summer vacation during pandemic essay

Taking A Vacation During A Pandemic: What It’s Like And Did It Feel Safe?

I'm pleased to say my family just took a vacation during a pandemic and survived. With two young children, it wasn't exactly a relaxing vacation. It was more like a trip or a business writing retreat . Regardless of what you want to call our trip, I wanted to share some feedback.

When the lockdown began in March 2020, I made a promise that I would try and live our lives as normally as possible. I didn't want to let a pandemic defeat us. So this philosophy included taking a safe family vacation.

After it was clear that San Francisco had flattened the curve, we decided to drive up to our place in Lake Tahoe and stay for a week in October. We figured the timing was good because more students were back in school and families had taken their summer vacations before Labor Day.

Taking A Vacation During A Pandemic

Transportation options.

The key catalyst for taking a vacation during a pandemic was being able to drive to our vacation destination. We didn't want to take a flight and go through the potential lines and the crowds at the airport.

Although all my friends who have taken flights during the pandemic said it's been great, we just didn't have anywhere better to fly to than driving to Lake Tahoe or Napa Valley.

Hawaii is on our vacation list, but we're still waiting for the state to work out its rapid-testing kinks before going. If we didn't get tested and submit negative COVID results, we would have had to stay in Hawaii for 14 days of mandatory quarantine and not be able to fly home until getting cleared. Not the worst thing in the world. However, we had our daughter's doctor appointment the following week and we just wanted to keep things simple. Oh, and I still can’t get over the brain swab.

Before driving, I was worried whether my car, a SUV, would be big enough to fit two or three adults, a 3.5-year-old, a 10-month old and all our gear. As a result, I began researching SUVs with third-row seating and minivans.

But surprisingly, everything fit! My rear windshield had plenty of visibility. We could have packed two or three more bags if we wanted to. Therefore, I plan on keeping my car for as long as we only have two kids.

It is so much easier packing a car full of stuff than bringing a bunch of stuff to the airport and on a plane. When you've got a baby, you've got to pack a stroller, lots of diapers, wipes, medicines, baby food, portable high chair, and a portable crib. Baby gear adds up fast.

Driving Safety Concerns

Besides being able to fit all our stuff in my car, the other thing I was anxious about was driving all of us safely to our destination. My entire family's lives were in my hands. Although I've driven to Tahoe at least 60 times over the years, I still felt a little nervous driving.

I drank a Diet Mountain Dew to keep me alert and listened to four podcast episodes. Thankfully, everything went smoothly on the 3.15-hour drive.

Our son slept for two hours and our daughter slept for 30 minutes on the way there. She sometimes woke our son up with her occassional squeals, but that was it. On the way back, both kids slept for about 1.5 hours. We left both times around 11am to try and match their nap times.

Accommodations

Back in 2007, I bought a 1,025 sqft, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium. The place has one king, two queens, and a pull-out queen. I had always imagined one day bringing a family of up to two kids, and now I have! Below is the layout of our place.

We're fortunate to have relatively a lot of space at a resort. Usually, a family of four would all try to cram into one room or rent a suite with two rooms.

However, curiously enough, I felt we could have used one more room. Before we had kids, the place felt massive. Therefore, we often just stayed in the one-bedroom portion and rented out the studio portion on the right.

Now with two kids, the place feels pretty cozy because it's much smaller than our primary residence. We used every square inch of the place. If I could snap my fingers, I would remove one of the queen beds so that my kids could have more space to crawl and run around.

Vacation Property Advice

For those of you looking to buy a vacation property, I would be careful of buying a property to fit a potential family way out in the future. You might never have kids or you might have a ton of kids . You might also get a divorce. Your tastes will probably also change as well.

We're lucky that my wife and I are still together and we're still living in San Francisco. We could easily be living somewhere else given we both don’t have jobs. Further, we are fortunate to have exactly the number of kids I thought about having back in 2007.

However, our tastes and our wealth are different from 2007. I've said in the past that I think buying a vacation home is a bad investment . You likely won't use the property as much as you think you will. If I could rewind time, I would have just rented. Today, if we were forced to buy a vacation property, we would buy a single family home with a pool and a hot tub. Perhaps in the next life.

Once both our kids are over five years old, I think our vacation property will be just right again. The kids shouldn't be waking us up at night anymore and each can sleep on their own beds in the studio. The living room area will be kept as common space.

Related: A Vacation Property Buying Rule To Follow

Activities During A Pandemic

The main heated pool and kiddie pool were open. However, the water slide and the three hot tubs were all closed due to the coronavirus and the need for social distancing. I was really bummed to learn about the hot tubs being closed after I had made our reservation. Hot tubbing with a beverage is my absolute favorite activity.

It's also nice to wade around in the pool first with the kids and then warm up in the hot tub. The outside air temperature averaged 74 degrees during the day, so it was warm, but not warm enough to not feel the chill once you got out of the pool.

On average, there were two kids in the big pool at a time. One day, there wasn't anybody at the pool except for us. We were told the overall hotel occupancy was only 18% on average that week.

Other things being closed included the playground close by to the Resort, which was odd since the playgrounds had just opened in more densely populated San Francisco.

Further, many of the restaurants at our Resort and nearby were shut down during the weekdays due to low occupancy. Therefore, we were stuck eating pub food every night which got old after the second night.

Our favorite activity was taking our kids on their first hikes. My wife carried our daughter in a front carrier and I held my boy's hand as we went up Eagle Rock to get a great view of the lake. These are the memories we live for.

The gym was open, but I didn't go. The spa was closed, but we wouldn't have gone anyway with two kids.

Safety From The Virus

The biggest concern about a vacation during a pandemic is whether you will feel safe from the coronavirus.

When we arrived at the Resort, there was a hand sanitizing station, which we all used. Then we found hand sanitizing stations all throughout the Resort. There were also glass shields at check-in.

Before booking your vacation, definitely call and check what type of occupancy and safety protocols they have in place.

Because the Resort occupancy was so low, we never bumped into anybody or had to wait for another elevator. Our property also had a sticker on the door that said it was thoroughly sanitized. That felt good.

There weren't any valets, which was preferred. I just parked my car in one of the empty spots out front. This was much more efficient than handing over my keys, getting a ticket, calling the valet when I needed my car, and waiting.

Overall, we felt very safe at the Resort. Wearing a mask in public areas felt good enough. When we were outside of our property on our hikes, we also felt safe, despite most hikers not wearing masks. There just weren't enough people on the trails to feel in danger.

One time, I left our place in a rush to meet my kids at the pool and forgot my mask. It felt so freeing, like the good old days. Good thing I didn't run into anybody. But if I did, I would have just raised my shirt over my mouth and nose.

Related: The Cost Of A Family Ski Vacation

Vacationing During A Pandemic Is Just OK

I would say we got 70% of the normal experience while vacationing during a pandemic. We strategically arrived on a Monday and left on a Friday. But that's what we normally do to avoid crowds.

It was too bad some of the amenities were closed. The lack of food options was also a bummer, especially since we were looking forward to eating pastries at this one store and an amazing vodka bolognese at another restaurant.

But the real issue that negatively affected our vacation was bringing our 3.5-year-old and 10-month-old. Neither slept well because they were either too excited or too uncomfortable in a new environment. As a result, my wife and I didn't sleep well either. Babies need consistency. My boy missed his bed and all his stuffed animal buddies.

We also worried more about our kids' safety given they are constantly touching everything. Seeing your kid constantly running, not walking around the pool is also stressful.

For our next vacation, we plan to rent a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with at least 1,500 square feet of space. Getting some child care help would be great too so my wife and I can get some time to relax.

Staycations Are The Way To Go

What I realized from this family vacation is that our home in San Francisco feels like a vacation every day. We just didn’t fully appreciate it until we left!

Our home is much larger, has decks facing the ocean, is within walking distance of a hot tub, and has an inflatable pool in the backyard for hot days. Not to be trivial, but I also missed my Toto bidet. Further, San Francisco has incredible food delivery options and I get to play tennis and softball.

It really is worth buying or renting a nicer home during a pandemic . We spend so much more time at home now that a nice primary residence goes a much longer way. If there is a second nationwide lockdown, you'll be enjoying your time more as well.

Staycations really might be the way to go! Not only do you save money, you don’t have to pack up and risk getting into an accident during transit. Oh yeah, and obviously you won’t have to worry as much about the coronavirus.

By November, San Francisco will almost be back to normal with office buildings open again. Although it’s tempting to go back up to Tahoe to show our kids the snow this winter, we plan to stay put for a while.

Vacation During A Pandemic Tips

• List out places you can drive to first. It's so much easier, especially if you have kids.
• Check occupancy and safety protocols if you are going to vacation at a resort or hotel.
• Go during low season for less people and lower rates.
• Ask what amenities are open and closed.
• Ask what are the food options so you might come better prepared with your own food.
• Since you're driving, pack personal items such as a humidifier, stuffed animals for your kids, your own pillow, and other things that make your vacation feel more like home.
• Research the top activities.
• Bring plenty of masks and portable hand sanitizer.
• Bring a portable HEPA air filter.
• Put everything on a rewards credit card. We use the Chase Freedom Unlimited card for all our expenses because we get 1.5% unlimited cash back on all spending and there's no annual fee.

Most of all, enjoy your vacation during a pandemic and give yourself a high-five for living your life!

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Fundrise currently manages over $3.5 billion for over 500,000 investors. I've invested $954,000 in private real estate funds since 2016 to diversify my investments and make more money passively. After I had children, I no longer wanted to manage as many rental properties. 

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About The Author

Financial Samurai

17 thoughts on “taking a vacation during a pandemic: what it’s like and did it feel safe”.

Hey Sam. Just noticed that your Tahoe vacation condo is no longer available for booking anytime in the near future (at least not from Vacasa’s website by following your link). Any status change there?

Weird! I updated the links to Turnkey from Vacasa, but they disappeared. Try again! https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-best-place-to-rent-a-vacation-property-in-lake-tahoe-the-resort-at-squaw-creek/

Links are at the bottom of the post. I have all three configurations.

Thanks and let me know if it works

What podcasts are you listening to?

Wow, I never thought I would disagree with you on so many things in a single post! We have a 4 and 1 year olds, and all I want to do is travel. We already had two Hawaii vacations cancelled this year, but next month’s will hopefully happen. Just booked another one for February. This will be our first flights since March, and flying somewhere where pretty much everyone got tested before getting on the plane sounds great.

We usually stay in a normal room with a king bed, sofa couch, and crib, and we all get along well. We also just did an 8 night RV trip to Glacier, and that was super fun too, although it took a couple of nights for the kids to sleep well in the RV. The RV trip was the perfect socially distanced vacation.

A staycation sounds horrible! Isn’t this entire pandemic just a long staycation?

