Christmas is next week, and I’m so excited for it this year. We have a real tree, made salt dough ornaments (first time EVER,) and have been listening to Christmas music and watching every Christmas movie we can find. Maybe it’s because it’s the last Christmas of the decade or the magic of the holiday season got to me — whatever is going on, I’m totally into it. We’ll take off the last two weeks of 2019, but the learning won’t end. Oh no, my friends. Let me share with you four ways I’ll keep us moving forward even when we’re on a break.
Sticking to Our Schedule
Over the years, I’ve found that sticking to a schedule works best. Anytime I’ve tried being fancy free with our days, I’ve paid the price once school started back. This year I’m going a step further and having the boys continue doing some school work over our break.
Now, before you feel bad for them, think about this: homeschooled children tend to have a lot of free time during the school week anyway, so imagine the amount of time they have on breaks. Staggering to say the least! So, why not fill a little bit of it with some work that’ll keep them on track for when we return to our school days? I see no problem with it!
Everyday, my boys will use Khan Academy to brush up on their math skills. They’re both interested in the computer programming course offered, so they’ll work on that, too. I’ll continue to read a book on a specific topic to my seven year old, and my 11 year old will catch up on some work that he missed during our fall session. We’ll watch documentaries together as well. That’s it. Not too bad, right?
Have a Plan to Beat Boredom
While it’s great for my children to be bored, it’s also great for this mama to make finding something to do easier. #SetThemUpForSuccess and #SaveMySanityInTheProcess #Amen
I’m a minimalist at heart, so we don’t usually have lots o’ stuff hanging around, so I decided to curate two different kits for them to pull from when they’re bored. These kits are Christmas gifts, so shhhhhh… don’t tell them what they’re getting, okay?
DIY STEAM Kit I hit up Pinterest for ideas on items to include in this kit, plus some experiments to get them started. (Click here to check out my STEAM board.)
The purpose of the kit to to “wet their whistles” so to speak, so that when boredom hits, they can have a ready-made box of science, technology, engineering, art, and math materials to run with.
The items I included just to get them started are:
- IKEA drawing and coloring rolls with a tabletop holder for each
- Scissors
- Rubber bands
- Different types of tape
- Stencils
- Glue
- Straws
- Toothpicks
- Paper plates
- Styrofoam cups
- Clothes pins
- Paint with brushes
- Colored pencils
- Sharpies
- Markers
- Crayons
- Cardboard boxes I collected
- Different types of clips
- Tools (e.g., level, hammer)
- Binder with potential projects
Outside of the IKEA paper rolls, we either already had the items at home, or I bought them from Dollar Tree. We also have a couple of science experiment books already and visit the library weekly, so they will have an endless amount of projects ideas to pull from, along with coming up with their own.
DIY Cooking Kit My children always want to help me in the kitchen, so I thought that I would create a kit that would not only give them their own tools to work with, but to encourage them to start cooking on their own.
Here are the items I added in the kit:
- Measuring cups
- Apple corer
- Oven mitts
- Spatulas
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Kitchen shears
- Muffin, cookie, and brownie mixes
- Binder with basic recipes
In addition to online recipe searches, we’ll get cook books from the library with easy recipes to try. Oh, and I also purchased everything from Dollar Tree!
With both kits, I’ll add and replace items as we go. I truly hope these kits not only keep them busy over the holidays, but continue to provide fun and educational experiences for some time to come.
Take a Field Trip or Two
With two whole weeks of time on our hands and mild weather expected, I want to do a couple of field trips. I’m not sure where we’ll go just yet, but I’m sure I will find something fun for us to do from the list on my blog post about winter field trips. If you’re interested and haven’t seen it already, hop on over and check it out.
Walk It Out
In my last post, I shared how being out in nature without a lesson plan or other agenda has been transformative for our homeschool. During our break, we’ll continue to go on our *almost* daily nature walks because… well… we’re kinda addicted to them. Every time we go, we learn something.
Just the other day they got to practice their map reading skills, observed an owl and hawk or falcon (we couldn’t tell which it was) flying overhead, had a close encounter with a deer family, and more. You can’t help but learn when you’re out in nature. So, as long as the weather permits, we’ll continue our daily walks throughout our holiday break.
So friends, those are the ways we’ll homeschool over the holidays. I hope my ideas inspire you to continue to homeschool over the holidays in ways that benefit YOUR family. Let me know in the comments if you’ll be homeschooling over the holidays and what that looks like in your home.
Have a wonderful holiday season, and happy homeschooling! ❤
The Intuitive Homeschooler 