Traveling With Carolina Homeschooler
Can I take your trips if I don't live in South Carolina?

Do you know all the families on your trips? Will I feel like an outsider?

My husband doesn't like being part of a group. Should we still go?

Can I opt out of the hotel, meals, transportation, or specific sites on each trip?

Why do you do this? How did you get started?

What do your trip registration fees cover?

Why are many of your trips scheduled around holidays?

Can you provide references from people who've been on your trips?

I'm nervous about sending you money. How do I know you're not scamming me?

Why do you have ads on your website?
How can I help with your travel fundraising?

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Can I take your trips if I don't live in South Carolina?
Homeschoolers from throughout the United States (and Canada!) participate in our trips and we enjoy the diversity. All of my trips are as suitable for homeschoolers outside of South Carolina as they are for us natives. The more, the merrier (and the better group discounts we get).

Do you know all the families on your trips? Will I feel like an outsider?

No to both questions. On every trip, most of the families are new to me and to each other. On my recent NYC trip, there were six families who had been on previous trips with me. Also, some families go to Disney with me every year. The majority of families, however, are meeting me (and each other) for the first time.

My husband doesn't like being part of a group. Should we still go?

Yes. Tell your husband that many of the other husbands feel the same way, and end up enjoying my trips anyway. I organize them in such a way that families can stick with the group, go on their own, or mix it up according to how they're feeling each day. On several trips, the dads didn't come the first time, but came on a subsequent trip and enjoyed themselves. We're not stuffy, and you're not stuck with us the whole time. Honest. Give us a chance. :)

Can I opt out of the hotel, meals, transportation, or specific sites on each trip?

Unless stated otherwise, no. We have to reach specific minimum numbers to qualify for group discounts, so if several families opt out of a specific event or the hotel, then the rest of the group may be negatively impacted. I'm working on providing hotel-optional trips in the future so those who have family in the area or have alternative arrangements (campers, whatever) can join us.

In addition, transportation is provided for some of my trips, but not for others. For trips where I have a tour bus transporting us from site to site while at our destination (New York City, for example), you can plan your own transportation to and from our hotel. You'll still have to pay your share for your seats on the bus, however, since you'll need them to tour while we're there.

Why do you do this? How did you get started?

I checked into organizing a group trip to Washington DC for my local support group and found that tour companies were charging over $1,000 per person. Ouch. I figured I could do better than that and started researching. I was able to organize my first group DC trip for $800 per family. Since then I've added more days, and more sites, and prices have gone up, but I found that I really enjoyed organizing these trips. I'm very detail-oriented and love all the planning that drives ordinary folks crazy. I also do this because I enjoy introducing families to destinations they may be nervous about visiting for the first time on their own. It's very rewarding to hear from families who go back to DC or NYC after one of my trips and feel confident about getting around on their own via public transportation and touring the sites they missed the first time around. The most important reason I do this is because I very much enjoy meeting the wonderful families on my trips and exploring the sites with them. They're amazing, and I miss everyone after returning home - which makes me want to start planning a new trip right away. My husband just rolls his eyes and lets me have my way. (Fortunately!)

What do your trip registration fees cover?

They cover the cost of planning and organizing each trip, plus help cover our overall operating expenses (printing, mailing, long-distance, website, etc). We hope to eventually build a surplus so we can introduce more trips and services as we grow.

Why are many of your trips scheduled around holidays?

There are several reasons for this. Since most of us are one-income families, incorporating a paid holiday into our travel time results in less time off and loss of pay for parents who work outside of the home. To make our trips even more affordable, hotel rates are often substantially less during holiday periods in certain areas. (And sometimes there are just very good deals around the holidays that are too good to pass up.) I also try to factor in anticipated crowd levels when choosing travel times. Since I'm planning more trips now, I'm running out of holidays, but I do try to take everything into account when I make our plans.

Can you provide references from people who've been on your trips?

Absolutely. Many of the families who've been on my trips have volunteered to share their experiences (the good, the bad, and the whatnot) with others. Just email me at editor@carolinahomeschooler.com and I'll provide a list of email addresses you can choose from.

I'm nervous about sending money to someone I don't know. How do I know you're not scamming me?

You're right to be nervous, and smart to ask questions before sending money to anyone on the internet. I have trip reports and pictures from past successful trips in my main Travel area, but those could be faked, so don't go by that alone. I can give you email addresses of people who've went on trips with me (if they've given me their permission to share them), but those could be faked, too, so read them with that in mind. I can refer you to major publishers and authors in the homeschooling community and they can vouch that I'm who I say I am. (I've been online for many years, and we know each other through online homeschool communities.) Those can't be faked, because I'll just tell you who they are, and give you their website addresses, and you can email them yourself. And finally, you can do a Google search using "Carolina Homeschooler" as a search phrase. If I've ever cheated anyone, the grumblings will be on the internet somewhere. Until you're comfortable with me and trust I'm who I say I am and I'll do what I say I'll do, please don't register for my trips and send me your money.

Why do you have ads on your website?

I added Google and Amazon ads to the website in order to raise funds for our trips. Sometimes our funds cover the cost of admissions for the children, sometimes they cover the cost of getting advanced time tickets to sites so we don't have to wait in line once we arrive, and sometimes they cover any price increases that occur from the time I make reservations for a site to the time that I actually pay for our group. (This happened with two different sites on our 2009 NYC trip, but I didn't need to ask families to send more money because our fundraising money covered it.) Sometimes they covered unexpected expenses that come after my families have paid their final balances for a trip. (This has already happened for our current Washington DC trip in October - there was an unexpected expense that I'm using fundraising money to cover.) Sometimes they cover my travel costs if the trip isn't a vacation for my family (if I'm organizing the trip only for the benefit of others, and my family isn't going). Sometimes it covers the cost of deposits that I have to pay months in advance of a trip (before I start collecting deposits from families). In one way or another, all of the proceeds from Google ads, Amazon purchases, and from Box Tops go toward making the trips more affordable for homeschooling families.

How can I help with your travel fundraising?

Any help will be deeply appreciated! We've already raised over $2,000 and hope to raise a lot more. You can help by participating in all of our fundraising projects.

We hope this section of our FAQs has helped you to better what Carolina Homeschooler is all about. If you have any questions or concerns about the answers here, please email us. Although we've tried to include the questions that new homeschoolers seem to ask the most, we're always open to new questions.

Disclaimer: Any legal information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be considered complete, professional legal advice.

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