Jumpstart Your Worldschooling Journey

A few months ago a journalist sent me these questions to help her article around Worldschooling and how it works for different families. I don't know if my answers were part of the article or if the article was published but I thought they could give you a glimpse of how we got started and some of the philosophies we follow when we travel. I updated a few things and added a few links. Feel free to reach out if you hava any questions or need a sounding board to fine tune what Worldschooling can look like for you and your family.

- When and why did your family start worldschooling?

I have been a flight attendant for almost 20 years and we have traveled with the boys since they were born. Prior to the pandemic I thought about homeschooling so we could travel and didn’t know that it was worldschooling. 

One thing led to another and we said yes to home education in 2020. It was the best move for our family. We had a rocky start when I was trying to recreate school at home but the world became our oyster once I started to let go of my own conditioning and we started to reimagine what education is and prioritize our connection vs curriculum and arbitrary milestones imposed by the school system. 

- How old are your children, and how long have you been worldschooling?

Boys are 10 and 5, and travel has always been a part of our life but more so since the pandemic. 

- I know each day is different, but can you give me an example of a worldschooling day ?

Travel days are usually low key with just a run to the local grocery store, unpacking, local tv and rest. 

Full days start early for me with coffee and some online work (blog posts, video editing or travel quotes). My husband could also have an early start if he is closing deals from the road. 

The boys tend to sleep in (we all are night owls) until 10 ish and then we either make breakfast (if we have a kitchen) or just head to a local place to get something (mostly for me because I’m an absolute nightmare if I don’t eat). We are slow travelers and will stop at whatever shows up but we usually have one destination planned (such as a museum or activity) and the journey of getting there is just as important. Most of the time we end up with a meal at a local restaurant (we are very intentional about this because it’s another way to enjoy the destination) and head back just before dark to relax and catch up on emails/texts or do a night swim if the pool is available. 

If our trip is longer than four days we will take a full day to stay in and recharge and usually imagine what it would be like to live in that city/town/country. 

- What are the pros and cons of worldschooling?

The cons: 

• Organized sports can be tricky if they miss more than one practice. It tends to break the flow of interaction with their teammates. We currently participate in martial arts and baseball but that’s now a thing we think about when traveling. 

• Being on vacation mode can get old and expensive pretty quickly. 

• Making friends with local people is possible but never guaranteed. We have found that worldschool hubs that aligned with our values have the people that we connect with the most and have made efforts to stay connected with after the hub has ended.

• Energetically speaking, traveling is exhausting and it can be stressful to have expectations that cannot be met. 

The pros:

• Worldschooling beats any book ever written about a place or a group of people. 

• Learning isn’t linear and traveling is the best example of experiencing this beautiful world. 

• We find out our personal boundaries and what we are comfortable with and what makes us uncomfortable. We ask questions and seek answers by using all five senses, and even our sixth sense. 

• The stories are endless and always with a life lesson that cannot be learned from a book (and I LOVE books).

- How do your children learn school on the road?

I like to say that we travel with a purpose. So by the time a destination is chosen we have learned something about that place or something that happened there and we are looking to deepen our knowledge on that topic. 

Picture of the crew in Paris. Photo by Julieta Duvall

As an example, my son was interested in WWII, bunkers and eating a baguette in France. Our trip to France and the UK was born out of his curiosity and all of the activities were planned with those topics in mind. 

In addition to that we have airport conversations that stem from the actual journey of traveling such as logistics, physics, economics, psychology, energy and interaction with our different environments. Beyond Japan one of our longest travel days was the return home from Belize at almost 16 hours and it was just delightful. We had races by empty gates, built obstacle courses, had a meal and reflected on how different it was from Belize and much more. 

And my all time favorite things are to go to the local grocery store and watch the local tv channels if available. We have done this so many times that our conversations now are about comparison and wondering about cultural norms and making up many different scenarios about how people live there and what it would mean for us living in those places.

- How do you finance this lifestyle?

Let me preface this by saying that in Human Design my husband and I are Manifesting Generators (MG). MGs are one of five types in Human Design and HD is referred to as the science of differentiation. 

What it means to be an MG is to be multi-passionate with the energy to sustain multiple endeavors. And that’s us!!

The short answer to the question is— multiple streams of income. 

The long version that could be even longer:

• My husband is a real estate agent- commercial and residential, professional painter and builder. There are seasons for each one of them and they complement each other quite nicely. 

• We have had rental properties since the crash in 2008. We became accidental landlords and grew into that. We honestly don’t know any different.

• I’m a flight attendant and my work schedule is super flexible and although I can make good money the best part of the job is the flying benefits. We fly for free or for very small amounts that are usually taxes.

• My blog, The Unschooling Lifestyle, has many different branches that bring income such as 1:1 coaching, speaking gigs, forum membership, affiliate codes, KDP journals, Youtube (still growing there) as well as merchandise. 

• Human Design is a big part of how I support families and I have started doing readings for individuals, partnerships and businesses. You can email me to book your own reading.

• I began a collaboration with a friend to create personalized travel for other people. My specialty is optimizing your funds and your route through the friendly skyes. You can take a look at the website at www.travelwiseguides.com

At home:

• We cook at home as much as we can to save money but also because we enjoy the process of making meals. Our favorite meal is pizza and we make them a couple of times a week. 

• We use the “Buy Nothing” groups before buying anything for full price. Some of our favorite dishes, bowls and chairs have come from that group and we love the stories behind them. 

• We only buy what’s needed and that’s usually shoes. 

• When traveling we will stay with family if available or at the ING hotels because they are budget and family friendly. 

• Although our flights are almost free we use hotel points and rewards from Capital One credit cards (the only card we use while we travel).

• Every steady paycheck has an amount dedicated towards travel and if hubs are chosen in advance we save for that accordingly. 

• We travel off season to get better prices but also to avoid the tourist crowds. We love the off season experiences! 

- Where are you now, and where have you been?

We are back in Michigan for a few months before some trips and hubs planned for May through September.

We have been to México (Monterrey, Cd. de México, Cancún, Mérida, Holbox), Belize, Canada, Japan, France, the UK, throughout Michigan, road tripping from Michigan to Florida and back. Some of the US states that we have visited are New York, California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and maybe a few more that aren’t coming back to me for some reason. 

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