As the deadline to sign my oldest up for kindergarten approached, I found myself backpedaling. Having gone to an alternative school as a kid, I could tell public school wasn’t going to work for us – no matter how highly ranked it was. I started searching for a way off “the path.” It didn’t take long before I was throwing the “crazy” idea of homeschooling at Darren. His response was something along the lines of “homeschooling is out of the question, our kids need to go to a school that has 4 walls.” 

Challenge accepted

After that conversation I looked all over the world for a school that fit my requirements – no homework, no tests, no grades, tons of time spent outdoors, lots of camping and a building with 4 walls. 

There are some incredible schools out there changing the landscape of education, but none of them fit my requirements. This magical school I was envisioning didn’t seem to exist. Even when I found a school that did peak my interest, I always felt like we’d be losing freedom. Then I came across worldschooling. And there was no turning back. 

What is worldschooling?

Worldschooling can look different for different families, but generally it’s when you use the world as your classroom. Kids are learning by experiencing the world around them. Instead of reading about things in a textbook, children are traveling, immersing themselves in a culture, eating local food, going to museums – the possibilities are endless. 

Worldschooling is a type of homeschooling. Families who worldschool believe there is no greater education than by experiencing and interacting with the world around them. It’s a more holistic approach to education that allows kids to explore things that interest them and learn at their own pace.  

As a kid we traveled quite a bit and I think those experiences shaped me more than I ever realized. Traveling literally expands a kid’s worldview and their idea of what’s possible. I can’t think of anything better than to experience freedom and travel the world with my favorite humans. 

How do we worldschool? 

I somehow convinced Darren to try worldschooling for one year. So in November 2022 we put all of our stuff in storage and flew to England. Our plan was to travel around the UK and spend time with family, before going off to explore other parts of Europe. 

Things changed and what was supposed to be the most magical year of our lives turned into the hardest year of our lives. You can read more about that here. Despite all of the challenges we faced during that first year of homeschooling/worldschooling, we weren’t deterred. 

We just needed to change our approach. 

I thought we would be ok doing the nomad thing and not having a permanent home. But I was wrong. With 4 kids 7 and under we needed to stabilize and regroup. So we decided to head west back to California. We bought a house where we could see ourselves for at least 5-10 years. I unknowingly absolutely manifested the house we are in now. 

Fast forward our kids are settled and thriving. Our baby is 14 months old and we finally feel ready to travel again. This time we will travel as much as we can realizing that will change from year to year and as the kids get older. Currently the boys play a lot of sports. While we have a ton of freedom because we homeschool, our travel schedule is dictated by their sports schedules. 

When we can’t do big trips with the kids, then we do small local adventures. For us we do a combination of world schooling and unschooling. We spend a ton of time outside and explore the world around us as much as possible.