s Family appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

“I see it!” says Lucy, pointing to a doorway cemented into the hillside.

“Finally!” says Kai.

Passing the threshold into the cave takes us from arid to humid, from hot to cold, from light to dark, from the profane to the sacred. We have arrived at Zeus’s cave, on Naxos in the Greek Cyclades.

The cave is more than fifty feet high and at least double that in width. Some stories say that he was born here, others that he hid here during his teenage years from a jealous father, and a man in the village even told us that Zeus received his thunderbolt from an eagle on top of this mountain.

We are silent, walking the smoothed pathways that Zeus walked, breathing the air of his boyish fragility or his teenage angst. He is embodied. Behind the teal and green moss, drip-drops of moisture echo across a dark cavern. The light beam from my phone cannot take in the size of this place; I have to imagine the extent of its reach.

We have been studying the Greek gods, their powers, symbols, and interrelational dramas. We’ve read classic myths, written our own original myths using Olympian characters, and visited the many temples during our monthlong stay in Greece.

Our landlord told us about the cave—turn left at the potato patch and take the right fork at the white square house—giving directions that describe every intersection on the island. Getting here has been an epic quest requiring intuition, clues, research, and asking as many locals as possible.

For a nine- and ten-year-old, the myth and magic are real. “He must have been super tall, even as a kid. Where did he put his head when he slept?”“Did someone bring him blankets?”

For my thirteen-year-old, the isolation fuels empathy. “Who did he have to talk to?”

We try to orient where he would have cooked and ate. We take in his view when he stepped outside of his cave—to his left, the tallest mountaintop in the Cyclades, currently named Mount Zeus, at 3,300 feet, and to his right, a valley that tumbles into the island-dotted sea below. He could have seen visitors a long way off.

This cave kept our Zeus safe, timestamped his childhood, and prepared him for his extraordinary life ahead.

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post Stories from the Road – Naxos, Greece appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Accommodations

Airbnb
An online site for hosts to list available places, and travelers to book accommodations and experiences. The site has expanding functionality and offers search features to locate special-interest accommodations such as islands, national parks, tiny homes, monasteries, etc.
https://airbnb.com

Booking.com
An online platform to reserve transportation and accommodations for both hosts and travelers. Available in forty languages with 24‑7 customer support.
https://booking.com

Couchsurfing
A website, Facebook group, and app-based membership service to connect travelers interested in community. Offers a free exchange of hospitality. It has 12 million active members in over 200,000 cities.
https://couchsurfing.com

Furnished Finder
A website for travelers interested in longer-term stays. Created to serve roaming professionals and medical providers, some slow-traveling families may also find furnished-housing options here.
https://furnishedfinder.com

Home Exchange
An online membership-based home-exchange platform available in over 150 countries.
https://homeexchange.com

Home Swap
An online membership program for home swaps, active in over a hundred countries. Free trial period and tiered membership options with varying features.
https://lovehomeswap.com

Hostelling International
An over 100-year-old nonprofit that works with youth hostel associations around the world to promote affordable, sustainable, and good-quality accommodations. Many hostels are family friendly; check to see if there are age limits or restrictions.
https://hihostels.com

House Sitting Magazine
A magazine and website that provides useful information and resources for house sitters and pet sitters around the globe, including house‑sitting sources (for a fee) and location-specific information.
https://housesittingmagazine.com

Vrbo
An online resource that helps families looking for accommodations find and reserve entire homes around the world. Expanding functionality serves the needs and budgets of various travelers.
https://vrbo.com

Workaway
An online resource to connect travelers who wish to work and immerse themselves culturally with hosts who need some form of help such as gardening, baby-sitting, or other tasks.
https://workaway.info

Worldschool House Swap/Sit/Rent Facebook group
A private Facebook group for worldschoolers to post available accommodations and to search for places to stay.
https://facebook.com/groups/worlschoolhouseswap

Cultural Exchange

AFS Intercultural Programs USA
American Field Service (AFS) emerged out of WWI and WWII with the goal of advancing cultural exchange. Today, AFS hosts exchange students from eighty countries.
https://afsusa.org/host-family