As far as cars, we own a mini cooper countryman, and can do road trips with both kids with no problems. We did have to add a roof box for a camping trip this summer, since tent and sleeping bags add a lot of volume, but the small car works fine on general.

Anyway, this just proves that every family and all kids are different.

Which city do you live in and what is your house like?

Yeah, getting on a plane with two kids and everybody all living in one room is definitely on the low end of my desires.

It might be because my wife and I traveled so much pre kids (20 countries in 5 years) that we’re so traveled out we seek simple.

We have a spacious house in PDX with great access to the outdoors, so that’s not the problem. I guess my wife and I didn’t lose our travel bug after having kids, so we just power through the inconveniences of traveling with kids. I’m the end I really appreciate the quality time we all get together.

To be fair, I wouldn’t want to travel anywhere where we are stuck in a room together all the time either. I only consider destinations where we can spend most of the day outside doing stuff or hanging on the beach.

Cool. Let me know how the Hawaii trip goes next month as we might book one in Feb or March and rent a house for a month. Just need to coordinate doctors appointments.

I’ve been paying attention to the Hawaii Travel system very carefully. And right now there are some kinks with the submission of tests and what happens after.

Maybe the other thing is that in San Francisco, we seem to take the coronavirus a little bit more cautiously? So we aren’t as motivated to travel by plane. Our cases are very low now. How is it where you are?

So my thinking is that why not go travel to our vacation property and other vacations that are drivable for the next six months to 12 months, wait until there’s a vaccine, and then get on a plane? There’s so much to see locally.

I totally agree that this is the perfect time to do trips within driving distance, which is why we took the RV trip.

Next month we’re going to the big island, where we’ll have to do a second test upon arrival at the airport. I think that’s great, since the more thorough the testing, the safer our stay at the resort will be. Cases per 100k residents are lower there than at home, so as long as we can fly direct, I don’t consider this trip particularly risky from a covid perspective. All activities and dining will be outdoors, and we have no plans to leave the resort and go shopping etc. If we were going to Waikiki it would be a different story.

I would consider ourselves very covid cautious. Our community in Portland has universal mask acceptance, and we have very little exposure to other people day to day. This is an interesting conversation, I love seeing how other people calculate risk.

With little kids you go on trips not vacations, but it’s nice to get away from the routine.

You could always get your own Toto Washlets, they are easy to install. Then you begin to have the opposite problem that whenever you leave home to go somewhere else you miss your home toilets.

Since kids, we usually rent an apartment on Airbnb and make sure the host provides high chair, crib etc. We’ve been to Singapore, NZ, and the coast near here at the baby stage… NZ was with the baby+4 year old. We also went to Netherlands/Sweden/Finland/Japan with a 2 year old. In Japan we rented two hotel rooms…

I never understood why people would buy a holiday home unless they are there every weekend or something.

Good story as usual Sam and agree with a lot of your perspectives. Just got back from trip to Eugene Oregon where we met our daughter who stayed with us for the three nights. It was a trip to look for a possible relocation in semi retirement. The planes were clean, people were courteous, protocols galore and albeit the food options were limited and disappointing, the company together was not. We also had my daughters dog with us and never felt safer than we were. I have to say that this is eye opening that life is short and quality time is more important than chasing the fleeting dream that Covid has diminished. And yes, staycation is the ultimate with food you want to prepare, beds that are comfortable, cleanliness that you believe in, and people who are your loved ones!

Road trip! Love the pictures and glad to hear you had a fund time and made it home safe. I don’t feel comfortable getting on a plane yet, but maybe next year. Smart thinking to go travel by car and during the off peak season. Off peak travel is typically my favorite time to travel because I’m not big on crowds even pre-pandemic.

We plan on going to the Caribbean over Christmas. We feel we need to help keep these airlines, resorts, restaurants in business. If we don’t, we’ll have nothing left! We will be tested before and after and we keep our health tip-top shape to help from getting it. We did check to confirm restaurants would be open but hopefully to your point- we don’t regret our decision to go.

We went to Idaho Falls to stay with sister in law. Got to see a lot around, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Morman Row, and of course the Yellowstone National park (some of it, old faithful, grand prismatic) then moved on to LA tried a lot of cuisines and enjoyed resort style apartment in downtown LA with the other sister in law. Flew through southwest, clean planes, use hepa filters, restrooms are clean, middle seats are empty on all routes. Avoided hotels, and indoor dinning.

Went on two cabin trips since the pandemic started. We’ve been wanting to do a baby moon (expecting our first child in 3 months) but with amenities and all the great restaurants closed, it doesn’t seem worth it to get away. Plus we just purchased a home / moved from downtown Seattle, so enjoying our new home feels like a staycation!

Oh nice, congrats! Staycation For The Win! Seriously, having a home you love during a pandemic is the best thing ever. Enjoy!

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Columbia College | Columbia University in the City of New York

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“What Has Your Pandemic Experience Been Like?”

Fourteen alumni tell us how COVID-19 has shaped their lives.

I n March, when we were considering CCT’s Summer 2020 issue, we knew that we wanted to address the shockwave that had upended and overtaken all of our lives. The COVID-19 pandemic was — is — that rare event that affects everyone with ties to the College. Even as this introduction is written, its vast, global story continues to evolve, expanding and deepening in ways that resist easy comprehension.

Against this backdrop, we knew we could tell a more personal story, create a record of how the coronavirus and its many ripple effects had been experienced by our community. And so, in April and early May, we asked 14 alumni to offer a keyhole into their daily lives: What did their new routines look like? How had work changed? What had been challenging, and where were they finding their joys?

The responses were varied, shaped by age, profession, location and all the personal variables that distinguish one life from the next. And what began as a kind of time capsule became, slowly, so much more. The reflections enlarged our view beyond the walls that had all too literally been hemming us in. They invited us to exercise our empathies, take comfort in shared experiences and — with so many of us social-distanced into solitude or small groups — feel the warmth of connection.

It will be a long time before we can fully reckon with all that’s happened and is happening during this pandemic. But we are going through it together, and we hope that our contribution can help.

— The Editors

Editor-at-large, iHeartMEDIA; chief content officer at Nineteen Twenty Media

“T hough I was an English lit major at Columbia, these days I find myself immersed in the sciences, living out Einstein’s definition of insanity on the regular: watching the news, then instantly regretting it; begging/bribing/browbeating my kids to sit for home-schooling, only to surrender an hour later; channeling Alice Waters for breakfast, Chester Cheetah by lunch. Our days here at Casa Goldman (me, two grade-schoolers, one eye- rolling husband) are — wait, what day is it, again? We ditched the skim for half-and-half. We subscribed to Hulu. We pray to the broadband gods to keep our signal strong. We are, as the kids say, hashtag blessed.

“As a writer, I wrestle with a strange new tension: I have never felt more creative and yet so hard-pressed to eke out the time and focus to write. But I’ve still managed to bank a win or two. I launched a podcast called Hazmat Hotel , in which I interview interesting people about how coronavirus has upended their professions. (Hit me up if you’d like to be a guest.) I finished my one-woman show about Jim Comey. I am knee-deep in a new screenplay. In the past eight weeks, one of my boys has discovered Seinfeld, the other ‘Shark Week,’ so that Hulu subscription is basically paying for itself now. The news from Casa G is that we are all OK, hanging in and enormously grateful, thank you for asking.”

Policy analyst, NYC Mayor’s Office of Policy and Planning; volunteer coordinator, Bowman for Congress

“I work for the Office of the Mayor in New York City full-time and coordinate volunteers on Jamaal Bowman’s congressional campaign in NY-16 part-time. With local government on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis and, as I write, the June 23 primary less than two months away, I am busier than I have ever been.

“I try my best to work out a few times a week and use Friday evenings to catch up on TV shows and work on crafts. I rediscovered my pottery tools when quarantine began and ordered polymer clay and embroidery floss to make earrings. A friend recommended that I order a weaving loom to make tapestries and rugs — it just arrived, so I am going to try that this week. My roommate’s mom might drop off an old sewing machine so I can try my hand at that, too.

“Work can be a bit overwhelming, so using my hands to make things for myself, family and friends is a welcome reprieve from corona madness.”

COURTESY AMARI HAMMONDS ‘09

Associate deputy solicitor general, Office of the Solicitor General in the California Department of Justice

“W hat if I had to go about my life not knowing the next time it’d be OK to touch another person? I’m single and I live alone, so this has become an abiding question in the weeks, now months, since March 16, when the Bay Area announced its first-in-the-nation shelter-in-place order.

“I’ve learned that isolation makes the memory of my last human contact more indelible — a Kid ’n Play-inspired kickstep as my friend Colin left what would be our last Sunday pancakes together. We now connect through FaceTime meals; from afar, he’s taught me how to make a poached egg. But I’ve also learned that regardless of health orders, video calls won’t cut it. I’m grateful to have cultivated relationships with a select few who, like me, crave connection in the absence of the pandemic-friendly community offered by roommates or romantic partners ‘adjacent’ to their households. A conversation while biking 6 ft. apart is critical nourishment. I once petted a gentle old dog named Loki after one such ride to the Sausalito waterfront, and it was like oxygen for me — though for her, probably more about the hot pastrami sandwich in my hand.

“Most importantly, I’ve learned to be gentle with myself for the swirl of feelings this all brings. It is possible to feel at once abandoned by friends who have hunkered down with the privilege of companionship, while also compassionate toward their choice — one I’d likely make, if given the option. It’s OK to spend one night crying myself to sleep, wishing I could join my mom across the country, then the next cutting up playing Codenames over Google Hangouts as if I’d lived my life this way all along.

“Until ‘normal’ returns at some indeterminate point, in some indeterminate form, I’m learning what that looks like for now and receiving sweetness in every form. My friend and her husband recently invited me for a socially distant picnic, and to meet their puppy. I’ll be there with a fashionably colorful mask and hand sanitizer at the ready.”

COURTESY BRENDON JOBS ‘05

Director of diversity and inclusion, The Haverford School; social studies methods instructor at the Penn Graduate School of Education

“S chool closed suddenly in March as the threat of pandemic became a real crisis. Like many, I’ve been going through a grieving process for the life, vigor and human connection that the schoolhouse offered me in all my years of teaching.

“At the start, I was overwhelmed with the multitude of tasks needed to make the transition [to remote learning] work for my students, faculty and other communities that I serve. Fear and duty defined my feelings in that moment. But it wasn’t long before anger and resentment grabbed hold of me. Hopeful proclamations that ‘we’re all in this together’ came from official channels; they offered encouragement that if we adhered to social distancing we could flatten the curve and ‘get back to normal.’ It wasn’t long afterward that nasty disparities in race and class, in keeping with pre-COVID-19 patterns, magnified. As an educator, I wondered: How can I explain this to kids? How does what they’re witnessing shape their understanding of how the world works?

