January 14, 2026 • 10 mins
Show Notes: Worldschooling Q&A – Episode 17 Episode Title: Episode 17: How Do I Balance Work While Worldschooling? Hosts: Astrid & Clint, creators of The Wandering Daughter
In this episode of Worldschooling Q&A, Astrid and Clint explore one of the most important—and most challenging—aspects of long-term travel: maintaining work-life balance while worldschooling. Drawing from four years of full-time travel across 18+ countries, they share real-life strategies that helped their family protect mental health, stay connected, and avoid burnout on the road.
They discuss how defining family priorities creates clarity, why alternating between social time and retreat is essential, and how slowing down can dramatically change your experience. The conversation also covers practical work strategies like flexible schedules, time zone advantages, and staggering work hours when traveling with kids.
Whether you’re already worldschooling or just beginning to explore location-independent family life, this episode offers reassurance, perspective, and actionable ideas to help you find balance that actually works for your family.
🎧 Ready to dive in?
👉 For full show notes, resource links, and a complete episode guide, visit: https://thewanderingdaughter.com/episode-17-work-while-worldschooling
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We were thinking, oh, maybewe can go see a movie.
And the dad was somethinglike, I can do that in the us.
You guys are going to be here longer,so it doesn't matter to you as much,
but we're only here fora certain amount of time.
Something like that onlycomes with being there.
This is world schooling q and a. I'mAstrid, creator of the Wandering Daughter.
(00:21):
As a traveling family,
we've spent four years travelingfull-time to over 18 countries and six
continents. Wherever we go,
we try to learn as much as we can aboutthe countries and cultures we visit.
While we didn't coin the term, welike to call this world schooling,
using the world as our classroom.
Each week my husband Clint and I willanswer one question about world schooling
(00:44):
and share our experiences of travelingthe world with our kids ready to get
started? Great. Let's dive in.
For this week,
we're answering the question of how doI manage work-life balance while world
(01:05):
schooling?
Yeah. This is a great topic.It's something that is very near and dear to us.
Yeah.
Mental health is so important.
Right?
Yeah.
We've carried that actually even nowthat we're not traveling as much in our
day-to-day lives. So what wouldbe the first thing you would say?
Well, first I'd offer that I writeabout this a lot on my website.
There's an article that I have that iscalled What Life is Like for a Digital
(01:29):
Nomad family, and we cover thework-life balance aspect there.
And then I also have an articleabout just the realities of traveling
full time and things to considerif you're planning on doing digital
nomad type of lifestyle. So beyond that,
I think the first thing that youas a family need to figure out is
(01:52):
just defining what yourpriorities are. I mean,
this is so important to justwhether you're at home or whether
you're traveling.
What is important for you to keep becausewe're not going to be able to do it
all. What is the mostimportant thing for you?
What are just a coupleexamples of priorities for us that we've chosen over the
(02:13):
past?
I think one of the priorities is justbeing able to spend quality time together.
So doing activities that allowus to spend time together.
I found that we end up feeling out ofsync when there's a lot of activities
that pull us apart from each other.
And so sometimes we'llintentionally just go
(02:37):
and do something together as a family.
But what else do you think isour family values or priorities?
I think also recognizing that weboth or we as a family need social
interaction, but we alsoneed those recovery time.
We will go through moments of intensesocial interaction over the course of
(02:58):
multiple days or weeks potentially.
And then we'll retreat and we'll dotravel time where it's just us as a family
and that's one of the reprioritize.
So we traveled full timefrom 2018 to 2022 and
what Clint mentioned we would have,
I feel like our socializationwould come in cycles.
(03:22):
We'd have periods where it'slike a month of just we're in a
location where there's a lot of othertraveling families, and that's what we do.
We meet up with families a couple timesa week or sometimes every day there's
something going on, we're always going.
And then we'll follow that withjust a month of retreat of just
(03:43):
us hanging out with us beingin a location where we're just
doing things as a family unit andnot so much with other families.
So it's really like that's a keycomponent of us finding just balance in
general.
What.
About the schedules and stuff?
Yeah, I think to extend offthat with our schedules,
(04:05):
one of the things that wedo very intentionally now is we make sure we plan down
days.
And I think that's criticalto that recovery period,
to that kind of reconnectingand not feeling overwhelmed.