The Pen Pal Project
A partnership between WeAre Teachers and the United States Postal Service that connects classrooms around the world to foster friendships and build tolerance and understanding.
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/1108-usps-introduces-pen-pal-project.htm

Health & Safety

Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT)
A nonprofit organization that provides helpful information to travelers worldwide about road conditions, local laws, and other road‑safety topics. In the interest of safety, ASIRT partners with many organizations including the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
https://asirt.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The CDC’s Traveler’s Health website is a comprehensive travel health resource that includes a disease directory, information on finding a clinic, travel notices, country-specific information, and a helpful FAQ page. Additionally, the CDC website provides information for immunocompromised travelers. The CDC also publishes the Yellow Book.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/yellowbook-home-2020

Environmental Working Group (EWG)
A nonprofit organization that publishes consumer guides on the efficacy and safety of various consumer products, including sunscreen and insect repellent.
https://ewg.org

Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE)
A US-based nonprofit that supports individuals living with food allergies. The FARE website has comprehensive information on traveling with food allergies, including a travel checklist.
https://foodallergy.org/resources/traveling

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
The TSA website provides useful information for persons with disabilities and medical conditions, including passing through security checkpoints with medications, liquids, and other accessories.
https://tsa.gov/travel/special-procedures

United States Department of State
A credible and up-to-date source of information on critical topics including health and safety and country-specific travel advisories, embassies, consulates, doctors, and hospitals. It also includes resources for high-risk-area travelers, special‑needs travelers, and LGBTQ+.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel.html
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/your-health-abroad.html

UNWTO/IATA Destination Tracker
A user‑friendly platform providing travelers with information on health-related travel restrictions and requirements.
https://unwto.org/tourism-data/unwto-iata-destination-tracker-easy-travel

Inclusive Travel

ABC Travel Green Book
A resource available in both paperback and ebook formats with information to celebrate and inform Black travelers across the globe.
https://abctravelnetwork.com

Autism Travel
A website that helps families choose travel options that are safe and supportive of all family members. It lists certified travel resources and tools recognized by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.
https://autismtravel.com

Green Book Global
A travel review website that seeks to empower and inspire Black travelers to explore the world through destination ratings and crowdsourced tips.
https://greenbookglobal.com

IGLTA, the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association
Provides information and resources for LGBTQ+ travelers. IGLTA works to “promote equality and safety within LGBTQ+ tourism worldwide.”
https://iglta.org

Lonely Planet’s Accessible Travel Online Resources
A free guide providing country-specific information for travelers with disabilities or access challenges.
https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/products/accessible-travel-online-resources

Tourism Diversity Matters (TDM)
An industry resource that seeks to improve the tourism industry’s diversity, equity, and inclusion through research, data, and expertise.
https://tourismdiversitymatters.org

UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme
A multistakeholder program intended to spawn tourism that respects natural and cultural assets. Provides information about UNESCO sites, partnerships, publications, and activities.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tourism

United States Department of State LGBTQI+ Travelers Site
Provides information for LGBTQI+ travelers to help with planning, security screening, and staying safe while traveling overseas.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/lgbtqi.html

United States Department of Transportation – Passengers with Disabilities
Provides information about laws, regulations, rights, and support for travelers with disabilities.
https://transportation.gov/airconsumer/passengers-disabilities

Wheel the World
An online repository to help travelers with disabilities find accessible places to stay, things to do, and trips.
https://wheeltheworld.com

Pets

BringFido
A website and mobile app that shares information and booking options for pet-friendly accommodations and sites around the world, including hotels, restaurants, hiking trails, and parks.
https://bringfido.com

Rover
An app and website that connects dog (and cat) guardians with pet lovers for boarding, house-sitting, drop-in visits, doggy day care, and dog walking by location.
https://rover.com

Sustainable Travel

B Corp
A nonprofit network that seeks to build a global economy that delivers environmental, social, and community benefits. B Corp certification for travel companies may indicate alignment with sustainable practices.
https://bcorporation.net

Center for Responsible Travel
A nonprofit organization that serves as a research center and promotes responsible travel.
https://responsibletravel.org

