Holiday Break & Homeschooling
Wondering how to keep your homeschool momentum going during the holidays? This week, we’re talking about how to stay on track during a long break, incorporating holiday fun into your lessons, and motivating your child when school after a long break. Don’t miss out—tune in and also scroll down for exclusive freebies to make your holiday season both educational and memorable!
Episode 008:
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Scroll Down for this week’s Freebies:
Advent Calendar Cards (pdf)
Year-end Reflections (pdf)
Are you just starting your homeschooling journey? We’re here to help! Begin with our Get Started in Homeschooling page and Homeschooling FAQ to make the transition smoother. If you’re guiding a young child, explore our How to Homeschool Kindergarten. to make those first steps special. For middle schoolers, don’t miss our Middle School page packed with tips and advice. And if you’re heading into the high school years, our Essential Steps to Homeschool High School will guide you every step of the way!
Show Notes
The holidays are here! Hot cocoa, warm fires, time with family and making memories. It can also be stressful thinking of all the things you have going on this time of year. We want to tell you that the holidays are a great time to relax and take a break from structured homeschooling.
A lot of homeschooling parents take off most or all of December! You can, too. Kids can still learn during this time and formal schooling will be waiting for you in January.
We are coming up on what Juliana and Lydia from Rants to Mommyland used to refer to as the “Halloween to Holidays Death Spiral”. Rants to Mommyland Blog. Nicole’s Christmas Movie Bingo Cards: https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator/preview/pkbr9cb
How do you stay on track in homeschool during a long break? (4:32)
Some kids do just fine taking a break from homeschooling and can just pick up where they left off. In fact, some kids really benefit from that. Other kids can get undone when taking a break which can force you into doing a ton of review before you can get back into your groove. Some ways to avoid this are:
- Schooling year round
- Dropping all subjects but 1 or 2
- Encouraging other activities that still build skills
- Changing existing lessons to incorporate holiday themes
How do you incorporate the holidays into your homeschool? (5:59)
Homeschooling during the holidays is an excellent example of how homeschooling can be adapted to your lifestyle. It’s okay to slow down, relax, and take a break from the regular book learning.
From Julie Bogart’s “The Brave Learner,” “ Kids who bake, woodwork, and quilt have a better grasp of what fractions are about then a child who encounters them on worksheets.”
Embrace it! For years my family struggled with getting off track at this time of year and I would joke that we were bagging everything for a Home Ec semester.
Some great organizational pages that I used as a base for my Home Ec semester. We will be including a downloadable version soon!
Here’s some ideas of things to do instead of formal schoolwork:
Make festive memories instead
Add in craft days
Holiday cooking and baking
Cooking/Baking Book Recommendations:
Alton Brown, “Good Eats” series:
Good Eats: The Final Years (Good Eats, 4)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks―A Year of Holidays: 140 Step-by-Step Recipes for Simple, Scrumptious CelebrationsFairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters
These are excellent cookbooks with picture step by step instructions for littles:
Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up
Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up
Honest Pretzels: And 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & Up
Create a holiday writing assignment
Holiday Writing Recommendations:
Story Starters: Helping Children Write Like They’ve Never Written Before
Make a budget
Money Ninja: A Children’s Book About Saving, Investing, and Donating (Ninja Life Hacks)
Do a holiday inspired science projects
Holiday STEM Recommendations:
Star Wars snowflakes
Snow Slime:
Directions: https://www.instructables.com/Snow-Slime/?amp_page=true
Ingredients Super Snow Powder
Solder kit- Ornament (beginner)
Solder kit- Blinking Snowflake
Solder kit – Musical Christmas Tree
Holiday STEM Activity Book: “How to Build an Elf Trap The Ultimate Holiday STEM Activity Book for Kids with 12 Traps and 12 Bonus Activities”
There are 14 different religious holidays in the month of December
Holiday Celebration Recommendations:
What Do You Celebrate?: Holidays and Festivals Around the World
Winter Holidays Around the World
This Winter unit study is great for 6-12 and is packed with activities and challenges, with map work, atlas work, reading and response passages, exploring cultures and languages, crafts, coloring, recipes, and more:
Sparkles of Joy: A Children’s Book that Celebrates Diversity and Inclusion
World Religion Book Recommendations:
The Kids Book of World Religions
Holiday field trips or festivals
Boardgames
Santa Cookie Elf Candy Snowman: Easy to learn and fun, interactive card game for all ages
This is a family jigsaw puzzle that has big pieces for little fingers and small pieces for adults
Cuddle up by the fire and read!
Top 10 Books Every Homeschooler Should Read
Volunteering
How to motivate your homeschooler after a long break? (34:25)
After all this excitement, we welcomed a return to our regular school programming in January!
- Make things magical
- Start a new tradition
- Ease in or stagger school start
- Study one subject per week