“As a black queer man growing up in the 1990s, I remember living with the fear of the AIDS virus. Implicitly, I was fed the message that I lived with greater risk of contracting the disease in a way that stigmatized me. Those old feelings have reemerged as I have witnessed COVID-19 transform from a foreign threat into a health crisis disproportionately infecting and killing Black and Brown people; meanwhile, violent, armed calls to reopen businesses rage from white protestors in Michigan and Pennsylvania despite these deaths. My mother and sister still report to their jobs as ‘essential workers,’ and my father lost his job abruptly as an early casualty of the predicted economic crash. These disparities will only grow as long as we continue to allow politics and business interests to make us willfully ignorant to wild differences in the human experience of this moment. I often struggle to imagine a different, more hopeful outcome.

COURTESY DR. JOSH JOHNSON ‘13

Surgical resident, NewYork Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center

“R inging loudly in the background of my day is a cacophony of alarms and notifications that are meant to signify an imminent medical emergency — yet they have become so ubiquitous that I can no longer distinguish among them. The hours I spend on the wards have not changed much; I am here for anywhere between 12 and 24 hours a shift, depending on the day. However, the intricacies of my work have shifted dramatically. Willing or not, I am greeted each day by an endless list of patients with tarnished lungs who require the utmost interventions possible to keep oxygen flowing throughout their bodies. It has been truly taxing.

“The difficulty lies in having to carry on and continue my duties without the time to grieve our losses, to celebrate our wins and to reflect upon our struggles. Yet what has been remarkable is that my connection to my patients and their families has never been deeper. Though my patients cannot speak to me, I hear their pain. Though I cannot see their loved ones in person I have had immensely intimate conversations with them, and I have forged relationships based solely on trust and hope. During this pandemic I have healed others more through compassion and understanding than I have through modern science. That is the lesson I hope to never forget.”

COURTESY NYPD

Chief chaplain, NYPD; adjunct professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

“L ife in the Age of COVID-19 has not been simple or easy for any of us. I’ve had to respond to new challenges: teach classes remotely, conduct Zoom funeral services, attend virtual meetings and counsel the troubled by telephone. Perhaps the most awe- some responsibility of all was to fulfill a request to do a video with a message of ‘uplift’ and ‘encouragement’ for our police officers. Quite frankly, reading the newspaper reports every day about the ever-mounting casualty figures, and discovering that many of the victims are people I know and love, leaves me in need of uplift and encouragement. However, I felt this was really important because police officers are among the first responders to have suffered the heaviest casualties. After all, they are required to answer the call of duty regardless of the risks, including the coronavirus.

“Somehow, notwithstanding my own concerns and anxieties, I managed to put something together. It was based on Mark Twain’s observation that courage isn’t the ‘absence of fear but the mastery of it.’ There are two ways to transcend anxiety: faith in God and faith in each other. To believe in God is not simply to believe that there is a deity who will intervene and alter reality to accord with our wishes. Even more basically, it is the confidence that there is a Benevolent Intelligence undergirding the universe that fills us with the hope, optimism and trust that human beings possess the wisdom and skills required to solve the toughest problems.

“Then there is the most effective therapy of all — each other. Men and women, helping and supporting one another by doing things they don’t have to do, is the essence of love and closest we shall ever come to experiencing genuine spirituality. It is true that COVID-19 requires us to stay apart physically, but getting in touch with each other — as well as family, friends and neighbors assisting each other — can be so important and pivotal in transcending this crisis. I certainly cherish the calls and emails I have received as I cope with the physical distancing of this experience. What they proclaim in the most eloquent and dramatic way possible is that we don’t have to struggle with this alone.”

COURTESY IAN LENDLER ‘96

Children’s book author

“L ike so many others, the virus, alas, has afflicted me.

“For I, you see, am a writer, and I write things of terrible importance. I am a Creator of Truths, a conjuror of metaphors. Every morning I sit at my desk and I call to my Muse; she answers, and we begin a delicate dance of words and images and — oh yes! — similes as well! And just as my prose begins to touch the great mysteries of Life —

“‘DAD! DAD!’ My children burst into the room. ‘Can we have some Goldfish crackers?’

“‘Be still!’ I shriek. ‘What matters your aquatic-shaped snacks when I seek Beauty?’ “But it is too late. My Muse begins to back out of the room. She says, ‘You never told me you had kids.’

“‘You don’t understand,’ I splutter. ‘Normally they’re at school now.’ But she is already gone.

“Then, my wife shouts from a different room that she’s on a Zoom call and the kids need lunch.

“So I make my kids lunch.

“In the afternoon, once again, I tap at my keyboard, calling my Muse back, and with a curtsy and an impish wink, she and I begin to weave our —

‘Dad! DAD! We’re playing Fortnite with our cousins. We need your computer!’ and my kids snatch my laptop away.

“And so I wander the house, alone, bereft of my computer (and thus, all meaning), until my wife shouts from a different room that she’s on a Zoom call and can I get dinner started?

“And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this sheltered-in-place ... until ... what’s this?!

“I have been asked to do an ‘Instagram live reading,’ whatever that is ... But I seize my chance to perform for my adoring audience. To conjure worlds for them; to shaman their imaginations to an ethereal realm.

“So for your undoubted delight (and the consideration of Nobel Prize committees), I give you what I believe to be my most harrowing and important work to date. ”

COURTESY STEVE MARTINEZ ‘11

Television producer, ESPN’s The Jump

“T he show must go on, but my daily routine has been altered significantly. The Jump is now entirely produced from home: on-air talent, producers, directors and so on; we’re doing our best to help deliver to folks a 30-minute slice of escapism every day. Most of our work in production is now done the night before a show (previously, most of the production occurred the morning of ). We complete our daily tapings by 11:30 a.m. PT, but by 1:00 p.m. PT, we are on a conference call discussing the plan for the next day’s show. The current production strategy involves a balance between staying ahead in terms of preparation and being ready for news to break at a moment’s notice.

“Communication has been a challenge at times. It might not look like it at home when you see three people on your screen, but it takes dozens of talented folks to put on a TV show. My previous routine heavily relied upon face-to-face communication for most of my catching up with staff members.

“I find joy in spending time with my wife, Stephanie, and my dog, Callie, here in my Los Angeles home. I also take great pride in the ability to get a show on the air with the entire staff working from home, something we never knew was possible until we were confronted with that problem. Mainly, I just want the NBA back.”

PHOTOS BY MIKE MELLIA ‘02

Director, photographer, creator of advertising for fashion and lifestyle brands

“M any of the world’s greatest successes took place in a garage — Apple, Google, Disney. By the same token, I always loved seeing pictures of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, two great abstract expressionist painters, painting in outdoor barns on Long Island during the 1950s and 1960s. They said they liked the light. What I really think they needed was the isolation and the silence.

BY MIKE MELLIA ‘02

“To me, painting is a performance with an audience of zero, and the record of that performance is the physical object created, a mysterious enigma. Over tens of thou- sands of hours of practice, you train yourself to not even be conscious of yourself; it feels like I’m watching someone else paint a picture. There is also some element to painting that feels like robbing a bank: the intensity, the speed and the risk that you can only experience after learning to transcend all your experience and training. These large oil paintings are inspired by the wild chaos, the light and the color of nature I’m experiencing with my wife and two babies at our home in Southampton, N.Y. I hope they will bring you some joy.”

P ASCAL PERICH

Geezer Fitness

I just did twenty-five push-ups, then vacuumed the floor and then dropped down and did twenty more, for what reason I cannot say or even want to think about, especially at this moment when I am still breathing hard.

I almost didn’t know what day it is and then I did, locked into time, suddenly more secure that it’s Thursday! Which means nothing or next to nothing. I am next to nothing— it’s in this room with me, an old pal.

Snow falling from gray sky, it’s time to bake, scones, I mean, and right out of the oven take one and butter it, with jam, teapot hot at hand, and exult in the fact of everything horrible.

COURTESY DAVID PENG ‘83

Head of Asia Pacific Ex Japan at Legal & General Investment Management; president, Columbia University Alumni Association Hong Kong

“T hough I am a New Yorker, I have spent my professional life in North Asia and this is my fourth posting in Hong Kong, with in-between postings in Taipei, Shanghai and Beijing. I was in Hong Kong during the SARS epidemic in 2003. Most people in Hong Kong remember that period well. When news broke in January about what was happening in Wuhan, people in Hong Kong quickly realized the potential of another epidemic.

“The Hong Kong government was quick to put in place restrictive measures. To date, Hong Kong has never had an official lockdown, but people take the lead from the government, which asked all civil servants to work from home under two orders. People in Hong Kong are very careful to protect themselves and others, and mask wearing is universally practiced. With one of the highest population densities in the world, Hong Kong has managed to ward off a high level of viral transmission and achieved minimal death.

“When I traveled to London for meetings at the end of January through the middle of February, friends and colleagues were not concerned.They also thought it was odd that there would be runs on basic supplies like toilet paper. We know now how quickly the virus traveled and the devastation it has inflicted on our world, with the highest rates of infection and death in Europe and the United States.

“At my office in Hong Kong, we continue to practice a work- from-home policy. Our U.K. head office went into lockdown. This forced many businesses to operate remotely and digitally. For many of us, it was a continuation of the restrictions we have become accustomed to.

“My proudest moment thus far during this pandemic is how the Columbia community in Greater China and Singapore banded together to raise funding to procure and donate PPE to our frontline medical professionals and essential workers. We raised more than $2.1 million in a matter of weeks, which allowed us to donate masks, respirators, gowns, gloves, eye protectors, hazmat suits and more to Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital and other affiliated hospitals and emergency service providers.

“During my time at Columbia, I was an official University tour guide. The highlight for me was always Low Memorial Library, where I would stop my tour group in front of the Columbia motto. In Latin, it reads: In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lvmen (‘In thy light we shall see light’).

“During these dark times, it is my great hope that the pandemic has shown us how we can be better ourselves and that, united, we shall continue to see the light.”

PHOTOS COURTESY JILL SANTOPOLO ‘03

Editor and author

“O n March 12, when Penguin Random House (PRH)’s work-from-home policy began, I grabbed my laptop and headed out of New York City, down to Washington, D.C., where my husband works and where we have a second small apartment. I figured we’d be there for a week at the most, until he began to work from home, and then we’d head back to Manhattan. I’m writing this on May 8. We haven’t yet been back. We are grateful to have jobs we can do from home — his in data and analytics, mine as an editor and novelist. But both of us working from home has meant getting creative with our 700-sq.-ft. space. The bedroom is his office, the rest of the apartment, mine, with a desk — actually, a table that formerly held our record player — next to the refrigerator.

