Oh well yippee we have had our first real snap of winter though I know in some places you already have snow.
With the time change too, do you feel yourself slowing down to a homeschool crawl?
Maybe you just feel like quitting. Oh please don’t. You are not alone.
It is normal this time of year and a lot of us feel the same way. It is has been my experience to not fight the change. We may need to slow down or change things up a bit.
The change is natural in the season, natural in our bodies and I always feel we should embrace it. Oh for sure I am not saying to stop school, unless of course it is your winter break or you really need to grab some rest.
About this time, the demands of our school and family can take a toll.
For me and my family, I always do best by taking off a little longer during the winter break. I know that works best for us because I have fought it for many years not wanting to feel like we are getting behind. Too, for some reason we get itchy about the curriculum we have chosen. So all together, it can be stressful to school during the winter or long cold days.
Until we decide to take our break, we do need to keep on homeschooling and try to avoid the winter blahs. So I have a few things that hopefully will put a little spring in your winter homeschooling step when the days are long and cold.
Pull an All-Dayer
About this time of the year, those projects like science experiments or history maps you may have wanted to get done may still be sitting there for you to do. One way to change your day is to pull an all-dayer and do one subject or project you may have been wanting to do. That’s right do something you and your kids enjoy and do it all day long until you’ve had your fill.
The kids look forward to this each year. They don’t know when I am going to pull one of those days out of my hat. I just pipe up one morning (when I need the rest of course) and let them know we are having an all-dayer. Of course history and geography you know are our favorite subjects here so they are the first ones we look at for doing something we enjoy.
There is something about spreading all our books, maps, map pencils, activities and globe all over the floor and working on everything we want to do for the full day. No stopping, just moving along on it doing exactly what we enjoy the most.
One year, we did 3 science activities for the day because that is what we wanted to do for the day.
We stop for lunch and come back for some more. This works great too for an all day game day. If they don’t like history and it ends up being more work, then do an all day game day. I still play board games with my kids. Too, there is something about board games that builds a bond between my kids and me like an iPad can’t.
If the kids have been fighting with each other a lot, I know its time for a break and to pull an all-dayer. Eww, it just feels good to be so free too and not plan, just learn in the moment and enjoy.
Of course sitting by the fireplace in the floor and making homemade hot chocolate during this time doesn’t hurt a bit either.
The best part of this is we are still learning. We love our all day game days and there is NOT one subject that can’t be taught through a board game.
Indoor Activity
Though I am there with you if going to the mall shopping counts as indoor activity, but the kids needs something a little more active. Locate what is around you for entertaining them indoors. Some places it is just too cold to get outside and do a nature sketch so plan for those times when you are tired of being indoors at your house and want to be elsewhere.
Near my home, we have an indoor rock climbing wall, an ice skating rink and a pizza place that has an indoor car racing track. They are pretty close without us traveling far, but we have more options if we wanted to drive a bit longer. Indoor tennis is great too for the older guys.
Our field trip in January for many years has been to the same indoor huge pizza place and we camp out stay all day and the kids run high on socialization.
Just stirring around and getting out of your house keeps the winter blues to a minimum.
Embrace the Season
Homeschooling seasonally is one of the best advantages about homeschooling. In the fall season you can cover topics like apples, leaves or Native Americans. The same applies when homeschooling in winter. I don’t always have to create the unit study. Sometimes the fun is in following something somebody else created.
There is a series of nature/science unit studies that I really love by Shining Dawn Books. We will be dabbling in the Coping with the Cold unit study to bring some fun to our day. It is geared for grades 1 –8, but the beauty of unit studies is that you can make them a bit harder by adding in research for your older high school group and throwing in some coloring pages if you have a Kindergartener. Too, this is suppose to be a nice change to our routine so keep it fun and light. Don’t try to make it hard because children are natural learners.
Good Reads
From the time I could hold my sons in my lap until each one gets to high school reading aloud together will continue to be our number 1 go to activity when we feel the blahs.
Yes, even in high school I read to my sons. I don’t know what it is about all of us coming together in the living room with our favorite blankets and favorite spots in the living room, but just the feeling that nothing else matters as we lose ourselves in whatever adventure we are reading makes it all better.
I am the one that reads aloud. From the time they are young, they have all been soothed by my voice and it is my way to give to my kids. They can enjoy it without me trying to teach something like inference or do an analysis of the literature, just let them soak up the pure delight of reading.
Just Stop
Sometimes none of that helps because you may really need to stop and take a break. Get some rest girl! It is okay. Forget what other people are doing and do what is best for your family.
I don’t worry about what other bloggers or homeschoolers are doing when I stop and break because I blog and homeschool both because they are my passions. Passion doesn’t go away when you rest, because it is built around dedication. We put in a lot of hours as homeschool moms and dads both learning as we are teaching our children day to day and after hours too. Tired is okay, burnout is not. There is a difference.
Something as simple as moving from a different room to start off your day can make a big difference. Or, changing around how you are teaching a subject too brings a nice relief from the monotony. Tiny has been getting the blahs when working on his spelling each day. So instead of calling out his words to him, I have been doing some sentence dictation with him. Is there really a big difference between calling out a list of words and dictating a sentence? He obviously thinks so because he is really charged about it. If I knew that, I would have started earlier to help him stay on track with his spelling.
Change your day up and focus on the little things that you can change that will bring a spark to your day. Breaking up your routine or grabbing some much needed rest revives your body.
Do you want some more ideas of things to do both inside and out during the winter?
Look at my post 50 Keep Me Homeschooling Activities During the Long Cold Winter Days
Also See: Winter Season Unit Study
You know I love ya,
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