Suzy
Have you ever dreamed of experiencing island life while giving your kids a truly immersive, place-based education? Today we're joined by Joanne Paul, founder of Ileo, a worldschooling hub based on the vibrant Caribbean island of Curaçao.
Joanne shares her journey navigating multicultural family life, the magic of raising multilingual kids, and how partnering with local institutions like the Curaçao Children's Museum creates authentic community integration for traveling families. If you're curious about seasonal cohorts, slow travel logistics, and place-based learning in the tropics, you won't want to miss this conversation.
Welcome to the Wander Worldschool Podcast. I'm Suzy, a travel-loving money nerd, mom of two, and our family lives between Spain, Colorado, and soon, Japan. On this show, we discuss the stories, logistics, and finances of traveling families and the many ways to learn along the way.
Today we get to know Joanne Paul. Welcome to the show. Please tell me more about you and your family and where you're calling in from today.
Joanne
My name is Joanne Paul. I am currently in Chicago at this moment, but I am in between Curaçao and Chicago.
My company's name is Ileo, and it's a place-based ecosystem for families who want to visit Curaçao.
Suzy
Which I am really excited to get into because I've heard many great things about this beautiful island. And you can give us all the information so that people are going to want to come participate in Ileo there. But before we jump into more about your program, let's get to know a little bit more about you and where the curiosity for travel for you originated.
Joanne
I think I have to go back way back. I am Haitian American. I was born in the US, but I kinda bounced back between Haiti and the US. So I never really felt like there was one place I could call home.
I was saying to someone the other day that my life is almost like an abstract puzzle. It doesn't look like it fits together, but once you put the pieces together, the big picture makes all the sense.
Suzy
That is a great visual.
I relate to that because I feel like I have interests that fit with certain groups here and there, but then not always with everything. I just pull in a lot of different resources and things I'm interested in. So you're right. Once it all comes together, it all makes sense. I love that.
What about your travel and language journey as you were growing up? What did that look like?
Joanne
Yeah, so I lived in Haiti between the ages of seven and fourteen, and then I moved back to the US. In Haiti, we speak Haitian Creole, which is a mix of French primarily, a little bit of African dialect, and then a little bit of Spanish in there. And then I would say in the more modern version of it, you will also hear a little bit of English. And then the second official language in Haiti is French. So I grew up speaking those languages. And then I was in one of the international American schools on the island, so the education part was always in English, but at home we spoke Creole and French. And also, for anyone who knows the island of Hispaniola, our neighboring country is the Dominican Republic. So Spanish was also around.
I think that base of being in Haiti and listening to and hearing multiple languages on a daily basis has really helped me when I began traveling by myself and now with my two beautiful children, who are multicultural as well.
Suzy
Tell me a little more about your family—with the ages of your kids, and you have other languages also in your family too, right?
Joanne
Yes, my kids are half Russian, and so right now they are fluent in Russian and English, and we're working on putting in the French and Haitian Creole. I started with the Russian just because their father doesn't have any family here or in Curaçao. So we kinda wanted to focus on that language first. But there is a nice group of Eastern European community here in Chicago and the northern suburbs.
My favorite story is there is one Eastern European mom who saw me at a mutual friend's birthday party, and she asked for my phone number and for us to do a playdate with her son. But the catch is she spoke zero, zero English. So we did the playdate, and the first month we were just Google Translating together, but now she's one of my best friends.
Even if there's a bit of a language barrier, if you really want to make it work, you can make it work. It just started with her saying, "Hey, okay, I don't speak English, but can we still be friends?" And I was like, "Yes, and my daughter will have a Russian-speaking buddy."
It's a win-win situation, and I speak basic, basic Russian.
From having her around, she was able to learn from me when it comes to English, and I was able to learn from her for my kids. I really, really nourish that side of them because on my side, we're Haitian and I have family visiting all the time. So by default, they're around a lot of these languages that are spoken from my side. But on their father's side, we kind of had to put in a little bit more effort, but it's a learning process and I'm loving it.
Suzy
That's a beautiful story. And it shows that you're right, we can overcome language barriers sometimes, especially for our kids. And also that kids can be a connection with other families. And this is where I love traveling with kids: other parents are always looking for those connections as well.
