“And this is our view, where we live now. Over there in the corner, that’s our private beach,” Leah explained as she turned the phone camera outward; through a shaky lens, I saw a gorgeous sunny day in the Dominican Republic, with a light blue sky and gently rolling waves. Not bad for February.
I instantly did a mental scan of our family calendar to see if we could head to the Caribbean for a few weeks. Nope — I would have to stick out the gray cloudy days in North Carolina.
It’s hard not to get the travel itch when talking to adventurers like Leah Carmichael. She and her husband are sailors and parents to two boys, ages 4 and 7; they’re originally from Canada but have been docked in the Dominican Republic for the last 10 months.
Leah and her family are part of a growing worldschooling community — families that choose to travel, often for months at a time, while educating their children through hands-on experiences.
“I didn’t see how the structured scholastic system currently used in the Western world would benefit my kids…there are so many things that you need to learn in the real world that just isn’t taught,” Leah said of her decision to take her kids out of traditional school.
Since the days of Covid “zoom-schooling” many more have echoed this sentiment. Families got to peer behind the curtain of traditional schooling and many didn’t like what they saw: a one-size-fits-all teaching method, busy work, and sometimes outdated course material. Couple that dissatisfaction with the new-found freedom of remote work and all of a sudden “worldschooling,” a once-niche educational approach, has suddenly gained popularity.
“I didn’t see how the structured scholastic system currently used in the Western world would benefit my kids.
Leah Carmichael
But worldschooling isn’t without its challenges. The biggest challenge that is echoed over and over again by worldschoolers is the lack of stable, in-person friendships. Despite the glamorous Instagram photos of tranquil beaches and bustling cities, long-term travel can often be a lonely experience of coming and going but never connecting.
This challenge does cause some families to pack up and head home. But other parents, including Leah, use their freedom from the rigidity of the traditional school system to create unique learning and social solutions not just for their kids, but for the community as a whole.
These parents are true entrepreneurs who use their freedom from the rigidity of traditional schools to create unique schooling and social solutions not just for their kids, but for the community as a whole.
Leah’s solution was to open up a “dock school” in the Dominican Republic. Others, like Rachel Carlson organize pop-up events for families around the world; and then others like Jeremiah and Abigail Kovacs organize a group of families that split the cost of a traveling teacher. These parents, and there are many more like them in the worldschooling community, are true entrepreneurs designing the future of education and travel.
The Dock School
English, French, German, Thai, Italian, and Spanish are just some of the languages spoken at The Dock School on any given week. Sailing families hailing from all corners of the world dock here to enjoy the beautiful Caribbean vibe while their kids play with and learn from each other.
The Dock School in Puerto Plata was conceived last year when Leah and her family anchored there to hunker down for hurricane season. There were other sailing families there, too. Leah thought this would be a great opportunity to pull resources and knowledge and create something akin to a homeschool co-opt; pretty soon, though, the idea blossomed into a slightly more formal school, complete with a hired tutor and teaching assistants.
Now, The Dock School is a place where traveling families can let their children socialize with others as well as have access to tutors in various subjects.
“Traveling is really good, but [most families] want a hub for three months, six months, nine months, or even 12 months,” said Leah, referring to a place where worldschoolers stop and connect with other worldschoolers. Most worldschoolers have embraced the concept of slow travel — hunkering down in one spot for weeks or months at a time instead of jetting off to a different place every few days.
“What we’re putting together here is a year-round program that’s more focused on children’s social interaction. For example, right now the kids are free learning: they are doing a Lego tournament and it is all self-led.”
“And the other day we learned survival knots. We took all the kids down to the beach and learned three different knots and then they built teepees and rafts. What we do is more fun, relaxed stuff that is really quite educational if you were to sit down and pick it apart.”
Another example is the time a 16-year-old arrived with his GoPro — he wanted a waterproof case but they were super expensive. So while at The Dock School he learned how to 3D-print one and he even made a wooden handle out of driftwood. That turned out to be an educational experience in engineering for the whole class.
