The power of learning through travel

There is no better way to educate your children about other cultures than through travel and one of the key aspects of that for us is food and drink! Take Thailand for instance, where else in the world would your 9 year old be chomping down on scorpion? Some of my favourite memories of the kids have been trying new and exciting foods.

We have always believed that travel is such a powerful and unique way to learn. Can you think of a better way to learn about geography, history, language and culture other than being immersed in it? Sure beats reading about it in a text book. Both my husband and I have always thrived on being outdoors and living day to day exploring our surroundings. We didn’t grow up travelling. My only trip abroad was a short ferry ride to France—until my first flight. That experience lit a spark I couldn’t ignore.

I am guessing you’re here as you are curious about worldschooling and how it could potentially benefit your family. There is no set way to “worldschool.” Some families choose to permanently travel staying in a country a few months at a time and move on. Others are travelling full time in vans! For the time being we have decided to remain in the UK as our base. We adventure as much as we can with a preference to spending 6-8 weeks exploring a place over Winter. Whatever option you are considering we hope to show you how travel can be a true learning adventure.

Turning Costa Rica Into a Learning Laboratory

Fom rainforests to cloudforests, volcanoes and beaches (plus everything else in between) there is so much to learn in Costa Rica. We spent 6.5 weeks in Costa Rica travelling from the Cloud forest region in Monteverde to the bottom – Drake bay.

Visiting the cloud forest sparked so much curiosity and wonder. Now the boys are always researching and studying them. As I write this piece they are working on an Amazon Rainforest book study. Likewise having visited an active volcano in Costa Rica, the boys were in absolute awe and we have made many home volcanoes! There is no better way to experience bio-diversity than being in a country which is so full of it. We would 100% recommend spending a long period of time here if you can. The longer you’re here the more you can lose yourself in the Pura Vida lifestyle too.

Once you have ticked off the Northern part of the country’s sights such as the Arenal Volcano and the Monteverde Cloud Forest be sure to head South. As much as we loved the thrill of being near an active volcano and the amazement of being in one of the few cloud forests in the world, these are for obvious reasons touristy hot spots. The further South you go, the more genuine culture you’ll get to experience.

Drake bay was a huge hit for our family. It sparked conversations on Sir Francis Drake leading to a Spanish Armada project upon our return. It was also probably one of the places in the world we have all felt the most relaxed. Many people venture over to Drake bay for a day visit from the tiny village of Sierpe but we stayed there for a few days. We enjoyed barbecues on the beach with the locals, fished with the locals and made a friend in a guy called Jimmy. We chat about him often because he spent so much time teaching the boys about their way of life.

Between all the hiking around the country, travelling on the buses on Pura Vida time and eating Casado we also did a chocolate and coffee tour and the boys even made their own sugar cane juice! We did wildlife hikes day and night! We left Costa Rica having seen gladiator frogs, bull frogs, sloths, woodpeckers and so much more. If you love nature and/or want to inspire a love of nature in your children, add Costa Rica to your bucket list. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for Costa Rica specific posts soon!

From Sacred Rituals to Celebrations – Worldschooling in India

Wow, India. Where to even begin? I’ll be the first to admit I was unsure about India especially as we were heading into the depths of Mumbai. I had safety concerns as I’d been told horror stories. However, it was honestly, the most welcoming country ever.

We arrived in Mumbai fairly late in the evening and just sourced food and spent the night in our hotel. The next day we got a real feel for life in India and let me tell you, it’s insane. We were out walking the streets exploring when we heard music, so naturally we followed it. It was a huge crowd of people in fantastic, bright colours dancing and having an amazing time. So, we kinda just followed and started dancing at the back.

Shortly after these women saw me and pulled me in to dance with them and it was honestly the best cultural experience ever. I’ve never felt as alive. After a while I was pulled in for pictures with a man and woman. We then realised – it was their wedding!

This wasn’t even the only wedding we ended up attending, we attended two! It was truly spectacular to see how they just take over the streets, no real venue just a street party! As you can see in the video above it is practically a dual carriageway. These weddings certainly shaped our worldschooling journey as these experiences couldn’t have been any closer to Indian culture if we tried.

Culturally, India is wonderful. If food is your love language, then you MUST go. Many people gifted us food, invited us into their own homes throughout our entire trip. This is how they express their gratitude and invite you to be part of their community and what a wonderful invitation to receive.

Our timing was perfect as we also attended the Maha Shivarati, meaning “The Great Night of Shiva.” What an absolute experience. We still to this day sing the song that is recited whilst the Hindu’s await the awakening of Lord Shiva. Once again we were welcomed into their temple, invited to be a part of their culture and religion. This is a moment the boys will never forget. Nor us.

I could go on forever about India (be sure to look out for a specific Indian blog piece by subscribing to the newsletter) but for now I will end this section by saying you will not get a more cultural experience than being in India. Worldschooling opens your eyes to the diversity in our world and how amazing it is and how fortunate we are to get to be a part of that. There is no better country (that we have found as of yet) where you can feel more alive surrounded by such a powerful community of people.

Europe: A Living History Book

If you’re reading this from within the UK or somewhere in Europe and are thinking the previous two destinations just seem a little too far for your first worldschooling experience don’t worry – Europe is fantastic too!

