In January we attended our first worldschool pop-up event in Kuala Lumpur. Worldschooling is the umbrella term used for families who are traveling and educating their children whilst on the road. The education can take many forms, some people follow school-like curriculums, others follow online classes and courses, and still others feel that their children learn more productively in an organic and less prescriptive way. One thing that many traveling families are united upon regardless of the educational approach however, is that children need community and friendships while on the road.
Worldschool pop-ups are organised events where travelling families from all over the world come together for a set period to socialise, explore a location, and learn together. They can take different forms and last for different lengths of time but are typically at least a week long. We decided to attend the Kuala Lumpur Pop-up so that the boys could make some friends and we could meet interesting, like-minded people – it was a great decision!
Our week included a full itinerary of events, typically three events were planned per day, but it was up to individual families as to how much they wanted to attend. Events included meet ups in parks and playgrounds, visits to museums and cultural sites, hikes, talks and walking tours to name a few.
Within minutes of walking through the door to our first event we met a family from the UK, with a boy named Lucas who was the same age as Indra, and a little girl called Lily a year older than Simmi . The boys bonded with Lucas immediately and for the rest of the week, the three of them became inseparable. It was wonderful, they had so much fun together and what made it even better was that we enjoyed hanging out with their parents just as much! Even Simmi and Lily had formed a little double-act by the end of the week! 😁 As well as this family we also met so many other interesting and fun people from all over the world, and had so many cool conversations throughout the week.
The events we attended were all really interesting and allowed us to get to know the city like a local – we definitely went places that we wouldn’t have found on our own! But the highlight was really the conversations and friendships, both for the children and for ourselves. It was sad saying goodbye to our new friends, but we definitely hope to catch up with some of these people again whilst we are on the road in the next few months and when we head back to KL at the end of our trip. Inspired by the success of this event, we have also signed up for another Pop-up in Siem Reap in March – can’t wait!
