An introduction to world schooling

Many people have recently asked me “What is world schooling?” Well the best way I can describe it is ‘experiential education through travel.’ In many ways pretty similar to home schooling but with the emphasis on the child being educated whilst either travelling the world, or living for a period of time in another country whilst being richly immersed into different cultures, languages, natural habitat etc, rather than simply being educated ‘at home’

I admit that the decision to become Cameron’s teacher for a year in order to provide this world school experience wasn’t a decision which I took lightly. He is currently in an amazing private school where he is happy and thriving, I cannot speak more highly of the school; it is situated in 40 acres of beautiful grounds nestled within The South Downs. The children have the opportunity to climb trees, run in the fields and play in the woods on a daily basis, not to mention benefitting from Forest Schooling as part of their regular education. The teachers, the Head Master, the Principal and even the cleaners are all incredible, I cannot fault the school for anything and I am therefore not removing my son from mainstream education for any negative reasons.

Cameron’s existing school where children flourish with woodland play and forest school. http://www.somptingabbotts.com

…and below: winner of The Courtesy Cup for politeness and good manners! (December 2017)

Nevertheless, I know my son and I have already witnessed how he has benefited enormously from our previous travel experiences and I strongly believe that he is going to absolutely thrive on this adventure, soaking up every ounce of knowledge on this journey of discovery around the globe. Far more than even the very best schools could teach him in a classroom.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of available online resources relating to world schooling as well as several very useful and supportive forums whereby you can connect with other likeminded families.

I also have workbooks, ipad apps etc to help provide him with a more structured education at the same time and I will ensure a few hours are spent each week on the core subjects of Maths, English, French etc so that when he finally returns to mainstream school he will not be behind academically.

My daughter was also privately educated up to the age of 12, I must have spent £1000’s in school fees over the years and I don’t regret a penny of it as it meant she was educated within a very nurturing and happy environment – but has she turned out to be an academic genius? No. Ask her what the most enriching part of her education was and I know 100% she will say all the travel experiences that she had, along with many of the people she met along the way. She went to college and got good A’level results, she could have easily got a place in a decent university – however she chose not to follow that route. Instead she made the decision to follow her heart, go straight into the Travel Industry and got a job as Cabin Crew with Thomas Cook Airlines at the age of 19. Whilst many of her friends are now lecture bound and will be starting their working life with thousands of pounds of student debt tied around their neck, Georgia is already earning a decent salary, seeing the world and meeting lots of interesting people. For us the world is far more educational and enriching than any classroom.

Then and now:

Above – age 10 in Florida.

Below – age 20 in The Gambia.

My daughter and fellow Cabin Crew members of Thomas Cook Airlines, whilst being ‘paid’ to visit The Gambia.

We will be blogging along the way about our World Schooling Experience and Cameron is keen for us to start a Vlogging channel via YouTube (the link to which can be found at the top of this page, along with those to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc).

Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel ‘Cam & Mum’s Travel Vlog’ and watch our world schooling experience unfold.

We are very grateful to pianist Lance Jones for providing many of the musical backing tracks for our YouTube videos. http://www.lancejones.co.uk