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Their Travel Carbon Footprint website is an interactive tool that lets travelers calculate and reduce their carbon footprint based on flights, car travel, rail travel, and hotel stays.
https://edf.org/travel-footprint-calculator

Future of Tourism Coalition
A coalition of NGOs, including the Center for Responsible Travel and Tourism Cares, aiming to drive positive change in tourism.
https://futureoftourism.org

Global Sustainable Tourism Council
Develops sustainability criteria and oversees their use in various sectors.
https://gstcouncil.org

Impact Travel Alliance
Educates travelers, promotes sustainability, and hosts meetups and chapters globally.
https://impacttravelalliance.org

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
A leading intergovernmental organization that seeks to inform and promote sustainable tourism.
https://unwto.org/sustainable-development

US RV Travel

Boondockers Welcome
For an annual membership fee, travelers can find places for overnight camping without utility hookups (boondocking) on private property.
https://boondockerswelcome.com

Boondocking.org
An online site to find dispersed free camping sites in the US, outside developed campgrounds. Travelers can leave reviews and add new sites.
https://boondocking.org

Harvest Hosts
A membership program that invites RV travelers to camp at wineries, breweries, farms, and attractions within an expanding network.
https://harvesthosts.com

Recreation.gov
A partnership of several US federal agencies including the National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Smithsonian. Lists over 100,000 reservable outdoor sites in the US.
https://recreation.gov

RV Communities
Online communities of RV and van travelers, including:

• PanAmerican Travelers Association: https://facebook.com/groups/panamtravelers/
• Vanlife: https://facebook.com/groups/1218937564804262
• RV Life with Kids: https://facebook.com/groups/403708457666927

RV Trip Planner Apps
There are many RV trip planner apps and websites, typically with a fee, offering navigation, campground search, road conditions, and points of interest. Some to check out include:

• The Dyrt PRO: https://thedyrt.com/pro
• RV Life Trip Wizard: https://tripwizard.rvlife.com
• Roadtrippers: https://roadtrippers.com

US Travel Documentation

AAA | American Automobile Association
A membership organization that supports travelers with roadside assistance, information resources, and 24‑7 mobile and online support. The website provides an online application form for an International Driving Permit (IDP).
https://aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html

REAL ID – US Department of Homeland Security
Provides information for domestic travelers 18+ who, as of May 2025, need a REAL ID card to board domestic flights and get into certain federal facilities.
https://dhs.gov/real-id

Smart Traveler Enrollment Program – US Department of State
Allows travelers to register with their nearest US embassy and receive important safety information. Enrollment also makes it easier for family and friends to locate travelers in emergencies.
https://step.state.gov

Trusted Traveler Programs – US Department of Homeland Security
Provides information about TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, and other programs that can speed up airport and border crossing procedures.
https://ttp.dhs.gov/

United States Postal Service (USPS)
Provides information and services for obtaining and renewing passports, including scheduling appointments, downloading applications, and expediting requests. Also covers mail holds, address changes, and PO boxes.
https://usps.com/international/passports.htm

Travel Points and Miles

Miles Momma
A one-stop shop for traveler information about miles, points, hotel rewards, banking, and more to help family travelers stretch their dollars. Also provides travel tips and location-specific information.
https://milesmomma.com

The Points Guy
Offers news, tips, deals, and credit card reviews to help travelers maximize reward travel.
https://thepointsguy.com

Volunteer Travel

A Beginner’s Guide to Voluntourism
Helps potential volunteers ensure the work they engage in is helpful, respectful, and beneficial to the local community.
https://nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/a-beginners-guide-to-voluntourism

GoAbroad
An online search engine with information about international travel programs to review and compare options.
https://goabroad.com

Go Overseas
A community site providing reviews, photos, and information about thousands of overseas programs, trips, and jobs including volunteering.
https://gooverseas.com

Grassroots Volunteering
Helps travelers connect to communities in the places they’re visiting. Maintains a global database of organizations.
https://grassrootsvolunteering.org

Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)
Links visitors with organic farms around the world. Hosts get help on the farm while visitors gain education, cultural immersion, and typically room and board.
https://wwoof.net

