For many homeschoolers who create their own curriculum or follow a boxed curriculum December is a time to play, create, and enjoy! Of course not all homeschoolers can take a break for the holidays, some like my daughter in Cyber school will be spending most of the month hard at work. My other children though will spend a lot of time playing, being creative, and helping to make wonderful messes for great food in the kitchen.
How can we take such big breaks though and still get learning in? Learning is happening all the time, it just might take practice to see it, and record it. For instance, my oldest daughter has taken breaks for travel and later written wonderful essays full of detail, information, and citation about her adventures. Sites like cite.com are a great help when it comes to essay writing and can save a lot of time too. There is a good article on the importance of essay writing on Seattle Pi and a reminder that teaching to test is not what most of us are after when it comes to educating our children. Essays matter and doing them well does too!
Another way to record the break is with photos in a homeschool scrap book! How about taking photos of all the yummy things the kids help cook over the month? How about making a video of all the songs the kids learn to sing over the holidays? Lapbooks are fun and great ways to record information about things like winter holidays like Yule and others around the world. You can get help with such things on National Geographic Kids and other sites too! Kids love helping to create new traditions so why not let them research winter holidays and help pick something to add to your holidays this year?
Don’t forget that math can be found in cooking, and letting kids manage money for gifting to others too! Social studies can be covered by cultural traditions your family follows and your children can help record those memories as journal entries that fit nicely into homeschooling portfolios! Letting children help write notes in holiday cards to mail out can help with hand writing and social skills too! There are so many ways children are learning while on break and so many ways to record that learning! If you need ideas it is as easy as hitting the homeschool forums where you can find other experienced homeschoolers who love taking holiday break with their kids and still making sure that their fun learning gets some credit!