So if we'll go do anactivity, say in a week,
we know where you're goingto do three activities,
we'll make sure that there's three orfour days of down days in there too, kind.
(04:28):
Of intersperse between those activities.
And that really slowing downhelps that because then we're not,
if you're only in a place for a week,
you feel obligated to fill thatas much as possible, right?
Well then you come backand then you're exhausted.
So.
That was one of the things thatwe're intentional about. Yeah.
(04:48):
Talk about slow job while slowing down.
How also can that help usmanage work-life balance?
I think what it doesis it allows us to find
little moments to do things together.
Maybe it's like going tothe grocery store together,
going grocery shopping together,
(05:09):
or we just want to spend an afternoonat the park. Let's just go to the park.
Or even having breakfast at a cafe.
That was one of our favorite things todo when we were in Spain is walk down to
a cafe and have coffeeand Toda breakfast. Yeah.
I think going to see movies.
(05:31):
Movies, yes.
Yeah, that's one of our favoritethings to do while slow travel.
And I remember a funny story one timewe had met up with a family that was
only there for a week or two andwe were there for a month or more,
something like that. And we werethinking, oh, maybe we can go see a movie.
And the dad was somethinglike, I can do that in the us.
You guys are going to be here longer,so it doesn't matter to you as much,
(05:54):
but we're only here fora certain amount of time.
So something like that only comeswith being there slowing down.
Yeah. What about the workaspect of work-life balance?
What are some thingsthat you would suggest?
Yeah, I think this ties in handwith just remote work in general.
Be flexible with your day.There's obviously things when you're in the office,
(06:15):
you're not always tiedto your desk the old day,
you're kind of getting up talkingto coworkers and stuff like that.
So have that flexibilityin your schedule as well.
I think one of the thingsthat is interesting to us is really make best use of
the times zone you're in. So for example,
when we're in Europe and we workfor US-based customers or US-based
businesses, it actually worksreally nicely for us because.
(06:38):
We.
Can do stuff all during the day and thenstart our workday in the late afternoon
or early evening and work till midnightor 1:00 AM something like that.
Sleep.
In until 9:00 AM So we'regetting full night's sleep,
we're able to do stuff during the day,
and then we still get our nightroutine as well. So that's been nice.
(06:58):
It's possible to do that in Asia too.
I think the time zone is alittle trickier because you
basically working the graveyard shift,
but if you stay up late at night,
but then you allow yourself to sleepin and we don't start activities
until noon or something like that,
(07:20):
that still gives us a chance tofeel like we're balanced As well.
I think the other thing isif you have younger kids,
and it's a little harder to,
the schedule works for us because ourkids are older now. They're like teens,
twins, teens. But when wewere traveling full time,
they were a little bit younger,and even though they weren't,
(07:43):
you could leave themalone for a few hours,
but definitely youneeded to have one parent
more present with them.
And so that's a little harderif both parents are working.
And what we found wasstaggering our work hours.
So I would work East Coast hours andhe would work West Coast hours and then
(08:05):
that allowed one parent to be
with the kids during the morning and thenanother parent to be with the kids in
the afternoon, early evening.
And then the middle of the daywhen both of us are working,
they can just have their ownalone, independent playtime.
Or something like that. Yeah.
(08:26):
I think the only other thing I want tomention was how important communication
and your ability to discussneeds and boundaries and being
able to do that comfortablywithin the family.
I.
Mean, that's just in general worldscoring. I mean general family advice,
but I mean, especially oldschooling, you lean heavily,
(08:47):
you spend a lot of time with yourfamily and your spouse especially,
or your partner.
So really working on communication andexpressing those needs and boundaries
is critical to I think,maintaining that work-life balance.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Alright. Anything else?
I think that's it. I think we coveredit all. Well, that's all for today.
(09:09):
Thank you for joining us on this episodeof World Schooling q and a with Astrid
and Clint.
Be sure to check out the show notes forany links we mentioned in the episode
and visit my website,
the wandering daughter.com to divedeeper into world schooling and family
travel.
If you like what you hear,
please consider supporting theWandering daughter on Patreon.
It really helps us outand keeps the show going.
(09:30):
You'll also get exclusive perks likeepisode transcripts, additional resources,
access to office hours with us and more.
You can find us on Spotify orthe podcast app of your choice.
If you're listening to this on Spotify,
you can tap the bell icon to getnotified when new episodes come out.