Worldschooling

Citizen Science
A US government website that uses crowdsourcing and publicizes opportunities for people to participate in scientific research across the US.
https://citizenscience.gov

Common Sense Media
Provides reviews and advice about apps and websites for learning. Also offers free lessons and resources on topics like digital citizenship.
https://commonsense.org/education/selections-for-learning

Junior Ranger – NPS
A free, activity‑based program run by the US National Park Service encouraging children to learn about parks and share their “ranger story” with others. Available at almost all national and many state parks in the US.
https://nps.gov/kids/become-a-junior-ranger.htm

PBS Learning Media
An online collection of educational resources designed to support digital learning from pre-K through grade 12.
https://rmpbs.pbslearningmedia.org

Worldschooling Communities

• Worldschoolers
  https://facebook.com/groups/worldschoolers
• We are Worldschoolers
  https://facebook.com/groups/weareworldschoolers
• Worldschoolers Explore the USA
  https://facebook.com/groups/1842724762611474
• Worldschoolers – Single Parents
  https://facebook.com/groups/WorldschoolersSoloParents
• Worldschoolers – POC
  https://facebook.com/groups/WorldschoolersPOC
• Worldschooling Central – A Family Travel Community – Education with Travel
  https://facebook.com/groups/worldschoolingcentral
• Roadschooling – Families Homeschooling on the Road
  https://facebook.com/groups/roadschooling
• Roadschooling Europe
  https://facebook.com/groups/1305020486300270
• RoadschoolingUSA
  https://facebook.com/groups/RoadschoolingUSA

The post Family Travel and Worldschooling: A Resources List appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

At this hour, and without moisture to cloud the stars, we have no trouble seeing the universe spread above our heads. The boys remark on the profound quiet. There are no planes flying over, no road noise bouncing across the barren plains—only the distant sounds of jackals announcing a kill echoing across the vlei.

Ronan is psyched when he sees the safari truck, a repurposed Toyota Hilux with a mounted bed insert to accommodate nine passengers in open-air theater seating. We sit four across. Our guide hands us a worn woolen blanket, perfect for one but insufficient to shield us all against the bracing predawn wind. We rearrange and put the boys in the middle so they get the most warmth.

The road is like those we drove on yesterday to reach our outpost: gravel and dirt. Ninety percent of Namibia’s roads are unpaved, and although great effort is made to keep them in good condition, sections still make for a rough traverse. The temperature drops further as we near the entrance to the national park, where a wall of cool fog fills the valley. From the Sesriem entrance gate, our eventual destination is the Deadvlei claypan.

Along the way, we see mountain zebra, oryx, and ostrich, and we learn that there are five types of sand dunes. Those in Namib-Naukluft are star dunes, which means they have been formed by winds coming from multiple directions over the past several million years.

At Big Daddy, an over one-thousand-foot-high dune overlooking Deadvlei, we stop and venture out to climb one of those star dune’s rays. The dune is massive, and the line of hikers stomping up the ridgeline ahead of us nearly disappears in the haze between sand and sky. Ronan bounds out of the truck and starts the heel-toe-heel-toe trek along the narrow channel laid down by hikers across the years. Mark, Asher, and I fall in behind.

The air is warming quickly, and our elongated shadows stretch down the dune’s side. There are no climbers passing us on a return journey, and our guide explains that’s not the way out.

Instead, we turn perpendicular to the trail and launch down the southern face of Big Daddy toward the cracked white claypan below. High-stepping in the soft red sand, Asher calls out that he feels like an astronaut on Mars. He grips Mark’s hand as they serpentine to provide some semblance of control over gravity.

At the base of the dune is Deadvlei, famous for its austere beauty. About six hundred years ago, ephemeral waters that flowed into the marsh during the rainy season stopped when the river cut a new course. The acacia trees that had filled this basin died, and because there isn’t enough water to rot the wood, they still stand—blackened by the unforgiving sun. The combination of deep-ocher sand, pale-gray pan, inky acacia skeletons, and the brilliant azure sky make the vlei otherworldly. Astronauts, indeed.