COURTESY JILL SANTOPOLO ‘03

“But at the same time, I can’t stop thinking about New York City. I lived there during 9-11, the 2003 blackout, Hurricane Sandy. I feel like I’ve abandoned my city in its time of need. Neoclassical buildings are beautiful, but so are skyscrapers.

“This pandemic might have made me a Washingtonian, but it also made me realize that in my heart I will always be a New Yorker.”

Entrepreneur; founder, Locasaur

“I left New York in mid-March thinking I’d be back in a matter of weeks, and my packing reflected this. As the situation became more clear, I realized I’d be staying here for a while, on my family’s farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Those who know me know I’m not exactly upset by this. I grew up here, alongside a rotating menagerie of horses, chickens, sheep and the occasional goat. There are 10 shades of green in every direction, and I’ve never been more thankful for the wide open, secluded space. “So much of what’s great about New York happens after dark, and waking up early is done at your own peril. When I’m home, however, I’m on ‘farm time.’ Coffee is on and the house is buzzing by 6:00 a.m. My company Locasaur’s daily standup isn’t until 10:00 a.m., so early mornings are usually given to farm tasks and chores. There is a rhythm that you get into living on a farm; days keep churning, things keep needing to get done. A farmer’s mindset is that no matter the day’s challenge, you find a fix.

C OURTESY SIMON SCHWARTZ ‘17

“The majority of my day is devoted to re- mote work of the most urgent kind. Locasaur is a relationship app for local businesses and their regulars, and right now local businesses need their regulars more than ever. Every creative solution demanded by the reality of COVID-19 — the bakery now doing road- side pickup, the florist who started delivering, the bartender selling premixed cocktails — starts with a business having a group of core customers who truly care about it. Our goal is to power some of those creative solutions and help these businesses go digital without giving up the ‘personal touch’ that means so much to their survival. The next 12–18 months won’t be easy, but local business owners are uniformly some of the toughest people I know. In many ways they, too, have a farmer’s mindset.”

COURTESY MARGARET TRAUB ‘88

Head of global initiatives, International Medical Corps

“M y work is emergency medical relief, so the pandemic has taken over my daily life in every way. My organization normally works in conflict and disaster zones overseas, but with COVID-19, in addition to responding to the pandemic in 30 countries, we have deployed healthcare workers and supplies on the front-lines here in the United States — at hospitals in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Puerto Rico, so far.

“My days start around 5:30 a.m. — bleary-eyed in bed, scrolling through emails and the latest news. I learned early that if I don’t get into the shower by 6:30 a.m., I wind up chained to Skype and video calls in my PJs (and sometimes a nice blouse) until 5:00 p.m. Yes, that’s happened more times than I’m comfortable admitting.

“In between calls with our teams — mostly about procuring PPE, or moving supplies and clinicians, or raising money — I’m checking in with my family in New York, Utah and Arizona. I have a severely immuno-compromised sister and healthy but 90-ish-year-old parents, so I worry constantly about them and have to resist the urge to go be with them. I frequently text and call friends, including my Columbia pals. And at some point during my days I try to squeeze in a workout — usually to old episodes of 30 Rock. Another important COVID-19 distraction: cooking and baking, which I love.

“My heart breaks every day, thinking of the suffering going on around us. And not a day goes by that I don’t feel grateful to be healthy and to have a mostly healthy family and a job that puts a roof over our head and food on our table.

“Thanks to all those heroes out there, putting their lives on the line to serve their fellow humans. Everyone stay safe and healthy!”

Issue Contents

Published three times a year by Columbia College for alumni, students, faculty, parents and friends.

Columbia Alumni Center 622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th Fl. New York, NY 10025 212-851-7852 [email protected]

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12 Ideas for Writing Through the Pandemic With The New York Times

A dozen writing projects — including journals, poems, comics and more — for students to try at home.

By Natalie Proulx

The coronavirus has transformed life as we know it. Schools are closed, we’re confined to our homes and the future feels very uncertain. Why write at a time like this?

For one, we are living through history. Future historians may look back on the journals, essays and art that ordinary people are creating now to tell the story of life during the coronavirus.

But writing can also be deeply therapeutic. It can be a way to express our fears, hopes and joys. It can help us make sense of the world and our place in it.

Plus, even though school buildings are shuttered, that doesn’t mean learning has stopped. Writing can help us reflect on what’s happening in our lives and form new ideas.

We want to help inspire your writing about the coronavirus while you learn from home. Below, we offer 12 projects for students, all based on pieces from The New York Times, including personal narrative essays, editorials, comic strips and podcasts. Each project features a Times text and prompts to inspire your writing, as well as related resources from The Learning Network to help you develop your craft. Some also offer opportunities to get your work published in The Times, on The Learning Network or elsewhere.

We know this list isn’t nearly complete. If you have ideas for other pandemic-related writing projects, please suggest them in the comments.

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As previously published in the Daily Report

• Practice Tips for Lawyers

After months of social distancing, many attorneys are planning a summer vacation and seeking some respite. The need to take time away from work obligations may be more necessary than ever.

Studies and surveys show that disconnecting from the office can be very important for attorneys. Attorneys grapple with high rates of stress, depression, suicide and burnout. Vacationing can help alleviate some of these mental health issues. Law practices that encourage and facilitate breaks may have more productive colleagues with longer and more fruitful careers.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, summer vacations may look different this year. Thus, there are some additional considerations to assess when taking time off. Here are some tips for lawyers considering vacationing during the summer months.

The New Normal: Consider Travel Restrictions and Self-Quarantines

Before planning any trips out of state, it can be helpful to consider whether your law firm has policies on local and international travel. Many law firms have travel restrictions or other parameters restricting an attorney’s return to an office after travel. If traveling out of state, depending on the destination since some states are considered “hotspots,” you may have to observe self-quarantining requirements before returning to the office.

If a planned vacation is to a hotspot area or an area with increased levels of infection, it can be helpful to consider beforehand whether you have the capability to work from home if you cannot return to the office for 14 days after travel. Many attorneys also are confirming whether their existing plans to visit other states still make sense at this time. For example, some states are requiring people to quarantine upon arrival. Other popular vacation destinations may pose an increased risk to vacationers who were otherwise practicing social distancing and other steps to reduce risks at home. Thus, the vacationing attorney may consider where the original plan can be revised or altered to reduce ongoing risk of getting sick or of being unable to return to the office in a timely way.

Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed how many of us work, it is important to consider the ramifications of the new normal and the impact of the vacationing attorney on others. As such, the vacationing attorney can plan ahead to ensure that everyone is given latitude to adjust their schedules to accommodate potential additional work or issues that may require attention.

For many, effective vacation planning requires the following four steps.

First, review the calendar for any conflicting deadlines with the potential vacation dates. If there are conflicts, it can be helpful to address those ahead of time, such as by obtaining an extension, rescheduling or having the deadline covered by another attorney.

Second, notify the necessary parties of the planned vacation, including courts (where appropriate), parties, clients and the law practice. Notably, courts have little tolerance for legal gamesmanship by opposing counsel who fail to accommodate vacations and may even impose creative sanctions for unprofessional conduct. ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.3, comment [1], provides that: “The lawyer’s duty to act with reasonable diligence does not require the use of offensive tactics or preclude the treating of all persons involved in the legal process with courtesy and respect.”

Third, identify the ability to communicate with clients and colleagues during the vacation (i.e., access to phone or email). Some go completely “off the grid,” while others will periodically check email or voicemail. What works best typically varies by each attorney and their current obligations; the key is making sure everyone is on the same page.

Fourth, set up systems to minimize the risks, such as using technology tools and systems for email and voicemail. For work emails, consider utilizing “Out-of-Office Assistant” or other auto-reply emails. For voicemail, the same systems also work.

Typically, the earlier notice is given, the easier it typically is to manage obligations while away from the office.

Final Steps

While some attorneys have been returning to work in their offices, many attorneys are still working from home. Those attorneys may think that going on vacation will be no different from working from home, given that they have maintained less of a physical presence in the office over the last several months. However, it is still important to implement practices on the last day in the “office.”

On the last day before vacation, most attorneys will turn on the “out-of-office assistant,” record the “out-of-office” voicemail message and confirm who will be monitoring communications or providing back-up support during the vacationing attorney’s absence. Having an “out-of-office checklist” may be the most reliable tool available to the vacationing attorney. Additionally, it can be helpful to have a contingency plan in the event an unexpected development requires the immediate attention of the vacationing attorney.

For some attorneys, the idea of completely disconnecting from the law practice is simply too much. Those attorneys can set up a daily contact point. Typically, this includes a set time, place and procedure for someone in the office to reach the vacationing attorney to provide reassurance that everything is under control.

During the pandemic, many attorneys have been working from home, managing the cyber risks that are associated with logging into the office virtually, and working remotely. If a vacationing attorney simply must check in regularly while on vacation, the attorney can also be aware of the same cybersecurity concerns and risks.

While on vacation, an attorney may consider using smartphones and other electronic devices to access firm or client data that are password protected and require two-step authentication. At a minimum, smartphones and other devices should be secured with passwords. Some firms have also adopted the ability to remotely wipe the device clean if it is lost or stolen. Attorneys can also be mindful of using unsecured Wi-Fi connections (which could expose confidential data to risk) and of falling victim to “phishing” scams when away from their day-to-day computer setup.

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/watch-live-answers-to-your-questions-on-summer-plans-during-covid-19

4 questions about summer travel during COVID-19

Strict social distancing orders and other restrictions aimed at reining in the coronavirus pandemic have kept millions of Americans at home for more than two months. But now that the traditional summer vacation season is officially underway, how safe is travel for pleasure? What vacation activities can you and your family enjoy safely this summer?

Ashley Schroeder, managing director of the Tourism Crisis Management Initiative, and the PBS NewsHour’s William Brangham took viewer questions on how to make safe summer plans during the pandemic.

Watch the conversation in the live player above.

How is the tourism industry handling the pandemic?

The pandemic has hit the tourism industry much like many others around the world. But businesses are trying to find ways to balance safety with the need to stay afloat.

Many hotels, for instance, are not only keeping track of CDC guidelines, but are speaking to their local communities about when they should reopen, Schroeder said.

“The tourism industry is quite unique in that we’re essentially bringing other people into your home, maybe not the physical house, but within your community.” she said. “Many destinations are turning towards their residents to understand whether or not their local community feels comfortable with reopening.”

Restaurants, many of which are starting to reopen as state governments ease restrictions, are finding unique ways to maintain social distancing. Schroeder said some areas in Florida have eased regulations to allow restaurants to spread their outside dining areas into parking lots.

READ MORE: Ski vacation hot spot becomes virus ground zero in Idaho

“People are not going to come out unless they feel safe,” she said.

