Quick: think of a digital nomad. I’m willing to wager that a digital nomad family didn’t immediately pop into your mind. A carefree 20-something freelancer carrying a laptop did, right? If so, you’re easily forgiven: the young and carefree have historically been the biggest beneficiaries of remote work.
Well, move over kids. Parents are now demanding their geographic freedom, too.
According to a recent Lonely Planet and Fiverr report, 70% of “anywhere workers” have children. ‘Anywhere workers’ is a term used to describe people with steady, full time jobs that can work from anywhere, as opposed to freelance and gig workers.
“The families I know who could function nomadically were fewer pre-pandemic,”
Lonely Planet destinations editor Sarah Stocking told the BBC.
But after three years of remote work and remote schooling, parents are feeling more confident in taking their kids on the road outside of the typical two-week family summer vacation.
“The pandemic showed a lot of parents what remote learning could look like, both good and bad, and how homeschooling could function,” said Stocking. “[It] also showed people how they could use tools differently to support their families.”
Being a digital nomad family has many benefits for the kids, but there’s also many obstacles because families have a lot more to consider in the planning process than singles do. For example, families have to consider child care, educational opportunities, and a sense of community for the kids. That last one — a sense of community — is a big obstacle for many families who want to make sure their kids have friends while away from home.
“The pandemic showed a lot of parents what remote learning could look like, both good and bad, and how homeschooling could function…[It] also showed people how they could use tools differently to support their families.”
Sarah stocking, Lonely Planet
However, where there’s a problem there’s often someone working on the solution. Here’s three startups working on making life easier for the digital nomad family.
Boundless Life: A turnkey solution for a digital nomad family
If you’re a family looking for a turnkey solution to the digital nomad family life, look no further than Boundless Life. This all-in-one solution provides everything a digital nomad family would need to comfortably spend months abroad.
The program provides families with furnished apartments, co-working spaces, and an educational program for their children. With all of that comes a built-in community of other traveling families and a step-by-step support system for visas and other paperwork.
By far, the most unique thing about Boundless Life is the educational program for the kids.
“A regular pain point we were hearing from digital nomad families was the complexity of providing rich schooling experiences for kids in new locations,” the Boundless Life team told PhocusWire. So, they created a system based on the Finnish curriculum, which is an experiential and project-based system. Students can transfer between various Boundless Life programs as well as easily transfer back into a traditional school when their travels are done.
Currently, Boundless Life has programs in Greece and Portugal with a third location, Italy, opening in January 2023. Families can sign up for a three, six, nine, or 12 month experience.
It’s July: Tinder for families
It’s hard to make friends and establish a sense of community when traveling, even as a single person. Throw kids into the mix and sometimes making new friends seems near impossible — between juggling nap times, ages of kids, work schedules, etc — suddenly there’s a lot of variables to overcome to even meet someone new.
That’s why It’s July is a game changer — it’s a matchmaking app for families.
Families can sign up and create their profile, similar to creating a dating app profile. They’ll answer a few questions and then the algorithm will match the family to other families nearby. Families can also message their matches within the app.
“You can meet families from anywhere. We had families from the U.K. meeting families from Kenya when they traveled to Kenya,” said Tal Provizor co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer,
“For us, that’s what we’re here for: to enable families to connect to different families. We say like-minded families, but it doesn’t have to be that, you can meet anyone and expose your children to different cultures and different experiences.”
Right now the app is free. They haven’t officially launched in the US, yet, but they have plans to. A digital nomad family will see the most value out of the app if they’re traveling to Europe, which is where the majority of the users are currently based.
Kubrio: an online learning pod
While there are many great online educational programs to choose from, Kubrio is a platform many digital nomad families love because of its focus on both community and self-directed learning. Classes are small (7 students to 1 facilitator) and are geared toward topics that may interest kids like: the mission to mars, roblox games, comedy & drama, etc. There’s also some traditional topics like history and debate as well.
Kubrio focuses on an “self-directed” learning method — so, while classes are online, kids can show up if they want to. If they don’t? No questions asked — teachers don’t keep attendance or grades.
“It’s all on the computer, but there is a lot of social [interaction] too. Kids are put into break-out rooms to do group research or brainstorming,” said Mickelle Weary, a Kubrio worldschooling mom.
“It’s easy enough as a parent because the kids get a routine and just go to their classes. There are new offerings every month along with the steady clubs. My 13 and 17 year olds enjoy it.”