Simply put, worldschooling is learning through direct interaction with the world. 

You can even learn new job skills to bring back home!

What is worldschooling, anyway? Worldschooling is an educational approach shaped by experiential learning in the world. Worldschooling is a form of education that combines family travel and experiential learning. More and more families are wondering if worldschooling is a good choice for them. The New York Times explores that very question in the article Taking Off From School to Take In the World. Rather than being confined to a traditional classroom setting, worldschooling families believe real-world experiences provide unique moments for enhanced learning. Family travel presents constant opportunities to learn through cultural immersion, language development, nature study, and life skills.

Undeniably, worldschooling is a growing trend alongside other alternative education approaches such as unschooling, roadschooling, and forest kindergartens. While there are no quantitative data on the actual number of worldschoolers today, we can look at proxies to understand that it is a growing trend. For example, membership in worldschooling Facebook groups has tripled in the last five years. There is also substantial growth in the number of digital nomads, with 35 million digital nomads around the globe today. Reports project that by 2050, 70% of digital nomads will be digital nomad families who have their kids with them. The popular travel site booking.com showed marked increases in family travel trends, with an 8% bump in searches for family accommodations and a 21% jump in family air travel heading into the summer 2024 travel season. 

How Worldschooling Works: A Unique Educational Approach

Worldschooling is an approach to education that allows children to learn through global experiences about different cultures, languages, history, science, geography, and social dynamics by experiencing them firsthand. It often involves families traveling to other countries or regions, exploring local attractions, engaging with local communities, and participating in activities and experiences that enhance learning. 

One of the limitations of classroom learning is that we tend to learn about others. With worldschooling, we begin to learn from others. It’s an exchange. Learners create their own opinions based on direct experiences rather than secondary interpretations, or what they hear from others or read in a textbook. Children might conclude, for example, that countries maligned in mainstream US media are full of good and kind people. Worldschooling is fact-finding; worldschooling is peacebuilding. Worldschooling is driven by wonder and curiosity. 

Worldschooling curricula can be open or structured. Some worldschooling families approach every day as a serendipitous place-based exploration. Others choose more structure and purchase online curricula with coursework, deliverables, and timelines. There are infinite possibilities for worldschooling. You might follow theme-driven studies with a deep dive into a family interest such as food, animals, or fashion. Worldschooling can be subject-driven with an exploration of architecture, history, geography, or literature. Working with tutors is possible and some families arrange to stay connected to classrooms and teachers back home. Shall we say the world is your educational oyster? 

Over the past couple of decades, the term worldschooling has gained traction. Sometimes called roadschooling or unschooling; many people have helped shape the zeitgeist of worldschooling. One of these early contributors, Eli Gerzon, wrote, “It’s when the whole world is your school, instead of school being your whole world.” 

Johnny, at Muley Point in Utah, ready to record his thoughts and observations.

Benefits for Families

There are many benefits of worldschooling for families. First of all, worldschooling plants seeds of curiosity in people of all ages. Spending time as a family outside of your typical routine and experiencing new things every day awakens a sense of wonder and purpose in all of us. Daily discovery is novel and traveling families have so many amazing things to talk about over dinner together. Over time, these shared stories become family legend. We like to say worldschooling as a family creates lifelong learners and creates a backpack full of memories. 

Worldschooling as a family is experiential. Long-term family travel is like one massively cool field trip with room for everyone to contribute. Families might learn a new language or dive into history, geography, culinary traditions, or marine biology through actual experiences. This hands-on approach keeps kids interested and active and helps them retain information because they’re living it. In addition, travel presents excellent opportunities to develop life skills that are naturally part of an experiential curriculum. These life lessons might include learning to read a bus schedule, change the oil in a camper van, wash laundry in a hotel sink, or make soup in an outdoor camp kitchen. Maybe your kids will learn to navigate busy markets, figure out what to order when they can’t read a menu, or develop organizational systems for keeping track of stuff. Through these life experiences, worldschooling builds resilience, pragmatism, grit, cooperation, and other 21st century skills. 

