With the holidays upon us, many of us feel more stressed than usual. There are numerous holiday events, relatives to see, places to visit, and gift shopping and preparation to get done. Most of us wonder about holiday homeschooling. How to homeschool amid everything?
The holidays are a great time to take off from structured homeschooling. Don’t sweat the books. They will be waiting for you when the holidays are over!
This looks different for each family, but changing up your homeschool routine to be more flexible and fit your holiday preparation can be fun and exciting. I know with my half dozen kids, any kind of change always perked them up. All of a sudden they were interested in what was going on!
So as we get started let’s talk about schedules.
For many homeschooling moms and dads, planners are their lifeblood. Whether you need to plan the week, month, or even your daily schedules, a sense of organization is key. If you’re like me, my planner is especially vital during the holidays for any semblance of productivity, there are so many moving parts in our family if we didn’t have a schedule to let everyone know where/what/when we’d be lost!
If you’re stressing over your schedule for this coming holiday season, try to step back, pause, and take a deep breath.
One of the first things that I find particularly helpful when I’m in a stressful situation, or simply beginning each day (with potential to be stressful) is prayer. If you’re listening to this podcast then you’re looking for something. Maybe it’s wisdom or advice. One of the best places to find wisdom is in prayer.
After all of these years of homeschooling during the holidays, I’ve realized that sometimes the most important thing we can do for our children is to take time with them. The holidays are all about creating wonderful memories and sweet traditions. Take some time to consider what is most important in your family this season.
Once I’ve determined what my focus will be during the holidays, I turn to my schedule. Since there are so many people in our household, even when we aren’t formally doing a lot of homeschooling or any homeschooling at all – – we still need a schedule so that everyone is on the same page. I find this especially important during the holidays. Each of us has a lot of “extra” during this time and a schedule of some sort helps everyone. Be creative, flexible, and fun. As I’ve already mentioned change always gets the kids interested… Here are a few of my creative suggestions for holiday homeschooling.