Wonder Year: A Guide to Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling

Learn how to pack up the family for a life-changing, long-term journey filled with education and adventure.

If you’ve ever dreamed about an epic family adventure and heading out on the road for a few months or more, Wonder Year is for you. Part inspiration and part how-to, this book demystifies the seemingly outrageous prospect of embarking on a long-term family trip and using the world as a classroom for your kids—a trailblazing approach known as worldschooling. 

Packed with practical information, Wonder Year offers invaluable guidance to help transform your dream into a well-planned reality for your family. Woven throughout the book are evocative travelogues and photos from families sharing worldschooling experiences. Paddling a wild and scenic Oregon river, stargazing in New Mexico, and visiting World War II sites in France are just a few of the colorful stories that will no doubt stir you to envision your own journey.

This book will show you how to:

• Explore funding options for long-term family travel—be it a summer, semester, year, or more
• Choose where to go and navigate the logistics of getting there
• Discover alternative education methods for teaching your kids on the road 
• Travel responsibly and sustainably
• Identify ways to earn income while traveling
• Stay healthy and safe along the way
• Tap into a global community of worldschoolers and family adventurers

You’ll learn that extended family travel is more attractive and attainable than ever before, and remote living and learning are not actually remote at all. Wonder Year will help you slow down, simplify, and wonder at all the world has to offer.

Julie Frieder is an innovator, problem solver, and sustainability professional. She earned a double master’s degree in environmental science and public policy from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University and has worked to drive environmental solutions in the public, private, and non-profit sectors for over two decades. Julie stepped away from a career in sustainable and responsible investing to travel with her family for thirteen months in a twenty-four-foot RV equipped with four bikes, three kayaks, a 72-watt solar system, and a very large dog. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, and strives to wonder more, consume less, and connect the old-fashioned way—in nature or around a lively dinner table with friends, family, and great cheer.

Angela Heisten is a business strategist and communications professional with deep experience in biotechnology and healthcare. After earning her engineering degree in the Midwest, she moved to the West Coast where she completed an MBA at University of California, Berkeley. Also trained as an executive coach, she partners with leaders to bring sustained positive change to the people and organizations they serve. Over the past ten years, Angela has applied her leadership skills to entrepreneurial initiatives and volunteer work in real estate, education, and government. She also planned and executed a two-year family trip across six continents and loves to share what she learned along the way. An avid reader and photographer, Angela currently resides in Colorado with her family.

Annika Paradise is passionate about using her writing to bridge worlds. She loves to help anyone plan and launch a journey with their family. In 2018, Annika and her husband worldschooled their three children in twelve countries across three continents. With a cello. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, and later as a student travel guide with Where There Be Dragons, she witnessed the transformational power of cross-cultural immersion and brings those insights to Wonder Year. She’s taught both middle and high school and holds an MA in education from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not dreaming of the next big trip, Annika enjoys writing picture books and middle-grade novels, adventuring in the outdoors, teaching English at Front Range Community College, and working the register of her family-owned record shop, Paradise Found Records, in Boulder, Colorado.

Angela Heisten is a business strategist and communications professional with deep experience in biotechnology and healthcare. After earning her engineering degree in the Midwest, she moved to the West Coast where she completed an MBA at University of California, Berkeley. Also trained as an executive coach, she partners with leaders to bring sustained positive change to the people and organizations they serve. Over the past ten years, Angela has applied her leadership skills to entrepreneurial initiatives and volunteer work in real estate, education, and government. She also planned and executed a two-year family trip across six continents and loves to share what she learned along the way. An avid reader and photographer, Angela currently resides in Colorado with her family.

Annika Paradise is passionate about using her writing to bridge worlds. She loves to help anyone plan and launch a journey with their family. In 2018, Annika and her husband worldschooled their three children in twelve countries across three continents. With a cello. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, and later as a student travel guide with Where There Be Dragons, she witnessed the transformational power of cross-cultural immersion and brings those insights to Wonder Year. She’s taught both middle and high school and holds an MA in education from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not dreaming of the next big trip, Annika enjoys writing picture books and middle-grade novels, adventuring in the outdoors, teaching English at Front Range Community College, and working the register of her family-owned record shop, Paradise Found Records, in Boulder, Colorado.

Julie Frieder is an innovator, problem solver, and sustainability professional. She earned a double master’s degree in environmental science and public policy from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University and has worked to drive environmental solutions in the public, private, and non-profit sectors for over two decades. Julie stepped away from a career in sustainable and responsible investing to travel with her family for thirteen months in a twenty-four-foot RV equipped with four bikes, three kayaks, a 72-watt solar system, and a very large dog. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, and strives to wonder more, consume less, and connect the old-fashioned way—in nature or around a lively dinner table with friends, family, and great cheer.