One area of the industry that’s been hit especially hard is short-term rentals, including companies like Airbnb. Due to the nature of the service, Schroeder said consumers will have to be extra cautious if they want to rent a property.

“A lot of the onus is going to fall on the individual traveler,” she said.

She recommended that anyone thinking about renting a property should do their research and talk to the property owner to make sure they’re taking the necessary precautions before arrival at the property.

Is it safe to travel across state lines?

As the summer travel season arrives, some are wondering if it’s safe to even travel across state borders for a much-needed vacation.

Schroeder advises that, before taking the trip, you should know the destination’s restrictions and policies, especially if the state mandates self-quarantine upon arrival.

In addition to doing research well ahead of time, she also recommended reading about the current situation right before you leave, since things could change at the last minute.

“Even if you do your research in advance, you’ll want to continue monitoring that situation,” she said.

Beyond taking all the necessary precautions, you have to rely on your instincts: “At the end of the day, what do you feel comfortable doing?” Schroeder said.

What precautions should be taken for international travel?

As more countries open their borders, some airlines are also looking to restart their international flights.

“The summer travel season is very significant in areas such as Western Europe,” Schroeder said. “That is the main tourist season for them.”

Schroeder said there are several things to consider when planning an international trip.

One thing is whether countries are even allowing people in, and whether you’ll be able to leave if the local situation worsens again. She also suggested researching what the U.S. State Department recommends before leaving for your destination.

Before the pandemic hit, many travelers taking expensive vacations would buy insurance in case of unexpected cancelations or disasters.

In the world of COVID-19, Schroeder recommended looking carefully when picking insurance since some plans won’t cover pandemic-related circumstances.

For complex travel plans, Schroeder suggested finding a travel agent who can help you book hotels, find good insurance and adjust plans if things go wrong.

What are some safe vacation options?

As restrictions slowly ease across the country, people are curious where the safest place to have a vacation is. Schroeder said “low risk” options are often outdoors.

One of the most important pieces of insight into COVID-19 is that it does not spread as well in the outdoors as it does indoors. Because of this, camping is becoming a tempting method to get out of the house. However, Schroeder says there are caveats to safe camping.

Going to public campgrounds where crowds are gathering, and where there are shared facilities “would be a situation where being outdoors would not be very safe.”

Overall, Schroeder recommended taking “staycations” where you don’t go too far out of your own town, which can be safer and helps support local businesses.

“Maybe go out and see part of your home community you haven’t seen before,” she said.

Justin Stabley is a digital editor at the PBS NewsHour.

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How to make summer vacation fun during COVID-19

Summer break is upon us and with families being forced to spend yet another vacation at home, it may be wise to distract children by keeping them engaged in creative hobbies.

Updated - May 11, 2021 07:45 pm IST

Published - May 11, 2021 06:12 pm IST - Coimbatore

Nyra Singh tries her hand at gymnastics at her farm in Rajasthan

As nine-year-old Awita learns the nuances of balancing act in Odissi, her mother who doubles up as dance teacher cheers her on. “I am trained in dance, and that has been put to good use,” smiles Swayampurna Mishra, creator of the food blog La Petit Chef, and author of My Indian Kitchen . “Though she is missing out learning from a dance guru and in a group with other kids, this is the best arrangement to keep her engaged now.”

Swayampurna Mishra with her daughters Adwita and Anaayah

It is that time of the year; summer break is upon us and with the lockdown situation repeating this year too, parents are turning to easy, fun and productive activities within the confines of home to keep their little ones busy. “We dance, workout, cook and bake together, and also dabble in art. I teach her framing using DSLR; she is keen and loves taking portraits,” Swayampurna adds.

As families are forced to cancel the annual ritual of visiting grandparents, it is now the ideal time to teach children how to grow their own food. Like Gayathri Arul, who lives on a farm at Sethumadai in Pollachi and whose daughter Sitara Karthikeyan, says Gayathri, is now a “hands-on organic farmer”.

Sitara tends to cows at her farm in Pollachi

“We have stopped buying vegetables. All our onions, chillies, tomatoes, brinjals, bitter gourd and snake gourd come from her garden,” laughs Gayathri. An early riser, Sitara starts her day with a good round of jogging. She then joins the farm workers, tends to the cows, learns how to milk cows, and makes manure using panchakavyam .“Encouraged by her, so many other kids have taken to farming,” says Gayathri adding that,“Along the way, we are learning lessons in sustainability and how good health is a priority.”

Aditya Singh, 55, father to 10-year-old Nyra, however, has been receiving lessons on the right type of emojis to use. “A thumbs up emoji apparently makes me a boring person,” he laughs, and adds, “I belong to the last generation who passed out engineering before computers came into the scene; she was born in the iPad era.”

Advya Singh tries his hand at art

The father-daughter duo, who live on a one-acre farm at the periphery of Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, have a packed schedule for summer. “We have a water body that has many frog species. She collects tadpoles in a bucket, nurtures them till they grow feet and then releases them back. She helps us in the kitchen garden, rears rabbits, and makes clay sculptures with her mother who is an artist.”Nyra also shoots videos of her daily activities since she aspires to become a YouTuber. “She also does somersaults and tries gymnastic postures. We are having a jolly good time,” says Aditya.

Arun Kamath and his son Ashray on nature treks

For some parents, it is painting, drawing, arts and crafts that come to the rescue. Parents of Advya Singh who is in junior kindergarten, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, give him the space to get his hands dirty with paint and colours. Meanwhile, Arun Kamath takes his son Ashray along on his weekend treks to photograph birds, mammals and insects; when his son then shares the photos he took with other children, their interest in Nature and wildlife too is piqued, says Arun, adding, “Recently, we went to the Aravalli Ranges and discussed building watering holes for animals. The best part of this teaming up is that I get to learn all about the latest photo editing tools.”

Most parents agree that creative hobbies make their children productive and also keeps them from being exposed to the depressing pandemic scenario outside. Adds Swayampurna, “It has been over a year since we are all cooped up. But children are more resilient and have taken to the situation way better than most adults have. We just have to pack in some fun.”

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• School Education /

Essay on Summer Vacation: Samples for Students

• Updated on  
• Jun 18, 2024

Summer vacation offers a cherished break from routine. It’s a time to unwind, explore, and create lasting memories. Whether relaxing on sandy shores or venturing into new cities, the freedom of summer allows for rejuvenation. Activities like swimming, hiking, or simply reading a book by the pool offer a sense of bliss. 

It’s a chance to bond with family and friends, sharing laughter and experiences. As the warm sunsets, the moments lived during this break become stories that enrich our lives and fuel our dreams until the next summer adventure arrives.

Table of Contents

• 1.1 Introduction
• 1.2 Activities and Destinations
• 1.3 Quality Time with Family and Friends
• 1.4 Reflection on Memories
• 1.5 Returning to School
• 1.6 Conclusion
• 1.7 Things to Include in Essay on Summer Vacation
• 2 Essay on Summer Vacation in 100 words
• 3 Essays on Summer Vacation: 200 Words Sample
• 4 Summer Vacation Essay 500 words

Summer Vacation Essay for Students: How to Write 

When writing a summer vacation essay for students, it’s important to include a variety of points to provide a well-rounded perspective of the experiences and emotions associated with the break. 

Here are some key points to consider including in your essay:

Introduction

• Introduce the concept of summer vacation and its significance for students.
• Set the tone for the essay by expressing the anticipation and excitement of the break.

Activities and Destinations

• Describe the different activities you engaged in during your summer vacation.
• Discuss any trips you took, whether it was a family vacation, a road trip, or a visit to a new place.
• Mention specific destinations, such as beaches, mountains, cities, or cultural sites.

Quality Time with Family and Friends

• Emphasize the importance of spending time with loved ones.
• Share anecdotes and experiences of bonding with family and friends during the vacation.

Reflection on Memories

• Reflect on memorable experiences and moments that stood out during the vacation.
• Share stories or incidents that left a lasting impression on you.

Returning to School

• Transition to the end of the vacation and the feelings associated with going back to school.
• Express a mix of nostalgia and renewed energy for the upcoming academic year.
• Summarize the various aspects of your summer vacation and its impact on you.
• Conclude by highlighting the value of breaks like these in shaping holistic growth.

Also Read – Essay on Human Rights

Things to Include in Essay on Summer Vacation

• During my summer vacation, I do a lot of new things and have fun.
• Doing artwork and playing with my friends are two of favourite things to do in summer vacation.
• During my summer vacations, I usually visit my grandparents and spend some days with them.
• Me and my sister help our grandfather to water plants. His hobby is gardening.
• At bedtime, I love to hear stories from my grandmother.
• One of my favourite things of mine is the delicious food that my grandmother makes during summer vacation.
• During my summer vacation, I love to spend time with my family and watch movies with them.

Use descriptive language to make your experiences come to life for the reader. Additionally, aim for a balanced mix of personal reflection and broader insights into the significance of summer vacation for students.

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Also Read: Short and Long Essay on National Memorial Day

Summer vacation denotes the period of leisure in the summer season. Due to the elevated environmental temperatures, particularly in late May and throughout June, educational institutions such as schools and colleges remain shuttered during this interval.

Summer is a period of prime significance for children. Children have the freedom to engage in activities of their choice. During the break, they have the opportunity to revel in the company of their parents, closest companions, neighbours, and more.

Opting to frequent hill stations annually can provide respite from the unbearable summer heat.

Discover some interesting topics in Essay Writing 

For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu. 

Aditi Gupta

A bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication graduate, I am an enthusiastic writer. I love to write about impactful content which can help others. I love to binge watch and listen to music during my free time.

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29 Pictures Of Global Tourism During The Coronavirus Pandemic

After the coronavirus pandemic brought global tourism to a virtual standstill, many destinations are slowly welcoming back visitors — cautiously.

Senior Photo Essay Editor

S ign up for the BuzzFeed News newsletter JPG for behind-the-scenes exclusives from renowned photographers and our hard-hitting photo stories.

For many of the world's most popular destinations, summer is the season when tourism peaks and travelers are most inclined to spend both vacation days and saved income on their getaways. With fears over the spread of COVID-19 and strict travel restrictions imposed by countries to help curb new infections, many travel plans have since been postponed or canceled entirely.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically disrupted the world's tourism sector with an estimated loss of $1.2 trillion, or 1.5% of the world's GDP. With air travel down more than 70% from 2019 and many would-be travelers opting instead for " staycations ," UNCTAD estimates that some tourist enterprises may never recover from the economic effects of this pandemic.

For recently reopened destinations like the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, a current hot spot for coronavirus infections in the US, there are fears that opening too soon will cause an uptick in new COVID-19 infections. Still, many countries are slowly returning to a new normal following weeks of lockdowns and have since implemented safety measures at popular tourist sites to help keep visitors safe.

