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Holiday Homeschooling Ideas & Tips

How do you homeschool during the holidays? There are some homeschoolers who chose to do school along with local school and take two planned weeks of school off, but not everyone does that, a lot of just go with the flow, which is how we do things, and try to homeschool each week, four days a week, taking time off when we need it. Here are some holiday homeschooling ideas and tips.

Holiday Homeschooling Ideas & Tips

Holiday Homeschooling Ideas & Tips

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We have tried things a couple different ways over the years. One year we took time to learn about how other counties celebrate Christmas or their holiday. Last year we didn’t do anything differently except take Christmas Eve and the remainder of December off. With no family near we aren’t traveling to or having visitors to interrupt our lessons. Or take the month of December off completely, which we did one year as well.

Holiday Homeschooling Schedule

Instead of trying to fit in your normal everyday schedule, pause it and go back to it after the holidays. The great thing about homeschooling is that you can take time off. Your curriculum schedule is not set in stone, there is flexibility.

Use this time to visit a museum or science center instead of book work. Also check your calendar and local events to see what is happening around you that you might be interested in seeing and doing.

Holiday Cooking

How much cooking and baking do you do during the holidays? Getting in the kitchen with your kids is a great way to practice math and reading skills, and to work on life skills in general. Do you have family recipes that have been handed down that you could make with your kids? Maybe it’s time to teach them a family recipe.

Holiday Travel

If you are doing any traveling, can you take homeschool lesson along with you? A reading-based curriculum such as BookShark works great in the car while you’re driving to visit friends or relatives. Even if you aren’t using a reading-based curriculum, filling up the Kindle or packing some books for the trip always make me feel better about not doing lessons.

Holiday Party

If you are planning to host a holiday party one afternoon, let the kids know that you will all need to complete all of the school work in the morning, for younger children if may be no different than another day. We are usually finished our lesson in two hours.

Holiday Fun

Take time to have fun! Enjoy putting your tree up with Christmas carols. Plan movies nights for your favorites. We love reading the Grinch and then watching both movies, but this year we get to add in the new one, exiting!

One of our all time favorite activities was growing candy canes with our kids. They loved the magic behind it!

Growing Candy Canes

Embrace traditions, make ornaments, spend time baking cookies, snuggle with holiday books, or watch a holiday movie while drinking cocoa.

Holiday Creativeness

You could make your own homemade gift wrap or create DIY decorations for your home, you can use this time to engage with your homeschoolers in a cute craft you’ll keep forever (though he may beg you to toss it in about 10 years) and share with family. This is also a perfect time to try your hand at handmade cards if you are super crafty, or buy some kits from Amazon like I do.

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