Traveling families with the globe as a classroom: welcome to the school of peace.
to do education at home, since "we wanted our children to be around other children."' Solomon, a poet and poetry performer who grew up in foster care and was the more adventurous of the two, suggested opening a school in another country. But Amanda didn't see a way to move abroad, open a school and travel with the children. "It seemed impossible," she says, and it was contradicted by the way she grew up: "You go to college, get a good job and a pension, and stay there. "
The couple began researching and saw on social media that many other families, disillusioned with the US, UK and Canada, were leaving their countries to begin their educational adventure. The couple thought, "People are doing this. How can we do the same thing but in our own way?"''The growing community of people traveling with children, known as "worldschoolers," can be defined in a variety of ways. While the exact number of traveling families is unknown, one major Facebook group dedicated to the practice has more than 62,000 members. But the overarching theme is a desire for a community of travelers, an approach to education and lifestyle, and a desire to experience living in a place rather than just traveling through it. Miroschools fund their travels with a mix of remote work, including online learning, real estate and stock trading. Living and healthcare costs in many other countries are usually much lower. The global pandemic has helped drive US families' interest in homeschooling, as the number has grown by 30% from 2019 to 2022''online programs while traveling. Terra Horton, a family therapist in Los Angeles, traveled for about a year with her husband and three children, ages 14, 9 and 6. Because she knew the family would return home after the trip, she enrolled her children in a homeschool charter school, and while they traveled, all the children participated in an online learning program called Time4learning. Horton said the children learned at their own pace while the family traveled. It's been two years since they've been home and back to school. Horton said the children were "a little behind at first, but quickly caught up." She said the family often talks about their time on the road, and it was one of the best "life experiences they've ever had. "
For the past three''organize short sessions of 4 to 6 weeks where families come together. The children usually have structured learning sessions for a few hours a day, giving parents the time they need to work remotely. On evenings and weekends, the centers have family-friendly activities and excursions are planned. Some centers also host adult-only activities, and many strive to create a sense of community for participants. Because these programs are usually educational enrichment activities lasting one to three months, many families can visit countries on tourist visas.
Louise Marie Morris set up One Family Luxor Worldschool Learning Hub after moving from Portugal to Egypt in 2021 with her two young children. Morris used to work for the BBC in London, but after the birth of her second child, she realized she wanted something different for her life. When she came to Egypt, Morris saw opportunities. She wanted visiting families to explore local temples and tombs, including "Tutankhamun's Tomb," and she wanted them to be able to play soccer with local children. Morris launched the hub in the garden of a local hotel with 10 families. "We had no''t have the slightest idea what we're doing." Now Morris has built a classroom and garden structure and her hub attracts around 25 families in a six-week session, and the children and parents have built an Egyptian oven on an old farm, visited the Valley of the Kings and cruised the Nile. Families join local sports clubs and rent houses from local families, and because they are here for a while, they get a real insight into the rhythms of Egyptian life. "We have people coming from different socio-economic backgrounds and they all find themselves in a new environment," says Morris. It's not easy because many families from the West experience real culture shock, but it's from these interactions that "the most valuable moments come from," she says.
There are also''Companies that offer a structured version of world school. In August 2020, Sam Keller moved to the island of Moorea in French Polynesia with his wife and two children for a year. Keller says they saw the positive impact living on the island had on their children and family, allowing them to slow down and spend quality time together. "It was so profound for us," Keller says. It wasn't long before Keller launched Working without Borders, a California-based company providing month-long educational programs for families. Programs have taken place in Moorea, Colombia and Peru. Jamie Neelans, 46, of Honeoye Falls, N.Y., traveled with the company to Peru with her 12-year-old son, Jace, during summer vacation because she wanted him''had experienced life abroad - and she wanted to do it with him. When she was younger, Nilans lived in Mexico for six months, which "changed her life." One mom wanted her son to experience something similar to understand "the important things in life," which she believes are not "a big beautiful house or an expensive car." She says she wanted her son to learn "that you don't need all that, you can be happy with the people you are with and who you are." An independent medical biller with her own business, Neelans saved money to travel for several months. Their shared month-long experience in Peru, Neelans said, helped them bond even more. On the last night of their stay in Peru, a local school hosted a celebratory thank-you ceremony for the new arrivals''students, and she cried watching her. She believes that this experience taught
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