When we decided to live and travel full time in our self-converted van, we made the decision to de-register our children from school and nursery and educate them ourselves. If you are thinking about de-registering your children from school in order to travel then I have come up with some tips and things to consider before doing so.
Did you know that in the UK, it is not compulsory for your child to go to school? By that I mean, parents/guardians have a legal obligation to provide their children with an education however, this does not need to be in a formal school education system. It is perfectly ok and legal to educate your children yourselves. Since the pandemic in 2020, we have seen a rise in the numbers of children being home educated in the UK. There are also lots of parents out there who are choosing to de-register their children from school in order to travel.
Worldschooling
What is worldschooling? You may have heard the terms homeschool, home education, worldschool and roadschool. There are so many different terms for alternative types of education. When reflecting on our own educational journey, I do not feel that we fall under just one of these terms. In fact, we tend to dabble into lots of these terms. In other words, we just do what we do!
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However, I like to think that we are beginning to lean more towards the worlschooling provision. So, what actually is worldschooling? In it's simplest term, worldschooling is about immersive experiences, learning from the world around you. It is a provision where children can travel around and absorb themselves into different cultures, languages and experiences.
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The worldschooling community is growing. More and more families are making the conscious decision to educate their children this way. Providing so many children opportunities and experiences they cannot get inside a classroom.
De-registering Process
De-registering your child from school is generally a straightforward process. Our first step was to decide a date in which our son would finish school. Once that was settled, we wrote a letter to the headteacher explaining that we were de-registering our child from school to home educate, making them aware of when his last day at the school would be.
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Top tip: in the letter ask your child's headteacher to confirm they have received the letter via email.
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After that, it is the head teacher's responsibility to contact the local authority to let them know. A few weeks later we had a phone call from the local authority introducing themselves as the home education support team. They offered a home visit which I refused (you can do this!) and politely asked them to correspond via email.
Finding support
Even as a previous primary school teacher, it was still overwhelming at the start of our home education journey. See one of the biggest mistakes I made here.
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Luckily, the power of social media came shining through for us in terms of support. There are so many home education, world schooling and road schooling facebook groups out there which I have found so helpful. We joined our local home education group and we use that to join groups and play park meet ups when were back in the area!
Life on the road
The children have now been out of mainstream education for a whole year. Since then, we have travelled all around the UK and Europe in our self converted van. The boys have have opportunities and experiences that they never would have had if we hadn't taken them out of mainstream education to travel. We are only at the start of our world schooling journey and we cannot wait to find out where it takes us next!
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About 4intheVan
We are a family of 4 living and travelling full time in our self converted Luton van.Â
Our aim is to provide other families information, guides and top tips to help them on their next adventure, whether that's world travel, van life or home education.