And it's worth overcoming some of those initial barriers because of the value that it provides for your children.
How old are your kids again, and when did the travel begin?
Joanne
My daughter Valentina, she's five years old, and my son, Sebastian, he is three. I think you were gonna ask when did my travels begin?
When she was a year and a half, we did a trip to the DR for a few weeks in Las Terrenas. I really liked it there, and that was the first time in a long time I really missed home and my Caribbean roots. I was really looking to go back. So when my son was born the following year—I think he was only like four months old—I was looking for a place with the intention of like: okay, I need a place that makes me feel welcome as a Haitian woman, as well as a place that is multilingual and multicultural for my kids to be around, and as well as they are mixed kids and I want them to see themselves in the world.
By doing the research, I just stumbled upon Curaçao and I was like, "Oh my gosh, this place is so beautiful. This seems too good to be true, so I need to check it out."
And then we decided to take the risk of going to Curaçao for three months. I just fell in love with the culture and the welcoming nature of the community down there. The locals are super, super sweet. Speaking of sweet, when you're down in Curaçao, you will hear "dushi" a lot. It's a word to kind of welcome you, and they will say, "Dushi, do you need this? Dushi, do you need that?" And so if somebody's down there and they say dushi, they really, really like you.
Suzy
I like that.
Joanne
Every year—because we do live in the north suburbs of Chicago and it's very cold in the winter, and this island girl cannot survive the whole winter—every year since then, we've been going to Curaçao.
That is kind of what led me to Ileo, but we'll talk about that in a few.
Suzy
Thank you for walking us through that journey. Everyone has something unique that they're looking for in the locations they travel to. And I love to hear a story where you found a place that feels like home.
No place is perfect, but at the same time, it's great to have a place that you can go to and get the things that you're looking for that maybe Chicago doesn't provide, like the island life, right?
Joanne
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Suzy
Let's talk a little more about what education or schooling or learning is from your philosophy, and also maybe how that's played a role with Ileo.
Joanne
Well, I did three years working at a high school that I actually graduated from in the north suburbs of Chicago, and I worked there as a TA in special education. That journey really helped me to meet kids or people where they're at education-wise. That kind of influenced me to think, "Hm, I think I want to homeschool my kids to meet them where they're at when it comes to their education and learning style as well."
My daughter is a very focused girl, and she'll sit there for like an hour and do everything. She just loves it, or she can draw, and she's very studious. Whereas my son learns more with activities. Because my daughter was born first, I went through the process of teaching her first, and I could put cards in front of her and she'd sit there and repeat it. Whereas my son, after the third one, he's like, "I'm done." So I was trying to figure out how I could make it work for him, and I realized just putting the cards on the floor and having him jump on them—like jump on 'A', jump on 'B'—and then within a week he learned his whole alphabet! Whereas before, trying to teach him the same way that I taught my daughter kind of stagnated his growth in some ways. But remembering that process of meeting them where they're at made all the difference.
Suzy
You do see how different each kid can be and the value of being able to offer that more individualized attention or, like you've shared, your place-based learning through travel. Share with me a little more about what that has looked like for your family, especially when you do spend time in Curaçao.
Joanne
I like place-based learning in the sense of learning about the culture itself of Curaçao and immersing myself and my family into the culture. Part of that, too, is getting to know the locals and not being in an expat bubble per se.
So that's one of the things that I've been really, really conscious of doing with my family, as well as building Ileo and putting that kind of perspective and difference inside of the hub.
Suzy
And share with me a little more about what Curaçao is like.
Joanne
It's a tiny island. You can get from one side to the other within, I think, three hours. It has a very small population, I think under two hundred thousand. But it is very communal, and everyone is very welcoming and very open to teaching you about their culture. They pride themselves on being multicultural and welcoming people in.
I remember when I did the first post about Ileo, I got beautiful messages from the natives there that said, "Thank you for bringing a spotlight to Curaçao and creating something where other families and other people can come in and experience our culture and stuff." So that is very beautiful. I would say that that's part of the essence of Curaçao: welcoming, very, very welcoming.