These pictures show what summer tourism looks like around the world amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A visitor has their temperature taken at the entrance to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Brazil, on July 11. After being closed for three months, the museum's patio was cleared for visitation following distance rules such as reduced opening hours, restricting the flow of people, and maintaining hygiene standards.

Empty deck chairs are pictured at Magaluf Beach, Spain, on July 16. Regional authorities on Spain's Balearic island of Majorca ordered the immediate closure of bars on three streets popular with hard-drinking tourists to limit the potential for coronavirus outbreaks.

American tourist boat Maid Of The Mist, limited to 50% occupancy under New York state's rules amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, glides past a Canadian vessel limited under Ontario's rules to just six passengers, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, on July 21.

Guests walk past the Millennium Falcon in the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge attraction on the second day of the reopening of Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on July 16. All four of Disney's Florida parks are now open, including Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom, with limited capacity and safety protocols in place in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Young women kiss while taking a selfie before the Coliseum in Rome on June 22, as the country eases its lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infections.

Yemeni women residing in Egypt visit the Giza pyramids on the southwestern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo on July 1, as the country eases restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. A spree of openings in Egypt comes after the country officially ended a three-month nighttime curfew. Cafés and shops have reopened but public beaches and parks remain closed.

Three young women walk by an advertisement on a bus shelter in Lisbon, Portugal, that says "Tired of the virus? Be careful, it is not yet tired of you," on June 28. Sundays are still slow in downtown Lisbon although the country is coming back to life with the third phase of the de-confinement that started on June 2.

A visitor wearing a protective face mask takes a picture of paintings in the reopened Louvre Museum in Paris on July 6.

Visitors wearing protective face masks admire the view from the Eiffel Tower in Paris during its partial reopening on June 25.

A receptionist talks with tourists behind a glass wall as hotels take strict measures to help tourists have a healthy and safe holiday in Antalya, Turkey, on July 3.

A staff member checks the temperature of a tourist at the Al Naseem hotel in Dubai on July 7.

A hotel employee cleans a glass barrier on a terrace overlooking a beach in Lloret de Mar, Spain, on June 22, as beaches reopen following a national lockdown.

People attend a scaled-down version of the Myrtle Beach spring bike rally in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, on July 17. The event had been scheduled for May but was postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A cruise ship arrives without passengers in Rostock, Germany, to a beach full of tourists on July 18. It's one of the first cruise ships to arrive in Rostock after the start of the season, which was planned four months ago, was canceled due to the coronavirus.

Passengers walk to their gates at the nearly empty Barcelona airport on June 22.

The sun shines through the roof of the Oculus at the World Trade Center Station in New York City on July 13.

Broadway theaters stand closed along an empty street in the theater district of New York City on June 30. The Broadway League, a trade organization representing producers and theater owners, announced that performances in New York City will be suspended through the remainder of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Daniel Hawkins of California rolls the dice at a craps table at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on July 1, after the Las Vegas Strip property opened for the first time since being closed in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Friends pose in front of "the Bean" at Millennium Park in Chicago on July 8.

Visitors take a selfie in front of Buckingham Palace in London on July 3.

Customers sit at socially distanced tables at a restaurant in London on July 4, as restrictions are further eased during the coronavirus pandemic.

A beachgoer relaxes behind a bilingual sign describing the coronavirus as "Inimigo Público" or "public enemy," and giving instructions to prevent contagion in Cascais, Portugal, on July 3.

Tourists ride camels from Oakfield Ranch camel rides on Birubi Beach, Australia, on June 25. Domestic tourism has started to resume following the easing of travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. All intrastate travel restrictions were lifted in New South Wales on June 1, allowing people to travel to regional areas within the state.

Tourists walk through Tiananmen Square in Beijing on July 15.

People take photographs in front of a hot spring source at the Kusatsu Onsen resort in Kusatsu, Japan, on June 27. More than a month has passed since Japan ended its state of emergency and begun relaxing its restriction requests for businesses.

Tourists take a selfie while visiting Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during its reopening on July 12.

A server wearing a protective face mask sanitizes her hands at a beach bar in Barcelona on June 28.

Visitors wearing face masks watch the sunset at Niterói City Park in Niterói, Brazil, amid the coronavirus pandemic on July 11.

A man sunbathes at Glyfada Beach on the island of Corfu, Greece, on July 1, as the island welcomes its first tourists after months of closure due to the spread of the COVID-19.

Topics in this article

• Coronavirus
• Climate Change

• Kids Learning
• English Essays for Kids
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation Essay

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Essay for Kids

Summer vacation is the most awaited time of the year in the lives of students. It gives them an opportunity to take a break from their daily routine, relax and enjoy their time with family and friends. Every year, students eagerly await their summer vacations with the hope of doing something worthwhile that liberates them from the monotonous and regular routine of school and studies. For kids, writing an essay on how I spent my summer vacation gives them a wonderful opportunity to reminisce and express what they enjoyed about their vacation.

In this article, we bring you – How I spent my summer vacation essay that mentions the essence of summer vacation in a student’s life and the experiences that they share after enjoying a wonderful vacation away from their hectic schedule.

Download FREE PDF of How I Spent My Summer Vacation Essay For Kids

How i spent my summer vacation essay for kids.

• I have a lot of fun during my summer vacation. I do new things.
• I love doing art work and playing with my friends.
• During my summer vacation, I visited my grandparents.
• My cousins and I played outside all day.
• Our grandfather loves gardening. We help him water the plants.
• Our grandmother makes tasty food.
• Our grandmother tells us stories at bedtime.
• We play hide and seek on the terrace.
• Our grandfather tells us stories about the moon, stars and the sun.
• I love visiting my grandparents.
• I love spending time with my family during our vacations.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Essay 100 Words

Holidays are an incredible time for us to visit hilly destinations with the family. The summer season is an excellent time for us to take stress-free excursions and get close to nature, which we are unable to do in our busy schedules for the entire year. Last year I visited my grandparents and stayed there for 15 days. The cool thing about the summer holidays is discovering and creating new things in the village. While enjoying my stay, I also learned some new things that expanded my knowledge. I spent the rest of the holidays playing games and cooking under my mother’s supervision.

Liked the above How I spent my summer vacation paragraph? Children can also attempt to write a few lines or a paragraph on how I spent my summer vacation and mention what they loved about their vacation. Want to explore more such mind-boggling stuff? Are you wondering where you can find more such interesting English essay topics for kids ? We’ve got you covered! You can visit our Kids Learning section, where you can find a huge array of resources such as worksheets, stories, poems for kids, GK questions, etc. and make your child fall in love with learning.

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For One Glorious Summer, Americans Will Vacation Like the French

Workers are on the verge of going bonkers with their PTO.

Here’s a cool trick for blowing any American’s mind. Tell us that in France, so many boulangeries shut down for vacation every summer that it can be tough to snag a baguette. Bakers aren’t the only ones who get time off. In August, up to half of the country’s salaried employees have been known to take at least a full week off from work. Half!

Americans are good at lots of different things, but going on vacation is not one of them. Every year in parts of Europe, summer turns into a mini-sabbatical. In Norway, during the tradition of fellesferie , the nation simply shuts down for a few weeks of July fun. In Italy, so many people take the last two weeks of August off that Rome’s transit system runs on a reduced “ festivi ” schedule. Meanwhile, guess which industrialized country is the only one that doesn’t guarantee time off to its workers? Guess which country left 768 million vacation days on the table in 2018? Guess which country … arghhhhhhhh.

The pandemic has not been great for America’s vacation malaise. When there are few new places to go and few new things to do, what’s the point of asking for time off? Yes, many Americans who have made it through without losing their jobs have taken a break to discover nature or their apartment balconies , but largely, we do not seem to be PTO-ing our way through this god-awful year. In February, time-off requests on the HR platform Zenefits were down 26 percent from the year before, a spokesperson told me, in line with what the company has seen since July.

But something weird is about to happen. This summer, the stars seem to be aligning for vaxxed-up Americans to go PTO wild . After a year in which everyone was cooped up indoors, domestic-travel bookings are going bonkers as people put in their day-off requests and get pumped for some sort of normalcy. It might have taken a global pandemic, but Americans for once seem poised to summer like the Europeans do—that is, if our bosses will let us.

Read: Workism is a making Americans miserable

The roots of what may bloom this summer have been growing all throughout the pandemic. “The pent-up demand is a fire hose that is trying to burst through,” Glenn Fogel, the CEO of Booking.com, told me when I asked about his expectations for post-pandemic travel. On the flight-finding site Kayak, which Booking.com owns, searches for summer travel have been rising as much as 27 percent every week since early March, a spokesperson told me, even as business flyers remain grounded at home and many international destinations remain out-of-bounds for Americans. We can still fly to Mexico, and on Priceline.com, reservations for trips there are up 230 percent from 2019, according to the company.

The same vacation boom—sorry, I mean the vacci-cation boom—has struck lodging. “Some hotels, airlines, and travel agencies are telling me that they are seeing double-digit growth on a day-over-day basis,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel-industry analyst, told me. January broke the record for most new short-term rental bookings, according to AirDNA, an independent analytics firm that tracks Airbnb and its competitor Vrbo. February broke it again. Jamie Lane, AirDNA’s vice president of research, told me that demand for Airbnbs has been so strong that he expects some areas in the United States to be totally booked up for the summer by April or May. Travel trends might continue to creep up, now that the CDC has okayed travel for the vaccinated. (Because the pandemic is very much not over , the CDC still recommends that the unvaccinated avoid all nonessential travel.)

All that vacation is possible only because people, intentionally or not, have been hoarding time off for the past year. Generally, Americans don’t have that many days off to begin with—just 10 on average for new workers, compared with a minimum of 20 days in the European Union—and many businesses make those days “use it or lose it,” meaning they expire at the end of the year. But when the pandemic hit, a third of companies made a fateful decision: letting their workers carry more days over than usual. By sitting on so much time off, workers have functionally jerry-rigged their own version of all those late-summer weeks that many Europeans automatically get off. “We’re in for a summer surge of PTO,” Howard Metzger, the president of MBL Benefits Consulting, told me. “People want out.”

