Full Breakdown Of Worldschooling Costs

Embarking on this worldschooling journey has been an eye-opening experience for our family. I’d love to share with you the financial insights we’ve gathered along the way, the true cost of worldschooling, and explore how different families fund this incredible lifestyle.

Starting Out: Things To Budget For

Our adventure started with some essential outlays:

1. Travel Documentation: Renewing passports and securing visas is the first step. While these costs are unique to travelling, they are necessary for this new educational journey.
2. Health Prep: In the UK, some immunisations are covered by the NHS, but some will have to be paid for. You can find out the cost of immunisations from your GP. Of course, prices will vary in other countries.
3. Travel Insurance: An absolute must to cover us globally, contrasting with our usual NHS reliance back home.

It’s important to remember, these initial costs replace certain expenses we’d have had even if we stayed in the UK, like updating expired passports for family holidays.

Travel and Accommodation: Major Expenses

This was where our planning really kicked into gear:

1. Flights and Transport: Flights are of course a high cost of worldschooling, if that’s how you choose to travel. You can find additional tips on finding cheap flights here. We found that, with some savvy planning, local travel costs could sometimes mirror or even undercut our UK transport expenses, especially with public transport costs in some cities.
2. Living Arrangements: By choosing longer stays and local living, we often find living costs lower than our usual UK outgoings, especially when it comes to rent and utilities. However, short stays do add up and depend on the level of luxury that you choose.

Day-to-Day Living: A Tale of Two Budgets

This is where things get interesting:

1. Groceries and Eating Out: While these are everyday expenses back home, we find that in many countries, these costs are significantly lower, turning what were once regular outgoings into potential savings.
2. Educational Resources: We mix and match free resources with paid ones, similar to how we might invest in education back home.
3. Attractions: If you want to visit the world’s biggest tourist attractions then it’s going to come at a cost. We try to visit lesser known attractions and find cost savings where we can.

It’s a comforting reminder that while some costs are unique to worldschooling, others are simply a part of living, wherever your ‘home’ might be. Many of these things can be adapted to your personal budget, whether you are looking to keep costs as low as possible, or spend on some luxuries.

Funding the Dream: How Families Make Worldschooling Work

Every family’s financial approach to worldschooling is unique, but here are some common strategies:

1. Passive Income: Some families invest in properties, stocks, or create businesses that generate income without the need for daily oversight, turning their investments back home into a source of funding for their travels.
2. Remote Work: The digital age has been a boon for worldschooling families. From freelance writing to online teaching, parents are finding ways to earn while exploring new horizons with their children.
3. Savings: Many families, like ours, save extensively before embarking on their journey, viewing worldschooling as a long-term investment in their children’s education and family memories.
4. Local Work: Depending on visa restrictions, some parents pick up local gigs or teach English as a way to immerse themselves in the community and supplement their income.

Reflections from a UK Perspective

If you’re interested in ways to travel on a budget, I have written a few articles on finding savings and keeping costs down. You can find them here. Happy travelling!