Education choices for families who travel

Education options for children below the age of 16

In the UK, exams taken before the age of 16 have no long-term impact on your child’s education. In the US education system, the first critical exams aren’t sat until the age of 17 or 18. That means families with younger children have more flexibility in terms of following a particular curriculum and not having to worry about preparation for set exams.

As a result, placing your children in a local school (depending of course on the length of your stay) can be an option, and will provide them with a rich cultural experience of being immersed in the native language and making friends with children from the country being visited.However, this isn’t an option for families who are touring a country, potentially several countries, who are only spending a few days or weeks in one place at a time. In those circumstances, you can take on educational responsibilities yourselves, or recruit a full-time private tutor to manage your children’s education.

Recruiting a multi-lingual travelling tutor

An ideal tutor for travelling families is one who can adapt to your lifestyle, is preferably multi-lingual, able to teach and travel well and keep your children’s’ education relevant to the trip as well as broader educational needs. Finding such a professional requires help from a specialist private tutor company. Ensure that the company carries out thorough background checks, and has a system designed to verify references written in any language, not just English.

Education options for children 16 years old and up

Travelling families with older children are more restricted by the demands of exams and obtaining grades necessary for admittance into a chosen university. Where your family is travelling is arguably even more relevant, as it may be possible for you to find schools that teach the International Baccalaureate; the best curriculum option as it permits seamless transfer between schools.Again, if you are travelling continuously, you may not have the option to place your children in a local school for a long enough period to be beneficial.If you have internet access that is reliable, consider combining a full-time private tutor with an online high school.

 Tutors International has worked with accredited online high schools and had excellent results, with students who have then gone to Brown, Columbia and Notre Dame, to name but a few.Of course, for families who are trekking through the Himalayas or through rainforests, internet access may be less reliable. In those circumstances the best full-time private tutors can still provide superlative education in line with either the UK or US curriculum and preparation for exams required to gain entrance into university.

The educational value of travel

It shouldn’t be overlooked that whilst travelling may make organising conventional education more challenging, its inherent educational value shouldn’t be overlooked. The experience of different cultures, diverse habitats and meeting people with completely different lifestyles can only be given by travel, and will broaden your children’s education immeasurably. Providing a private tutor alongside such an experience is arguably the best education in the world, and will give your children the best foundation for a life time of curiosity and exploration that will serve them for the rest of their lives.