Take “schooling” With Your Family
This pandemic was full of difficult moments, but there were also pleasant, silver-lined walks. I try to keep to those enjoyable walks, but for parents staring at the barrel of an entire academic year of distance learning, even silver linings can seem darn dull right now. Enter “Schoolcation”.
In 2020, everything will be fine, including creating new words by mixing two previously unrelated words: school and vacation. And that’s basically exactly what it sounds like. If they can study at home, why can’t they study with Pocono, Yellowstone, or damn tropical resorts? They can (maybe within reason).
School is not for everyone. To achieve this, a couple of things need to be true: it needs to fit your own employment situation, does that mean you have days off to use, or you can work remotely with your kids and you need the current ones. financial opportunities. means to really be able to go. You should also consider the potential risks associated with where you travel, how you travel, and whether you are from a hot spot and are more likely to bring the virus with you. We cannot forget the reason why we were all stuck at home to begin with, and there are varying degrees of risk with everything we do now, including our travel choices.
However, families are looking into this trend. Renowned resorts such as the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort are starting to take advantage of this opportunity by selling school packages that include supervised distance learning and fun ‘break’ options. If you’re interested, the Washington Post details how the Four Seasons program works:
Guests staying overnight can send their child to school under supervision in an environment that promises natural light, private terraces and ample physical distance between desks (a maximum of six children are allowed per class).
From Monday to Friday, you can choose a half-day or full-day schedule: $ 50 from 9 am to noon, or $ 100 from 9 am [to] 3 pm. This includes lunch, which students order from the set menu, as you know. like at school. An additional enrichment period is also available at noon to make room for arts and crafts or exercise.
The Kids for All Seasons team will keep an eye on your child’s e-learning so you can do your own remote work (or forget the chaos of 2020 as you float down the resort’s lazy river).
At over $ 500 a night, this option probably won’t work for most families, but perhaps a private Airbnb cabin in the mountains a few hours away from budget and your COVID comfort level, as well as a change of scenery. you need everything.
Travel advisor Jen Campbell Bowles writes for Scary Mommy that she, her husband, and two children have moved west from their home in North Carolina. Within a month, they visited Gateway Arc National Park, Badlands National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Titons National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park.
While I have always had a desire to see the national parks in the west, I never thought of it as a vacation. This is why the opportunity to work and study in the large parks in the west was so attractive. We were able to see most of the country without spending too many vacation days.
If you are going to plan your own schooling, there are a few questions to consider and decide first.
Make sure it’s possible with your work schedule
If you will be working remotely from your destination rather than from home, you should be in charge of this by your boss. It might seem like there is no difference between running Wi-Fi at a resort and in a home office, but you’ll still want to get the go-ahead to make sure there are no rules that keep you tied to your city. (Plus, in three weeks there won’t be some big personal meeting that no one has told you about yet. You don’t have to say, “Sorry, I can’t come; I’m in the Great Wolf Lodge with my family.”
You will also want to think about how time zones might affect working time versus vacation time . You need to call ahead to make sure your host has working Wi-Fi (and think through your Plan B if it goes down). And you should consider what attractions you want to visit and whether your weekends and opening hours would be the best time to visit them, given how early the sun sets or how crowded certain locations are on weekends.
Also, don’t push too much. This is not your typical weeklong vacation where you want to squeeze in as much fun as possible. You are still working and studying, so you cannot give up your usual bedtime and still be able to function during the day. It’s not about adding more stress to your life, it’s about taking a break from the monotony.
Check your local COVID regulations
As Bowles points out , different states, cities and communities have different rules and regulations regarding COVID-19. Businesses operate with different levels of restrictions (or none at all). Face masks are required in some areas but optional in others. And some states, she said, require a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arrival:
New Mexico requires all out-of-state visitors to be quarantined for fourteen days upon arrival. Most people will not want to pay to stay where they cannot leave their home for two weeks. New Mexico is one of the states I’m most interested in, but we had to skip it due to quarantine regulations.
Travel Safely
If you are attending school during a pandemic, try to travel as safely as possible. This includes wearing masks indoors and outdoors with other people – and only going to places that are required for others to do the same.
Choose rides where you can stay away from other visitors, in particular as much outdoors as possible. Choose spaces that offer private access to your apartment or where you can limit your time in public areas such as lobbies or elevators.
Finally, remember that there is no completely safe way to travel right now; there is only safer .