Suzy
I love that there's a community that wants people to come visit. They want to welcome them in.
Joanne
Yeah.
Suzy
That's certainly helpful as a traveling family to know that I'm going somewhere that is going to be happy that we're there and learning their community and their culture.
Joanne
Yeah.
Suzy
And that's why I love slow travel, too: we have more time to integrate a little bit.
Tell me a little more about what the other languages are in Curaçao. And then also, if someone is an English-speaking family, can they get around really easily on Curaçao?
Joanne
I'll start with the English. Yes, definitely, because there are four main languages spoken there: Papiamento, Dutch, Spanish, and English. So almost everywhere you go, English is being spoken. And it's kinda cool: there's a place called the Floating Market where a lot of Venezuelan vendors come with fruits and vegetables. It's very cool to interact with them because they can switch between all four languages in a heartbeat.
Like my children's nanny—sometimes she says, "In my brain, I have to switch today. I have to switch because I started talking to you in Dutch, but I know that you only speak English." But with Papiamento, if you do speak Spanish, you will understand a good bit of it, and also you'll be able to read a lot of it because it has that Latin base. In Spanish you would say casa, and in Papiamento they just say kas. So there's a bit of Spanish in there; you can hear it, but it's slightly different.
Suzy
I love to hear how people are able to switch between languages and really use language as a way to connect.
And what is the weather like in Curaçao?
Joanne
It's eighty degrees year-round and it's not in the hurricane belt, so you don't get those heavy, heavy rains or hurricanes that the other neighboring islands get, so it's perfect.
Suzy
That sounds delightful.
And share with me a little more about what prompted you to start Ileo and what the worldschooling hub looks like as well.
Joanne
I think it's, one, the experience of being on an island where I feel welcome within my culture and also my kids being able to see themselves in so many different ways within the culture as well.
So that aspect of feeling part of the community and being welcomed—I was like, this could be something for other families. I've been doing this on my own for the past four years, and I know how lonely traveling can be. As much as I'm integrating with the local population as much as I can, I'm still a bit of an outsider coming in. So it would be good to have someone that has like-minded experiences as me.
I have met a few families that did the same thing—coming to Curaçao and staying there for one, two, three months at a time. And some of them are my very good friends now.
I was like, "There isn't a hub in Curaçao yet. Why not be the one that starts this?" And I didn't have any experience in it. At first it sounded like a crazy idea, but I did a lot of research on worldschooling hubs and I started drafting all of my ideas, putting them together, and being gutsy enough to send out proposals to a lot of the big local partners that are now my partners—kind of like the Children's Museum that I partnered with. I was just like, "There's no way they're gonna accept to partner with me. I don't have anything; it's just an idea." And they were like, "No, that's an awesome idea. Let's do this. Let's see how we can work it out." And now the Children's Museum is officially the learning center of Ileo.
It's been a very great journey so far, partnering with everyone locally. I wanted to make sure that I gave back to this island that has made me feel welcome, and also not just do something on my own, but pull them in and integrate them into Ileo and make them the core foundation of what Ileo stands for. So for housing, I partner with local management companies; for the educational part, the Children's Museum on the island; coworking spaces as well; and all the workshops that we will be doing for the families are with local businesses there. So it's been quite a beautiful journey so far.
Suzy
I love it. And what a great backdrop for the education center to be at the Children's Museum! I mean, the learning opportunities, the play opportunities—I love that.
Joanne
They have so many interactive rooms inside of the Children's Museum, and it's just perfect.
We start the day with free play, and then after that, we have a local facilitator that kinda takes over. But what I do like about the Children's Museum is they have interactive areas that mirror the island. So when I talked to you about the Floating Market, they have a room with a boat with fruits and vegetables on there so the kids can experience that within that room, put items in shopping carts, and pretend that they're doing their own shopping. I think that's a good touch.
Suzy
That's great, too—bringing the community and the culture outside into the Children's Museum.
Tell me a little more about what a typical day or a typical week looks like for a kiddo participating.
