More than 60% of Boundless Life families return for further stays - and we fully expect this number to increase as the number of available locations continues to grow. However, some families who joined us for our launch back in early 2022 have never left!
Like my own kids, Alexandra and Scott’s two children have now experienced Boundless Education in three different locations: Sintra, Syros and Tuscany! I caught up with them at the coworking Hub here in Pistoia to get their thoughts on Boundless Education and whether it has been a good fit for their family.
Welcome to Tuscany! This is your third Boundless Life location. How are you settling in?
It’s been fantastic! Very smooth transition for us: the town is beautiful, the locations of the EC and the Hub and our apartment are fantastic, and the team has done a great job of welcoming the families to this cohort.
More importantly, how are Michael and James adjusting?
Surprisingly well and better than we expected frankly! We are conscious about not pushing an agenda or timetable on our children when transitioning to a new cohort, and we are extra mindful about that for our youngest. So we arrived expecting a similar transition period for them here in Tuscany as those in the past two cohorts, but they adjusted quickly and happily to the EC here.
It helps of course that the staff read up about them ahead of time so there was a familiarity about them as students, learning styles and habits, as well as interests. We think that helped our kids form a connection with the teachers and staff quickly. Plus it’s worth mentioning that the learning environment (furniture, materials, structure of the day, etc) of the EC here are very similar to the ECs in Syros and Sintra. Our oldest was a tremendous help to his younger brother so that helped the transition as well :-)
Nature-Time, Culture-Time, Boundless Hour, fortnightly field trips; there are so many great elements to the curriculum, but do your kids have a favourite?
I think if you asked them this question, they’d probably answer the food at snack and lunch time! But it would be a toss up between culture-time and yoga/mindfulness practices. We love seeing the pictures of our kids posted to the parent app showing them learning something about Greece or Italy, or them in a warrior pose during yoga.
What would you say is the biggest benefit of living a Boundless Life?
Far and away, it’s the community that we see as being the biggest benefit of being part of Boundless. And it is a multifaceted benefit, meaning it applies to us as adults, to our kids, and to us as a family, but in different ways.
We as adults/parents get to meet other like-minded parents, but ones from different parts of the world, all coming into Boundless with varying backgrounds and ideas.
Our kids get to experience something similar to us, but with their classmates in each cohort they attend. That type of learning and connection usually happens only occasionally in a traditional school setting, if at all. But here it happens multiple times during each cohort!
And the sense of community that arises around the families is truly invaluable. We love watching our children interact with fellow parents, learning from them as if they are their uncle or aunt. Our oldest developed a love of rugby from seeing the passion a fellow parent had for the game during the Fall cohort in Greece, something he unlikely would have been exposed to by anyone in our extended family or network back home.
Do you have any advice for someone reading this who is considering Boundless Education for their own children?
Advice can be tricky to give, since each family situation is different. We can say that in our experience, we didn’t initially place a high value on the community aspect of Boundless Life. We were excited for a top quality education for our children that afforded us the ability to travel seamlessly within the same education structure. Boundless Life fit our needs perfectly so we signed up! But since then, we’ve come to recognise and appreciate that the Boundless community is of equal value to the other two. Our advice then would be that those three aspects of Boundless Life (education, travel, and community) make the decision to join an easy one when weighed against other options.
HUGE thanks to Alexandra and Scott for taking time out of their busy schedule to talk with me!
Alexandra and Scott are the creators and founders of Big Life Journal - a series of resources that promote a growth mindset and help children and adults alike develop confidence, resilience and high self-esteem.
“Big Life Journal offers science-based journals for kids to help them grow their confidence and resilience. We've created growth mindset journals and bundles for different ages, from young children to adults. Our journals feature engaging activities, inspiring stories, and colourful illustrations meant to wire your kids' brains for resilience, gratitude, and self-love.”
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