Leah’s self-directed approach to education can be found throughout the worldschooling community. While many traveling families do bookwork while traveling, the majority of the educational experience is found outside the textbooks through play and real-world experiences.
This approach often mimics the underlying philosophy behind the concept of unschooling, another form of alternative education that has gained steam since Covid. With unschooling, there is no curriculum and kids learn entirely through unstructured play.
But Leah is hesitant to use the word unschooling. While play is a big part of the school throughout the year, they offer a more structured program from July through the end of December. This is hurricane season, so the families that attend then are hunkered down for months, unlike during the summer. The school offers tutors in Spanish, Math, and Science, among other subjects. Since most families homeschool — or “boatschool” — their kids when they’re underway, most kids come with their curriculum that the tutors can supplement.
While many traveling families do bookwork while traveling, the majority of the educational experience is found outside the textbooks through play and real-world experiences.
It’s not clear how long Leah will be in the Dominican Republic or what will happen to The Dock School when she’s gone. Right now, though, she has no plans to leave.
“People here are lovely. The food is good, it’s reasonably priced… there are lots for us to do,” she said.
“We will stay until we leave.”
Worldschool Pop-up Hub
Rachel Carlson and her husband had been together for 10 years before having kids; most of that time was spent traveling the world.
“When our first child arrived in 2004 people were like, ‘Oh, well now you can settle down.’ And we’re like, ‘Why would we do that?’” laughed Rachel, who dialed into our call from Turkey. Instead, the couple thought ‘Let’s teach them what we love about the planet!’
They’ve been doing that full-time since 2018. At the time they set off, her oldest of three was going into 8th grade.
“The first two years were no problem, we could go anywhere and the kids were excited. But then as we started observing them move into adolescence, they really needed that autonomy.”
“When the kids are younger, you can go to the beach, you can go to the playground, and all of a sudden you’re just playing with kids. But when you’re a teenager, you can go to the mall and you can see a group of teenagers, but it’s really hard, especially if there’s a language barrier, to go and introduce yourself.”
Two years ago her three teens wanted to quit traveling, claiming a desire for deeper in-person friendships. That’s when Rachel decided to tap into the robust online worldschooling community to see if she could bring that community to the real world. She started organizing pop-up events in whatever city her family happened to be in. These events are weeklong social events for families to hang out together while enjoying meals and social activities.
The pop-ups were a game-changer: her kids really connected with their peers that lived the same lifestyle they did. All of a sudden, they wanted to keep traveling and to keep creating pop-ups. They’ve since created dozens of pop-ups all over the world.
The pop-ups are great for parents, too. Parents can connect on a deep level and use the time together to discuss parenting challenges and exchange ideas.
“Even though it’s just a quick gathering, we really can connect on deep levels,” Rachel said of the families that attend, “honestly by the end of the week, everyone’s pretty exhausted… emotionally and mentally, we put a lot of energy into [our] conversations.”
The friendships typically don’t end when the pop-ups do.
“These families…they are kindred spirits, these are people that we’re going to see again and again because we’re mobile…there’s always that promise of, ‘oh, maybe it’ll just be a few months until we see each other again.’ It’s been fabulous.”
Families can attend a pop-up for $140 (there are discounts for early birds and solo parents). This fee just includes admission into the group, which gets you a weeklong itinerary with diverse local activities and the opportunity to meet other worldschoolers. Families must pay for any activity that they choose to attend and there’s no obligation to attend every event.
The first two years were no problem, we could go anywhere and the kids were excited. But then as we started observing them move into adolescence, they really needed that autonomy.
Rachel Carlson
Rachel has also found a way to scale these pop-ups. This means there are usually multiple locations happening at the same time. This summer alone there’s one planned in Georgia, Czech, Cambodia, as well as Hawaii, Wisconsin, and Ohio.
This is possible because Rachel doesn’t have to plan or even attend them all. Families can “rent” a popup itinerary for $250 — meaning, Rachel and her family send the new host an itinerary and do all of the behind-the-scenes arrangements like basic advertising, payment collection, and support. The host acts as the on-the-ground coordinator for the families and collects 50% of the ticket revenue.