Joanne
Monday to Thursday, we typically stay at the Children's Museum, and it runs from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The area that the families will be staying in is Punda, the central part of Curaçao. Everything there is walking distance to the Floating Market and the Queen Emma Bridge, which is known as the floating bridge. It opens up, and you can be on the bridge when it opens to let cargo or boats pass—it's pretty cool. Or if you don't want to stay on it for too long, there is a ferry that can take you from the Punda side to the Otrobanda side.
Families stay there, and in the morning, there is a bus that picks up the kids around 7:45 AM and takes them to the Children's Museum. They will stay there until 2:00 PM. We start the day, like I said, with free play, allowing the kids to kind of relax and be themselves, and then we do circle time to check in with all the kids individually as well as in a group before we start the day.
Then there are monthly themes that go with learning. We include STEM, which has literature and engineering. We have a "Build It" section that is engineering as well, and we go outside. The Children's Museum has a beautiful outdoor nature section that has interactive play where you can take water from a small well, and we have projects during the day as well.
Then once a week, which is every Friday, we take the kids to different parts of the island to learn about the island or to a museum. My kids' favorite place to go is the ostrich farm. You learn about a lot of the ostriches on the island—they're African ostriches that were brought to the island—and the kids learn about them, feed the ostriches, and hold an ostrich egg. And then at the end, if families are comfortable with that (my kids loved it!), you can have lunch at the restaurant as well and taste an ostrich egg or have an ostrich taco. That's a pretty cool experience for the kids to have.
So it's a very fun, very interactive, very immersive program.
I'm just very grateful, like I said, to the Children's Museum staff who really have put in the work to help make this possible, and all the local team as well that is helping make all of this possible.
Suzy
It's very place-based to have the museum that brings in the local area, culture, and activities, but then to utilize the opportunities on the island on those Friday excursions—that's a great way to go out into the community as well. I'm looking at the map while we're chatting, and there is a lot to do on this small island. And the setup is really unique around the harbor—really interesting.
Joanne
Yep.
And for families on the weekend, there's scuba diving that you can do, swimming lessons for the kids, and so many excursions that involve water. We have add-on programs for kids, like judo. My daughter loves doing judo when she's on the island. So we will offer some of that as add-ons if parents want to do that too.
Suzy
Share with me what the schedule will look like coming up. I know I will link the exact cohorts in the show notes, but what are the timeframes that families could participate in? What size do you think the cohorts will end up being?
Joanne
The scheduling is seasonal. We actually had a trial in March with a few families that were living on the island—they're expats who came originally from Canada, Venezuela, Cuba, and the Netherlands. They did a trial at the Children's Museum, and they absolutely loved it. We did a ranger theme where they built badges and had to go explore outside to find little treasures in nature. I remember one kid was like, "I found a heart leaf!" and all the other children were super excited: "Oh my gosh, that's super cool!"
It was a beautiful, beautiful day. That trial kind of helped us understand how we want to structure the program, and the families and kids were so gracious to try it out. I'm very grateful for that.
Our official first cohort will be in the fall, and families will have the option to stay for 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days if they like. Then we have a more flexible discovery program that is in December. That one is very flexible because it's during the holidays, so if a family wants to just dip their feet in, visit the island, or learn more about what we're doing—whatever the reason, even if it's for a holiday and you need a place for your kids to be during the day—we're here. For that one, parents can come for a week, two weeks, three weeks, or the whole month of December if they like.
Then we have the winter cohort that will be in 2027, the spring, and then a couple of camps that are about two weeks—one in July and one in August. And then we'll see what the future holds.
Suzy
What does your vision for Ileo look like?
Joanne
The name Ileo comes from île, the French word for island, and o for global. My goal and future hope is to expand it. Right now, my goal is to expand it to the ABC islands—Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao—and then after that, we'll see.
One of the questions that I did not answer earlier was the size of the cohort: we welcome six to ten families at a time for each cohort, just so it can be more communal and we can help the families integrate with the local people on the island as well. So we're keeping it consciously small for now. We'll see what the future holds.
Suzy
That's a great way to give attention to the families, make sure that they're having a great experience, and then build and grow from there. I love hearing about your future vision; I think it's really exciting to think about linking up the different ABC islands as an opportunity.
