The Worldschooling Before-You-Go Checklist
The Worldschooling Before-You-Go Checklist
You might be surprised to hear that none of this is complicated on its own.
Note - this isn't an exhaustive list. Wvery family's situation throws up something specific to them. But it'll get you started, and jog your memory for whatever's unique to yours.
Firstly
Decide where you're going and roughly when, before touching anything else on this list. Not a fully locked itinerary, but a first destination and a rough timeframe. Every other decision here (visas, insurance, vaccinations, how long the house arrangement needs to hold) branches off this one.
Have the real conversation with your family about what life is actually going to look like. Not the logistics conversation — the one about what you're asking everyone to sign up for, said out loud, early, before anyone's had time to build up resentment about a decision they didn't feel part of.
Then
Deregister from school, or notify your district - check what your specific location actually requires, not what a forum thread says it requires.
Register as a home educator if your jurisdiction asks for it.
Decide what you're doing with the house - sell, rent, or leave it - and start planning for it. This is the item that takes the longest to action, so it can't sit at the bottom of the list. If renting, decide whether you want a property manager handling it or a trusted person doing it informally - the second is cheaper, the first is far less work for you on the road.
Decide on the car - sell, store, or keep it running for family back home, same logic as the house.
Check visa requirements for every destination on the itinerary, not just the first one.
Start a shared document or planning system now, not a scatter of notes app entries and half-remembered conversations. This becomes your single source of truth for everything below.
A Few Months Out
Passports valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, for everyone.
A travel consent letter, if both parents aren't travelling together, or if you share custody. Several countries won't let kids through immigration without written, signed and notarized consent from an absent parent. This is the one detail that ends a trip at the airport if it's missed - sort it early, keep copies with you at all times, digital and physical.
Travel insurance sorted, properly. Check the fine print on extended stays, evacuation cover, and health cover. Depending on your circumstances you may need separate policies for travel and health, not one policy doing both jobs badly.
International health insurance is activated separately if travel insurance doesn't cover it adequately - the two aren't always interchangeable, and mixing them up is a common, expensive mistake to discover mid-trip.
Vaccinations and any destination-specific health requirements, checked with a travel doctor, not a Facebook group.
A bank card with no foreign transaction fees, plus a backup way to access money if the first one fails.
Banks and card providers notified of travel dates, so international transactions don't get frozen as suspicious activity the first time you actually need the card to work.
A multi-currency account or setup for receiving and spending money across countries, if your income touches more than one currency.
Flights and first accommodation booked, even if the rest of the trip stays flexible.
Any large medical, dental, or optometry appointments handled before you go - easier to sort at home than to research a new provider abroad in your first few weeks.
Any ongoing prescriptions checked for availability or equivalents at your destination, in case a full trip's supply isn't practical to carry.
A Few Weeks Out
Belongings sorted: what's coming, what's stored, what's sold or donated.
Mail sorted: redirection, someone collecting it, or a virtual mailbox, so nothing important gets missed.
Bills on autopay, or redirected to email, so nothing lapses because a notice went to an empty house.
A simple system for keeping education records, set up and tested now, not invented the day someone asks to see it.
Curriculum, books, or learning resources downloaded for offline access, before you're relying on patchy wifi to get them.
eSIMs or phone plans sorted for each destination, or at least the first one.
Devices checked and backed up - laptops, tablets, whatever the kids' learning or your work depends on. Know what you'd do if one broke on the road, before it happens.
Local emergency numbers and the nearest hospital for your first destination noted somewhere accessible, before you need them, not after.
A Few Days Out
Copies of every passport, visa, insurance and consent document saved somewhere accessible without wifi, digital and printed.
Prescriptions filled and packed, with enough runway to cover delays.
Subscriptions and memberships paused or cancelled - gym, local activities, anything on autopay that isn't coming with you.
Some local cash for the first destination, for cash-based locations and the gap before cards and SIMs are working.
Final home walk-through, house handed over, keys with whoever needs them.
A backup plan for the first 48 hours, in case flights, accommodation, or anything else falls through - a known place to stay, a known person to call.
Someone at home who knows your full itinerary and how to reach you, for genuine peace of mind on both ends.
Comfort items for younger kids identified and packed deliberately - the same stuffed animal, the same blanket, whatever makes a new place feel less new on night one.
Tackle Each Stage When It Comes Up. Not all at once.
With the exception of the house decision, the reality is normally simpler than you think.
Break it into stages, deal with each one when its time comes, and you'll be ready faster than the version of this in your head - the one where it takes forever.
Want more?
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