A few weeks ago I shared that we're doing something that still feels a little wild to say out loud. This September, we're pulling our kids out of their normal school year and moving our family to Kotor, Montenegro, for three months.
We're not quitting our jobs. We're not homeschooling on a laptop at a kitchen table. And we're not selling everything and disappearing. We're joining a worldschooling program called Boundless Life, and the second I posted about it, my inbox turned into a very lovely avalanche.
So this is the post I promised. Every real question you asked, answered honestly, in one place. If you've ever looked at a family living abroad and thought "how on earth do they actually pull that off," this one's for you.
Want the details now? Use my referral link for €400 off any cohort or camp. You can also check live pricing on the Boundless pricing calculator.
What is Boundless Life?
Boundless Life is a program built for families who want to live in a place instead of just visiting it. Rather than racing through a country in a week, you settle into one spot for a full cohort, usually three months, and actually live there.
Here's what makes it different from just booking a long Airbnb: they set the whole thing up for you. In one all-in-one program you get:
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A fully furnished home, walkable to everything
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A real school day for the kids at the education center, Monday to Friday
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A coworking space for parents
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A built-in community of other families arriving at the same time
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Airport or port transfers, and a local team handling logistics
They currently run 8 worldschooling destinations:
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Sintra, Portugal
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Syros, Greece
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Tuscany, Italy
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Andalusia, Spain
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Kotor, Montenegro (where we're headed)
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Bali, Indonesia
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La Barra, Uruguay
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Kamakura, Japan
You can do a single three-month cohort like we are, string several together to replace a full school year, or start smaller with a summer camp or a shorter getaway.
Why we chose Boundless Life
I'll be honest about where this came from.
Last summer we spent six weeks traveling through Europe. It was amazing, and it was completely exhausting. We were in and out of hotels every couple of nights, always packing, always moving. Trying to work from a different city every few days felt impossible, and we came home wiped out.
I loved the travel. I did not love the pace. And it made me realize what I actually wanted was not more trips. It was to stay somewhere long enough for it to feel like ours.
I didn't want our kids to see the world a week at a time from a hotel. I wanted them to live in it. To have a walk to school, a favourite bakery, friends whose names they know. Boundless gives us one home base for three months, a real community, and someone else handling all the logistics that used to stop me every time I dreamed about this. That was the whole yes.
Where we're going: Kotor, Montenegro
We're doing a three-month cohort in Kotor, Montenegro, starting in September. Kotor sits on a stunning bay with mountains dropping straight into the sea and a tiny medieval old town you can walk across in ten minutes. Everything in the Boundless Life setup there is close together, which is exactly what I wanted.
On the visa side, this part is easier than people expect. We're Canadian, and Canadians can stay in Montenegro for up to 90 days without a visa (the same is true for US passport holders). A three-month cohort fits neatly inside that window, so there's no complicated paperwork. You just register locally when you arrive, which your accommodation typically handles for you.
Why Montenegro?
A lot of you asked why we picked Montenegro out of all the Boundless locations, so here's the honest answer.
We've never spent real time in this part of Europe, and we've wanted to explore the Balkans for years. Kotor's bay, the mountains, the tiny old town... it felt like a magical place to spend a few months.
It's also more affordable than Western Europe. For a three-month stay with a whole family, our money stretching further really matters.
And here's a slightly nerdy one. For most people this won't matter, but my work involves a lot of travel. Most of Western Europe shares one visa limit, 90 days out of every 180, and Montenegro sits outside that zone. So our three months here doesn't use up any of that allowance. I didn't want to run into issues if we needed to spend more time in Europe within those 180 days, and this keeps those days free.
What about school? Inside Boundless Education
This was my very first question too, so I dug in pretty hard to research this part.
The kids attend the Boundless education center Monday through Friday, roughly 8:45 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. The approach is Reggio Emilia and Montessori inspired with a big focus on project-based, hands-on learning, and you can read more about the education model here. Classes are small and grouped by age, so kids get real attention.
What I love is how much of the learning is tied to where you actually are. In Kotor that means studying marine life by exploring the bay, visiting the old town, and meeting local experts, not just reading about it in a workbook. There are educational field trips built in every couple of weeks. There are also optional after-school activities run by local instructors, which is a fun way for the kids to plug into the culture. In Kotor, sailing on the bay is one of the standout options, and the lineup rotates each cohort with other local sports and activities.
