Carol Tan, Rakcent Wong and their son, Atlas, have traveled across 23 countries and counting for the reason that start of 2024.
Courtesy of Rakcent Wong
“You will not have the opportunity to travel anymore after having children.” Carol Tan, 36, and Rakcent Wong, 35, often received that advice before having their son, Atlas — but they were determined to prove the naysayers unsuitable.
The Singaporean family took a sabbatical from work to “worldschool” their 4-year-old child and has traveled from Switzerland to Denmark to Nepal, across 23 countries for the reason that start of the 12 months.
What’s ‘worldschooling’?
Simply put, “worldschooling” refers to creating the globe one’s classroom.
Sometimes, it involves parents who decide to embark on a “family gap 12 months,” and take their children out of their hometown schools to introduce them to different parts of the world, helping them learn through immersive experiences.
While some families take a more structured approach by enrolling their kids into schools abroad or by creating their very own curriculum, along the lines of traditional homeschooling, others take a more flexible approach.
Tan and Wong motorcycled across Southeast Asia.
Courtesy of Rakcent Wong
How the journey began
After meeting in 2011, Tan and Wong fell in love and shortly found a mutual passion for traveling.
“We realized [that] after every trip, we all the time gained something — there’s some type of growth and transformation that we experience, just each on a private level and as a pair,” Wong said.
If we put our child into preschool from morning to nighttime, we’re really losing out on essentially the most amazing a part of our child’s journey.
Tan and Wong decided that they’d not only proceed to travel but bring Atlas together with them. “We [knew] that traveling goes to be so useful for him, especially in his childhood before he goes to primary school,” Wong said.
“We feel that, as parents, if we put our child into preschool from morning to nighttime, we’re really losing out on essentially the most amazing a part of our child’s journey, because that is [where] they learn lots of their firsts,” Wong said. “As a father, I need to be there, I need to see his firsts.”
The couple decided that one of the best time to take the trip can be when their child was between the ages of 4 and 6. During these years, while he can be sufficiently old to soak up the world, he can be too young to start out formal primary school, which is compulsory in Singapore.
4-year-old Atlas is on a worldschooling adventure together with his parents.
Courtesy of Rakcent Wong
Atlas and the world
Over the course of 5 years of saving and investments, Tan and Wong accrued enough to assist them take the leap of religion.
“People all the time think that Singaporeans are wealthy and Singaporeans are well to do, but actually, we are usually not,” Tan said. “It’s really just pure hard-earned savings,” said Wong. The couple often asked themselves: “How much [can we] spend comfortably without going hungry in a month?”
By January 2024, Tan and Wong began their work sabbaticals, took Atlas out of college and the family traveled to their first destination, Greece. They didn’t want to share their line of labor.
We feel that the muse of learning needs to be built on curiosity.
The family travels to a recent destination almost every week, and between the entire exploring, they teach Atlas using three core principles:
- Sparking curiosity
- Encouraging problem solving
- Socialization through immersion
“We feel that the muse of learning needs to be built on curiosity,” said Wong. “Then, the second part is the drive to essentially discover the answer.”
“Just as necessary, the third one can be [learning how] to be social, because — alone, you’ll be able to know a lot, but together you’ll be able to do lots more,” Wong said.
Through his travels, Atlas learns to make friends with local children.
Courtesy of Rakcent Wong
Much of Atlas’ curriculum is centered around play. Tan and Wong create many opportunities for his or her son to experience diverse environments.
From hanging out with children in Montenegro who speak a special language, to learning share with recent friends on local playgrounds, Atlas often meets kids from different backgrounds and cultures.
His parents teach him by modeling behaviors, too. They ask one another questions when they do not know something, said Wong, and show resolve conflicts on the road.
The impact of ‘worldschooling’: ‘He has this drive to learn’
After embarking on this journey firstly of 2024, considered one of the important thing changes the couple has seen in Atlas is that he has turn out to be more open to recent experiences.
The kid has transformed from being a really picky eater to eating quite a lot of food. “I feel, initially, he eats to be alive,” said Wong. “Now he’s willing to enjoy — I feel he’s having fun with the food greater than us.”
Atlas has turn out to be more inquisitive about the world, and is learning ask increasingly specific questions.
“Initially, he would just ask: What’s a cable automotive?” said Tan. “And now, he’ll ask things like: How does a cable automotive move? Does it produce electricity?”
“He has this drive to learn,” said Wong. “Information isn’t pushed to him, but quite, he desires to learn more.”
The family now wants to increase their sabbatical. “We expect the world is so huge, and we [don’t have enough] time if it’s only one 12 months, so why not only go max out two years?” said Tan.
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