There are so many social and emotional benefits of worldschooling as a family. Experiential learning in the world builds global awareness, tolerance, and cultural competency. Traveling kids make new friends, practice engaging with people of many ages and backgrounds, and learn to form their own opinions about the world around them. Looking inward, too, there are profound benefits for families who worldschool. Travel is transformative and family members grow from being in motion together. Every traveling family we have met and interviewed had a similar conclusion: their family became closer, more connected, and appreciative of each other. Families report that they became a “unit,” and this sense of togetherness adds to the many beautiful and enduring benefits of worldschooling as a family. 

Who doesn’t want the time to slow down, wonder, and connect?

Worldschooling vs. Homeschooling vs. Unschooling

As we’ve noted, there’s no right or wrong way to worldschool. What is worldschooling as compared to homeschooling or unschooling?

• Homeschooling: learning at home rather than at a public or private institution    
• Worldschooling: learning through direct interaction with the world; may be considered homeschooling while traveling
• Unschooling: using students’ curiosities and interests instead of prescribed curricula to drive self-paced learning.

Alternative education terms often overlap or are used interchangeably. We hope these definitions and context help you enter the conversation and community. For example, many homeschoolers incorporate elements of worldschooling in the form of field trips or experiential learning. Most worldschoolers increasingly dip their toes into unschooling. In fact, through all of our research, we find a theme: most worldschooling families trend toward unschooling as time passes.

For a peek at what worldschooling can look like, check out our Fernweh Families posts in this blog. We hope they help inspire your own journey!

Taste-testing gelato, so many educational opportunities!

Challenges and Solutions in Long-Term Family Travel

While you may be excited to worldschool with your family, you might also see obstacles that make this lifestyle seem impossible. Most common among them are financial and career challenges. We’re here to tell you that worldschooling on a budget is doable. 

Worldschooling on a Budget

You might think that worldschooling is only for the wealthy, but that simply isn’t true. Families are making it work on budgets of all sizes. People use many unique avenues to fund “long-term family travel,” or worldschooling while traveling. A few of these include saving up, working while traveling, taking on remote work, starting a blog or website, and finding ways to cut expenses they would have had at home. Our book breaks down how to make money on the road, how to live simply while on the move, and how to reduce costs where possible. We also have a series of blogs that break down the money questions, like: “How Do Families Afford Long-Term Travel?”

Educating Your Kids

You might think to yourself, “How can I educate my kids if I’m not a teacher?” There are as many paths to worldschooling as there are paths in the world. Some parents want more structure, academic focus, and alignment with traditional school standards, while others prefer spontaneity and freedom. To be sure, worldschooling is not something you sign up for. There’s no one to register with, no dogma or governing institution. It’s driven by curiosity and wonder. There is a vast library of resources to support worldschooling journeys. There’s also a burgeoning worldschooling community eager to connect, offer support, and share experiences. We walk readers through the ins and outs of designing a worldschooling curriculum that works for them in our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling.

You may not know this, but as a parent in the United States, you have the right to withdraw your child from traditional school and choose an alternative means to educate them. Some districts offer free, fully online options you can do from anywhere. Free! Hundreds of online private schools include synchronous or asynchronous learning, some with textbooks and some 100% online. Or, you can mix a bit of this and a bit of that to make it your own. In most states, you will need to register your kids as homeschoolers. In some cases, you will need to record what you teach them and how you teach it. And then you get to watch the magic unfold. What happens when your concept of education expands beyond the four walls of a classroom? What happens when you notice learning opportunities can be anywhere at any time? The world becomes your school. 