And if you like this episode,please give us a five star review.
It really helps new people find our show.
(09:51):
If you're watching this on YouTube,
don't forget to like and subscribe andtap the bell icon to get notified of new
episodes.
You can follow me on Instagram atWander Daughter or Follow the Wandering
Daughter on Facebook. Links tothese are also in the show notes.
If you have any world schooling questionsyou'd like us to answer for future
episodes, feel free to throwthem in the comments or send us a
(10:14):
message@thewanderingdaughter.comslash podcast.
Until next time, happy travels. Bye.
We were thinking, oh, maybewe can go see a movie.
And the dad was somethinglike, I can do that in the us.
You guys are going to be here longer,so it doesn't matter to you as much,
but we're only here fora certain amount of time.
Something like that onlycomes with being there.
This is world schooling q and a. I'mAstrid, creator of the Wandering Daughter.
(00:21):
As a traveling family,
we've spent four years travelingfull-time to over 18 countries and six
continents. Wherever we go,
we try to learn as much as we can aboutthe countries and cultures we visit.
While we didn't coin the term, welike to call this world schooling,
using the world as our classroom.
Each week my husband Clint and I willanswer one question about world schooling
(00:44):
and share our experiences of travelingthe world with our kids ready to get
started? Great. Let's dive in.
For this week,
we're answering the question of how doI manage work-life balance while world
(01:05):
schooling?
Yeah. This is a great topic.It's something that is very near and dear to us.
Yeah.
Mental health is so important.
Right?
Yeah.
We've carried that actually even nowthat we're not traveling as much in our
day-to-day lives. So what wouldbe the first thing you would say?
Well, first I'd offer that I writeabout this a lot on my website.
There's an article that I have that iscalled What Life is Like for a Digital
(01:29):
Nomad family, and we cover thework-life balance aspect there.
And then I also have an articleabout just the realities of traveling
full time and things to considerif you're planning on doing digital
nomad type of lifestyle. So beyond that,
I think the first thing that youas a family need to figure out is
(01:52):
just defining what yourpriorities are. I mean,
this is so important to justwhether you're at home or whether
you're traveling.
What is important for you to keep becausewe're not going to be able to do it
all. What is the mostimportant thing for you?
What are just a coupleexamples of priorities for us that we've chosen over the
(02:13):
past?
I think one of the priorities is justbeing able to spend quality time together.
So doing activities that allowus to spend time together.
I found that we end up feeling out ofsync when there's a lot of activities
that pull us apart from each other.
And so sometimes we'llintentionally just go
(02:37):
and do something together as a family.
But what else do you think isour family values or priorities?
I think also recognizing that weboth or we as a family need social
interaction, but we alsoneed those recovery time.
We will go through moments of intensesocial interaction over the course of
(02:58):
multiple days or weeks potentially.
And then we'll retreat and we'll dotravel time where it's just us as a family
and that's one of the reprioritize.
So we traveled full timefrom 2018 to 2022 and
what Clint mentioned we would have,
I feel like our socializationwould come in cycles.
(03:22):
We'd have periods where it'slike a month of just we're in a
location where there's a lot of othertraveling families, and that's what we do.
We meet up with families a couple timesa week or sometimes every day there's
something going on, we're always going.
And then we'll follow that withjust a month of retreat of just
(03:43):
us hanging out with us beingin a location where we're just
doing things as a family unit andnot so much with other families.
So it's really like that's a keycomponent of us finding just balance in
general.
What.
About the schedules and stuff?
Yeah, I think to extend offthat with our schedules,
(04:05):
one of the things that wedo very intentionally now is we make sure we plan down
days.
And I think that's criticalto that recovery period,
to that kind of reconnectingand not feeling overwhelmed.
So if we'll go do anactivity, say in a week,
we know where you're goingto do three activities,
we'll make sure that there's three orfour days of down days in there too, kind.
(04:28):
Of intersperse between those activities.
And that really slowing downhelps that because then we're not,
if you're only in a place for a week,
you feel obligated to fill thatas much as possible, right?
Well then you come backand then you're exhausted.
So.
That was one of the things thatwe're intentional about. Yeah.
(04:48):
Talk about slow job while slowing down.
How also can that help usmanage work-life balance?
I think what it doesis it allows us to find
little moments to do things together.