In fact, so many people might soon request PTO that some offices could just go full Europe and close for a week, John Dooney, an HR adviser at the Society for Human Resource Management, told me. Other offices might need to engage in a bit of black-belt scheduling jiu-jitsu to make room for the rush of Zoomed-out employees aching for hikes in Shenandoah and tasting menus in San Francisco. American cities are not about to shut down, European-style, to let employees do their thing for weeks on end, but a summer of a million shorter, weeklong trips and four-day holidays still might feel different. If you’re stuck working in an office, you might send an email blast only to be met with an avalanche of “OOO” auto-replies. Your boss might wrangle you back to the cubicle life only to realize in horror that the rest of the office is still empty, because so many people have gone on vacation. Across the U.S., vacation bliss maybe, just maybe, will settle in for a few months—a shared sense of relief in merely having to worry about awkward tan lines again.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The coming PTO crunch will almost certainly be tempered by managers seeking to stop it from happening. Even bosses in more flexible jobs might not want to deal with the logistical headache of keeping the office running with a hollowed-out staff, summer be damned. And the allure of normalcy won’t entirely rid Americans of one of the reasons we don’t take time off in the first place: fear. “The fear of asking for time off from your boss, the fear that taking time off will impact you economically—that is all very palpable,” says Jamie McCallum, a Middlebury College sociologist and the author of Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock-Work Is Killing the American Dream . If your boss wants you back at your desk rather than in Delray Beach, not even your primal urge for a little post-pandemic junket will get in the way.

PTO has always been unequal—and as with everything else in this pandemic, the working class is about to have it a whole lot worse. Low-wage workers have disproportionately gotten sick with COVID-19 and have disproportionately lost their jobs . Now they are disproportionately in a position where they won’t be able to take advantage of the summer vacci-cation boom, whenever it finally hits. Less than 40 percent of low-wage workers in the private sector get any paid time off, and although they work fewer hours than C-suite suits, they work more total weeks , complicating the possibility of taking an extended break.

At the same time, some sectors are about to get welcomely busier than before the pandemic. All the activities that the professional class is aching to do again will need workers to make them happen—a rush that can’t come soon enough for some line cooks and hostesses. “You’re going to have a situation where some people are going to say, Thank God I can go on vacation , and others will say, Thank God I can go back to work ,” McCallum told me.

Read: Only your boss can cure your burnout

For the chunk of Americans who will get a work rumspringa , big questions are waiting for them on the other side of vacation nirvana, about whether they want to return to the norms of yore. If workers can take PTO this summer, why not again in the fall? And next summer? And whenever else they please? The pandemic has already made all sorts of impossible things possible . Maybe actual, sustained time off from work will be next. It’s not the craziest idea ever: A year in which a third of Americans lost someone to the coronavirus, and everyone was hit with deprivation, might be the thing that brings about a mass reckoning over how work has consumed our lives.

Or, uh, maybe not. A more disturbing possibility is that the pandemic has made Americans even more addicted to our jobs . Now that WFH-ers have emulsified work and leisure into one, a remote-friendly future might fully sever the link between travel and time off. Of all the summer spikes playing out on Priceline, the biggest is a 165 percent bump in bundled flight-and hotel-bookings compared with summer 2019, a trend that the company’s CEO, Brett Keller, says is likely driven by workers hunting for the best deals on extended stays during which they can vacation and work. Many Americans can now log on from anywhere, but they still can’t escape logging on.

“There is no separation anymore,” Howard Metzger told me. When we spoke, he reminisced about the summer trips he would take as a kid in the ’80s, during which his parents would totally unplug from work. Metzger took my call from Copper Mountain, a ski resort in Colorado. He was supposed to be on vacation.

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Summer learning loss: What is it, and what can we do about it?

Subscribe to the center for economic security and opportunity newsletter, david m. quinn and david m. quinn assistant professor of education - university of southern california morgan polikoff morgan polikoff associate professor of education - usc rossier school of education.

September 14, 2017

• 14 min read

As students return to school this fall, many of them – perhaps especially those from historically disadvantaged student groups – will be starting the academic year with achievement levels lower than where they were at the beginning of summer break. This phenomenon – sometimes referred to as summer learning loss, summer setback, or summer slide – has been of interest to education researchers going back as far as 1906. 1 We review what is known about summer loss and offer suggestions for districts and states looking to combat the problem.

An early comprehensive review of the literature summarized several findings regarding summer loss. 2 The authors concluded that: (1) on average, students’ achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning, (2) declines were sharper for math than for reading, and (3) the extent of loss was larger at higher grade levels. Importantly, they also concluded that income-based reading gaps grew over the summer, given that middle class students tended to show improvement in reading skills while lower-income students tended to experience loss. However, they did not find differential summer learning in math, or by gender or race in either subject.

The recent literature on summer loss has been mixed.  One study using data from over half a million students in grades 2-9 from a southern state (from 2008-2012) found that students, on average, lost between 25 – 30 percent of their school-year learning over the summer; additionally, black and Latino students tended to gain less over the school year and lose more over the summer compared to white students. 3 However, an analysis of the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010 – 11 (ECLS-K:2011) found little evidence of overall loss over the summers after grades K and 1, and the summer socioeconomic status gaps widened in some subjects and grades but not others. 4 Von Hippel and Hamrock re-analyzed two earlier data sets and concluded that gaps “do not necessarily…grow fastest over the summer” (p.41). 5 Thus, it seems summer loss and summer gap-growth occur, though not universally across geography, grade level, or subject.  

Entwisle, Alexander, and Olson’s “faucet theory” offers an explanation as to why lower-income students might learn less over the summer compared to higher-income students. 6 According to the theory, the “resource faucet” is on for all students during the school year, enabling all students to make learning gains. Over the summer, however, the flow of resources slows for students from disadvantaged backgrounds but not for students from advantaged backgrounds. Higher-income students tend to continue to have access to financial and human capital resources (such as parental education) over the summer, thereby facilitating learning. 7

Students’ achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning.

Traditionally, educators and policymakers have relied on conventional summer school programs to combat summer loss and summer gap-growth. In 2000, Cooper and colleagues published a comprehensive meta-analysis of classroom-based summer programs finding positive effects on average. 8 However, they also concluded that middle-income students benefited more from summer programming than did lower-income students.  They speculated that this could be because programs serving more advantaged students were of higher quality, or because of an interactive effect between programming and the home resources available to students.  The result raised the concern that attempts to stem summer learning loss may actually exacerbate summer gap-growth if they are not well targeted.

Kim and Quinn conducted a meta-analysis of 41 summer reading programs from 35 studies published after the Cooper et al. review. 9 Like Cooper and colleagues, Kim and Quinn found summer reading programs to be effective at raising test scores, on average. Unlike Cooper, however, Kim and Quinn found that it was low-income students who benefited most from summer reading programs (even when restricting the comparison to higher- and lower-income students attending the same program).  Furthermore, they concluded that the reason lower-income students benefited more was that lower-income students in these studies were more likely than higher-income students to experience summer loss when not participating in the summer programs.  The authors noted several differences between their review and Cooper et al.’s that could explain the contrasting results:  1) Kim and Quinn analyzed only reading programs, while Cooper and colleagues combined math and reading programs, 2) Kim and Quinn included only two-group experimental and quasi-experimental studies, while Cooper and colleagues included single-group pre/post-test designs, and 3) Kim and Quinn included home-based programs in their review.

Naturally, school-based summer school programs vary in their effectiveness.  Many of the recommendations for creating high-quality programs come in the form of expert opinion.  Common suggestions include blending academic learning with hands-on or recreational activities, professionalizing summer school staff, and forming partnerships with community organizations to leverage resources. 10 We can also draw some lessons from research.  For instance, the recent meta-analysis found that programs were more effective when they used research-based literacy instruction; specifically, programs using instructional strategies identified by the National Reading Panel as best practices had the largest impact on students’ reading comprehension scores (equivalent to moving from the 50 th  to the 65 th  percentile of a normal distribution). Program effectiveness also differed by literacy domain—programs were effective at raising students’ reading comprehension and fluency/decoding scores but not their vocabulary scores.  Not surprisingly, research also suggests that programs are more effective when students attend consistently and spend more time on task academically. 11

While school-based summer learning programs hold promise when they fit the above criteria, they often fail to live up to these expectations. Two important reasons why school-based summer programs can be ineffective are that organizers often struggle to attract high quality teachers and struggle to appeal to students and families for whom the opportunity costs of attending summer school can be high. 12 13 School-based programs can also be quite costly. Researchers have therefore experimented, with some success, with lower-cost home-based summer programming.

One example of a home-based summer reading program that has been shown to be effective for low-income upper elementary school students is READS for Summer Learning. 14 In READS, which has been iteratively modified over several randomized trials, students receive eight books in the mail over the summer that are matched to their reading level and interests. Along with each book, students receive a tri-fold paper that leads them through a pre-reading activity and a post-reading comprehension check. Students are asked to mail the postage-prepaid tri-fold back; families receive reminders when tri-folds are not returned. Additionally, teachers deliver scripted lessons at the end of the school year to prepare students to productively read independently over the summer with the trifold scaffold.  A recent study found that READS had an effect on low-income students’ reading comprehension the spring following their participation in the intervention (ES=.05 SD on the state reading test), 15 and other work suggests that the tri-fold acts as a mediator of the program effect. 16

Another recent randomized trial showed that something as simple as sending text messages over the summer to families of elementary school students at risk of summer loss was effective at improving the reading scores of third- and fourth-graders (but not first or second graders), with effect sizes of .21 to .29. 17 The text messages included tips on resources available to students over the summer, ideas for activities to do with children, and information about the value of particular summer learning activities.

Home-based programs such as these can be more cost-effective than school-based interventions. For example, the cost of READS per student is estimated to be between $250-$480, compared to other programs providing supplementary education services that can cost as much as $1,700 per student and have similar or less favorable cost effectiveness ratios.

Kim and Quinn included home-based programs in their meta-analysis, and encouragingly, they found that the effects of home-based programs were not significantly different from their more expensive classroom-based alternatives.  At the same time, the effects from these programs might not be as large as the effects of the highest-quality school-based programs that use research-based instructional strategies.

Schools and districts should want to address the issue of summer learning loss not only because it may exacerbate achievement gaps, but also because it “wastes” so much of the knowledge students have gained during the school year. Summer loss also undoubtedly increases the amount of time teachers have to spend “re-teaching” last year’s content, likely contributing to the repetitiveness of the typical U.S. curriculum. 18 While investing in extensive school-based summer options may be infeasible, it may be cost-effective and strategic for districts to begin to offer targeted out-of-school interventions to the students most at risk of backsliding.  In designing such programs, policymakers should keep in mind the recommendations from the research described above:

• Center the program around evidence-based curriculum.
• In addition to academic content, include hands-on or recreational activities to attract students.
• Ensure that program structure enables sufficient time on task, and have policies or incentives that encourage consistent attendance.
• Invest in hiring the most effective teachers.

Regardless of the design, these policies should offer engaging options for students over the summer so that summer learning programs do not feel like punishment for students who would rather be enjoying summer vacation.  Doing so would set more students up for success as the school year gets underway.

The authors did not receive any financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. They are currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article. 