Ronan directs a family photo shoot, and we capture a rare image of all of us together, frozen in time within our frozen surroundings. Even in the now-scorching heat, we want to linger, but our safari mates are ready to go, and our guide aims to secure a prime spot beneath the cooling branches of a tree for brunch. We marvel with our fellow hikers over coffee, fruit, and bread.

Our final stop is a nearby canyon. While the rest of our group climbs down into the gap, the boys elect to stay closer to the truck, weary. After many weeks on the road and the long drive the previous day, we feel stretched thin, diluted.

Back at the outpost, we have dinner in a common room lit only by candles. Asher eats kudu, an ungulate he’s seen grazing among the dunes. Our tent cabin has an upper deck, and we go up for stargazing before returning “down-ladder” to sleep. In the US, it is hard to find places far enough away from artificial light to really see the stars. In Namibia, the closest light is hundreds of miles away. Our eyes adjust easily to the darkness, and the universe takes center stage.

We are totally alone, together, lying on our backs as the stars come into focus. We don’t need to, but we whisper softly to one another. The boys point out satellites and meteors, and we try to identify the constellations, many of which are different from what we know at home. At twenty-four degrees south latitude, the universe is unfamiliar.

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post Stories from the Road – Deadvlei, Namibia appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

We share these ideas not to hand you a script but instead to show how easy it is to encourage learning with just a bit of preplanning. For those who want to go further with actual lessons, we offer example lesson plans on our website on such varied topics as poetry and water use.

Language Arts

Writing

We recommend having your kids each keep a journal in which they can write freely and without suggestions from adults so they can feel safe to wonder, vent, experiment, or puzzle through the world around them. Writing to learn through journaling means that we can sort out our thoughts and opinions by writing, finding the why, and seeing cause and effect as our hands scratch the pages. Learning to write, on the other hand, provides the structure and style to communicate and persuade effectively. There is a place for both types of writing instruction.

Consider keeping a writing portfolio, to imitate the way that writers actually write—in drafts. You could do early drafts in journals before moving on to revised drafts on fresh lined paper or typed on a laptop. A hard-shell accordion-style folder is handy for drafts and final documents that you can later assemble into a tangible portfolio for each school year.

Starter Ideas: Writing

* Create a scrapbook. Include ticket stubs, flyers, pictures your kids have drawn, or poems they’ve composed over the course of your trip.

* Write postcards to friends and family back home.

* Ask your kids to write a monthly post to put on your blog. This is a perfect opportunity to take a first-draft journal entry through the editing process and then type it out on your laptop.

* While you’re waiting for food at a restaurant, create group haikus or limericks.

* Write a Yelp or Airbnb review.

* Invent worlds and storylines for Dungeons & Dragons or other online gaming realms.

* If your teen or tween has strong opinions (ahem . . .), encourage them to share their thoughts on an online forum or write to a politician or even your federal government (such as whitehouse.gov).

Reading

Oh, the luxury of more time to read! Read with your kids as much as you can. Read out loud together and predict what will happen, connect scenes to your own lives, find clues (foreshadowing), and examine characters, conflict, and theme. The sky’s the limit. This one-on-one exchange with time to explore is hands down the best way to teach reading. Be sure to give your kids plenty of room to read independently as well, especially if they are older, and keep a running list or informal bibliography of what they’ve read; it will be a great way to document their work if your kids are returning to traditional school.

Starter Ideas: Reading

* Find books that take place in your destination, and let your kids teach you about it.

* When your kids are reading on their own, ask for updates on the plot. Ask leading questions: Why do you think they did that or said that? Wait, who is that again?

* Read the placards at national parks or museums. It’s a wonderful way to learn how to read nonfiction organically.

* Do a book report. For young ones: Draw your favorite scene or character. Write about the conflict or challenge in the book. For older ones: Compare two books, create an alternative ending, or write a five-paragraph essay on a topic of your choosing. Make a book jacket. Draw a tourist map of the fantasy land.

* Read a local newspaper. Identify any biases, and discuss the sources cited in the articles.

* Leave a book review on Goodreads.

* Listen to an audiobook while traveling on a long stretch of road.

Grammar/Spelling

Try these ideas for grammar in context and to review or learn a few specific skills.

