World-schooling Community – Bansko, Bulgaria Wintertime Pop-Up

We attended the first-ever pop-up-style worldschooling community in Bansko, Bulgaria, back in 2020-21, and we loved it! We know it has evolved since then, but in this post, I’ll share a bit about how this awesome pop-up community gave us a winter to remember!

A worldschooling community will welcome families from all over the world. They often attract families who are seeking alternative education and learning experiences. Examples of established world schooling learning communities include Anahata worldschooling community in Mexico and Tribodar in Portuguese. Project World School is another one. They host worldschooling summits each spring and fall, along with teen retreats.

Most of these communities have websites or Facebook pages. Check out our worldschooling resources section on our page for digital nomad tools for more information.

The importance of community for our worldschooling family

As unschooling world schoolers, we are always seeking community. One of the main reasons we love world travel is so that we can immerse ourselves in local communities. Our slow style of family travel style makes it easier to develop deep, long-lasting relationships with others.

One of the most common questions that homeschoolers or unschoolers might get is, “What about socialization”? There are many ways that children can interact with others outside the school system. Life itself provides countless opportunities for socialization.

Our older daughter joins local sports groups when we move to a new location. Mostly, we just meet people when we’re out and about, at places like cafes and playgrounds. Arguably, many unschooled kids have incredible socialization opportunities. They often have regular, close interactions with people of all ages rather than primarily those with kids their age.

Finding the sense of community we crave in a travel-based lifestyle can be more challenging. We keep in touch with others in the worldschooling community and see whether we can plan to be in the same place simultaneously. We also regularly gravitate to locations where we know we’re more likely to meet other world schoolers and/or unschooling families.

Worldschooling hub versus pop-up-style worldschooling community

Some parts of the world have what is known as world schooling hubs. These places have been established as world schooling communities where you can go and know that you’ll find other like-minded families. Some worldschooling families live in these communities permanently or semi-permanently, while others visit briefly.

A pop-up-style worldschooling community, on the other hand, is usually organized by a world-schooling family in a specific location for a set period. It might be for a few weeks or a few months. It is designed to bring traveling families together. A pop-up-style worldschooling community could be anywhere from very structured to very informal. Of course, any activities that might be included are optional.

Suitable for first-time travelers and seasoned world schoolers, a pop-up-style world-schooling community or a worldschooling hub provides an amazing opportunity to meet like-minded friends. We love the sense of support and community and the easy options for play dates and get-togethers. 

A three-month worldschooling community (pop-up-style) was the number one drawcard for us to come and stay in Bansko, Bulgaria. Here’s a bit about what we did together as a worldschooling community.

Worldschooling Community Bansko | Weekly Education and Fun Day

Emmy is a world-schooling mom who organized our Bansko pop-up-style worldschooling community. Every week she put out a different schedule with activities spanning about four days a week.

One of those days was always an ‘education and fun day.’ On this day (afternoon, actually!) we did various activities. Each activity was run by a parent or a world-schooling kid, and the activity lineup differed each week.

Some of the activities we did on education and fun days include:

• Arts and crafts activities
• Physical activities such as karate, acro yoga, outdoor games, dance, and free playtime
• Music
• Building a spaghetti tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows
• Web design for older kids
• Chess
• Sessions to learn about Bulgarian culture

Ayla even had her debut sessions in leadership when she organized and led an art class, and then a ballet class!

Worldschooling Community Bansko | Other activities we did 

Aside from our weekly education and fun day, we enjoyed various activities with our worldschooling community in Bansko. Some activities were a part of the schedule, while others were arranged informally.

Some of the things the kids (and parents!) enjoyed included:

• Playdates at friends’ houses and the playgrounds. Sometimes, we even had sleepovers!
• Ice skating
• Sledding (with or without a sled!)
• Outdoor wall climbing and (real!)  outdoor rock climbing
• Mom’s Night Out and Dad’s Night Out
• Girl’s night and boy’s night (all ages)
• Restaurant meals
• Overnight train trip to Velingrad
• Games nights for the older kids /tween nights
• Old Town cultural walking tour
• Volunteering with the Bansko Street Dogs
• Hiking
• Ski lessons and skiing or sledding down the ski road together
• Weekly visits to different thermal hot Springs in the area or swimming at local hotel pools

You can learn more about the specifics of these activities in our post about things to do in Bansko in the wintertime.

5 Reasons Why Bansko is a Great Place for a pop-up-style Worldschooling Community

Bansko is an incredible European winter destination. We also think it would be the perfect place for a summertime worldschooling community. There are just so many outdoor adventures to be had there.

1. You can drink delicious, fresh-tasting water straight from the taps 

Believe me, this is a big deal for a full-time traveling family! In most places we have traveled to, we haven’t been able to drink straight from the tap confidently. We’ve either had a water filter, or we have boiled the water first. Or, we’ve used the big water containers you swap out and replace. There are numerous taps and natural springs in Bansko where you can refill your water bottle.

2. Altspace CoWorking

As full-time digital nomads with young children, we find it challenging, and much less productive to work from home. Therefore, a great Co-Working Space is a “must-have” for our family at this point in time. Sometimes we feel like we’re limited to cities a bit more because we have this requirement. However, we were excited to find that there are several Co-Working spaces in little Bansko. We tried them all and chose Altspace!

3. The mountains, of course 

Bansko is a mountain town. If you live at the gondola end of town, you can be at the top of the mountain in 15 minutes, ready to ski or simply take in the fresh mountain air. From where we were staying at that end of town, it was about a 20-minute walk to the forest to begin any one of numerous hikes into the mountains.

4. Quiet roads

You can walk down the middle of the road in Pirin Street where all the shops are. Or you can walk down the parallel road, which has a lovely little stream running down it. You’ll only see the very occasional car.

5. Yoga studios

In this small town, we know of a couple of yoga studios, both at the gondola end of town, and they’re both fab. Both offer aerial yoga classes. The one we tried also welcomes kids, which is great because if you’re not here for a worldschooling community and you’re not skiing, there are not a lot of kids’ activities on offer. Colin and I also enjoyed trying salsa at one of the studios. (Check out the schedules at Club Hanuman and Lotus Vibe).

Bansko Worldschooling Community | In Summary

We loved our three months with the Bansko worldschooling community. We’d highly recommend it to traveling families looking for a great wintertime destination and a strong sense of community. 

Will we personally return this coming winter? Unlikely, as we’re no longer in Europe! However, although I’m a bit of a warm-weather girl, the ski fields are Colin’s happy place and as we both love the mountains, we will see. Never say never!