Holiday Homeschooling Survival Tips!

November 25, 2020
Written by:
Courtney Newman

Holidays alone can be stressful but add in homeschooling kids who’d rather dream about what’s hiding in mom’s closet and you’ve got a sure-fire recipe for chaos. Your homeschool schedule certainly doesn’t have to add to the stress; in fact, it can help reduce it!  None of us want to get behind for the New Year, however, this is where scheduling comes in. Homeschool schedules can be as flexible as we need them to be during the holiday season and still keep up with a decent amount of work.  We have several homeschooling ideas to lighten the load during this magical holiday season and help you transition from the holidays into the New Year with minimal issues.

One of the best aspects of homeschooling is your ability as the parent to adapt it to your lifestyle.  We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: make your curriculum work for you, not you for it! One of the major points of homeschooling is for it to support your own, personal, unique lifestyle.  Every homeschooling family is different and has different needs and activities during the holiday season. Let’s chat about how to make this season a little less stressful.

10 Scheduling Tips for Homeschooling During the Holidays

For many homeschooling moms, planners are their lifeblood.  Whether you need to plan the week, month, or even down to planning 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, but it is also the most likely time of year for my schedule to get thrown out the window.  If you’re stressing over your schedule for this coming holiday season, try to step back, pause, and take a deep breath. There are several ways to keep the learning going during the holiday season!  Here are ten practical ideas.

  • Focus on reading! Take time this holiday season to sit and read with your children.  Use the holiday weeks to read as many books as you can!
  • Consider a holiday unit study. Utilize the holidays as a chance to learn more about their origin and traditions!  On the other hand, you could learn more about the wintertime, change in seasons, and make a unit study out of it!
  • Make the most out of your field trips. If you have one or two field trips scheduled this month, dig into them and learn everything you can.  Take a trip to the library for related books, dive into Google searches, and look for complementary YouTube videos!
  • Similarly, make holiday festivities into learning moments or field trips! You can make lots of holiday activities into educational field trips.  Of course, you want to keep them fun, though. For example, when you go Christmas tree shopping, learn about the different types of trees!  Christmas caroling: learn about the origins. Sledding: bring in science and figure out how to make your sled go even faster. There are numerous ways to incorporate learning into holiday activities!
  • Study one subject per week. If you’d like to keep up the book learning during the holidays, consider perhaps working on one subject at a time each week.  This will help relax your schedule!
  • Make festive memories instead. One of the best holiday homeschool schedules is the one without structured lessons!  Perhaps take this time to spend time together and see where the day goes without homeschool on the daily schedule.
  • Add in craft days. Your kids will learn how to make adorable crafts while creating gifts or decorations, and most importantly, memories!
  • Consider skipping quizzes during the holidays. If you’d prefer to keep up a more consistent schedule during December, consider skipping quizzes or tests.  This will help relieve some of the pressure during schoolwork and help it feel more fun!
  • Catch up on science projects. Have you been pushing through science lessons and procrastinating on those recommended projects?  The holidays are a great time to pause the lessons and catch up on all those experiments!
  • Encourage creative writing as a holiday gift. This is such a precious idea, and it doubles as a good way to keep your kids’ writing skills sharp during the holidays.  Encourage your children to work on a creative writing project to give as a Christmas present this season!

10 Fun Ideas for Holiday Homeschooling

However you decide to homeschool this holiday season, there are plenty of festive resources available for your use!  Here, you’ll find several printables, fun ideas, homeschool encouragement, and free homeschooling tools! Remember, you can always switch it up!  Perhaps the first week, you’d like to try a homeschool sample schedule from one of our ideas above, but find you’d like something more relaxed or structured.  You can mix it up and try something different the next week. That’s one of our favorite aspects of homeschooling! Enjoy!

The holidays are filled with fun, joy, laughter, and precious moments.  However, along with relatives, gifts, and extra activities comes the added stress of planning, shopping, scheduling, expenses, and managing expectations.  Don’t let homeschooling bog you down this holiday season and detract from this once-a-year experience. We hope you found a few helpful ideas here for simplifying your holiday homeschooling schedule and not just surviving this holiday season, but enjoying it!

Courtney Newman

Courtney Newman is a homeschooled graduate with a love for writing. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in Health Science at University of the People. Other than writing, her hobbies include reading, yoga, visiting the beach, and meditating. She lives with her husband and pets in coastal Virginia.