Homeschooling Through the Holidays

Homeschooling through the holidays can be overwhelming when you consider all the extras that are added to your already overflowing plate – gifts to buy and wrap, Christmas cards to write and send, parties to plan and attend, ingredients to buy and bake – the list seems never ending. Throughout the years, I’ve picked up some tips along the way to make homeschooling through the holidays happen without extra stress.


Keep Homeschool Routines

In my experience, having the comfort of a normal homeschool routine is the very thing that helps me maintain sanity during the holiday season. In our home, we do a four-day school week and we usually finish each school day by lunch. This allows time for some of these holiday extras to be completed in the afternoon, so our weekends can be filled with festivities.


Keep Family Traditions

Family traditions provide our children with a strong sense of family identity, values, and generate many wonderful memories through the years. You don’t have to stress out over keeping these family traditions when you have a homeschool routine in place. I simply look at my datebook and see what days are available and plan accordingly for baking those family favorite recipes that have been passed down through the years, attending The Nutcracker ballet, or strolling through the lights in the park.


Keep Christ in Christmas

We have some family traditions that keep Christ in Christmas. Every year, we read the Christmas story aloud from Luke 2 before we unwrap the gifts under the tree. We present our children with three gifts every year because Baby Jesus received three gifts – this keeps things in perspective and teaches it is better to give than to receive – especially when we recall the reason for the season. He was born to die upon Calvary. For my sin, He bore the cross. There is no greater gift than the free gift of salvation that extends to all mankind if we only believe. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).