A Cranberry Valentine Homeschool Unit Study

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If you have been following this blog for very long, you probably already know that Valentine’s at our house means ice cream sundaes! My children start reminding me about this fun family tradition by mid-January.

In addition to ice cream sundaes, we love to read Cranberry Valentine. Cranberry Valentine is another book in one of our favorite series; you might be more familiar with Cranberry Thanksgiving.

A Cranberry Valentine Homeschool Unit Study

Cranberry Valentine is a fun story involving Mr. Whiskers, Maggie, Grandmother, and the ladies of Cranberryport. We enjoy it because it is a good reminder about the value of friendship and how we can use valentines to help us show our friends how much we appreciate them.

There is a fun recipe for Cranberry Upside Down Cake at the end of the book. You can make this to celebrate after you read the book, or make it ahead of time and enjoy it while you read the book aloud.

Hands-On Ideas for A Cranberry Valentine

Handmade Valentine cards are a great way to add a hands-on component to this study. Depending on the ages of your children, they can create them all on their own, you could cut out hearts for them, or maybe you could write on them, and they could decorate them with crayons and stickers.

If you want a little more inspiration, you could check out the chalk pastel heart lesson from Nana at You ARE an Artist. It is simple enough for preschoolers and a great start for older children.

These are the perfect cheap and easy gifts for neighbors and friends. It shows them you care and will bring a smile to their faces.

If your children love Mr. Whiskers, you can also check out this Mr. Whiskers art tutorial.

Science Ideas for A Cranberry Valentine

You can tie science to your Cranberry Valentine study by learning more about this delicious fruit and how it is farmed. There are many resources online, but this blog has some great basic information, and this video is excellent for showing how cranberries are harvested.

If you want to do some science experiments, you can check out this list of 10 fun science experiments with cranberries.

Nature Study for A Cranberry Valentine

We love incorporating nature study into our units. If you have one locally, a cranberry bog would be a fantastic field trip. However, we live too far south for cranberries, so we will study them in our home.

You can grab a bag of fresh cranberries from the store and let your children study them. They can dissect them to see what they look like on the inside. Next, use a magnifying glass or microscope to look at the seeds and different parts of the cranberries.

Then they can draw and write about them in their nature journals. If you need help getting started with nature journaling, I recommend checking out Homeschool Nature Study. They have some great information and printable templates.

Free Printables for Cranberry Valentine

For children old enough to write and spell, you can add a bit of word practice to your study. I have included a printable pack in the resource library with Cranberry Valentine printables. Your child can make words from the letters in cranberry and valentine.

There are also some fun writing prompts to go along with the book. It always amazes me how much more they enjoy writing about something fun.

Finally, if your children are fond of the If You Give a Mouse series… you can check out this fun Valentine’s Day movie that is free with Amazon Prime.

I hope your family enjoys Cranberry Valentine as much as our family does. We read it every year. I would love for you to share your ideas or experiences in the comments below.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

Journey Homeschool Academy is offering sale if you need a new science program! We love their high school programs and plan to try their elementary astronomy next year.

This is a great resource for lots of amazing printable materials from pre-k to 12th grade and they are offering 40% of lifetime access.

Blessed Assurance Hymn Study

Hymn Study Introduction

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.”

Our family has been doing a Blessed Assurance hymn study this week. This is a beautiful hymn that I have known for many years. It is a lovely classic song found in many hymnals and some contemporary music compilations.

I love the part of the chorus that says, “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” It is such a reminder that we should be praising him throughout the day. Hymn studies are one way we try to keep our minds on praising the Lord.

Blessed Assurance Background

Franny Crosby wrote Blessed Assurance in 1873 to accompany the tune created by Phoebe Knapp. Sometimes the hymn itself has an exciting story, but in this case, the hymn writer has her own rich story. Crosby is credited with over 8,000 hymns.

She was born with sight but became blind at only six weeks old. She went to a particular school for the blind and later taught at the same school. She was well educated and well known for her hymns and songwriting. She wrote Blessed Assurance almost immediately upon hearing the tune from Knapp.

Activity Ideas for Blessed Assurance Hymn Study

We always like to start our hymn study by listening to various versions of the hymn. It never ceases to be a blessing. We listen intentionally and sing together as we begin our study, but I also will play it at other times during our day as background music. For example, I might play the hymn while cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast. Listening frequently helps to create familiarity with the music.

