If your algorithm looks anything like mine, you’re seeing more and more people take the leap and move abroad. Families spending the day strolling Spanish streets, or jumping in Mediterranean waters on a Tuesday. But how do they do it?
Are the kids even learning?!
What even is world schooling?
How are those kids not falling behind?
Let’s break down the what, the how, and the why you should give world schooling a try at least once in your family’s life.
First, what even is world schooling?
World schooling is the idea that the world is your classroom. Kids can learn better from real life experiences, while also balancing core subjects along the way.
Learning is through:
- lived, real world experience
- cultural connection and collaboration
- curiosity led learning
- travel
- daily life and commutes
- museum and historic landmarks
- hands on trial and error
Essentially it is the experiential learning methodology, which has been argued to be the best way to learn through hands on real-world experiences and then reflecting on those experiences to connect them to academic concepts. You can read more about this method, and how travel is the best teacher in my article: Want Adaptable Kids? Travel with Them.
World schooling doesn’t mean we don’t use curriculum or textbooks, we do! But we focus more on lived learning and use these experiences to bring it back to the text based learning. In fact, this is only one way to world school.
Is World Schooling Just Homeschool?
No, and yes! There are multiple different routes you can take to world school your kids. While one way is essentially homeschool on the go, where you are the educator and in charge of the lesson plans, it is not the only way. In fact, many families have full time working parents while their kids earn their education abroad.
International Schools
An international school is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a traditional school setting that takes in children from all around the world. Many times their children of diplomats, expats, or other world schooling families that enjoy the flexibility to travel the world at their own pace.
International schools can be in any language. I know of an Italian international school in Paris, where they teach in Italian. I also know of an international school in Lisbon that teaches in English. You can find the international school that works for your family’s cultural background or interests. These schools will be a drop off program, much like traditional schools in the U.S., where parents are not responsible for being the educators. This is a perfect option for remote workers that still need to hold traditional working hours.
The added perk of international schools is that many are used to families with flexible timelines. Many, but not all. This means some students are only there 6 months to a year, or whatever timeline fits with the family’s travel schedule. The cons? Many are quite expensive and comparable to private school pricing with inscription fees.
World School Hubs
World school hubs are companies that have educational bases in one or more countries. These are usually short term, varying from one to 9 month programs. Here, there is usually a centralized hub where the children come together and learn from licensed educators.
One of the most popular, and one that our family is currently a part of (as of November 2025) is Boundless Life. I talk more about them in my blog post, Why and How We’re Leaving the U.S., and they currently have destinations in Uruguay, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Montenegro, Bali, and their newest, Japan! The benefit here is not only do the kids have a dedicated education center, but parents also have a co-working space to utilize, as well as immersive community experiences. If you want to learn more about Boundless Life, click here for more info (and a special gift of €400/$460 off!).
Personally, we like a mix of homeschooling and joining hubs, depending on the season. I like the flexibility schooling on our own offers, while also enjoying the support that a program can give you.
If you’d like to learn more about curriculums to use when home/world schooling, I have laid out all the resources for free in this blog post, So You Want to Homeschool? A Beginner’s Guide.
What Our Day Actually Looks Like
There is no single “perfect” worldschooling routine — and that’s the beauty of it. But here’s our general rhythm that works for our kids (ages under 6):
1. Slow Mornings
The beauty about this life is it is intentional, and on our own time. There is no rushing out the door like we used to. We get to eat breakfast as a family, a previous luxury reserved for the weekends.
This slow morning still allows for learning. My oldest loves art, so sometimes he wakes up to draw. Others, we talk about animals while we eat, and figure out their diet, habitat, etc. My kids are 4 and 6, so there’s a lot of curiosity and wonder that we can still make it fun!
2. Travel Days Are Learning Days
When we move to a new city or country, the journey itself becomes the lesson. On a travel day we may:
- Talk about where we’re going.
- Ask: “What language do people speak there?”
- Make guesses: “What foods might we try?”
- Add up how many hours of travel time.
This is geography, cultural studies, math, critical thinking — just going on with our day.
3. Anchored Learning Moments
We don’t just teach random things. We use resources, books, and a curriculum to guide each lesson and make sure our kids are at the level they should be. We are able to be more flexible and intentional with the resources we give them to support their learning. For example:
- Reading: We read bilingual storybooks or stories based on the country we are visiting.
- Math: We use counting in real life at the grocery store, to convert currency, to calculate time differences.
- Writing: Drawing + journaling about places we visit.
Learning doesn’t have to be at a desk all day, it can be flexible. Also, I don’t know about you, but I always learned more actually doing than sitting at my desk and watching someone write this on a chalkboard.
Here’s another example from what we’ve experienced. Our oldest loves marine animals and became obsessed with whale sharks. Our lesson plan became:
- Looking up the animal we wanted to study, learned about it’s habitat, habits, and other cool facts.
- Drew the whale sharks (as best we could)
- Watched a video on whale sharks, as well as similar marine animals, and ocean conservation.
- Showed our kids photos of the time Mami y Papi swam with whale sharks in the Phillipines.
- Took a weekend roadtrip to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium. There, we saw two whale sharks (RIP Taroko) and got to repeat what we learned about the animals while seeing it in real life!
That curiosity, learning, and knowledge lasted weeks! We followed his lead, which made him actually interested and engaged with what he was learning. Coolest science, biology, and geography lessons that we will never forget. It turned into such a beautiful family bonding moment as well.
Want to World School? Try This First.
Start your own mini-world school day. You don’t have to travel far, or even leave your neighborhood to take the first step. This week, I want you to try one of these things to kick start your world schooling experience:
- Learn a few words in another language as a family.
- Go to a local restaurant of a new/different culture.
- Read a bilingual story or watch a kid’s show/movie in your second language.
- Take a nature walk and journal what you notice. Then look it up and learn!
- Attend a cultural festival or event happening near you.
- Host an “International Dinner Night” – Pick a country, learn how to say hello in the local language, play music from there, and cook one dish together. Let the kids help choose the country from a globe or map.
- Listen to music in a different language, learn a traditional dance, and do it as a family!
- Explore your local art or history museum. Pick one topic to focus on or write about.
- Invite a friend to teach something to your kids about their language or culture. Or ask a grandparent about your heritage or ancestral homeland.
- Learn about a cultural holiday that may be coming up soon.
Learning about the world doesn’t always mean you have to get on a plane. You just have to be curious enough to look.
If you’re curious about taking the first steps into world schooling (with or without travel), you’re in the right place. Go back to any of the articles I’ve linked to start learning how your world schooling journey can start right where you are.
Feel free to ask a question in the comments below, or stay connected and shoot me a DM on Instagram or TikTok.
You don’t have to move abroad to raise globally aware children.
You just have to be willing to see the world with them.
If you want a more detailed guide to making every adventure and every trip a language learning experience, you can grab my Bilingual Culture + Travel Planning toolkit here! It’s part family planner, part language resource, and part reflection guide that’s here to help parents raise confident, curious, and culturally grounded kids while exploring the world.
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