We spent one Winter island hopping the Canaries. We flew into Fuerteventura and then moved across the islands by ferry once we had finished our exploring.

The likes of Italy, Spain and France are strikingly historical and cultural countries too. Each of these could be explored on their own separate trip or if you were feeling adventurous you could turn it into a longer worldschooling opportunity. We ourselves have actually driven from the UK through France to Spain a few times. It was both of the boys first travelling experience at around 5 months old!

Europe is a melting pot of languages, cultures and histories. Language has always been important for us, I am absolutely AMAZED by polyglots and it is one day a goal of mine. I hope for the children too. We speak Spanish almost fluently and it is super interesting for us to hear the differences and similarities between Spanish and Italian. Travelling through France also made me revive some of my younger years French and pass it on to the children. Personally I feel if you have an interest in languages or hope for it to be studied by your children, Europe is an excellent place. There are so many polyglot countries and cities.

The Freedom to Learn at Your Own Pace

One thing I am sure we can all agree on is that children and people alike all learn at different paces and in different ways. Unfortunately, a traditional school setting doesn’t allow for this unlike a worldschooling lifestyle.

The information the boys retain about historical things, food, geography, language and more I feel is easier for them to do so because it is hands on. Reciting and copying from a text book to me isn’t learning. It’s memorising.

No Rigid Schedules: This benefits us as a family as we don’t particularly mesh well with rigidity. The freedom allows for spontaneous learning, we have the ability to dive deeper into topics that interest our children. This is a lot easier than you’d expect if you’re travelling and always seeing new things. It also allows for more quality family time without the need to constantly be rushing off here, there and everywhere. Everyone always comments on the bond between the boys and its truly a beautiful thing to watch.

Tailored Learning: Again, virtually impossible in a school setting. When you are worldschooling you can tailor learning and lessons to your childs unique interests. For example my eldest is showing a keen interest in marine biology so we have been to sea turtle conservation centres. Now we are looking at doing a life experience where we can work at a sea turtle sanctuary in Bali.

Learning from Local Experts: Instead of just learning from textbooks or school teachers, you’re learning from local artisans, guides, farmers, and others who offer real-world expertise. By staying in your local area, yes this can be done but it’s going to come to a point where you have soaked up all your local knowledge and so a journey into the big wide world is a must.

Building Life Skills Beyond Academics

Learning to Navigate the World: Travelling teaches life skills like communication, budgeting, navigating foreign countries, and interacting with diverse people—skills that are often overlooked in traditional school settings. Generally, when we mention that we home educate our children the first question to come out of their mouth is “well, what about socialisation?” When worldschooling for a portion of your time you are not only constantly communication but you’re communicating with a diverse range of people.

Even when we aren’t travelling we are always filling our time out and about exploring, joining in with activities at home education groups etc. For us, that’s real socialisation in comparison to the forced association thrust upon children in a school setting.

Navigating foreign countries is a true skill and not only that but it sets children up for independence into adulthood. A child is going to be a lot more confident navigating their surroundings as an adult when they have grown up doing exactly that. Within a school setting children are told where to go, when to go there and what to do and aren’t given the opportunity to find their own way.

Budgeting skills are continually worked upon when travelling. Ok yes, we’d love to have a night stay in a luxurious 5* spa hotel where you can get room service but is that going to allow us to stay here for the intended 4 weeks?

You can grab our free budget planner here

Our boys are so money conscious it’s amazing to see. They save any of their own money until they reach a set milestone, they’re never asking for ridiculously expensive things because they understand the true value of everything. I know that going into adulthood I certainly will not have to worry about them managing their finances well as they’re already doing it and part of doing it as a family every time we travel.

The Future Of Worldschooling: What’s Next For Our Family

As I mentioned at the beginning, everyone has a different way to worldschool. We have decided to have a home base so that it is easier for us to adapt to any changing needs. As the children grow we know they may want to sit exams, need a bit more structure to prepare for certain exams etc so by having a home base we have that flexibility.

It may mean that when that time comes trips have to be shorter instead of up to 2 months a time but that doesn’t mean we will stop exploring the globe. Equally if my eldest decides he wants to continue learning marine science and is offered an amazing experience at a marine wildlife sanctuary somewhere exciting in the world, we would pack up and head there.

We will follow their dreams no matter where it takes us.

Worldschooling doesn’t have to be a scary thing. It can be as big or as small as you want it to be. Just think outside the box a little. Don’t go looking on your traditional travel agent websites and look at “holidays.” For us a holiday isn’t going to teach us too much. Of course there is learning to be taken from every experience but an all inclusive holiday to Spain where you barely leave the hotel grounds isn’t educational – it’s relaxing and enjoyable to some of course but it’s not building those unique and diverse experiences.

I am always open to having a chat with anyone on the fence, or anyone wanting advice on where to look for somewhere different so you can always drop me a message on IG! And if you’re reading this thinking “YES, this is the life I want for my family but how can we make it happen?” I do have a guide which breaks down multiple online income opportunities which would perhaps be worth a look if you don’t have a job you can already do remote.

You can download it for free here.

There is also a section on saving on your travel and your may find this page useful too: Save And Earn On Your Travel!

As always, dream big and live your best life!

The Wilsons, xoxo

P.s, if you’re looking for a family friendly journal to document your travel (clever way to fit in writing practice) grab one here