Music Performance in Hymn Study

If you have musically inclined students, learning to play the hymn on a favorite instrument is a great way to internalize the song. My daughter enjoys learning hymns on her violin, but you could get started with something as simple as a recorder.

Since many hymns are older and in the public domain, you can often find free or inexpensive sheet music online.

Take a few minutes and discuss the lyrics with your children. Talk about what they mean and how they might apply to their lives. You might talk about how the writer used rhyme to help the song flow if you have young children.

Printables for Blessed Assurance

Finally, you can download our free hymn study worksheet and copywork pages to accompany the hymn. These pages can help incorporate the hymn into your school day. To access your printables, sign-up for our free resource library at the end of this post.

Blessed Assurance Resources

Sheet Music

Contemporary Style Blessed Assurance: Jeremy Riddle

CeCe Winans and Choir (skip to 1:50 for the beginning of the song)

Alan Jackson Blessed Assurance (with guitar accompaniment)

Celtic Style Blessed Assurance

Carrie Underwood Blessed Assurance

Bluegrass Style Blessed Assurance

I hope this study and these resources are a blessing to your family! Be sure to check out all of our other hymn studies once you finish Blessed Assurance. We try to incorporate different ideas with each study, including nature study, art, and literature.

I would love for you to share your favorite version of Blessed Assurance in the comments. Also, let me know what hymns you would like to see next.

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Tuesday Tips #4 The Importance of White Space for Your Homeschool

What is White Space?

White space is simply empty (or white) space on the calendar, times you do not have plans and commitments. This includes times you do not plan to be ‘doing school,’ going out, having appointments, etc. White space in my homeschool is trying to have more time for school than I have plans to fill it.

Why Do I Need White Space in my Homeschool and Home?

As homeschool parents, it is easy to fill up every available space on the calendar. We plan out coursework for all the subjects, co-ops or activities, field trips, science projects, and more. We often have our days and weeks so crammed full of suitable activities that we have no time or space for life’s unexpected needs or events. We also may not have time to relax and enjoy life.

One day, I was listening to the Read Aloud Revival podcast, and Sarah Mackenzie said, “The sky is only the limit if you are an airplane. You’re not. You’re a human person,”

We have to remember that we (and our children) cannot do everything, and it is not a good idea to fill up every bit of space on the calendar.

We need white space on our general calendar and white space specifically for our homeschool. For example, if I plan to dedicate 8am-12pm each day to school, I might only plan out Monday through Thursday.

That leaves Friday for the projects that took longer, extra help needed, diving into something they are interested in, or taking advantage of that field trip opportunity that pops up.

How Do I Get White Space?

You might be thinking that having white space sounds terrific, but you have no idea how to fit that into your schedule.

Start by evaluating your priorities what things are most important to your family. Next, take a good look at the calendar and see how the things on the calendar line up with your priorities.

Always remember that unexpected things are going to happen. Someone will get sick, the dishwasher is going to break, a friend will need help, or maybe a relative will come to town unexpectedly.

When those things happen, the white space helps you to be able to manage that without having to let go of your other commitments.

Once you have looked at the calendar and your priorities, start brainstorming what you might be able to let go or change. It might be as simple as figuring out that you can combine errands to a specific day in order to have another day home. It might be that the children are involved in many extra activities, and you limited those.

Evaluate, Modify, and Eliminate

Other options might include teaching fewer subjects, combining courses, or using a loop schedule to free up time during the school day.

Sometimes it is as simple as planning ahead and using a crockpot or instant pot meals to reduce the time needed in the kitchen.

It can seem daunting, and the challenge is more complicated during certain seasons of life. However, adding white space into your days will take the stress off you and your children. It will allow you the flexibility to handle the unexpected and to take advantage of surprise opportunities.

Give yourself permission to say no to activities even when you do not have something else scheduled.

Extra Resources to Help Create White Space in Your Homeschool

Simplifying the Urgent to Focus on the Important

Letting Go of Good Things (or Why I Sold Our Latin Curriculum)

Homeschool in the Kitchen

Which Planner is the Best One?

Meal Planning: A Step Towards Sanity

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we add new items to the library each month. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

Tuesday Tips #3 Picture Books Are Not Just For Young Children

Picture Books Are Not Just For Young Children

One day as I sat in a college-level class at Campbell University (Go Camels!), my professor brought out a picture book and began reading to the class. To say we were surprised was an understatement; most of us had not had a picture book read to us since early elementary school.

