Best Ways to Create a Holiday Homeschooling Routine
The busy holiday season is upon us and it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the packed schedule of events, family gatherings, travel, and gift prep. Creating a holiday homeschooling routine is a great way to embrace a more relaxed approach to learning during the season.
Homeschooling amid all the festive chaos this time of year can seem daunting. But here’s the good news: this is actually a perfect time to shift away from rigid lesson plans and enjoy quality time together while still fostering a love for learning.
Creating a Holiday Homeschooling Routine
Many homeschool families take an extended break for all or part of December, using this time to enjoy holiday celebrations and family time that the season brings. By creating a flexible holiday homeschool routine, you can savor these special moments with your family while still having some structured learning fun.
Benefits of Homeschooling During the Holidays
Homeschooling through the holidays offers many benefits for the busy homeschooling parent. Instead of taking a complete break from a traditional school day and homeschool schedule, you can use the season to learn in creative ways and stay on track.
Flexibility for Special Events
You can easily adjust your schedule to fit in special events like family gatherings, holiday performances, or community activities. Learning happens everywhere, even during these festive moments!
Time for Extra Things
The holidays are packed with so many extra things: meal-prep, baking cookies, decorating, and holiday crafts for gifts. These are amazing opportunities to teach life skills, math, art study, and even history.
Making Learning Fun
The holidays are the best time to try themed lessons or hands-on projects. You could make a gratitude tree for Thanksgiving, study holiday traditions around the world, reading classic holiday stories, singing Christmas carols, and studying hymns with the whole family.
Brain Bites: Hymns Edition
Our Brain Bites Mats are bite-sized pieces of knowledge that kiddos can munch on at mealtime. Meant for placemats (don’t forget to laminate), daily reading and learning about hymns is a great way to introduce timeless Christian messaging to your children! History and Lyrics of hymns like “Jesus Loves Me”, “Oh How I Love Jesus”, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, and more!
Fosters Meaningful Family Time
Taking time away from the regular textbooks will help to reduce academic stress during the busy season. By focusing on the holiday season in your learning it can blend quality family time with education.
How to Create a Homeschool Routine During the Holidays
Sticking to a homeschool routine during November and the month of December can be difficult when there is so much going on. Staying on track is one of the biggest holiday homeschooling challenges that a homeschool parent faces.
The great news is that you can still have a solid routine and a daily schedule, with plenty of room for flexibility in your homeschool day.
Let's take a look at how to make this happen and help you to stay on track.
- Set Realistic Goals – Decide what’s most important for this season – whether it’s maintaining core subjects, focusing on seasonal activities, or simply enjoying family time. Keep your expectations flexible and realistic.
- Prioritize Hands-On Activities – The holidays are perfect for crafts, baking, and homemade gifts. These activities double as learning experiences while keeping kids engaged and excited.
- Incorporate Holiday Themes – Make the season part of your lessons by using holiday stories for reading time, Christmas devotions for Bible, math while baking, and explore history and geography with learning about holiday celebrations around the world.
- Plan Around Special Events – By having a flexible schedule you are able to plan around all of the fun things that come up during holiday break. There are holiday gatherings, community and church events, family traditions, and extracurricular activities.
- Keep It Short and Sweet – Shorten those school days to allow more time for holiday activities, Christmas preparations, and rest. Focus on quality over quantity during this busy time.
Resources and Tools for Holiday Homeschooling
Music in Our Homeschool
We're a musical family; my daughter and I play the piano, my husband plays the bass, and my son the drums. I'm not saying we're good by any means, but music plays a huge role in our lives!
Having a resource like Gena from Music in Our Homeschool is perfect because she helps bridge the gap, teaches us new things, and makes it educational! We love her resources!
Everything you need to easily implement “Christmas School” this December!
Instant access to all the tools you need for three weeks of super fun music appreciation lessons related to the Christmas season.
The 3 Musicals:
1. A Christmas Carol: the Musical (by Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens)
2. Elf: the Musical (by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin)
3. Irving Berlin's White Christmas
This course is for upper elementary through high school.
Not Consumed Bible Studies
Studying the Bible together as a family is one of the most important things you can do to encourage your kids to pursue a closer walk with Christ.
A great place to find Bible Studies is from Not Consumed, and they have a great Christmas study!
Christian Holiday Picture Books
This short list of Christian Christmas picture books is great to put in your morning basket to celebrate the holidays!
Pro Tip: Before you buy any new books, think about getting digital copies or borrowing from your local library. Amazon has awesome seasonal deals on their Kindle library and you can also get audiobooks from apps like Libby or Hoopla.
- ‘Twas the Night by William Dean
- The Best News of All: Christmas Bible Verses to Remember by Sally Michael
- Punchinello and the Most Marvelous Gift (Max Lucado's Wemmicks)
- The Silent Noisy Night by Jill Roman Lord
- The Queen and the First Christmas Tree: Queen Charlotte's Gift to England by Nancy Churnin
- The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski
Want Thanksgiving book recommendations? Check those out here.
Christian Christmas Chapter Books
These Christ-centered Christmas chapter books are great for readalouds or, audiobooks while traveling in the car to and from gatherings, or even handing them off to children for independent reading adventures!
- Miracle on 10th Street: And Other Christmas Writing by Madeleine L'Engle
- Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
- Little Christmas Carol: The Illustrated Edition by Charles Dickens and Joe Sutphin
- Home for Christmas: Stories for Young and Old by Henry Van Dyke and more
- The Promise and the Light: A Captivating Retelling of the Christmas Story by Katy Morgan
Christmas School with Read Aloud Revival
It’s an open-and-go curriculum for December, based on a whole-family read-aloud. The Christmas School Guide will walk you through Read-Aloud Revival’s relaxed, bookish book club experience to provide a rich and nourishing education for your kids of all ages.
Make homeschooling through the holidays a breeze!
Homeschooling through the holidays lets you balance learning with the joy of the season, creating memories and teaching moments that last a lifetime. Exploring books, going on field trips, and diving into holiday crafts and projects are fantastic ways to make homeschooling during the holidays engaging, enjoyable, and memorable.
