World Schooling is Affordable and we’re Still Doing it in 2024

We are well into our fifth year of world-schooling, with three teenagers, including two in high school! Our kids went from public school, through home-school, via boat-school, to world-school, in various countries and islands.

Hundreds of families travel and world school. We are one of them. Many others are out friends. World schooling is affordable and such a lifestyle is perfectly sustainable at around $2500 per month. Some spend more, some half of that. Let me share how we make world schooling and traveling affordable.

Can I afford to travel and world school full time?

But, people save for a year just to travel for a week!

They do not!

People save for a year, sometimes longer, to take a vacation for a week. Most save to take a break from the exhausting whirlpool of jobs, traffic, school, activities and home repairs. While on vacation they want to let go, be pampered, buy souvenirs, try fun (and expensive) tourist attractions, and so on.

Traveling full time is not a vacation, it is a series of mini vacations!

It is a journey, and it is a way of life. We have our mini vacation episodes, while pausing to take in the scenery, or immerse into a local festival. At the same time, world-schooling happens, not by mnemonics and study guides, but by experiences and exploration.

Where do people world school?

Many travelers will tell you to try and travel to cheaper places. There is nothing wrong with such countries and towns, they are fascinating! But what if you wish to see Paris, Rome, Vienna, Athens?

Europe is a typical destination many families are anxious about, because of how expensive it can be. But you can stay in countries like Albania, Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece, or in small towns in Turkey and Spain quite affordably. They do not have to be your final destination.

Public transport in Europe is extremely well developed and low-cost flights are not hard to find.

Tip: Choose a cheaper destination and a cheaper town and turn it into your temporary land-base, while exploring other more expensive places around. Look for house-sitting options in the more expensive place you’d like to visit.

Is World schooling more expensive than homeschooling?

You can bring quite a lot of your homeschooling routine on the road, if you wish. In that sense, world-schooling is not more expensive than homeschooling.

In fact, world schooling can be cheaper, than homeschooling. If you come from a country with higher living standard, such as the US, you are probably used to spending a bit for co-ops, school materials, gadgets, textbooks, sports, etc.

World schooling is a lot about experiences, and those do not have to be recreated and paid for in museums.

Tip: Start your own mini online course, focusing on the place you visit. Invite a few friends, charge a small fee, and you have a class! You will help others virtually travel, while your kids enjoy “class time” and peer discussions. You can even charge a small fee and help with that flight to Vienna.

Learning through experience is enough for some world-schoolers, while others do include a more structured curriculum, and both are perfectly suitable to such lifestyle.

How do people make money while world schooling?

True, world-schooling is not free. Something must be bringing in cash. We sold our large home, paid off a much smaller townhouse, which provided our traveling income, while we were sailing. Now that we are on land, my husband works online.

Being a registered nurse, I also took a summer camp nursing assignment a couple of summers ago.

Everyone we have spoken with has made some kind of adjustment or a change, in order to be able to travel. For us, it meant selling a large home in a very desirable neighborhood, near Washington DC. It was not an easy decision, but we were able to clear all debt and it worked well for us.

I do have a post listing the steps we took to eliminate our debt, perhaps it can serve as an inspiration to you as well. You can find it, by clocking on this link: How we Defeated Debt to Travel the World.

Many of our friends have made world-schooling possible by having a small online business, consulting projects, teaching online classes, or taking a break from travel to do a contract job, fix/renovate a friend’s home, or even a college-level job!

A few do own successful blogs or write for other publications. Depending on the languages you speak, there are temporary jobs available in different destinations. Just check the rules and resources through your embassy. They typically have links to such.

Tip: If you choose cheaper destinations, even lower paid summer jobs back home will do!

How do I buy all the school supplies, while traveling?

You don’t.

This is the short answer. Think outside of the curriculum box! Replace a textbook class with an online version. Find a PDF of the heavy textbook you have been using.

Grab one notebook for all of the writings; take pictures of everything that goes inside a portfolio, as well as test grades and lab reports. Then toss the notebook away and start a new one.

Various countries have different notebooks and even paper size, and it can be quite fun to provide variety as you school!

If you already have the heavy textbook, take the time to do PDF scans of everything you may need and then either read off a screen, or have some of the material printed in a local copy shop.

It cost us the equivalent of $15 to print around 200 pages worth of math, in Bulgaria!

Tip: When flying carry-on only, even a few extra pens are heavy. Buy one with multiple colors, instead and forget about the three-subject heavy notebook!