As future elementary educators, most of us understood the importance of reading to young children. Still, we had not been taught the benefits of reading aloud at other ages, especially using picture books.

Maybe more surprising than the professor reading the book was how much we all enjoyed it. It made such an impression that I still remember it today, and it has been more than a few years since that day.

The day our professor read that book, he shared the value of reading picture books to audiences of all ages. I have never forgotten that lesson.

Picture Books For Older Children and Teens

What Is So Special about Picture Books?

We often think of picture books as having simple words accompanying the pictures. While some picture books use simple language, picture books often have eloquent vocabulary and engaging stories.

“Generally speaking, you’ll find the best, most beautiful language in picture books.” Sarah Mackenzie, Read-Aloud Revival

The pictures can often help students with understanding the new and varied vocabulary.

In addition, picture books help students learn to visualize what they are reading and encourage creativity and imagination.

Reading picture books together can help create a bond and shared experiences without ever leaving home. Children and parents alike can travel to faraway places, meet famous people, and even have adventures through the pages of a book.

The Benefit of Picture Books for Older Children and Teens

One benefit of picture books for older children is to help create memories and traditions. Our family has several picture books that we read each year for different holidays. We started when they were younger, but my teens still enjoy hearing them each year. One such favorite is Cranberry Thanksgiving.

Picture books can also be a great way to introduce more challenging or complex topics gently. It can give children an introduction to a topic that may be emotionally difficult such as disease, death, or persecution.

You can use picture books to help engage students in topics they might not otherwise explore. Reading those books often leads to them reading other books or researching the subject further.

There are many benefits to re-reading books, and using picture books helps create more opportunities for re-reading because they do not take as long to read as chapter books. (For more information on the benefits of re-reading, check out this podcast from Read-Aloud Revival)

Using Picture Books in Your Homeschool

All in all, picture books are an excellent resource for your family and homeschool, no matter the ages of your children. People of all ages should enjoy the rich language and beautiful artwork provided by picture books.

How do you use picture books in your homeschool? What are some of your favorites?

Recommendations for Picture Books for Older Children and Teens

Blogging Through The Alphabet with Books!! (Not all of these are picture books but many feature picture books.)

Celebrating Math with Books and Pi: A list of Math Related Picture Books

A Year of Picture Books

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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Tuesday Tip #2 Do not try to fit everything into one day!

Overwhelmed With Your Homeschool Schedule?

If I start thinking about all of the subjects I want my children to learn or expose them to, I can make a long list.
Bible, reading, math, science, history, government, music, art, writing, nature study, foreign language, poetry, spelling, geography …..
That list could keep going, but there is no way we can fit all of those things into a single homeschool day and, honestly, even a single homeschool season. This can make scheduling our homeschool days challenging.

The Homeschool Scheduling Solution

One solution might be to narrow down the list, but alternately we can remember that we do not have to teach everything in a single day. While there are some subjects (Bible, math, and reading) that we try to make sure we include in almost all of our homeschool days, there are others that we cover once or twice a week.
There are also subjects that we do not cover every year, but that I still make sure to incorporate as we can fit them into our days. For example, one year, I might make sure to include geography in our morning time so that all of my children get geography that year. The following year, I might do some poetry studies or focus on economics.

I get easily overwhelmed if I try to fit everything into a day, a week, or even a year. However, I have eighteen years to teach my children, including thirteen years of ‘formal’ schooling.
When I look at their education from a long-term perspective, I realize that I do not have to stress covering every subject every year.

Homeschool Goals

I also have to keep in mind that my goals for them:

First, to raise them to know and love the Lord.
Then to prepare them to be productive citizens who can think critically about the world around them.
Next, I want them to have a solid education that allows them to follow whatever path God has put forth for them and be able to provide for their own families one day.
Finally, I want them to love learning and the skills needed to be lifelong learners.

When I remember that last goal, I can remind myself that I do not have to teach them everything. If I expose my children to art history and show them what is available, they will know how to learn more if they are interested. The same applies to poetry, music, classical literature, and many more subjects.
When considering what you need to cover, consider your overall goals, your children’s interests, and the needed content.

Real-World Examples

For example, we cover music more often than necessary because it is enjoyable for my children. I also do math very regularly because there is a lot of content to cover to prepare them for a job or college upon graduation. When they are young, we do phonics regularly. However, once they can read well, our literature studies can vary a bit more because they strengthen their reading skills with their personal reading.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed trying to teach your children everything you want them to learn? How do you break down your homeschool schedule to make them work?