From a visa standpoint, if people have US, European, or Canadian passports, how many days can they stay in Curaçao at a time?
Joanne
I know for the US for sure, you can stay up to 183 days. We do cohorts up to 90 days, so you're fine. There is just an digital immigration entry card to fill out, and it's no fee, no cost.
Suzy
So you've picked a beautiful island that resonates with you and your culture and your heritage, but also has this international feel and kid-friendly opportunities, and you're putting on these amazing cohorts. However, I know that not everything is always easy and smooth. What are some of the difficult or challenging parts—either about your traveling lifestyle or about getting this hub up and running? And then, of course, we'll talk about the wins as well.
Joanne
For me, the most challenging, realistic part is just navigating having two little ones. It's never easy. Putting early work into this project that can potentially be big in helping other families experience the culture—while also being very conscious as a homeschooler to prioritize my kids' time—as a mom, that's been the most challenging part: being a businesswoman plus being a mother. Plus, my kids are actually working models signed to an agency, so we're also bouncing back and forth with photoshoots all the time.
I really like that when I'm on the island going to meetings, my kids can be at a nearby playground. One of the most beautiful things about Curaçao is that there are playgrounds everywhere, even at some of the restaurants. So if you're having dinner with friends or taking a meeting, your kids can be within eyesight and you can see them playing. And we have a nanny there who isn't even just a nanny anymore—she's part of the family.
All those little things have helped me focus on the positive, and it's great for my kids to see me balancing that because I'm raising a young daughter as well. I want her to know that if you put your mind to anything, you can do it. The sky is the limit.
Suzy
That's great. Would you say that is your win, or is there anything else you'd like to add?
Joanne
The win is being able to do something where I can involve my kids, because my kids are going to be part of the cohorts, so families will meet Valentina and Sebastian on a daily basis. Being able to create something that my kids can be a part of, and being able to go to meetings without being too far from them—while also getting just enough space to pursue my own passion—is priceless to me.
Suzy
Perfect. I love that.
This has been so great. Let's wrap up with a few fun lightning-round questions just to get to know you a little bit better. What are three countries that you would love to visit or live in? Just three.
Joanne
I think any country on the continent of Africa, where I haven't been yet. I would say mostly West Africa, just because most of my best friends are from there: Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana.
Suzy
Very cool. You'll have to put those on your travel list for when the kids are a little older as well.
Joanne
For sure, for sure.
Suzy
What is the best and worst food that you've ever tried?
Joanne
I'm very open to food, so I'm not gonna say "worst." It might not be to my taste, but that's okay. For me, Haitian food is underrated; I think everybody should try it. The flavor of island spice, as well as the French influence within the presentation and the flavors, is unmatched. If you have a Haitian friend, try it out and let me know.
Suzy
It sounds like a delicious combination.
What is a typical dish that, if someone had an opportunity to try, they should start with?
Joanne
We're very big on rice, but the rice is very creative. We have a black rice that is made out of black mushrooms—Diri ak Djon Djon. It's a black rice mixed with mushrooms. Oh my god, that is really good. And then we do rice and beans. If you are familiar with Mexican food, we have beans blended with white rice, so we have a beautiful variety of different rices you can pair with different meats.
It's a Caribbean country, and Haiti is also Afro-Latino, so if you're familiar with tostones (fried plantains), you will like bannann peze. And if you're familiar with empanadas, we have something similar called pâté. With that French influence, the pâté is in a flaky croissant-like crust, and it's just heavenly. So if I ever get to meet you, I will for sure get you some pâté.
Suzy
Sounds delicious! I am so hungry right now; you've described some amazing meals. I'll definitely have to check it out.
This has been great. Where can people learn more about you, Ileo, and upcoming cohorts and opportunities to participate in Curaçao?
Joanne
The best place to learn about Ileo is on social media at ileo.life and on our website: ileo.life.
Suzy
Perfect. I'll link that in the show notes so people can check it out. I love what you're creating here; it'll be fun to catch up in the future and see how things develop. And especially as you expand to more islands, we'll keep spreading the news about your opportunities.
This has been so delightful. Thanks for sharing with me!
Joanne
Thank you for having me today. I'm really grateful.
