Homeschooling for the Holidays
Stressfree Learning and Living at Christmas,Hanukkah,Kwanzaa
Dec 2, 2008
Sometimes home educators, especially those just starting out, stress (unnecessarily) about homeschooling over the holidays. Unable to maintain consistent schedules or keep up with curricular programs, parents may fear falling behind, being unable to meet educational goals, or creating insurmountable “gaps” in their children’s learning. That’s an unfounded fear if you remember the central tenet of homeschooling: "The World’s Your Classroom" and extend that concept to the busiest social season of the year.
Have a Cookie and Relax
The holidays offer a perfect opportunity to reconnect with the heart of homeschooling. The secret of educational success over the holidays is not to do school at home, but to engage in what makes homeschooling so successful in the first place – Life Studies.
The holidays are rich with learning opportunities across a broad array of subjects, and experiences. Embracing the season and the spontaneity of the moments it brings will help you get through the holidays in healthy, successful ways that not only make your holidays as enjoyable as they should be but provides unparalleled educational opportunities you might have otherwise overlooked.
Live and Learn
Even if you don’t celebrate the given holidays, just in the course of conversation and observation about them, you’ll cover a wide range of academics and arts. Journal your holiday experience and you’ll find that, far from falling behind, you’ll have covered a wealth of topics and knowledge just in the course of getting from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. Just be sure to talk and observe out loud as much as possible. Topics that naturally present themselves at this time of year include:
- Religious and Cultural traditions, in your family and others, that can include not only Christmas and Hanukkah, but the Winter Solstice and Kwanzaa.
- Science presents itself through the experience of seasonal changes, the astronomy of the winter solstice, the meteorology of weather, and the phase and chemical changes of cooking.
- History can be explored by connecting with your family and holiday histories, along with related issues and events to provide personal and meaningful examinations of history in context.
- Economics– There’s no better time that the holidays to explore perspectives on commercialism, consumerism, and other related social studies.
- Home Economics – Cooking and eating, central to most holidays at this time of year, offer opportunities for examining local and family cultural and historical traditions, looking at measurements, costs, flavors, fragrances, spices and their history, decorations, traditional dress or table settings, etiquette and more.
- Literature– The holidays provide a rich literary tableau ranging from the Bible and the Torah to Dickensian classics like Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol
- Art– The art of the holidays is rich and seemingly endless, from the performing arts of movies and plays, to the fine arts of historical and religious art, textiles, traditional crafts, ornaments and their history, and more.
- Music– The music of the holidays ranges from folk to classical and everything in between, offering opportunities to examine composers, related literature and history, different types of instruments, and cultural traditions in song and dance.
- Writing – Let children help with letters and cards. Talk and learn about the history of written communications in general. Why do we write cards, if we write them, how do we feel when we get them?
- And don’t overlook the value of Relationship Education. There are lessons to be learned from the myriad aspects of family and community based relationships. When relationships are good, or when they’re strained, there are things to be learned about human social interaction that provide enduring, lifelong lessons with applications for years to come.
The Holidays Online
There are great holiday learning resources online, ranging from the History Channel, which provides in depth overviews of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, to ReligiousTolerance.org, where you can read about all types of religious traditions.
One of the most beautiful holiday sites is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Christmas Story in Art. The Food Timeline’s History of Christmas Foods is a great, if hunger-inducing read.
So instead of stressing about “fitting in” homeschooling with holiday preparations, consider instead, simply that the holidays are your homeschooling at this time of year. Embrace the “Life Studies” that the holidays offer, from religious traditions to history, art, music and literature, and even relationship education to help provide enduring insights and experiences.
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