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Tuesday Tips #1 Teacher Workdays

Tuesday Tips Series

I have been doing a lot of planning and thinking about what I wanted to share on the blog this year. There will be many curriculum and book reviews, more hymn studies, and some fun unit studies.

I also wanted to start a new series called Tuesday Tips, where I will share a simple homeschool tip each Tuesday (or at least most Tuesdays). Some tips will be for new homeschoolers, and others will focus on specific areas like teens or homeschooling in the kitchen.

These will be short and simple posts that will hopefully give you some new ideas and strategies to help your homeschool run smoothly. I would love for you to share your thoughts and/or questions that need tips in the comments.

Today’s Tuesday Homeschooling Tip

Teacher workdays are essential for homeschool teachers.

We often think of teacher workdays as just something for classroom teachers, but they can be beneficial in our homeschools. These days are perfect for planning, grading papers (especially those high schoolers), preparing materials, and setting goals.

Sometimes I schedule them ahead of time, like this week. My high schooler is doing some independent work, but I am taking this week to plan and prepare before we start back from our break.

Other times we take one just because we need it. When life happens, and you feel overwhelmed, or behind, it is okay to decide to take a teacher workday and get things straight before moving forward.

You might have realized that a particular program was not working, but you aren’t sure how to fix it or what to try. Take the day to research ideas and develop a plan without feeling the pressure of also trying to keep teaching.

Are you already utilizing teacher workdays in your homeschool? What works for you?

2022 Focus: Draw Close

Last week I was thinking about my goals for the new year and what direction I wanted to go. I like coming up with a word or phrase to help guide me each year. I had a hard time deciding but kept thinking about the word clarity.

2022 Word of the Year

I wanted clarity of thought, clarity of purpose, and general clarity about where God was leading me. I honestly thought I would use clarity as my word of the year, but then I went to church this morning and realized that while I needed to seek clarity, my focus should be Draw Close.

While our preacher talked about drawing close to God, I feel that the phrase applies across multiple relationships in my life.

Draw Close to God

I have had a saving relationship with Jesus for many years now, but I must always continue to draw closer to Him. I need to continue studying and growing to become more like Christ and better understand his will for my life. (This will also help provide that clarity that I was thinking about.)

Today, my preachers’ message was to read God’s word, study God’s word, and know God’s word. I want to continue working on those things and strengthening my prayer life.

Draw Close to my Husband

My husband and I find ourselves in a good place in our marriage. We survived the rocky early years where we needed to learn how to be married, live and work together, and prioritize our relationship. However, I know that I also need to grow and work on that relationship constantly. We can grow together, or we can grow apart.

So this year, I want to make drawing closer to my husband a priority. I plan to be intentional about date nights, making time to talk with each other uninterrupted (which can be a real challenge with four children), and supporting him in his goals for the new year.

Draw Close to my Children

After Christ and my husband, my children are my next priority. Overall, our family lifestyle (homeschooling and working from home) allows me to spend a great deal of time with my children. However, like with our other relationships, we must continue to draw close to our children. Several years ago, I watched a movie that talked about “tying our children’s heartstrings to ours.” That quote really stuck with me through the years as I work to maintain a close bond with my children.

Every stage and situation has its challenges. In our current stage, my children range from three to fifteen. The challenge is providing time and attention to a toddler and teens, not forgetting the seven-year-old in the middle.

I want to make sure that I find time each week to give focused attention to each child. Not necessarily leaving the house or doing a date (though we love to do those when we can work it out.) I simply want to spend time connecting with each child. That might be working in the garden or listening to music with my oldest, talking about books or cooking with my daughter, playing Legos or reading aloud with my seven-year-old, and doing crafts or playing play-doh with the youngest. Simple things that allow us to spend time together and connect can impact our relationships.

Draw Close to Others

Drawing closer to others is another area where my first word, clarity, comes to play. I plan to spend time praying and finding clarity on how to grow other relationships in my life.

I want clarity on the people God is asking me to reach and what relationships he wants me to strengthen. I know there are only so many hours in a day and somedays I feel stretched too thin. However, I think God will help me discern where to put my time and efforts in drawing close to others.

I want to continue to work on making our home a welcome haven for friends and guests and finding ways that I can pour God’s love into the other people God has placed in our lives.