Worldschooling can be:

• taking the Junior Ranger pledge after completing educational activities at Dinosaur National Monument or at one of hundreds of national or state parks
• visiting WWII sites in Normandy, France to understand the legacies of those who battled
• sourcing ingredients and learning to cook kebabs with a hostel owner in Istanbul, Turkey
• learning to tap a rubber tree in Krabi, Thailand
• visiting the bridge on the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn to learn about navigation equipment
• calculating currency conversion to buy Uyghur currants at the Xinjiang market
• visiting with a ski patrol team in Colorado to learn how dogs become avalanche rescuers
• talking with your elderly neighbor about what life was like when she was a kid
• listening to an audiobook about the ancient Mayans while exploring the temple regions of Guatemala
• learning how to say hello, goodbye, please, and thank you in a different language 
• drawing a picture and naming the phase of the moon every night for a month from your campsites

The possibilities are endless.

Worldschooling regulations can be linked to homeschooling laws, and these vary by state. For some quick answers, use this resource that outlines “homeschooling” laws by state (for the United States only).

Part inspirational stories and part how-to, this book helps you answer the questions so you can get out there.

How To Start Worldschooling

Because there are endless possibilities, we like to start with what’s important to you and your family. What matters to you? Our book helps you turn your dreams and values into an educational roadmap. We give you the tools and step-by-step plans to actualize the family travel of your dreams.

Most worldschooling families begin by reading, joining online discussion groups, and following some families on social media who are traveling and using the world as their classroom. Instagram and YouTube are great for visuals. In these early stages, you can begin to find alignment with your family. What looks like a dream come true? What looks scary? Have conversations, find common ground, and create a worldschooling budget and financial plan to make it happen. Then, put a date on the calendar so you can start working toward your shared goal.

We share stories, examples, and a collection of resources in our book. You might also check out our blog on Frequently Asked Questions about worldschooling. You do not have to figure it all out on your own! We’re here to help.   

Real family learning! This traveling timeline brought so much deep discussion and shared discoveries.

Some Worldschooling FAQs

Is there a worldschooling curriculum?

• While there is no specific worldschooling curriculum, there are resources available to help structure a worldschooling plan, including the book Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling and the authors’ accompanying blog.

Where can I locate worldschooling communities?

• There is a rise in worldschooling communities and worldschooling hubs, which offer resources, support, educational programs, and connections for families who want to combine travel and education for their children.
• Here are some hubs and popups to check out. Many are interviewed in blogs on the Wonder Year website:
  • Deliberate Detour
  • Rachel Carlson, Worldschool Pop-Up Hub
  • Discover Corps
  • Sam Keller, Working Without Borders
  • Boundless Life

What are the best destinations for long-term family travel?

• Some worldschooling destinations are more popular than others. What is important to you in choosing your itinerary? Check out Where Will You Go? Choosing Destinations for Worldschooling to get your gears turning.
• We highlight a few popular destinations, as well as some little-known ones, in our “Destination Inspiration” blogs. Check out this roundup post or find worldschooling destination posts directly here:
  • Alaska
  • Costa Rica
  • The Pantanal
  • Kenya
  • Greece

For further support and inspiration, you can buy our book, Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling, on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, and at select REI stores. You can also sign up for our quarterly newsletter, follow us on Instagram @wonderyeartravel or Facebook, or reach out and connect through our website. We’d love to hear from you! Our mission is to help you find your way out the door and into the world.

The post What Is Worldschooling? A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Wonder Year Travel.

Africa Is a Diverse Continent, Not a Country

Shots and visas and passports, oh my!

When you browse the shelves of the travel sections, you might find a book on family travel in Tuscany or cycling through Vermont, books that hone in on the specific mode or geographical area. However, when it comes to African countries, they tend to be clumped in travel books that try to cover the entire continent. I can’t recall a guidebook that tries to cover all of Asia, but you do see guidebooks for the entirety of Africa.

