The Secret to Cutting Homeschool Clutter This Holiday Season

Christmas can be a crazy time of year. Between the shopping, the baking, the crafting, and the wrapping, keeping any house organized can be a bit of a struggle, let alone a homeschooling household.

We live in a world today that touts the importance of doing it all, but the cold, hard truth of it is that no one can do it all.

No one.

So today I’m not going to share with you how to homeschool all day and keep a perfectly organized home. Instead, I’m going to share the secret that’s kept our home in one piece over the holidays for the ten years we’ve been homeschooling: 

Simplifying.

Anyone who’s homeschooled for any length of time is aware of the sheer amount of space it takes up. I mean, let’s face it. There’s only so much room for all those worksheets, lapbooks, science experiments, and projects.

Rather than giving you tips on where to stash all those homeschool souvenirs until the holidays are over, I’m going to go one step further –  Set the curriculum aside and use your holiday preparations as life learning opportunities for your children.

Too often, we get caught up in the “school” part of homeschooling, and we forget the abundance that everyday life has to offer.

 

5 Ways to Incorporate Holiday Lifeschooling

Baking

Baking isn’t just about home economics. It also covers math, science, and even some history if you have a few family stories to tell relating to a specific recipe.

 

Shopping

What child wouldn’t be thrilled with helping out with some Christmas shopping? Not only will they be doing lots of math by counting money, calculating discounts, adding purchases, comparing prices, and budgeting, but they’ll also enhance their critical thinking skills by learning to make good purchasing decisions.

 

Writing Out Christmas Cards

Sometimes that Christmas card list can seem endless. Take advantage of your little helpers by having them help, and they’ll easily cover language arts with all of the writing they’ll be doing. Don’t forget they’ll be getting real life practice on addressing envelopes, too! (If you’re feeling especially motivated, you might explain how the postal service works, too!)

If there are people on your list your kids aren’t familiar with, throw in some social studies by sharing who the people are, how you know them, and how (or if) they’re related to you.

 

Crafting

One thing that homeschooling and Christmas time can have in common are the load of crafts just waiting to be done.

Unlike many homeschool crafts, however, Christmas crafts tend to have an actual purpose (such as ornaments and gifts), so storing them won’t be a problem!

 

Decorating

I know most people wouldn’t consider decorating to be educational but it really is. Not only will it cover art, but math can also easily be covered by measuring and learning geometrical concepts like “symmetry.”

As you can see, learning doesn’t have to look like school in order to “count.” Free yourself of unnecessary stress and holiday clutter, and turn your homeschool into a “lifeschool” this holiday season.

 

Homeschooling and education are my passion. It is my fervent hope to one day devote more time to creating content for you. If you’d like to support this ministry, consider supporting me on Patreon.
Thank you so much. I appreciate each and every one of you!