Conclusions

Overall, while I have no idea what 2022 will bring to the world, I am looking forward to drawing closer to God and others. Do you pick a word of the year? Tell us what you chose this year or what goals you have for the year in the comments.

New Years Curriculum Reevaluation and Nature Study

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While our school year runs from September to May, I always like to use our Christmas break as a time to reevaluate our curriculum choices and make any changes that might be needed. (I fully respect that you can revaluate and change the curriculum at any point during the year.)

Most years, I find that I need to change several parts of our curriculum, and a few years, we have done a complete overhaul. Typically, there are one or two things that I started the year planning to use but let the ball drop for whatever reason.

What is Working

This year, we are honestly keeping most of our curriculum the same. We have made good progress, the children are doing well with the programs, and it has been a manageable load for me.

As homeschool moms, we sometimes forget that keeping it manageable for us is just as important as having it be a good fit for our children.

I am seeing great improvement with my son’s reading and he is getting ready to move into the next level of All About Reading. He loves his math and science programs and is overall doing great.

My older two children are doing a great job being more independent with their courses and staying on track! It is hard for me to believe that my oldest will be able to start taking college courses next year through dual enrollment.

Changes

The one area that I wanted to change was adding more nature study. We have been doing nature study for years, but I had let that ball drop this year. However, my children, particularly my seven-year-old son, missed that part of our studies. I set up his science to be very low maintenance for me, and he loves it, so we left that intact and are just planning to add in the nature study at least twice a week. (He would do it every day if I let him, and I will try to work it in as often as possible, but I want to be realistic in what I can add to my day.) The three-year-old will also join us for nature study because he loves being outside and he loves learning.

My thirteen-year-old daughter is taking a rigorous science course that is beneficial but also challenging. So we decided that we would let my daughter alternate between her regular science curriculum and nature study. This change will allow her to keep learning while taking a bit of a break from her more rigorous curriculum.

Adding Nature Study

When we first started doing nature study, we found many great resources to use. Then as time went on and I became more comfortable with nature study, I began to create my lessons. However, at this stage in our homeschool (1 in high school, 1 in middle school, 1 in elementary, and a three-year-old), I recognize that I need something laid out for me to make it easier for me to get it done.

Just a few of the courses included in the homeschool nature study membership.

Thankfully, I found a program that will make it easy for me to implement nature study on our schedule and based on our interests. Years ago, we used the Outdoor Hour Challenges and other resources from the Handbook of Nature Study website to learn about nature study. As of last month, my friend Tricia Hodges is the new owner of that material, and they are revamping the materials and offering some great resources.

We are excited to use the new homeschool nature study site to make nature study easy in our home. There is a daily calendar of ideas and access to materials on a wide variety of topics. We plan to combine the daily calendar and courses that are interesting to my children or fit into our other studies.

For example, my son loves birds, so we will be spending some time using the Birds course. Some of it we will do together, but there are also activities like studying a feather that he can do independently.

As an added bonus this will make it even easier for us to combine our art lessons with our nature study.

Reviews and Questions

Other than going back to our regular scripture and Bible plans after having paused those in favor of Advent studies for December, we are not making any other significant changes in the curriculum this year.

I am sure we will be adding and supplementing as we get back into various reviews beginning in February, but our curriculum is working well. We are enjoying the progress that we are seeing in each child. This year is our tenth year of homeschooling and probably the first year we haven’t needed to make significant changes mid-year. So if you look at your homeschool and need to make substantial changes, please know that you are not alone, and it is perfectly normal to need to make changes and not a sign of failure.

Are you making any changes in your homeschool? What programs are working well for you, and what is not going great?

Other Helpful Resources

If you are needing to make changes, these resources might be helpful.

Reviews

Our 10th Grade Homeschool Curriculum (2021)

Our 8th Grade Curriculum Choices (2021)

Our Second Grade Choices (2021)

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library. You will also get a monthly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

My Teaching Library is offering 40% off of their lifetime access membership with great products for pre-k to 12th grade.

Tuttle Twins is offering 25% off individual books. This is a great way to complete your set if new books have come out since you bought a bundle or ‘dip your toes in the water’ and try one if you are new to Tuttle Twins.

Schoolhouse Teachers is offering a great deal on their ultimate annual membership!

Last-Minute Gift Ideas (No Leaving the House Required)

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If you find yourself needing a last-minute gift idea and do not want to brave the crazy of the stores on the week before Christmas I have some great options for you! I have included some of my favorite digital resources for both mom and children in this list.

