This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 128: Planning Homeschool and Holidays. This post is running concurrently on The Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.
Planning Homeschool and Holidays
We know you’d rather not think about it (if you’re like us) but the holidays are coming. SOOOO why not get a jump on things and do some great planning and scheduling ahead of time. Can you imagine a peaceful, meaningful holidays season with homeschooling included?
Of course, there’s not ONE right way to handle homeschooling and holidays.
For many families, the holiday season is the first emotional checkpoint of the year. Because it’s not only a celebration season, it’s nearing the halfway point in many homeschools. It’s natural to informally or formally check in on the homeschool progress.
Here are some gentle checkpoints:
- Be kind and don’t look for only bad news
- How’s the booklist?
- Where are we on the syllabi of core courses?
- Are there electives we are going to need to drop or postpone till next semester, the summer or next year?
Remember: You don’t actually HAVE to do everything you planned on last August!
As Kym always says: Pray, do something, pray, do something, pray!
If there are some things your family is behind on, what is causing the *behindness*?
- Was there a hurricane?
- Did someone get sick?
- Did you end up with some unexpected events?
Here’s an episode to help you with unexpected events.
How to bounce back:
- Pick a catch up time by doing a marathon session on a behind subject.
- Choose a catch up time by adding a little time to the end of each day.
- Pick a week to catch up instead of break or add it to the end of the school year.
- Bring in a tutor.
Keep in mind:
Everyone is different, adjust your bounce back to student’s abilities. Be realistic, don’t expect more than can happen and everyone remain sane.
Remember:
Reward your kids and yourself for small or large goals met in catch up.
Now, thinking about the holidays. What do you need to consider?
- What is it your family needs this year? Big holiday, small holiday?
- Does your family need a high or low level of scheduling and routine?
- How much warning about change does your family need?
- Do you want to do some special educational projects for the holidays, like 7Sisters’ Holiday Family Narrative writing project.
- Learn more about how this fun family narrative project works, here.
Remember: Communicate expectations and get input from all your family members (that is, if you are willing and able to include their ideas).
- Set deadlines for beginnings and ends of breaks.
- Make clear about any work that is expected to be done during the break.
- Tell the family: We can do THIS if we get THAT done (dangle a carrot).
- Gently evaluate your homeschool’s progress with yourself and each homeschooler sometime early in the season.
- Download Sabrina’s *Scheduling Backwards* to help you set up a plan.
- Also, check out this Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode with tips for helping teens stay in grace during holiday gatherings, even if there are challenging people there.
Read a philosopher’s explanation of why we start traditions.
Join Sabrina and Kym for a honest discussion of the ups and downs wisely planning for the holidays. You’ll also enjoy these posts. In the meantime, here’s a post to get you thinking about helpful ways to homeschool through the holidays.
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