Worldschooling our way round the world
Education is important and as a family who travels full-time we get asked this a lot. The thing is, we LOVE to learn. So let’s talk, what is worldschooling.
When we are in Australia we are in a motorhome. We also have a 4×4 with rooftop tent to explore the hard to reach places. But we backpack, roadtrip in a campervan and stay with multiple friends all over the world too.
Europe Roadtrip 2017 & 2018
In 2017 we did a three and a half month roadtrip in Southern Europe, you can see where we did and what we got up to here.
Then we came back for a 5 month roadtrip in 2018 in Northern Europe. There is lots of information, weekly diary, youtube weekly video and where we stayed. We are coming back for five months in 2019. We bought a campervan in England which we use when roadtripping.
As you can imagine this would provide unlimited possibilities to worldschool. What is worldschooling? Learning while exploring the world. The world is your classroom and everyone you meet is a teacher of sorts. Regardless of age.
A lot of education or worldschooling happens without you even realising it. When you travel, whether as a child or an adult, you experience different cultures, food, art, musical instruments and sports.
Your children see you in situations that require problem solving AND get to help solve them. Many of those problems or learning experiences you just wouldn’t come across, living in the same house on the same street, seeing the same people every day at school and work.
There are so many opportunities to learn all around us and we love learning alongside our daughter.
There is no rule book…
There is no rule book when it comes to worldschooling. Everyone worldschools differently. Being from Australia we try to maintain Miss B’s education in line with the Australian Curriculum. We use various memberships or online resources.
Reading, comprehension and expanding her vocabulary is very important and we try to incorporate books relevant to where we are travelling. I seek out comprehension worksheets on the books we select off various age or year level appropriate reading lists. There are many of these listed on our Educational Websites and Resources page. We refer back to this database while on the road to save time hunting down information and educational content on a particular subject or topics.
We have begun sharing Kids Travel Worksheets on destinations we go. We have found our girls loved worksheets and it gives them a great souvenir and memory of their trip.
We take Grammar, Math and Spelling workbooks with us which we do a unit a week from. Miss B also reads all the information plaques and boards from the various places we visit.
We cook and eat food from various countries, talk currency conversion, time differences, learn some of the languages and try and converse as much as possible.
Preparation is the key
We carry 
a large digital library of reference books, documentaries and movies. When visiting Rome, we all watched Ben Hur the night before going to the Colosseum! This led to a lot more questions (more than usual!) and a better understanding of what it would have been like at the time.
In Pompeii we watched documentaries on the tragedy 
and had climbed Mt Etna in Sicily (pictured here) a week or so earlier, so lots of discussions on volcanoes were had!
Some kids are practical learners, others visual learners, and some learn better from reading text. The success of worldschooling or homeschooling comes from how well we know our children and the way they absorb information. This coupled with one on one learning which we all provide our kids, really enhances the volume and speed in which they take in this new information.
Sport and keeping active
Miss B is very active and loves sport. This is great as we are a very active family and love hiking, trekking and adventure activities. She has climbed Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Brittain. Kjerabolten, Preikestolen AND Trolltunga in Norway. 
Yes, she can not attend a sports carnival once a year and inter-school athletics. But, yes, there are worldwide Parkrun events held weekly that are free that allow you to run 5km (great for socialisation and meeting new friends too). These are held on Saturdays in Australia. Yes, there are plenty of hiking trails, cities to explore and invitations to be involved in sports while travelling.
Sports Overseas
While in Europe, Miss B played Badminton in Romania and France, spent hours swimming in the labyrinth of natural cave baths in Hungary, swimming again in the Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea and Baltic Sea, climbed a volcano in Sicily, played soccer in so many countries I have lost count and tried archery in a castle in Hungary. She has seen and heard an amazing amount of instruments from around the world and in some cases been given a try. She has friends all over the globe.
The best part of worldschooling is knowing where your child is at academically. Their strengths and weaknesses both socially and academically and being able to ensure a positive one on one learning experience.
Genuine family time
Being able to spend genuine time together. Not trying to talk while getting ready for work/school before being dropped off at school, picked up from school, or after school care. You know how it is, doing homework while they are tired and while cooking dinner and really getting to know each other as a family – Too well at times! Watching them grow through experiences they encounter, this is real family time.
It is not all sunshine and roses with worldschooling. Although in fairness, it is very rare for us to have a bad day and there were a lot more bad days when we were in traditional schooling.
There are days where it’s just not happening. Normally when Miss B knows it is school holidays and why does she have to do schoolwork. This is fast replaced with an exclamation – ‘Everyone should get to do school like this!’ at the next amazing place we visit or amazing people we meet to share travel stories with.
Feeling over travelled?
When full-time travelling there will be days when you feel over-travelled. You have seen too many churches, museums, castles or walked too many kilometres in 35 degrees heat. Patience can be tested, these are good times to avoid schooling!
We are more formal than lot of travellers in our approach. Don’t pressure yourself to have to achieve certain hours a day or certain modules. It will all come together in time.
Sometimes an activity or destination takes you off on an unexpected journey of discovery and exploration, roll with it. When a person irrespective of age is engaged in learning about something, their ability to absorb new information and enjoyment in doing so is magnified.
Happy travels and see you out there!
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