Life Beyond the Classroom: How to educate your children on a family sabbatical

In the downpour of February, we were delighted to host an event at the Royal Academy bringing together Thomasina Miers (Co-Founder of Wahaca), Walter Kerr (Co-founder of Oppidan Education) and Tom Barber (Co-Founder of Original Travel) for a practical and frank conversation about taking a sabbatical with your children. 

The Sabbatical Argument 

There is a truth about learning that every good teacher knows but that our education system rarely has the space to honour: knowledge retained in the long term is almost always knowledge attached to an experience. 

Travelling with your children is the antidote to that disconnection. A sabbatical - whether a term, a season, or a year, taken deliberately and structured thoughtfully - is one of the most powerful educational investments a family can make. And it need not be defined by its length. What matters is intentionality: the decision to step outside ordinary life and immerse your family in something wider. 

When families come to us thinking about a sabbatical, the conversation usually starts practical - schools, visas, costs, logistics. But underneath, it is almost always emotional. Tom Barber distilled this into what he calls the Four Rs. 

There is Reconnection. Modern family life is so logistically intense that parents and children often operate in parallel rather than really being together. Shared experiences are the secret sauce of healthy relationships - the bus you always get lost on, the bakery you discovered, the new skill you learnt together. These become part of family folklore, and grow in the re-telling. 

There is Regret. Many parents, particularly those who have built demanding careers, reach a point of honest reckoning and want to make up for time lost. A sabbatical offers that chance. 

There is Recalibration. When you step outside your normal environment, everyone reassesses. Parents often return less burnt out and more present. Children grow in confidence in ways that are hard to engineer at home. And there is something quietly powerful about children realising, in a real and lived way, just how fortunate they are relative to much of the rest of the world. 

And finally, there is Reset - a chance to pause the treadmill, live more intentionally, and remind yourselves what kind of family you want to be. 

A week's holiday rarely allows for any of this. A month, a term, or a year does. Children need time to absorb, to ask questions, to be bored, to wonder. The ability to travel properly, slowly, with intention gives families something that the school run, the homework table and 

the comprehension result rarely do: the chance to genuinely reconnect. A sabbatical changes that. 

Taking a child away, when it is done well, is not a gap in their education. It is frequently better for their development than the equivalent time spent in school. 

What Does a Good Day Actually Look Like? 

As Walter explained, this is the question parents ask most often, and it deserves a direct answer. Structure matters enormously - the sabbatical that drifts into permanent holiday mode benefits nobody. But structure does not mean rigidity. 

The rhythm we recommend looks something like this: an early start, ideally with some form of exercise together - a walk, a swim, whatever the environment offers. Then into focused work: for children up to 13, around 75 to 90 minutes of core academic work across two sessions, with a short assessment before lunch. This is non-negotiable. The assessment anchors the morning and gives the child a sense of completion and progress. 

The afternoon is where the magic happens. Out and about, with learning woven into the environment rather than imposed upon it. An orienteering course around the temples of Angkor Wat. Five things to find and identify on a shark-tagging expedition. A sketch, a photograph, a question to answer before dinner. In the evening, journalling: what did they see, what did they learn, what did they want to know more about. 

The content of the morning connects to the physical context of the afternoon. That connection is everything. 

The Destinations That Teach 

Some places are simply extraordinary classrooms. A few of our favourites: 

Gallipoli walk the beaches at Anzac Cove and the First World War becomes something no textbook can replicate. For History students at any age, it is transformative. 

Washington DC and the American South from the Cold War museums of the capital to the Civil Rights trail through Alabama and Memphis, this is Politics, History and RS lived at full volume. 

The Spice Route culinary history, colonialism, global economics and cultural exchange across some of the world's most beautiful coastlines. Thomasina Miers, who joined us for our Royal Academy evening, knows better than most how food is a portal into everything else. 

The Galápagos for Biology students it is simply without equal. Evolution, natural selection, ecosystems, conservation - Darwin's notebook comes alive. 

Athens for Classical Civilisation, Ancient History, Philosophy and Politics, there is nowhere better on earth. The Agora where Socrates taught. The Parthenon. Olympia. These are not tourist sites - they are primary sources. 

We're working on a dedicated series of guides on the best destinations for GCSE and A Level subjects, coming soon - the concept of worldschooling, using travel as the primary context for a child's learning, runs through everything we do. 

When to Go 

Timing a sabbatical well requires a little thought, but the windows are clearer than most parents expect. 

Ages 6 to 9 are wonderfully formative years for travel, provided there are no imminent entrance exams and the child is settled in their school rather than mid-transition. 

Ages 9 to 10 - Year 4 to Year 5 - are an excellent window. Academically, children are old enough to engage meaningfully with what they encounter. Exam pressure has not yet arrived. 

Year 6 is a firm no for most families with selective school ambitions. The 11+ is not a process that accommodates a term abroad. 

But the real sweet spot? The tweenager years: 10 to 12, or Years 7 and 8. Entrance exams are done, GCSEs have not begun. Children this age are old enough to engage properly, absorb languages and appreciate cultural differences, but not yet so tied to exam timetables or teenage social life. In Tom's experience, this window is the single most powerful moment for a family sabbatical. 

The Practicalities: Myths Debunked 

The reasons families give for not going on a sabbatical are almost always solvable. Here are the most common concerns, and the honest answers. 

Accommodation. Hotels are not the answer - they negate the very point of a family sabbatical, which is to give children some sense of real life in a different culture. House swap websites such as HomeExchange, Kindred and ThirdHome are excellent options, and many families arrange swaps through their own networks. Letting your property while you're away can also significantly offset costs. 

Visas. Most countries limit tourist access to three months - but notable exceptions include Costa Rica, Canada and New Zealand. For longer stays, bureaucracy is real, so start early. 

Pets. Many countries accept pets with microchips and the relevant health documentation. Alternatively, TrustedHousesitters can arrange for someone to live in and care for animals while you're away. 

Finances. A Revolut or Starling account will avoid foreign exchange fees. For longer stays, a local bank account is worth opening. 

Children falling behind. This is the fear that looms largest and dissolves fastest. Most children return with increased confidence, greater independence and a far broader worldview than their peers. Oppidan Education can shape a bespoke curriculum around your exam syllabus and the places you visit, keeping work time structured and clearly bounded - and then turning the rest of the day into an adventure. 

One practical note: don't start with a destination. Start with what you want to achieve, experience and feel by the end of it. The right places will follow from that. 

And talk to the school early. The conversation is almost always more productive when parents approach it as a partnership rather than an announcement. 

The Bigger Picture 

There is a growing movement around what educators are beginning to call worldschooling - the deliberate use of travel as the primary context for a child's learning. Institutions like Minerva University, where students live and study across seven cities, are building this philosophy into higher education. The International Baccalaureate and schools like UWC Wales have long understood that a diverse, globally-literate curriculum produces more rounded, more resilient, more empathetic young people. From September 2028, Global Citizenship will be formally embedded in the UK curriculum. 

The families who have already given their children the lived experience of other cultures, other histories, other ways of organising the world will have given them something no classroom can fully replicate. 

Beyond the education argument, there is something simpler and perhaps more important. As Tom put it: "You are giving children time, attention and exposure to the wider world. You are engendering curiosity, adaptability and courage, and often returning as calmer, more present parents. That is an investment in long-term family resilience and perspective." 

A sabbatical, done well, is not a detour from your family life. It is one of the best things you will ever do for it.