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• Cooper H., Nye B., Charlton K., Lindsay J., Greathouse S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 227–268. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543066003227
• Atteberry, A., & McEachin, A. (2016). School’s out: Summer learning loss across grade levels and school contexts in the United States today.  In Alexander, K., Pitcock, S., & Boulay, M. (Eds). Summer learning and summer learning loss, pp35-54 . New York: Teachers College Press.
• Quinn, D.M., Cooc, N., McIntyre, J., & Gomez, C.J. (2016). Seasonal dynamics of academic achievement inequality by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity: Updating and extending past research with new national data. Educational Researcher, 45 (8), 443-453. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X16677965?journalCode=edra
• Von Hippel, P.T., & Hamrock, C. (2016).  Do test score gaps grow before, during, or between the school years? Measurement artifacts and what we can know in spite of them. (Social Science Research Network working paper). Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2745527
• Entwisle D. R., Alexander K. L., Olson L. S. (2000). Summer learning and home environment. In Kahlenberg R. D. (Ed.), A notion at risk: Preserving public education as an engine for social mobility (pp. 9–30). New York, NY: Century Foundation Press
• Borman G. D., Benson J., Overman L. T. (2005). Families, schools, and summer learning. The Elementary School Journal, 106 (2), 131–150. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/499195
• Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., & Muhlenbruck, L. (2000). Making the most of summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review.  Monographs of the society for research in child development , 65, i-127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3181549
• Kim J. S., Quinn D. M. (2013). The effects of summer reading on low-income children’s literacy achievement from kindergarten to grade 8 a meta-analysis of classroom and home interventions. Review of Educational Research, 83 (3), 386–431. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0034654313483906
• McLaughlin B., Pitcock S. (2009). Building quality in summer learning programs: Approaches and recommendations (White Paper Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation). Retrieved from: http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/documents/building-quality-in-summer-learning-programs.pdf
• Augustine, CH, Sloan McCombs, J., Pane, JF, Schwartz, HL, Schweig, J., McEachin, A. and Siler-Evans, K. (2016). Learning from Summer: Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low-Income Urban Youth. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1557.html
• Denton D. R. (2002). Summer school: Unfulfilled promise. Atlanta, GA: Summer Regional Education Board. Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED467662.pdf
• McLaughlin & Pitcock (2009)
• e.g., Kim, J.S., Guryan, J., White, T.G., Quinn, D.M., Capotosto, L., & Kingston, H.C. (2016). Delayed effects of a low-cost and large-scale summer reading intervention on elementary school children’s reading comprehension. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9 sup1, 1-22. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2016.1164780?journalCode=uree20
• Guryan, J., Kim, J.S., & Quinn, D.M. (2014). Does reading during the summer build reading skills? Evidence from a randomized experiment in 463 classrooms. NBER Working Paper No. 20689. http://www.nber.org/papers/w20689
• Kraft, M.A., & Monti-Nussbaum, M. (in press). Can schools empower parents to prevent summer learning loss? A text messaging field experiment to promote literacy skills. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science .  https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mkraft/files/kraft_monti-nussbaum_2017_can_schools_empower_parents_to_prevent_summer_learning_loss_annals.pdf
• Polikoff,  M.S.  (2012).  The  redundancy  of  mathematics  instruction  in  US  elementary  and middle  schools.   The  Elementary  School  Journal ,  113 (2),  230­-251. http://web-app.usc.edu/web/rossier/publications/66/The%20Redundancy%20of%20Math%20Instruction.pdf

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• Summer Vacation Essay for Students in English

Summer Vacation Essay on English

Introduction.

Summer vacation is a time when students can relax and enjoy their free time. It is a time to catch up on rest, spend time with family and friends, and explore new hobbies or interests. For many students, summer vacation is also a time to continue learning and improving their English skills. This article will provide information about Essay on Summer Vacation, ways to spend Summer Vacation. Parents should encourage their children to read, write and practise speaking English during the summer break or take them for an outing to have fun and enjoy the sun.

Essay on Summer Vacation

Summer holidays have an important place in every person's life. especially in children's lives.

Summer is the hottest season of the year, children enjoy it very much. It is a very interesting and entertaining season for them as they get a chance to eat their favorite fruits and ice cream. They also enjoy long school closures during the summer holidays.

Summer vacation is an important time for children. This is a very happy time for them. During these holidays, children can do all that they are interested in. They have fun living with their parents, brothers and sisters through the holidays. Summer holidays are the happiest of students' lives. Because they got some rest from going to school for some time.

There are many other important things in summer vacations along with getting relief from the heat. After the exams are over, the students feel exhausted and are not interested in studying, hence, they need rest to improve their health and viability after a long year of study.

Everyone gets to learn something in the summer holidays, whether they are grown-ups or children. Everyone has their own way of celebrating the summer vacation, some like to go on a picnic with their family, some go to foreign countries and some go home and enjoy it.

Most of the girls like to play badminton, football etc. during summer vacation while boys like to play cricket in the open field. During the season there are many fruits which can be enjoyed only in summer. These fruits help to make the summer holiday more interesting, drinking fresh fruit juice and drinking fresh fruit in the body produces freshness in the body.

Everyone already plans something for the summer holidays. Especially kids start making new plans a few months in advance to make their summer holidays exciting. The summer holidays are a great relief for everyone, that's why everyone tries to make it memorable.

Ways of Spending Vacation

Some children make good use of leave by applying tutoring in their weak subject and make it better. Summer holidays become a summer fun for children who are happy when the last bell rings at school. Summer holidays become the happiest moments for children as they get a long break from the daily busy lives of school and school work. Some people go to the countryside for vacations or to visit some historical and recreational places. The time has come to get away from homework and be entertained by a good trip from home to the city, hill stations, and other quiet places to happily defeat the heat.

Benefits of Summer Vacation

The purpose of summer vacations is to give the students a little rest from the summer season. Excessive heat can cause a lot of damage, so summer vacation is the best option to study and give them a break from the heat and assist the children to recover in weaker subjects See you. Everyone usually has their own way of spending the summer vacation, but most people prefer to go to cold places. Summer vacation gives the students an opportunity to visit new places, increase their general knowledge, and get time for school project work.

Children get an opportunity to spend time with their family members as well as to understand and have fun with them.

Overall we can say that the summer vacation is very important for the complete development of all.

A Place to Visit During Summer Vacations

There are a number of destination options to visit and spend quality time with family. You can book your vacation ticket online via the reputed portals make my trip, via.com, go ibibo etc. some good place falls in: 

Kullu Manali

Munnar (Kerala)

Kodaikanal 

Mahabaleshwar

Above are a few options to choose your destination for summer vacation. It's good to spend special quality time with family and loved ones once a year apart from any workload.

Every child looks forward to the summer holidays as a time of rest and relaxation. Summer vacations provide an opportunity for children to catch up on schoolwork, visit new places and spend time with family members. Children can also improve their skills by taking tutoring classes during the summer break. There are many places to visit and enjoy during summer vacations. The most important thing is to enjoy and make the most of this time.

FAQs on Summer Vacation Essay for Students in English

1. How Can Parents Make Summer Vacation Enjoyable for Kids?

Parents should plan some fun activities and take their children to interesting places. They can also arrange for a tutor to help the child prepare for the next academic year. Parents should also ensure that the child gets plenty of rest. The summer vacation is usually quite long. Parents should plan activities that are suitable for all family members to ensure that they have a great time together. This will also help the parents to spend time with their children. Exploring new places and spending quality time with family is a good way of making the summer vacation memorable. This will make a positive impact on the child's academic performance when school resumes because the child will have had a good break with family and will, therefore, be ready to work harder and succeed academically.

2. Where Should One Go for Summer Vacations?

There are a number of places that one can visit for summer vacations. Some people prefer to go to the countryside, while others prefer to go to the city or visit hill stations. There are also a number of places in India that are worth visiting during the summer vacation. Some of these places include Kullu Manali, Shimla, Chandigarh, Darjeeling, Nainital, Munnar (Kerala), Ooty and Kodaikanal. These places offer a variety of activities that are perfect for summer vacations. They also offer a respite from the heat. People can enjoy sightseeing, trekking, boating, fishing and a lot more while enjoying their summer holidays. Doing physical activities in cooler climates is a good way to beat the heat and have some fun. Parents can also take their children to historical sites like museums, art galleries and zoos. All these places provide an interesting and educational experience for the whole family.

3. What Kind of Activities Can Children Do in Summer Vacation?

There are a number of fun activities that children can do during the summer vacation. These include going to the beach, swimming, playing games, visiting amusement parks, going for hikes and camping. Children can also read books, watch movies or play computer games. It is important for parents to ensure that their children get plenty of rest and exercise during the summer vacations in order to stay healthy. The activities will improve the child's physical and mental health. The child will also get to know his or her family members better and have some fun memories to cherish for a long time.

4. How Can We Make Summer Vacation Interesting for Kids?

There are a number of ways in which parents can make summer vacation interesting for their children. One way is to plan activities that are suitable for all family members. This will help the family to bond and have some fun together. Parents can also take their children to interesting places that offer a variety of activities. These places include theme parks, hill stations, beaches and historical sites. Children can also participate in summer camps that offer a variety of activities such as sports, arts and crafts, music and dance. These camps provide a lot of fun and learning opportunities for children. They also help the children to make new friends. These activities will help the children to stay active and have a great time during the summer vacation.

5. What Are the Advantages of Summer Camps?

Summer camps offer a variety of advantages for children. These include learning new things, making friends, developing skills and having fun. Children can learn new things such as how to swim, play a musical instrument or ride a bike at summer camps. They can also develop important skills such as teamwork, leadership and communication skills. Children can also have lots of fun playing a variety of games, doing arts and crafts or singing songs. In addition to learning new things and developing skills, children will also have the opportunity to meet other children from different backgrounds. This diversity will help them learn about different cultures and broaden their minds. Parents should encourage their children to participate in summer camps as it helps the child's physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.

6. Why Summer Vacation is Good for Students?

Summer Vacation is quite recreational activity for children, it gives them a break from regular routine i.e. homework, school, classwork etc. a kind of quality time spent with family rejuvenates children mind and make them fresh for further studies post vacations. In that case, both parents and children get a break from their busy life. This is why summer vacation is important and its really meant to celebrate by any means.

7. Importance of Summer Camps for Children?

summer camps enhance children inner traits so they can come forward to as a volunteer to perform. There are the modes to make them extrovert and make them socialize with others, during camping they explore new things, find adventure, also experience some basic home activities.

8. What Makes Summer Vacation Apart From Winter Vacation?

In summer vacation children have ample time to indulge in various activities of their choices, whereas in winter vacation there is no such options left.  During summer vacation you can plan for long holidays while in winter vacations because of the short span of time you can plan to move out of city as well.