I can only guess the cause of this different treatment: not enough travelers to warrant the specific country or regional guides? Ignorance that Africa is not a country but a diverse continent? Maybe a bit of each. Yes, you read that right: many Americans believe that Africa is a country, and many others can only name three or four countries on the continent. For this and many other reasons, African countries are prime for worldschooling opportunities

Our family’s go-to guidebooks are Lonely Planet, and they do have specific country guides to the two countries we will visit this summer. 

Learn More Before You Go

The Global North and ChatGPT (yes, I’ve been playing around with it) have a lot to learn about Africa. As a credentialed social studies teacher, I’ve found that most American students learn about Ancient Egypt, colonization and the triangle trade, apartheid, and basic geography. Some newer textbooks include sections on ancient kingdoms of Ghana and Mali. So, there are huge gaps in how modern history is taught. One way to fill those gaps is to read some of these fantastic and award-winning books for young people to learn from this diverse continent. 

For the younger reader 

Black Gold by Laura Obuobi and London Ladd is one of my favorite picture books, as well as Water Hole Waiting by Jane Kurtz, co-authored with her brother Christopher Kurtz. The Anna Hibiscus early reader series by Atinuke, based in Nigeria, is wonderful. This depiction of extended family compound life and the relatable trials and tribulations of a young girl and her raucous younger brothers will begin to set context for modern life in Western Africa.

For middle school students

There are three books that detail the modern refugee. There’s the National Book Award-winning graphic novel, When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed, and Iman Geddy; Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park; and Lost Girl Found by Laura DeLuca and Leah Bashoff.

For high schoolers and older 

Older kids might appreciate Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, or the nonfiction emigration story half set in Ethiopia, Cold, White Sun, by Sue Farrell Holler. Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarengba has two wonderful and award-winning semi-autobiographical novels suitable for YA readers, Nervous Conditions and The Book of Not. Violet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names will also leave you changed. Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime is an insider’s look at race relations and growing up in South Africa. Available on audiobooks, his masterful telling would work well for PG-13 and above.

I’ve also found this wonderful booklist created and peer-reviewed by Social Justice Books. 

Can we enter with these Ziplocs?

Immunizations and Health

When we arrived at our local Passport Health travel clinic here in Colorado, we were presented with a long list of decisions. Malaria medication? The rabies series? Typhoid as pills or shots? This is a very different set of questions than you’d face for a trip to Europe, Australia, or Central America. When we told the nurse we would be staying in a suburb of Nairobi to attend a wedding, her eyes got wide. She offered us broad-spectrum probiotics, antibiotics to carry just in case, and digestive guards to take for the one week we were staying and eating in a smaller town that does not cater to Westerners. We then told her we would continue on to Egypt, she admonished us to not even THINK about swimming in the Nile. Schistosomiasis, she said. In all seriousness, she described snails that enter your skin and worms that penetrate your feet. 

Many countries that have active Yellow Fever outbreaks require this vaccination both to enter and exit. I’ve never heard of anyone testing the system with a vaccine waiver, but I’d love to learn more.

These warnings might make some think twice about travel to Africa, but I look to Instagram and see families like the @traveling_zolks, @house_of_bey_family, @tinboxtraveller, and @awaywiththesteiners to ground myself in perspective here. I’ve also been to regions with similar health risks and realize that with some research and maintaining good health prior to arrival, most places are just fine to visit. Our stomachs are stronger than we think, and quick action if symptoms begin can head off most issues.

Credit Card Fraud and Entry Visas

Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to organize entry visas and make sure your credit cards will work. While I was trying to pay online for our entry visas, my bank kept declining the charges. After the third or fourth round, I needed to be on the phone with my credit card company to pay for the visas from the government website. These protections are put into place for good reason, I’m sure, but be aware that it’s imperative to let your credit card company know your travel plans and be ready for some extra calls while you’re planning your trip.

The Egyptian visa service warned of fraudulent sites that charge you high rates for fake visas. 

