Please introduce you and your family.
My name is Bridget and I travel with my husband Jacob, daughter 7 years, son 9 years, while my oldest 20yr old lives in Denver.
What does worldschooling mean to you?
Throughout history the best education involved travel, learning about other cultures, religions, history, ways of life, and learning a lot one’s self as you interact within these worlds. Today education involves sitting in a school room reading books and listening to biased lectures which gives you at best a theoretical interaction with the world we all live in. And while that’s fine for many, we wanted more for our children. So we decided to “give our kids the world”. Literally..
After many years of public school and research, we came across the lifestyle of worldschooling. To us it meant having freedom to give our children the best education we could, and the ability to build friendships and a community all over the world. It gave us the ability to be a family and impart time and love to our lives and our children’s futures.
Describe how you and your family approach education and learning.
What we’ve found works for our family is a combination of unschooling, home schooling, and when we are in a location for an extended period of time we allow the children to attend a public school as it is beneficial to their education and experiences. We wish to provide learning about the local society and culture that goes beyond the superficial. It also builds their skills in reading writing and math as well as any local languages, and customs.
How long have you and your family been worldschooling?
In 2015, after a year and a half of working diligently on closing our stationary lives so we could travel, we left for SE Asia. We spent 5 months traveling 5 countries before we needed a rest and more cash, at which point we went back to Denver, our “home base” of sorts so I could work, which I did for about 6 months.
We left again and toured the SE USA in our camper before we left to Mexico for a month. Upon returning to the US, we went back to Denver where the kids expressed the wish to go back to their old school. We obliged and spent one school year working and learning at “home”. In 2018 we left to Peru and Costa Rica for 3 months before returning to the US, deciding to continue traveling while I work, and I accepted a nurse contract in another state. This led us to a little town on the south edge of the Gila National Forest, in New Mexico. Here the kids go to public school until we re-register as homeschool in February.
Share an “aha moment” you’ve experienced on your worldschooling journey:
With the help of another amazing worldschooling family we met in Bali it dawned on me that classroom attendance isn’t required for learning. Interest led learning is really ok! Children learn constantly regardless what environment they are in. So while we travel we unschool when we are in a place for a short while, we homeschool when traveling slowly, and if we are in a place for a longer while, we send the kids to public school. We do what works for our family.
What role does community play in your worldschooling experience?
We as a family are in constant search for community while traveling. Our one constant has been our online worldschooling family which we always call upon for meet ups, local community, advice, and help when needed. Some places we travel to it’s been easy to make friends and find community. Other places our connections have been more superficial and have left us not only wanting but have led us to move on. Regardless of what kind of community connection we have found, we always have found plenty to teach the children about.
What has been your greatest worldschooling challenge?
I think our greatest challenge has been to balance our travels with budget. I’d prefer to work along the way, but as a nurse (LPN) my license is limited to the US. However, this year our family has decided that the opportunity of a travel nurse has provided us with a semi-ballance to travel vs income. We still plan on traveling internationally, where we feel that experiencing foreign communities will give our children the widest range of education, after each work contract usually ranging about 12 weeks in duration.
Share one travel hack or a few words of advice you’d like to share with fellow worldschoolers:
Advice to other worldschoolers: do what works best for your family! Whether it’s unschooling, homeschooling, or public/private school. Or even a combination of them. Every family has different needs and all of the above are OK!
Also, we as humans really need very little material possessions to live. Really live. When “home” becomes family and not a location it is very liberating.
What were the biggest takeaways you experienced at a Project World School Family Summit?
The biggest thing I’ve taken away from a World family summit is learning about how other families choose to travel and financially make their travel possible as well as feeling connected to our “tribe”.
My favorite moments at a family summit were the impromptu get togethers with other families and the community we developed as well as the support we showed one another.
What would you say to someone who was considering coming to a Summit?
To anyone considering coming to a summit? Just come! There is so much to learn from one another, so many to connect with who understand and will support your choice of lifestyle and the inspiration you get from hearing others stories you will take with you in your heart to build your future dreams.
What Summit(s) have you attended?
We attended the family summit in Merida Mexico in 2016 and are coming to the summit in Playa Del Carmen in 2019. Hope to see you there!
Live your dreams! Life is short.
You can find us for questions and comments at:
Youtube- Weavers World School Adventures
Facebook- Worldschooling Weavers
Email- greenweaver2017@gmail.com