Homeschooling and Holidays during COVID

This week on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschooling and Holidays during COVID. This post is running concurrently on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Homeschooling and Holidays during COVID

Well, we’ve never been HERE before. Handling homeschooling and the holiday season during a pandemic. Covid has changed things for everyone, even your big sisters Sabrina, Vicki and Kym.

First we got together to talk about it so we could share some tips and encouragement.

1. We are all in this together.
2. We all need the Lord. Prayer will help!
3. If you love the holidays, you can look for God’s grace to help you and yours adjust.
4. If you don’t like the holiday season, take even better care of yourself.
5. We need to have an attitude of gentleness and compassion toward each other.
6. Avoid the words “must” or “should”… this year, we can’t must or should much of anything. We will have to hold our expectations lightly!
7. Prepare to be flexible.
8. Be compassionate and gentle towards others about changes or cancellations of favorite community or family events.

Homeschooling and Holidays during COVID help for your family:

Create for your kids and teens some other special (albeit, smaller) events (Zoom events, acappella app sing alongs, outdoor events, Christmas Caroling with social distancing for senior citizens in the community and church)

• Hold honest and loving conversations with the family about financial restraints due to the pandemic.
  1. Create healthy, wholesome reframes: We can’t have lots of “store-bought” stuff but perhaps a family event: drawing and creating Christmas cards and gift wrap, check Pinterest for homemade gift ideas, learn stenciling, calligraphy or other fancy handwriting styles (check YouTube). Watch Ezra’s YouTube for ideas.
  2. Maybe for this year, follow Sabrina’s family tradition: Christmas gifts are only silly or sentimental (and inexpensive)
     1. Silly family inside-joke sayings on a home-printed tshirt
     2. An acrostic made from everyone’s name
     3. Include a family game to play as they open the gifts, if possible (silliness is good!):
        1. Scavenger hunts
        2. Sing alongs
        3. Dramatic readings of favorite childhood books

So many people will not be able to travel this year. If you are holding a family stay-at-home Christmas holiday.

1. So, remember to do something new instead:
   1. 1. 1. 1. • Have a special but different breakfast
               • Zoom with the extended family
               • Drop off food to quarantined family members
               • Hold a Christmas movie marathon
               • Go on a Christmas hike
               • Perhaps have each kid plan something special each day of the holiday break
               • Make sure everyone can have a little while to grieve the losses of the traditional Christmas events, but then role model “bounce back” (resiliency) for the kids.
                 • You can tell them: It’s okay to be sad, but don’t stay sad. We will make good memories this Christmas season.
                 • Validate the loss, then CHOOSE to create good things in the face of the losses.

Dealing with the uncertainty of church events.

• 1. Uncertainty can be tough (and irritating). So self-monitor. Try to keep yourself in a grace-filled, fruit-of-the-spirit attitude.
  2. Your family can choose the meaning of a special event at church that we might not be able to experience this year. Choose a way for your family to honor the meaning of that event at home. This takes prayer and creativity, but that is what God’s love is all about!
• Remember: It is okay that this Christmas doesn’t look like other Christmases.
• Remember again: Gentleness and compassion!

Check out 7Sisters freebie unit study posts on:

• Muppets Christmas Carol
• White Christmas
• It’s a Wonderful Life

Download our popular Twas the Week Before Christmas Curriculum and Activity Bundle (Literature, Writing, Science, Social Studies, Languages, and fun… with something for all ages). Or the writing project: Holiday Family Narrative.

Keep yourself encouraged with our suite of Homeschool Highschool Podcast episodes on handling the holidays:

• Scheduling Homeschool during the Holidays
• Handling Difficult People during the Holidays
• Happily Handling Holiday Hassles
• Holiday Social Skills for Teens
• Creative Credits at Christmas
• Teens and Complicated Christmas

Here’s a post with more Covid holiday ideas.

Encouraging holiday episodes from our fellow podcasters:

• Homeschooling with Technology Podcast’s Holidays with Technology
• Homeschool Sanity Podcast’s 3 Ways to Stay Organized during the Holidays
• Vintage Homeschool Mom Podcast’s: DIY Christmas

In the meantime, here’s a post to get you thinking about helpful ways to homeschool through the holidays.

This holiday season, remember what we learned from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: God bless us everyone!

Join Sabrina, Vicki and Kym for encouragement and advice!

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Homeschooling and Holidays during COVID