Eight months off school, but we all learned so much: a family sabbatical in South America | South America holidays

It was on holiday in Italy in 2022, after perhaps a little too much wine, that the decision was made: Mirjam Peternek-McCartney and her husband, Mark, would take a year’s sabbatical – with their (then) 10- and 13-year-old sons, Lukas and David. “We told the kids in the morning and after that we couldn’t back out … They were excited and it all started to feel more real,” says Mirjam, who lives in the Cotswolds and runs a PR company.

While the couple had discussed the idea of taking extended time out from their daily lives before (they had been on sabbaticals together and lived abroad), Covid brought what was important to them into sharp focus – spending time together as a family and travelling. With Mark turning 50 and David’s GCSEs not too far away, it felt like a now or never moment.

“It was a midlife crisis with other factors mixed in. We felt we had to grab this window. The children’s schooling and how my business would run without me were the biggest worries. But colleagues and the school were very supportive.”

Initial thoughts were of heading to Asia, but in the end South America won out – a continent none of the family had ever been to. The idea was to start in Colombia and head south, to the tip of Patagonia in Chile, and then up the Atlantic coast to Buenos Aires, travelling on public transport or by car. A year was scaled back to eight months, at the school’s request. The planning started in earnest and they set off in September 2023.

“The research was a big part of the fun,” Mirjam says. “We watched films and documentaries and read books about the places we wanted to visit. I wanted to do it all as sustainably as possible, too. We decided to stay away from tourist haunts and explore less well-known sites, and to use local guides and firms.”

Deciding on set days for schoolwork was important. Monday to Wednesday each week were “school days”, while Thursday to Sunday were travel days. School subjects were divided between parents (with extra online tuition for maths and sciences). “It gave us a rhythm and structure,” Mirjam says, “and the chance for us to do some work as we travelled, too. We stayed in places with three bedrooms, so there was one spare for working in. Internet connection was always good.”

Among several highlights was a stay at the Tambopata Research Center in the Tambopata…