Starter Ideas: Grammar/Spelling

* Use Mad Libs to teach parts of speech. After introducing adjectives, pronouns, plural nouns, and adverbs, practice with this high-interest game. It’s an entertaining and often funny way to pass time on a long bus, plane, or train ride.

* Review your kids’ existing written pieces to find error patterns, then create individualized “find the errors” exercises. Adjust for age and ability.

* Practice dictation: using the information you have about your current location, read a sentence (or an entire paragraph for the older ones) aloud and ask your child to write it down in their journal. Then review together what they’ve written and make any corrections with them. Without realizing it, they’ve also learned some important facts about this new place.

* If your kids are really craving structure, create weekly spelling lists using words inspired by the place you’re visiting. In Florida, it could be orange, archipelago, alligator, or roller coaster. Or use the words in your dictation and “find the errors” exercises. Practice writing these words in the sand, if you’re at the beach, for bonus fun.

* Take advantage of spelling resources. Angela’s family had a cool spelling program, but the book was huge. Instead of doing writing exercises, they went through the book and took photos of the upcoming pages for each kid and quizzed them out loud during long journeys.

Math

This is one subject that builds sequentially, so it may work best with some regularity and order. You can also naturally apply mathematical skills within an unschooling approach. There are so many ways to bring math into everyday life.

Starter Ideas: Math

* Calculate mileage for your RV, flight, or boat ride. You could do this by using a map or odometer, and then create graphs or charts as a visual representation of the data.

* Get your kids involved in keeping track of the budget. You can make a ledger and have them track costs over a day, a week, a month, or the entire trip. They can break down expenses into categories and even help decide where to splurge and where to cut back.

* Play cards, which will reinforce patterns with Go Fish or counting and probability with blackjack.

* Convert metric to imperial measurements or vice versa while baking or cooking, or when measuring distance traveled or volume of water in your RV’s clean-water tank.

* Double the recipe while cooking. Voilà, it’s a math lesson! Share the extra food with new friends.

* Practice converting fractions to percentages while doing fun things like hiking or kicking a soccer ball.

* Estimate the length of a bridge, the height of a cathedral, the diameter of a tree, or the speed of a motor scooter.

Science

Science is all around you, in theory and application. Every time you cook can be a chemistry experiment, and every time you move can be an exercise in physics. When you drive, there may be roadside geology exhibits. Simply asking your kids to observe, notice, wonder, draw, or hypothesize about cause and effect can set you up for a science lesson anytime, anywhere.

Starter Ideas: Science

* Volunteer for an archeological dig or a river cleanup.

* At the airport, check out exhibits or tours open to the public. Maybe you can view an educational display or visit the control tower when your flight’s delayed.

* Make your own bingo cards and play to identify flora, fauna, and other natural features during a boat trip, land trek, or safari.

* Research environmental challenges and how humans are working toward solutions. For example, there are apps for determining air quality in China and tsunami risk in New Zealand.

* Use your magnifying glass during a hike.

* Study applied physics at one of the many amusement parks that offer special “learning lab” days.

* Observe the sunset every day for a week. Sketch the different colors, and explore negative and positive space, shadows, light, and silhouettes.

* Spend as long as you want at a streambed. Turn over rocks, wade in the water, and notice what kinds of insects live above and below the surface. Learn the words riparian, habitat, limnology, and anaerobic.

* Visit a nature and science museum.

* Check out ready-to-go science programs, like Citizen Science and Junior Ranger described in the resources section.

* Track the night sky. Learn about International Dark Sky Places and light pollution. Take a late-night excursion. Find the North Star. Find the Milky Way. Ask: Can you see Jupiter? Do you want to go to Mars?

Social Studies

Many parents find that social studies is the easiest subject to worldschool. It’s literally hard not to learn. Just observe, absorb, and discuss.

Starter Ideas: Social Studies

* Talk to strangers. Ask questions. This is the heart of worldschooling. Yes, it really is that simple. Or you can be more intentional and interview people.

* Hire a local guide: not only will you learn but you will also contribute to the local economy.

* Read maps: plan the route from your accommodations to the museum, or take the subway to the market.

