Jennie Germann Molz | The World Is Our Classroom: Extreme Parenting and the Rise of Worldschooling

Sociologist Jennie Germann Molz joins the podcast to discuss her book The World Is Our Classroom: Extreme Parenting and the Rise of Worldschooling. Jennie is a professor at the College of the Holy Cross whose research explores mobility, technology, and alternative forms of family life. Drawing on both academic insight and her own experience traveling the world with her ten-year-old son, she examines what happens when families move beyond traditional education models and choose to learn through travel.

We talk about how worldschooling challenges conventional ideas of parenting, risk, and education. The term itself includes a wide range of practices, from part-time educational travel to fully nomadic living. What connects them is a shared belief that learning happens outside institutional classrooms. Jennie also describes how both worldschooling and more conventional approaches like helicopter parenting can respond to the same concerns about preparing children for the future.

The conversation looks at worldschooling through the lens of a sociologist, covering how travel shapes emotional adaptability in children, how standardized testing limits our understanding of learning, and how digital tools and post-COVID shifts have expanded possibilities for mobile education. For listeners interested in alternative education, digital nomad families, or learning outside school systems, this episode offers a grounded academic view of the worldschooling movement.

🗓️ Recorded June 10th, 2025. 📍 Åmarksgård, Lille Skendsved, Denmark

🔗 Learn more about Jennie Germann Molz

• https://www.holycross.edu/academics/people/jennie-germann-molz
• https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jennie-Germann-Molz/author/B005OSBMGO  

Send a message

Support the show

SUPPORT & CONNECT

Podcast website: https://www.cecilieconrad.com/self-directed
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconrad.family
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theconradfamily