The profit made from the pop-up events isn’t enough to pay the bills, but Rachel says that’s ok. She hopes that the connections formed at these pop-ups will give parents the confidence to jump into a traveling lifestyle if that’s something they think would benefit their kids. She’s seen the worldschooling community grow as more and more families gain the confidence to question whether the traditional path is right for them.
“I think [zoom schooling] gave people the catalyst to think about, ‘what is education?’ and [to realize that they’ve] only got kids for so many years.”
The Traveling Circus
Jeremiah and Abigail Kovacs, from New Orleans, wanted to travel the world with their two young boys.
They also didn’t want to be their children’s teachers.
“I don’t really think homeschool was working for me or them…we’re all extroverted,” Abigail said. They craved daily interactions with other parents and kids.
That’s why they were pumped to find out about The Hive, a school located in Cabrera, Dominican Republic, a small town on the island’s north coast. The school offers 6-week academic programs for kids ages 4 to 16, making it easy for traveling families to come and go, yet still providing some stability and in-person friendships.
The school was perfect for the Kovacs. So perfect that when their children’s teacher, Beth, mentioned that her contract was up, they wanted to figure out a way to take her on their world travels.
“Then we could just have school coming with us and we’d have friends and everything would be solved,” said Abigail.
They figured that if six or seven other families — roughly 10 to 12 kids total — signed up for their traveling school they could pool money and afford to pay Beth and a teaching assistant.
“It’s not a ton of money, but you get to travel the world, you make a full-time salary…That’s pretty awesome,” said Jeremiah, referring to the teaching position.
We could just have school coming with us and we’d have friends and everything would be solved.
Abigail Kovacs
The school, now dubbed The Traveling Circus, runs fairly democratically. The families that commit to traveling with the group for a year are invited to be on the planning committee to decide the year’s itinerary.
The Traveling Circus runs 5-week school sessions in one location. After every five weeks, the families get a one-week break to travel to the next location. So far, in 2023 the circus has been to Spain, Portugal, and Ireland; and they’ll be headed to Italy in August for the last school session of the year.
Families pay about $750 a session, per child, to cover the teacher’s salary. There are no other fees and everyone is responsible for their housing. The money goes directly to the teacher. If the teacher has an assistant, usually a local hire, she pays the assistant out of her salary.
The school provides a community not just for the kids but for the parents, too. The families often organize community dinners and outings, book clubs, and yoga classes.
Right now, the kids are elementary school-aged, but Abigail and Jeremiah say that could change as their own kids get older.
That speaks to their main challenge right now: scaling The Traveling Circus.
Abigail and Jeremiah are heavily involved in the planning and logistics of the group. But sometimes, their own life and family circumstances dictate that they can’t be at one of the school sessions.
“The idea is that the traveling circus runs regardless if we’re there or not,” said Jeremiah. And so far, this year, they’ve achieved that. They could not make it to the first session in Spain, but they met up with the group for the second session in Portugal — and everything went off without a hitch.
Worldschooling parents are systems thinkers. They have a desire to build a model that helps other parents live outside the box when it comes to raising children, too.
Another challenge is just agreeing on the travel itinerary. Sometimes families want to travel to vastly different places — South America versus Asia, for example. They are thinking about building systems so that the circus can run simultaneously in different locations. Jeremiah said they’re in the process of figuring out the right model.
“This is definitely an early adopter space,” Jeremiah said, encouraging parents who are looking for the right worldschooling model for their family to not give up because things are changing all the time.
Throughout our call, Jeremiah often sounded more like the founder of a startup than a dad — and this is true of a lot of worldschooling parents. That’s because they’re deeply entrepreneurial in their approach to schooling and community: they’re taking risks to solve a problem and they’re adapting to feedback. But most importantly, they’re all systems thinkers. They don’t think in terms of solving the education or community problem for just their child — they have a desire to build a model that helps other parents live outside the box when it comes to raising children, too.
In just a few short years, families who are looking to travel and educate may have a wide range of options at their disposal thanks to entrepreneurial parents like Leah, Rachel, Jeremiah, and Abigail who are busy laying the groundwork today.