What is Worldschooling?

This is a term we had never heard until January 2023 when another mom at the girls’ school told us what we were planning to do sounded like worldschooling.  She told me to check out the Facebook group.  Not being much of a Facebook user, it took me a couple of weeks to do so, but the information in that group was amazing and I began reading more and more about what people were up to.  We found a lot of inspiration on that page that helped us to find unique places and information we otherwise might not have considered.  Everything from destinations to car lease buyback options for non-EU residents to the best ways to do banking while travelling longer term.

So, what is worldschooling?  Well, pretty much exactly what it sounds like!  Families that spend time together travelling in the world and letting the world be their children’s teacher/school.  Some families travel for shorter periods at a time and still have their kids enrolled in school in their hometown most of the time.  Some travel non-stop and homeschool or unschool.  Some travel faster from place to place, while others stay put for longer stretches per location.  Some put their kids short term into local schools and activities, some participate in some form of online schooling.  Some like to stay in hubs, which are communities where several worldschooling families will stay and socialize together for more community, some prefer to do their own thing.  Some house swap and some rent places along the way.  There is an unlimited number of combinations; the limits are only those you impose on yourself! 

We are doing 14 months of unschooling with the girls as we slow-travel, typically staying 4-5 weeks at each place.  That makes it sound like they’re learning nothing during our year away, but that couldn’t be further from the truth!  Every day, they are learning something!  Every day presents an opportunity to teach them something new!  They are learning about culture, languages, and currency in each place we go in a very natural way just by observing people, daily life, daily rhythms in different countries, what types of foods they serve in local restaurants, when restaurants are open, etc.  They learn so much about history, architecture, geography, nature, etc from seeing it firsthand everywhere we go.  From the older buildings, different building styles, different plants, the cute cobblestone streets, the statues and monuments that pique their curiosity, the gorgeous older buildings with intricate carvings, the terraced vineyards and olive groves and learning about how they do this as a way to irrigate the land (and what irrigation is!), etc. 

They ask so many questions, and we are grateful when there’s a plaque handy to help us answer those questions!  But it’s also inspired us to look things up and learn together or listen to the locals tell us all about it.  Or sometimes we are able to learn using our other senses.  We can look, touch, smell, and taste the olives on the olive trees to see what they are like at different stages, we learned that almonds have two shells on them and are watching as they ripen while we are here. The first shells have begun to open, exposing the second shell inside.  We have been able to bring some of those home and plan to crack them open to see what they look like inside in their natural state.  We are constantly looking for broken pieces of tile on the ramblas (riverbeds) that we walk along right now while they are dry – collecting them to make a mosaic on the wall here where we are staying.  They will learn how to adhere them to the wall with a special cement soon.  We plan to go to some nearby caves to see some older cave paintings and learn about that era from history.  We have tons of potlucks here, at least weekly, where people bring so many delicious dishes from their native country for us to taste and experience.  The amazing Israeli family across the hall from us are planning to teach the girls and I how to make their amazingly delicious challah bread soon.

Every day is a new learning experience and opportunity for our family, which we are making the most of.  But in a relaxed, natural way that follows our curiosity.  I have personally watched the girls change drastically since we left Canada, and it’s not even been two months yet!  They are naturally exceptionally inquisitive children who have always wanted to understand the inner workings of everything.  Which has been exhausting when our brains needed downtime after our busy work days.  But with work out of mind, we are all finding that following our inquisitive natures is bringing us all so much happiness and we are all loving to learn so many new things!  I’ve also seen how drastically their independence has grown while we have been away.

We are only two months into this adventure called worldschooling, but it has been an amazing experience so far.  We keep reminding ourselves that this year away is not a vacation, it is a new lifestyle we are experiencing.  We are trying very hard to adapt to local cultures and customs everywhere we go for a more authentic experience of each country.  I’m excited to see where this journey will take us over the next year before we return to Canada and our previous lifestyle.  And how much this experience will change us all in ways we cannot yet predict!