Fun Homeschooling During the Holidays

We are now approaching the holidays where families struggle to decide whether to continue homeschooling or take a few weeks off to enjoy the holidays. What if I told you that you CAN do both. That’s right. You can homeschool and also enjoy the holidays. This is considered a magical time of the year. Make this magical in your homeschooling journey too.

Build a Gingerbread House

Building gingerbread houses is a great craft to do over the winter holidays. Younger children get to work on their fine motor skills. Putting together a gingerbread house is not as easy as it sounds. It is a lot of fun. Older children can practice their leadership skills and descriptive skills as they help younger children to put together a house. There are other skills involved from art to math. However, no one is going to remember any of the skills learned. They will remember the fun they had trying to put all the little details on the house and the interactions with one another.

Create a Wreath or Centerpiece for the Table Over the Holidays

Creating a wreath from items found in nature during autumn is one way to say goodby and it can be the centerpiece for the holidays. This allows children to explore nature and find items such as pinecones to use in their wreaths. This is a much easier craft to put together than gingerbread houses. This is still part of art class and can even be expanded to include a small science lesson. Create a special touch by adding candles. Children can be proud of the centerpiece they created with only a little help from older siblings or a parent.

Make Tree Ornaments for the Holidays

Another very fun art project is making ornaments for a Christmas tree. Hang these ornaments on the tree or around the house. Again, young children will be working on their fine motor skills. This might be a good time to introduce how to use scissors if you have not taught that yet. Learning origami is another great way to make ornaments, especially snowflakes. Remember, no two snowflakes are alike just like children. Each one is unique and learns differently. This is a great hands-on activity that teaches a lot of skills and helps to decorate the house. They can be proud of their work throughout the holiday season.

Create Household Decorations for the Holidays

You don’t need to stop at only ornaments for decorations. Add more decorations. Let them fully take over the house, or at least part of the house depending on what you are comfortable with relinquishing. They can be simple decorations or as complex as the family would like to create. The great thing is that the items can come from nature or even Dollar Tree is great for inspiration.

• Take pinecones, add glue and then seasonal colored glitter. Place these in bowls, buckets and other areas, etc.
• Make snowflakes or other paper decorations to put up in windows or on the walls
• Create garland to be put on the tree or around the house from strips of construction paper
• Make something out of popsicle sticks and such as a sleigh and paint it

Read Stories that Take Place Over the Holidays

Stories can either come from your own traditions or from other traditions. The holidays are a great time to add in literature you would not normally read. Enjoy the change and find books that talk about the season in a different way. This could be how Christmas is celebrated in another culture or simply The Christmas Carol, At other times of the year, these stories do not fit into your curriculum. However, they are great to read over the holidays.

Holiday Cooking

Creating holiday dishes in the kitchen is a great way to teach cooking skills. You can teach math skills and even kitchen chemistry. It is a fun way to learn about how ingredients react to other ingredients. Add in some dishes from around the world. Learning social studies through different types of holiday dishes is a fun way to learn about other cultures.

Traditions Around the World

Children can experience how the holidays are celebrated in other areas of the world through these fun activities. Look at different foods, decorations, songs, etc., and how they are different in each culture. There is a lot to learn when it comes to the holidays. Do not be afraid of having fun and learning over the holidays. A magical time of year can add magic to your homeschool journey.

To read about more specific ornaments kids can make during the holiday season, ready my post, Easy Christmas Ornaments Kids Can Make.