World schooling is affordable, while traveling by boat

We have traveled both on land and by sea and with some modifications, world-schooling is perfectly affordable in either case. I have to admit, world-schooling, while sailing is a bit easier, because you do not have to carry your school everywhere you go. Just load your boat with textbooks, notebooks, folders, etc., and sail away!

We even brought our compound microscope and a printer aboard!

On the flip side. While thinking about being away from civilization, and having the ability to take your own supplies, it is easy to over-spend and buy extras that you will not use at all!

Tip: Swapping supplies with other sailing families is always fun and quite useful! Many marinas have plenty of books available to just pick up, for free, while leaving the ones you do not need. You can use these not just for readings, but for dictations, vocabulary, etc.

World schooling is affordable while traveling on land

World-schooling while traveling on land has been a bit more creative, because our personal space is the size of our backpacks. However, while visiting various places, free local maps, guides, even fliers can be excellent resources in geography, foreign language exposure, even math (in the cases of foreign currencies).

We are still trying to figure out the best way to carry our belongings, while traveling, but as a rule, we try to travel carry-on only. It is faster and there is no extra stress due to lost, or delayed luggage.

Tip: A fun math project – visit a local furniture store, such as IKEA and give your kids the dimensions of a room (try metric) and the budget in local currency. Then send them off to see how they will “furnish” it, using the foreign words only.

World schooling vs taking a break

You can leave your curriculum at home, if you wish. Many families decide to take a break from schooling, while traveling. Especially, if the journey will last just a few months, or a year.

World schooling still happens, even if you are not creating study guides and tests.

Every new destination presents priceless opportunities for observing local customs, languages and habits. Tasting new foods, as well as the way there are consumed, and attempting to communicate, is World Languages and Cultures 101.

Allowing yourself and your children to be exposed to a various lifestyles, teaches patience and tolerance for different ways of thinking and acting.

Learning never ends, while traveling, so taking a break from the more structured approach to schooling, is perfectly fine and we have done it ourselves.

For us, school happens during our more stationary times. While traveling, I typically print a few pages of math (we rarely take a break from math, but that’s just us), our basic Kindles (books weigh more) and very skinny (40 pages each) journals, for the kids to write down their thoughts at the end of the day.

Tip: Keep a journal of all the places you visit and the various fun projects you and your children participate in. Once you are a bit more settled, or return back home, you will be surprised to find out that your children have accumulated plenty of hours for high-school credits!

World schooling hubs make a difference.

Worldschooling is affordable, which is why so many of us do it! When we decided to live on a sailboat and travel the world, I knew we would not be alone. Having three kids, who then became teens, meant finding other traveling families always a priority!

Worldschooling land hubs are places around the world, where world-schooling families tend to gather. Typically, world-schooling hubs are in a more affordable destinations, which are also safe.

In some hubs, families, or individual parents organize various activities and classes for everyone, who wishes to participate. They also help with local know-how regarding housing and transportation.

A great resource for Traveling Families and Worlschooling Hubs on Facebook!

Tip: More hands make the job easy and a lot cheaper, even free! Team up with other worldschoolers, for group discounts at local destinations!

Cruising Stations for boat schoolers

For those who sail and travel by boat, there are places we refer to as Cruising Stations.

They are similar to Worldschooling hubs and help with occasional trip to the grocery store, receiving a package, local tips and expertise, even a load of laundry! We are much grateful to our St. Augustine friends for helping us with all of the above!

Worldschooling Hubs and Cruising Stations make traveling and schooling a lot less stressful and more affordable! You can join either, as long as you have access to that destination.

Visit the best resource for sailing families – Kids4Sail – an endless supply of inspiration and advice!

Tip: If there is no world-schooling hub around, find local homeschooling communities, via Facebook, and join them. Search and ask for local deals and recommendations for places to visit. We have found homeschoolers to be very approachable and resourceful.

Summary:

• World-schooling is affordable and quite common.
• Traveling full time is not a vacation, it’s a series of mini vacations!
• Pick cheaper destinations and use them as land-base, while visiting more expensive places
• Look for house-sitting opportunities for short-term travel
• World-schooling teaches by experience, exploration and observation
• Make changes to your typical homeschooling curriculum to travel light and save money!
• Use local resources for school supplies and printing.
• Explore various digital, or short-term job opportunities.
• Find various worldschooling hubs and cruising stations.