For Children

You Are an Artist Clubhouse Membership! This wonderful art subscription will provide your child with countless hours of fun and instruction with chalk pastels and acrylics. We use those lessons each week and are always finding new favorites.

Musik At Home is a great program for babies through early elementary ages. My three-year-old love to do his music lessons!

One of my children is getting a couple months of Practice Monkeys lessons under the tree this year!

Kiwi Crate Get a 3, 6 or 12-month subscription for $15.95/month (reg. $23.95) with code LASTCHANCE. Ends 12/26.

For Moms

Fit2B is an amazing online fitness program and would be the perfect gift for a mom that was interested in fitness!

Adore Your Wardrobe is a really fun course that helps you to learn about your body type and how to find clothes that flatter your body type.

For the Family

A Kindle Unlimited Subscription is a gift that can benefit the whole family. There are books on there for all different ages and interests.

Audible offers gift subscriptions as well. This is the perfect time for families to enjoy an audiobook together.

Not Consumed is offering 25% off their gift cards right now with code: GIFT25

Whether you forgot something on your list, something got lost in the mail (or canceled last minute), or the Christmas bonus finally came in allowing you to make purchases, these digital gifts are the perfect way to finish your shopping without having to leave home. I hope this list is helpful as you finish up any last-minute shopping and allows you more time to spend with your family.

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Letter to the Overwhelmed Homeschool Mom at Christmas

Dear Overwhelmed Homeschool Mom at Christmas,

Christmas can be a wonderful, fun, and festive time of year, but it can also be stressful and overwhelming. There are so many fun activities both at home and outside of the house, family obligations, schoolwork, and life, and all combined, it can leave us stressed, overwhelmed, and burning the candle at both ends.

You might feel like you aren’t getting enough school amidst all of the activities. On the flip side, you might feel like you aren’t doing all of the Christmas activities you wanted to do amidst regular life and school.

Does It Have to Be That Way?

I want to spend a few minutes today encouraging you that you don’t have to feel overwhelmed. It is okay to take a step back and prioritize. I can’t tell you which activities to prioritize because that will be different for each family.

Take a few minutes and think about the future. When you look back on this season 5 years or 10 years from now, what are you going to wish you had done?

For some, that may mean putting aside some activities and choosing just one or two Christmas things that are important to your family. For others, that may mean setting aside the school books for a few weeks and focusing on the Christmas activities.

Our Christmas Plan

For our family, it looked different for different children. My high schooler did a Christmas unit for literature but continued with his other regular studies before our two-week break. We decided to keep moving forward in math and phonics (elementary) but focus on Christmas for everything else with my middle school daughter and elementary-aged son.

We did Christmas art and music lessons, an Advent reading and a family study of Luke for Bible, and lots of Christmas read-alouds.

We made a plan before Thanksgiving that I thought was workable, but the further into December we got, the more I realized it was still a bit much, so we adapted.

Adapting

We were behind on my middle school daughter’s Christmas literature, So, I found the audiobook on Hoopla (a free app from our library), and she listened to the book while she worked in the kitchen getting some treats ready.

It is so easy this time of year to over plan and over-commit and then not enjoy any activities. Every year I have to work at finding the balance, and I am still a work in progress. I do not write this letter from a position of perfection, but as someone who needs this reminder.

So I pray this year that you can step back and decide what will be important years from now and make that the priority during this season. That may change from year to year and is certainly different for each family.

I pray that you can have a fun and peaceful season without overwhelm and guilt.

Merry Christmas!

More Christmas Resources

Our Christmas School Ideas 2021

Mega Homeschool Christmas Resource Round-Up

Christmas School 2022

Deals and Freebies

Need a good way to organize all of these great printables and have access to them when you need them? Try a free Dropbox Plan.

Amazon Prime 30 day FREE trial. If you do not yet have Amazon Prime this is a great time to try it for free for 30 days! Get your Christmas shopping done with free shipping, enjoy Christmas music and more.

The Green Ember is only $2.99 on Kindle or Free with a KindleUnlimited Trial

$10 Sign-Up Bonus for Ibotta and they are doing some major savings and rebates starting today. Great way to save money on the things you are already buying.

Two Free Audio Books with an Audible Trial and if you aren’t sure what to start with I’d suggest checking out the Green Ember or The Penderwicks for good family choices.