I pulled my children out of school and now travel around the world with them
A couple 'world schooling' their children while backpacking have visited 40 countries - and taught their offspring to flamenco dance in Spain and carry out marine conservation in Montenegro.
Diana Blinks, 41, and her husband, Scott, 47, have world schooled their three daughters - Lucille, 12, Edith, 11 and Hazel, nine - since 2022 when they left their hometown of Tampa, Florida, US.
World schooling sees parents adopt an educational approach while travelling the globe as a family.
Mothers and fathers will often use diverse cultural experiences as teaching opportunities and real-world settings as the classroom.
Desperate to travel and teach their children about the world after the Covid-19 pandemic, the family set off for Paris, France, in July 2022, before heading to Central America, visiting Costa Rica, Mexico, and then the Caribbean.
Diana and Scott seek out school environments and teachers before they arrive at their next destination.
They travelled to 22 different countries in the space of a year - including Spain, Iceland and Greece.
Their favourite place is Portugal after they came across across world schooling hubs - community gathering points, often in specific locations, that support families pursuing a world schooling lifestyle.
They learnt how to cook pad Thai and mango sticky rice in Thailand, took flamenco lessons in Spain, practised surfing in Costa Rica and soaked up history in the Bahia Palace, Morocco.
Mother-of-three Diana feels world schooling has 'enriched' their daughters' quality of life and given them a great deal of knowledge as it's allowed them to 'fully immerse themselves in culture'.
The family are currently in Punta del Este, Uruguay, where they will remain until the end of June 2025.
Diana, a content creator, said: 'I never thought I would be a homeschooling mum because I didn't have experience in education.
'But when we had our girls, we didn't think the school system aligned with what we wanted for them.
'We wanted their education to be practical as well.
'But we fell in love with homeschooling, and that's when we thought about taking it internationally.
'We wanted to see the world with our daughters.
'The homeschooling hubs have been amazing - it means the girls have peers like they would in a conventional school.
'We're travelling the world while getting the different, first-hand education for our girls.'
The couple decided to take the plunge after the pandemic.
'We hadn't been able to travel for a few years from lockdown and then travel restrictions,' Diana said.
'Scott and I have always loved travel, even before we were parents.
'We didn't have the girls' school commitments as we were already homeschooling and Scott was ready to leave his job as a director in a software company in the corporate world.'
In July 2022, the family left Tampa, Florida, and backpacked around Europe for five weeks before travelling around Central America - visiting Costa Rica, Mexico and the Caribbean.
In 2023, they then backpacked around Southeast Asia and visited Vietnam, Thailand and Bali before staying in Portugal for three months, where they discovered Boundless Life - a world schooling hub.
Enrolling in their retrospective school years in January 2024, the family have been able to locate different hubs while continuing their travels.
The hubs run8:45 am to 3:30 pm, Monday to Friday, with classes in the morning and then extracurricular activities in the afternoon, subject to the country they're in.
They are currently in Uruguay and have plans to go to South America- to explore Brazil, Porto Rica, Colombia and Mexico during the summer holidays.
Diana said: 'The hubs have been amazing, it's meant we've all been able to make lasting friendships.
In some places, the girls will attend classes at world-schooling hubs
'We're still able to make full use of culture immersion through cooking classes and historical tours.
'We get some backlash from people online, but I try not to pay that any attention.
'World schooling isn't for everyone [but] we believe in hands-on education.'
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