Maybe it's like going tothe grocery store together,
going grocery shopping together,
(05:09):
or we just want to spend an afternoonat the park. Let's just go to the park.
Or even having breakfast at a cafe.
That was one of our favorite things todo when we were in Spain is walk down to
a cafe and have coffeeand Toda breakfast. Yeah.
I think going to see movies.
(05:31):
Movies, yes.
Yeah, that's one of our favoritethings to do while slow travel.
And I remember a funny story one timewe had met up with a family that was
only there for a week or two andwe were there for a month or more,
something like that. And we werethinking, oh, maybe we can go see a movie.
And the dad was somethinglike, I can do that in the us.
You guys are going to be here longer,so it doesn't matter to you as much,
(05:54):
but we're only here fora certain amount of time.
So something like that only comeswith being there slowing down.
Yeah. What about the workaspect of work-life balance?
What are some thingsthat you would suggest?
Yeah, I think this ties in handwith just remote work in general.
Be flexible with your day.There's obviously things when you're in the office,
(06:15):
you're not always tiedto your desk the old day,
you're kind of getting up talkingto coworkers and stuff like that.
So have that flexibilityin your schedule as well.
I think one of the thingsthat is interesting to us is really make best use of
the times zone you're in. So for example,
when we're in Europe and we workfor US-based customers or US-based
businesses, it actually worksreally nicely for us because.
(06:38):
We.
Can do stuff all during the day and thenstart our workday in the late afternoon
or early evening and work till midnightor 1:00 AM something like that.
Sleep.
In until 9:00 AM So we'regetting full night's sleep,
we're able to do stuff during the day,
and then we still get our nightroutine as well. So that's been nice.
(06:58):
It's possible to do that in Asia too.
I think the time zone is alittle trickier because you
basically working the graveyard shift,
but if you stay up late at night,
but then you allow yourself to sleepin and we don't start activities
until noon or something like that,
(07:20):
that still gives us a chance tofeel like we're balanced As well.
I think the other thing isif you have younger kids,
and it's a little harder to,
the schedule works for us because ourkids are older now. They're like teens,
twins, teens. But when wewere traveling full time,
they were a little bit younger,and even though they weren't,
(07:43):
you could leave themalone for a few hours,
but definitely youneeded to have one parent
more present with them.
And so that's a little harderif both parents are working.
And what we found wasstaggering our work hours.
So I would work East Coast hours andhe would work West Coast hours and then
(08:05):
that allowed one parent to be
with the kids during the morning and thenanother parent to be with the kids in
the afternoon, early evening.
And then the middle of the daywhen both of us are working,
they can just have their ownalone, independent playtime.
Or something like that. Yeah.
(08:26):
I think the only other thing I want tomention was how important communication
and your ability to discussneeds and boundaries and being
able to do that comfortablywithin the family.
I.
Mean, that's just in general worldscoring. I mean general family advice,
but I mean, especially oldschooling, you lean heavily,
(08:47):
you spend a lot of time with yourfamily and your spouse especially,
or your partner.
So really working on communication andexpressing those needs and boundaries
is critical to I think,maintaining that work-life balance.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Alright. Anything else?
I think that's it. I think we coveredit all. Well, that's all for today.
(09:09):
Thank you for joining us on this episodeof World Schooling q and a with Astrid
and Clint.
Be sure to check out the show notes forany links we mentioned in the episode
and visit my website,
the wandering daughter.com to divedeeper into world schooling and family
travel.
If you like what you hear,
please consider supporting theWandering daughter on Patreon.
It really helps us outand keeps the show going.
(09:30):
You'll also get exclusive perks likeepisode transcripts, additional resources,
access to office hours with us and more.
You can find us on Spotify orthe podcast app of your choice.
If you're listening to this on Spotify,
you can tap the bell icon to getnotified when new episodes come out.
And if you like this episode,please give us a five star review.
It really helps new people find our show.
(09:51):
If you're watching this on YouTube,
don't forget to like and subscribe andtap the bell icon to get notified of new
episodes.
You can follow me on Instagram atWander Daughter or Follow the Wandering
Daughter on Facebook. Links tothese are also in the show notes.
If you have any world schooling questionsyou'd like us to answer for future
episodes, feel free to throwthem in the comments or send us a
(10:14):
message@thewanderingdaughter.comslash podcast.
Until next time, happy travels. Bye.
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