Holidays can become a huge road block when it comes to maintaining the homeschool schedule. There are many responsibilities to be met and often it is the homeschool classroom that suffers when juggling all the typical holiday chores in addition with regular routine tasks. With a little bit of planning done in advance, the homeschooling parent can turn the holidays into a great time of learning with joy. Here are some ideas to whet your creative spirit this month.
Christmas Cards
Making a homemade card can actually turn into a lesson in arts and crafts, writing poetry and life skills. The actual construction of the Christmas Card is obviously going to involve the aspects of design and hands on art. That’s the fun part for most homeschool students.
Next you can ask them to come up with rhymes to add as wishes inside the cards. Have them read different greeting cards in order to get an idea about the typical rhymes. They can come up with different ones for different people, or you can all contribute to make one poem that will be written into each card.
The actual writing comes next. This allows them to practice printing and show off their handwriting skills on the card and envelops. Next is the trip to the post office. Getting stamps and posting letters is a life skill that is rather ignored in today’s world of instant emails and e-cards.
Christmas Celebration
The number of traditions and actual forms of celebration will differ from family to family. However it is safe to assume that there will be special food that will need to be cooked. Involve the homeschool students in reading and recreating family holiday recipes. They can pick up meal planning tips to ensure a wholesome feast.
Decorating the home is another area of life skills that can be worked on. The homeschool classroom is a great place to make decorations, prepare for games to be played as well as wrapping gifts for other family members. Involving the children in the preparations can make the celebration of the holiday all the more special.