* Keep a running timeline that incorporates interesting history facts from every place you visit over the year into a visual representation. This will help your kids see what was happening at different places in different times.

* Bring historical fiction to life! If you take a tour of Pompeii, ask your kids to write down five, six, or eleven facts that will be incorporated into an imaginary story or scene. This is an adaptable and fun activity that can be done anywhere.

* Preview a museum’s website and use it to create a museum scavenger hunt in your child’s journal. Or, better yet, ask your kids to create scavenger hunts for themselves or each other.

* Take a road atlas or world map and diligently chart your course. Explore cartography through exercises in scale, compass rose, place names, and boundaries. Whose story is being illustrated in the map? Who makes maps, anyway?

STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts, and Math

STEAM encourages students to use creative, out-of-the-box thinking to solve real-world tasks. Kids play with perspective, discovery, and questioning that dovetail effortlessly with worldschooling. Consider banking ideas and family brainstorms for future science or art-fair projects.

Starter Ideas: STEAM

* Build a sandcastle with moats and tributaries leading back to the ocean.

* Make a family trip website and have your kids do the coding.

* Help your kids take digital photos and edit them with an image editing program.

* Visit science and transportation museums.

* When something breaks—a zipper, luggage handle, a bicycle derailleur—pause and let your kids diagnose the problem and brainstorm a solution.

* Read inspiring books about real kids who were faced with a STEAM-based challenge and used science to help their communities. A few examples are *The Water Princess* by Susan Verde, *The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind* by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, and *Iqbal and His Ingenious Idea* by Elizabeth Suneby.

* Source websites with coding instruction. For example, Hour of Code has hundreds of free computer science activities for kids of all ages.

* Learn CAD and design structures inspired by the places you’ve visited.

* Play chess. It requires multistep thinking, problem-solving, and real manipulatives. Bring a travel version when you’re on the road. You can find chess games everywhere in the world, and it can help you find immediate friends who also play.

World Languages

Languages offer insight into the psyche of a place. In Thai and Mandarin, the “How are you?” greeting literally translates to “Have you eaten your rice yet?” Now that is a window into the culture!

Starter Ideas: World Languages

* Learn a new alphabet. For instance, you could learn how to read the word train in Chinese characters. Try to spot it when you can. Or study the Greek alphabet and sound out the names of foods from the grocery store or place names while driving.

* Learn to say “hello,” “goodbye,” “please,” “thank you,” and “where is the bathroom?” in the local language of every country you visit.

* Ask for a word a day from a neighbor, a hotel clerk, or new friend. Offer to reciprocate.

* Learn and practice appropriate nonverbal communication, customs, and body language. For instance, learn how to hongi (press your nose together with another person in traditional Maori greeting) in New Zealand; recognize when to make or avoid eye contact, when to remove your shoes in someone’s home, or when to say hello with a handshake; or know how to hail a cab in New York versus Istanbul.

* Use online language-learning apps like Duolingo.

* If you’re staying in a place for a longer period of time, enroll in a local class.

* Do the obvious: go outside and talk to someone.

Music/Art/Culture

This is a great way for kids to interact with their surroundings. You will be so happy to have their Wonder Year art years from now.

Starter Ideas: Music/Art/Culture

* Find hands-on art activities at your destination that you can join for a day, a week, or more. These are easy to find in online searches. Weaving classes in Cambodia, painting lessons in Guatemala, or pottery classes in Costa Rica are just a few examples.

* Carry colored pencils, charcoals, or watercolor sets and a sketchbook wherever you go. Sketch a temple or cathedral. Copy four artist signatures. Paint a watercolor landscape.

* Begin a museum visit in the gift shop. Let your kids pick a postcard, and then do a scavenger hunt to find that piece. Ask why they were drawn to that particular work of art.

* Find a local music festival and volunteer or do work in exchange for free admission.

* Learn to finger knit, crochet, or hand sew. Travel is a great time to do handicrafts, and you can bring some simple ​​prepackaged kits with you. Insider tip: bamboo knitting needles are TSA-friendly.

* Take a local cooking class or learn a new recipe from the owner of your accommodations.

