What is Your Educational Plan for Your Kids?

What Is Your Educational Plan for Your Kids?

1/7/2025

What Is Your Educational Plan for Your Kids?

For families who embrace a lifestyle of travel, one of the most significant considerations is how to handle their children’s education. Traditional classroom settings may not align with the flexibility of life on the road, but there are a variety of alternative approaches that can cater to both the needs of your family and the unique opportunities that traveling provides. Whether you prefer a structured curriculum or a more open-ended approach, there’s an educational path that can fit your lifestyle.

Read on to see the pros and cons of traditional schooling, homeschooling, roadschooling, worldschooling, and unschooling.

Traditional Public and Private School

While living on the road can make attending a brick-and-mortar school challenging, some families choose to keep a home base so their children can attend public or private school. This option works well for part-time RVers or families who travel seasonally. For full-timers, certain private or boarding schools may offer flexibility for children to attend during specific terms while traveling during breaks. If you’re considering this route, ensure the school’s calendar and policies align with your family’s travel plans.
Pros:

Familiar, structured environment.
Opportunities for in-person socialization and extracurricular activities.
Professional educators guide the curriculum.

Cons:

Limited flexibility for travel.
May require maintaining a permanent home base.
Attendance requirements can conflict with nomadic living.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling allows parents to take full control of their children’s education, using a structured curriculum that can be taught anywhere. Many families find homeschooling to be a good balance between flexibility and academic rigor. Parents can choose from a wide variety of curricula tailored to their children’s learning styles and interests, with subjects often enhanced by travel experiences.
Pros:

Full control over curriculum and pace.
Can be adapted to your travel schedule.
Resources like online programs and homeschool co-ops offer support.

Cons:

Requires significant parental involvement and planning.
Limited in-person socialization unless supplemented with group activities.
Parents may feel pressure to meet state education requirements.

Roadschooling

Roadschooling takes homeschooling a step further by incorporating travel experiences directly into the curriculum. Geography, history, science, and even art come alive as your children explore national parks, museums, historical landmarks, and cultural sites. It’s an immersive, hands-on approach that makes learning exciting and relevant.
Pros:

Education tailored to your travels.
Hands-on learning through real-world experiences.
Fosters curiosity and a love for exploration.

Cons:

Requires creativity and effort to integrate travel into lesson plans.
Balance between academics and travel can be tricky.
May lack consistency in covering all subjects thoroughly.

Travelers, What's Your Educational Plan for Your Kids?

Worldschooling

Worldschooling expands on roadschooling by embracing global travel as the foundation for learning. This approach emphasizes cultural immersion, teaching children through experiences in different countries, languages, and customs. It’s ideal for families who travel internationally and want their children to gain a broader worldview. Families who can afford it often seek out worldschool hubs where their children can meet other traveling children and learn together in a moderately-structured environment while learning the local culture and language and seeing the local sites.
Pros:

Rich cultural and linguistic exposure.
Encourages adaptability and global awareness.
Learning is often experiential and unforgettable.

Cons:

International travel can be costly and logistically complex.
Curriculum may lack structure without supplemental resources.
Potential language barriers and challenges finding local support networks.

Unschooling

Unschooling is a child-led, interest-driven approach to education that focuses on learning through life experiences rather than a formal curriculum. Families who unschool often let their children’s natural curiosity guide their learning, using books, activities, and real-world interactions to cover subjects organically.
Pros:

Encourages creativity and self-motivation.
Extremely flexible and adaptable.
Learning happens naturally and often aligns with travel experiences.

Cons:

Lack of structure may lead to gaps in traditional education.
Parents must be comfortable with a non-traditional approach.
Can be challenging to meet state education requirements.
College admission may be difficult.

Choosing the RIght Approach

The best education plan for your family depends on your travel style, your children’s needs, and your own teaching comfort level. Some families find that a hybrid approach works best, combining elements of homeschooling, roadschooling, or unschooling to create a customized educational experience. For example, you might use an online curriculum for core subjects while incorporating roadschooling for history and science through travel.

Before you hit the road, familiarize yourself with the education laws in your home state and any states or countries you plan to travel through. Many regions have specific requirements for homeschooling, including record-keeping, standardized testing, or curriculum approval. Whether you plan to travel full-time for one year or several, you can see tips on how to take a travel gap year with your kids without them falling behind here.

Education is a journey, much like your travels. Whether you choose a traditional school, a structured homeschool program, or a free-spirited unschooling approach, the most important thing is to create an environment where your children can thrive and develop a love for learning. With a little planning and a lot of flexibility, you can turn the world into your classroom and give your kids an education they’ll never forget.