Re-Entry Strategies: Back to School and Work after Vacation

Re-entry back into school and work after a vacation can be really challenging. I’d like to share a few strategies today which will help make re-entry back into routines more successful. If we have the right mindset going back to school and work, we can avoid many of the problems before they occur.

Re-Entry in our Home

We have been doing virtual school for the past 13 years. When vacations end, I don’t drop my kids off at school and enjoy a quiet house. I jump right back into the daily lessons and assignment supervision.

 My husband has also worked at home for most of his career, so when he goes back to work, he heads to his office. Since his office is downstairs, the hum of his work conversations provides the soundtrack to our school day.

Strategies for Re-Entry

Over the years, I have developed some strategies to make our re-entry more effective. Since our family was home so much, even before this pandemic, it was hard to switch our mindsets back into work mode from vacation mode. I found that I needed to think deliberately about re-entry so that it wasn’t a chaotic mess the week we returned from vacations or time off.

Prepare Before the Vacation

We can make sure that our return to school and work is smooth if we take time to prepare for re-entry before we leave for vacation. This is a really important step and can help set us up for success even before the trip begins.

If you didn’t do this before winter break, don’t stress out, just file this away in your memory bank for next time!

Here are some ways that I like to prepare before a vacation

• Do the laundry
• Do a basic home cleaning
• Check my bills and make sure things are paid
• Respond to any emails or voicemails 
• Check the school grade book for the kids.
• Make a list of any open items in my bullet journal so that I don’t forget about them

I have found that re-entry is so much easier when I take some time to prepare before I leave for a vacation.

Buffer Days

One of the things that I have tried to do when planning our vacations is to add in some buffer days for the family. I used to schedule the vacations right up to the first day of school. I wanted to squeeze every single ounce of fun out of the vacation before heading back to work. 

On that first day back to school, we would wake up completely exhausted. If we had taken flight the day before, our bodies were confused as to what time it really was, and our suitcases were still packed. We had no food in the house because we had eaten it all before we left.  

I was stressed, and the day hadn’t even started yet. I would try to get the kids going on their routines and then I would look around the house and see that we had nothing to eat for lunch. So, I would try to run out to get some food, but that would leave the kids to fend for themselves with their lessons.

They were not at their best, so chances are when I got back from the store, nothing was done on their school day. We had lunch food, but there was still a mountain of school to be done.

This was a recipe for a really bad day!

Several years ago, I decided to try to add one buffer day to our vacations. If school started back on a Monday, I would try to have us arrive home from vacation on Saturday. It did mean that our actual vacation was shorter. 

It was worth it. I found that our family did so much better on re-entry when we had a buffer day. If you have the flexibility to adjust your vacation to allow for a buffer day, please consider it. Re-entry will be so much easier.

Here are some of the things I use that buffer day for:

• Unpacking the suitcases
• Laundry
• Sort out the mail and packages
• Meal Planning
• Order Groceries
• Go to bed early!

A buffer day does not need to be filled to the brim with productivity. If you have come home from a busy trip, or are dealing with jet lag, then take that buffer day to relax and slowly readjust to your home time zone. Do not spend the day giving yourself a guilt trip about what you should be doing. This day is for you and your family to transition from vacation to your home routines. You may be low energy, and that is ok.

Appropriate Exceptions (low)

When we are re-entering school or work after vacation, we need to set appropriate expectations for ourselves and our loved ones.  

These expectations should be low. We are not going to be models of energy and productivity right after a vacation. Vacations are fun and allow us to have a more fluid approach to time management.  

I have really enjoyed the slow pace in our home this winter break. We didn’t travel anywhere, but my husband has had time off. This means that we could slow our morning routine down and walk the dogs anytime we like. When school and work are going on, we have deadlines in the morning. On vacation, we don’t need to look at the calendar. We eat lunch later and don’t watch the clock all day.  

This will change once we get back to school and work this week. There will be conference calls in the morning, so the alarms will get set, and the dogs will get walked earlier. The kids will be jumping right back into the last week of the semester. It will be an intense time.  

But, those first few days, we will all benefit from lower expectations. I will plan meals that are easy to prepare. I won’t expect the school days to go efficiently. I know that the first few days after a vacation typically have a pace more like slow flowing molasses.  

If I have high expectations and my kids are not moving fast enough, I will inject stress into our home. I have been known to be the “hurry up” mom. I want the work done with efficiency. But that is not how things always go right after vacation. I can help everyone re-enter peacefully if I keep my expectations low.

Clear Focus on What Matters

I try to keep my expectations low the week of re-entry, but I do strive to have a clear focus on what matters. I don’t try to add a lot of extra things to the week of re-entry. This will allow us to get the things done which are most important.

In our home, this means that the daily lessons get done, food gets purchased, and the home is relatively picked up. This might be different for you. Only you can decide what is most important to you in the week of re-entry.

One of the first tasks that my husband will do after time away is to sort through his email and make sure that he is clear as to what needs to be done. He will typically spend a few hours on his first day back to work going through all his correspondence and then making a list so that he knows what he needs to do.

I like to make sure that I get the suitcases unpacked and the laundry going. If I don’t do that right away, I will leave them out and they will become decorations in my bedroom. That is a task I don’t particularly enjoy because it means I’m saying goodbye to a vacation.

One of my tasks this week will be to make sure all the Christmas decorations are put away. I always wait until after New Year’s to do that. I’m not sure when I will do it, but it is one of the clear priorities of my week.

I have some organizing ideas that I would like to do in the home, but I’m not sure that this will be the week to do it. I need to keep my eye focused on the most important things this week.

Re-entry after vacations is hard. We need to transition from a more casual pace back into our work pace. Our kids might not be ready to get back to lessons and homework. We might really want to go back to sleeping in. We can help make our re-entry more successful by adopting strategies that will support a smooth transition back to our daily routines.