One of the questions I've gotten a lot: do the kids just go back to normal school at home when you come back? For us, yes. This is a three-month season, and our kids can slot right back into their regular school afterward. Boundless keeps a digital portfolio for each child, so there's a record of everything they've done. That said, every home country and school district is different, so you'll want to check with yours. We're in Ontario, Canada, and our public school has been really supportive of us doing this.
The program is built for kids from 18 months up to 14 years old, grouped into small classes by age. The exact age cutoff depends on the cohort and location (three-month cohorts like ours in Kotor lean toward the younger ages), so it's worth a quick check on the one you're eyeing.
Where you'll live: Boundless Homes
Boundless provides your housing. It's a fully furnished home, chosen to be within walking distance of both the education center and the coworking space. Utilities and high speed internet are included, along with a weekly clean. The kitchen comes stocked with the basics, and airport or port transfers are part of the deal.
Some of the apartments are also right on top of the education center. From what I've heard, families in those buildings basically leave their doors open in the evenings and the kids run back and forth between them.
You show up with your suitcases and just plug into a life that's already set up. After last summer, that alone felt like magic.
Working remotely from abroad
My husband and I are both keeping our jobs and running our businesses remotely. We're simply doing our work from Montenegro instead of from home.
While the kids are at the education center, parents work from a dedicated coworking hub with fast, reliable internet and quiet space to focus. It's included in the program, and it's a big reason this feels sustainable instead of like a three-month vacation we'd have to pay for by not working.
The Boundless community
This is honestly the part I'm most excited about, and from what I've heard from other families, it's the biggest difference maker with Boundless. If you've ever tried to make friends in a brand new country from scratch, you know it's the hardest part, and this basically removes it.
A whole cohort of families arrives at the same time. There's a pre-arrival webinar and a community platform before you even land, then weekly activities, social gatherings, and family events once you're there. From everything I've read from families who've done Kotor specifically, friendships start on day one, and the kids have built-in playmates immediately.
How much does Boundless Life cost?
I want to be transparent here, because it's a real investment and I don't think it helps anyone to be vague about that.
Boundless uses an all-in-one pricing model. One fee covers:
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Your fully furnished housing and utilities
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The kids' education (weekday tuition, meals, and biweekly field trips)
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The coworking space
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The community and local events
Because it bundles so much, the number depends heavily on the location, how many kids you have, the size of home you choose, and the time of year.
To give you a real sense of it: for a family with everything bundled in, our Kotor cohort lands somewhere in the range of €3,000 to €5,000 a month, depending on the location, the season, and your apartment size. Costs vary, but most family cohorts fall in a similar range.
The most accurate way to see your own number is the Boundless pricing calculator, where you can plug in your family, dates, and apartment size. If you decide to look into it, my referral link gets you €400 off any cohort or summer camp.
FAQ: your Boundless Life questions, answered
- Will the kids learn the local language? The education is in English, so the school doesn't formally teach the local language. Instead they immerse the kids in the local culture.
- Do you keep your house back home? Yes, we're keeping ours, and we might rent it out to friends of ours while they renovate their own home. Some families rent theirs out or do a home exchange while they're away, but for us this is a season, not a goodbye.
- Can you still travel on weekends? Yes. School runs Monday to Friday and there's a one-week break in the middle of the cohort, so weekends are ours. Montenegro sits right in the heart of the Balkans, so we're planning to visit Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania, plus either Slovenia, Romania, or Poland. Boundless actually encourages you to get out and explore.
- What's the difference between a cohort and a summer camp? Cohorts are the core program, about three months, with full schooling. Summer camps are shorter, usually three to four weeks, and lean more toward activities and fun. A summer camp is a great low-commitment way to test the whole thing before you book a full cohort.
- How do you actually work from another country? If your job is remote or you run your own business, it usually comes down to clearing it with your employer and having reliable internet, which the co-working hub covers. We both work remotely, so we're just bringing our work with us.
- Do you need a special visa? Not for us. As Canadians we can stay in Montenegro for up to 90 days without a visa, and a three-month cohort fits inside that window.
How to learn more (and get €400 off)
If you've read this far, you're at least a little bit curious, then YAY!
If you want the full details on the program, use my referral link, which gets you €400 off any cohort or camp and connects you with a parent rep who can answer everything. You can also head straight to their pricing calculator to see what it would look like for your own family.
I'll be sharing all of it as we go, the magic and the mess. If this has been living rent free in your head, this might be your sign.
