Worldschooling – When the entire world becomes your school

  MINNEAPOLIS, MN - 11/08/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

According to theguardian.com, the number of families shedding the school walls, packing backpacks and wandering out into the world with their children on a world tour/education adventure is on the rise.

“World-schooling, edventuring, life-learning, whatever you call it, more parents are doing it – if the proliferation of blogs and books by families on the round-the-world trips is anything to go by. Driven by a desire to spend a greater amount of time with their children, escape the pressures of work and discover new cultures and lifestyles, a growing number of parents are jacking it all in, taking the kids out of school and setting off on an adventure.”  

But how many families are doing this? “In 2012, the Department of Education estimated that 1.8 million, or 3.4 percent, of American children ages five to 17 are homeschooled, which serves as the catchall term for schooling overseen by parents outside a formal institution. Those estimates, however, were based on a mailed survey, which presumably worldschooling families weren’t home to receive. While it’s hard to pin down the actual number, anecdotal evidence suggests that worldschooling is growing. Families who have been traveling longer term told me that when they first googled “worldschooling” back in 2008, they found only Gerzon’s blog. Today, a search of the term generates more than 30,000 entries.”  

The curiosity about the cultures, the languages, the traditions of the world are growing as people become more and more curious about those who share this Earth with them. What better way to learn about them, than to see and experience life in their shoes?  Many worldschooling families stay with other worldschooling families in more of a family stay situation. Making friends, sharing stories, learning new languages to communicate, and being compassionate.

According to Lara Cornell of Vistas in Education: “These students not only have an incredible amount of worldly experience under their belts, but they are becoming world ambassadors ­with an empathy and understanding beyond measure.” What we're really witnessing is a deeper trend of more and more people who respect the difference world-wide perspective and approach can make for their kids.

Parent.co puts it this way: “Children are naturally curious, and as long as they feel safe and supported, can use every circumstance to learn. Through travel, parents and children are put in a somewhat of a mutual learning space. It is awesome to tackle a new language together or to be simultaneously awed by architecture that actual knights lived in. Knights!”

Whether dropping everything and setting off on a worldschooling adventure speaks to your family or the more traditional schooling method is more your style, becoming a world ambassador is still possible and it starts with two questions: “What does the world have to teach me? What do I have to give the world?” – Melissa Church