[Update: the visa “service” we used was actually a scam! They were the first hit that came up on google, asked all the right questions, asked for new photos without glasses, and charged the correct amounts. At the final hour, when our service disappeared and we had no visas, our safari company pushed our new visa applications through. Check, check, check and do some online searches to make sure your service is legit.]

Visiting Wild Animals is Expensive

Once we decided to go to Kenya, I was shocked at the cost of the safari. The more I researched, the more I understood why you get what you pay for. The high cost of good safaris pays for the conservation of the wild spaces and animals. 

Planning done, the journey begins.

This privilege is confusing. Our Kenyan friends have never been to Masai Mara or the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage just 30 minutes from their home. But if you look at any travel plan to Kenya, both places are in every list of top 5 things to do in Kenya. So, if Westerners didn’t come to pay the high prices, a key source of funding for care and conservation would dry up. But the high prices keep the locals from seeing their own country. What would you do?

I’ve been reading that African conservation areas were some of the hardest-hit places during COVID because most funding comes from tourism. So, although I’m still questioning my own ethics, we’ve decided to visit Sheldricks WITH our Kenyan friends and we are going to Ol Pejeta Rhino Preserve and Masai Mara after the dowry festivities. We will pay for mid-range safari camps with open eyes, try to understand how sustainable travel practices help preserve wild spaces, and look for ways to make this safari more inclusive.

Poverty and Economic Disparity

Africa, like many other parts of the world, can put the Western traveler face-to-face with economic disparities. Africa is home to some of the wealthiest individuals as well as some of the world’s poorest and fastest growing economies. Travelers are often surprised by the modern cities and high tech malls, as well as children begging with little on their backs. We are expecting our stereotypes to be challenged. We are researching some NGOs to visit, like Ubuntu Life, and will participate for the first time with Pack for a Purpose. We are ready to shake up our worldviews, break open our stereotypes, and ask some hard questions.

Packing

Sleepily arriving at passport control in Kenya.

Packing for this region has some unique considerations. I’ve read that wearing blue and black colors can attract the tsetse fly, which can harbor sleeping sickness and other health concerns. Bright colors, including white, can make the wild animals notice you and change their behavior. So, I guess there is a reason to wear that stereotypical khaki. A professional travel guide turned me on to Travel Fashion Girl website, which offers practical ideas like these to get you started.

You might need more warm layers than you think. Don’t assume you’ll be hot every second, as many wildlife viewing areas are at high altitude, and deserts get cool at night. Also, in many areas, especially Muslim regions, women need to cover shoulders, knees, and collar bones to be culturally sensitive. We are bringing scarves to cover our female heads for visits to holy sites, although I’m sure we can buy them there. In many more areas showing more skin can attract unwanted attention, not to mention a sunburn. We are currently hunting for breathable long sleeves and pants, and packable wide-brimmed hats.

Sometimes you also need to know what NOT to pack. Some of the world’s strictest bans on single use plastic are found in Africa. Rwanda and Kenya have luggage searches when you enter the country. Our safari company told us that they have heard of tourists being fined for bringing plastic bags into the country! Although we love and support the concept, I often travel with a few ziplocs around toiletries. Many other African countries, like Morocco and Tanzania, have partial bans and fines. I appreciate the exercise of rethinking these packing habits.

I can’t wait to share our journey to Kenya and Egypt real-time on social media and as stories from the road in this blog. Planning this trip to Africa is getting me more and more excited and interested in this diverse continent. Kenya and Egypt have long been on a someday bucket list, but an invitation to a dowry ceremony moves it to now, to once-in-a-lifetime, to “hang the cost” and we’ll figure out how to pay for it later. As a returned Wonder Year family, we’ve worldschooled and traveled to Central America, Asia, and Europe, but Africa, South America and Antarctica are still open for discovery. How easy will it be to slip into our old full-time traveling family personas? How different will it be to travel with older teens? How will this time in Africa change my worldview?

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