* Look at billboards and be an anthropologist for a day. What are the values represented? Whose perspective is being shown? What are the cultural norms implied? What is the message?

* Take a one-, five-, or tensecond video that represents each day or week you travel. Create a video compilation and set it to music.

Health and Wellness

Physical activity may be an integral part of your trip. If not, you may need to be more conscientious to get the blood pumping in the course of a day.

Starter Ideas: Health and Wellness

* Go to the local park. Carry with you a soccer ball, hacky sack, diabolo, juggling balls, or Frisbee—these are great ways for your children to meet local kids and get a party started.

* With proper research and gear, go hiking on a glacier.

* Get in the water: swim in a local pool, kayak on a lake, or snorkel or surf in the ocean.

* Use the step counter on your phone and chart how much you and your family walk in a day.

* Take a meditation class as a family, and incorporate mindfulness practices into your lives.

* Try a sport you know nothing about. Netball? Cricket? Kneel jump?

* Learn basic first aid and restock your kit. Learn the signs and treatments for altitude sickness, dehydration, and heat stroke.

* Observe the ways that the locals exercise—is it part of their everyday lives? Consider incorporating new habits while you’re there.

Life Skills

Survival, self-care, independence, and self-esteem all grow as children take on more responsibility and contribute to the team. Whether you are overseas or in your own country, in an Airbnb, in the backcountry, or on 5th Avenue in New York City, you can learn “street smarts” through your travels.

Starter Ideas: Life Skills

* Have a regular family meeting and rotate leadership roles. Share your “roses and thorns,” the highs and lows of your day.

* Learn how to read subway routes, bus schedules, or topographical maps. Let your kids lead the way.

* Practice threading a needle and knotting thread. Sew a patch over a hole in damaged clothing.

* Plan for, shop, and cook a meal.

* Practice packing light, keeping track of your gear, and staying organized.

* Climb a tree to put up a clothesline, then hand-wash your clothes and hang the laundry.

* Wash and dry the outside of your van.

* Learn how to build a fire with one match.

* Study and practice the principles of Leave No Trace.

* Learn how to write thank-you notes. Mail them at the local post office.

We hope these starter ideas help you launch your worldschooling journey. And remember, EVERY experience can be a learning experience, and part of the journey is to have fun and make it your own!

The post Worldschooling: Subject-Area Starter Kits appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

We drink a bunch of water and share crunchy peanut butter Clif Bars, pose for a selfie at the Weminuche Wilderness sign, and then hike three miles in and twelve hundred feet up to the base of Vestal Peak. We camp in a ponderosa pine forest that smells like vanilla and offers shelter from the afternoon monsoons. A mama moose stares at us from across the emerald-green beaver pond.

On the third day of our adventure, Kaitilin and I wake up early to go for a short run. It is freezing at 6:30 a.m., and instead of walking to warm up, we start running from the get-go. Fifty feet into the single-track trail, I stumble on a jagged ledge and fall hard, instantly feeling the sting of bone on rock.

Kaitilin helps me back to camp. She and David wrap me in their sleeping bags and wake the kids. They eat maple-brown-sugar oatmeal and huddle with David while Kaitilin makes a sling out of a bandanna and holds my pasty hand. Johnny, West, and Zoe (all under ten) are like little chipmunks, scurrying about and whispering to each other as they stuff sleeping bags back into their sacks, roll up the tent flies, collapse the poles, and count each stake they pull from the ground. They redistribute my gear to everyone else and hand me an empty pack, along with a mug of hot chocolate with extra mini marshmallows. They tell me it’s going to be okay. I tell them the same.

We hike back down to Elk Park, board the train, and freak out the other passengers with my bloodied pants and splinted arm. In Silverton, at the end of the line, we meet up with Charlie, who transports me immediately to the Durango hospital. I have emergency surgery for a compound fracture of the right elbow and get a bunch of stitches in my hip. Johnny has since declared he wants to study emergency medicine and be a mountain guide. West and Zoe still love the wilderness.

For more stories and inspiration, check out our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter below and follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel. Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post Stories from the Road – Weminuche Wilderness, Durango, Colorado appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.