*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission for any purchases. However, all opinions are my own. My kids and I love every single Christmas book I have included links for!*
During the holiday season, keeping students’ interest can be a challenge. I found this to be true when I was a classroom teacher, and it’s also true with my kids in our homeschool. Who can blame kids for being easily distracted this time of year? They’re excited, and honestly, it warms my heart to see children trembling with anticipation. But what do you do about school? Well, since you have flexibility that classroom teachers don’t have, there are several things you can do. The first is the simplest, though it isn’t feasible for everyone: take a school holiday from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. As long as you’re complying with homeschool law with your number of total days and hours of instruction, this is actually a viable option. However, this doesn’t work for everyone, especially if your children have outside work from a homeschool hybrid or online homeschool. Also, if you like to take longer breaks other times of the year, you may not be able to get all of your days in. So, another option is Christmas school! What’s Christmas school? It’s where you take a break from your regular curriculum and make your children’s assignments a bit more festive. Here’s what I mean: #1 Math, Grammar, and Phonics: Holiday themed worksheets Sure, maybe the only difference is snowmen decorating the margins, but it’s amazing how some happy Christmas clip art can make division or prepositions more fun. Other worksheets use actual Christmas scenarios like worksheets with word problems about going Christmas shopping or baking cookies. The website www.teacherspayteachers.com has dozens of these. Some are free, and most others are inexpensive. If you have a subscription to Canva, you can even make your own! One caveat: these are much easier to find for younger students. #2 History and Geography: Unit Studies Take a break from your regular history study and do a Christmas themed unit. For geography, I have done Christmas around the world with my kids. We study the customs and foods of the holidays in different countries. For history, you could learn about the real St. Nicholas or the origins of things like Christmas trees, mistletoe, and wreaths. #3 Math: Baking The easiest way to practice fractions? Do some Christmas baking. Then you get to eat the assignment! My kids and I also make gingerbread cookies, decorate them, and then take them to someone who needs encouragement. We’ve taken them to neighbors, the sales clerk at the store we frequent, or college students studying for exams. This turns a math lesson into a community service project! #4 Literature: A Christmas Book a Day
This is probably my favorite activity during “Christmas School.” I saw the idea either on Facebook or Pinterest years ago. You wrap twenty four Christmas books and put them under the tree. Then, your child gets to open a book every day until Christmas! When I started, we didn’t own that many Christmas books, but over the years I have collected twenty four of them. Before then, we just didn’t do it every single day. My kids love doing this, and they try to figure out which ones are their favorites before tearing off the wrapping. Then, of course, we cuddle up on the couch to read together. Here are some of my favorites from our collection:
What makes it really special is that I only get these books out at Christmas. After the new year, back they go into the closet! #5 Music: Holiday Music Study Learn the history of a different Christmas song or carol every day, then listen to it (or sing it!) together. A quick Google search ahead of time can give you the story behind almost any Christmas song you can think of. #6 Writing: Holiday Copywork You can find lots of holiday-themed handwriting and copywork pages at Teachers Pay Teachers. Or, again, you can make your own. Have them copy lines from Christmas Carols, scriptures from the Nativity story in the Bible, or lines from famous Christmas books like A Christmas Carol or The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. #7 Field Trips: Theater The holidays are probably the best time of the year to expose your kids to theater. Almost every community has a production of some Christmas show. We’ve seen A Christmas Carol at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at a local children’s theater. Right now, another children’s theater group in our community is doing Elf, Jr. the musical. There’s also usually several local dance studios doing productions of The Nutcracker. Here in Atlanta, the Atlanta Ballet usually does a shortened version of The Nutcracker for school groups at a much cheaper ticket price. Get together with your homeschool group and sign up for such a field trip. Your local newspaper probably has a list of local holiday shows, or you can ask at your public library. Speaking of libraries, they are a great source of holiday educational experiences. You’ll often find visits from Santa, craft workshops, and other great activities going on there. I hope I have gotten your creative juices flowing with great ideas for making school fun during the holidays. Even calling it “Christmas School” during this time makes my kids so much more eager to get their work done. You can go to my pinterest page (@aboveallateacher) for more great ideas. Just look for my board entitled “Christmas School.” Merry Christmas!
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You know what my daughter would really love? A blue unicorn. I actually think it would be pretty awesome myself. Of course, it would have to live on nothing but marshmallows and only poop rainbows because I do not need one more responsibility in my life. Unfortunately, blue unicorns do not exist. Even if I painted a horse blue and glued a horn to its head, it wouldn’t eat marshmallows, and it would make a mess of my yard. I’m sure you can tell where I’m going with this. The perfect curriculum? It’s just like a blue unicorn. It doesn’t exist. Sorry if you feel I click-baited you. (I kind of did.) Nothing gets a homeschool mom reading faster than the promise of that ever elusive perfect curriculum. I myself treat homeschool catalogs like the Sears Wishbook when I was a kid. I gleefully dog ear pages and circle things I want. If I’m not careful, I can turn into a curriculum junkie. Here’s a little trade secret, however, from a former school teacher. Are you ready? Get close, because I have to whisper this one: Teachers don’t really use the curriculum. It’s like teachers are Captain Barbosa in The Pirates of the Caribbean. The curriculum is not so much rules as they are guidelines. Get it? You know, like the pirate’s code? Anyway . . . Instead of searching for the perfect curriculum, search for the right materials for your particular child. With that in mind, here are my tips for choosing curriculum: #1 Don’t Do an All-In-One I know it’s tempting to just pay a lump sum and get every subject in a grade-leveled box for each kid. I highly caution against this. For one, I’ve rarely met a homeschool kid who is in the same level in every subject, yet that’s how the boxed stuff is packaged. Second, I have never seen one curriculum company who can knock it out of the park in every single subject. They may have a great, engaging math curriculum, but their phonics is confusing. They may have fantastic living books for history, but provide nothing but dull readers for literature. And if the curriculum is bad over all? You’re stuck with it. In. Every. Single. Subject. Not to mention, most boxed curriculums are extremely traditional and workbook focused. Your child can get bored fast. #2 Expensive Doesn’t Mean Best I have never paid more than $50 for a phonics curriculum. That’s probably surprising because most phonics programs out there cost over a hundred dollars. Some cost hundreds. I promise you, it isn’t necessary to pay that much. You can teach your child to read for far, far less. Explode the Code, Phonics Pathways, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, First Start Reading, Delightful Reading, and The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading are all inexpensive options for phonics. There are probably others as well. The point is, just because it costs a lot, doesn’t mean it’s great or will work for your child. #3 Just Because it Worked for Them Doesn’t Mean it Will Work for You Now I have a homeschool mom secret to whisper: I hate Saxon math. We don’t use it. This feels sacrilegious almost because it seems like every other homeschool family in the world uses Saxon. But guess what? Those families aren’t teaching my kids. If you try something and hate it, or you look at it and can just tell your kids will hate it, don’t use it. So what if everyone else loves it? They’re not the ones who have to use it with their kids every day. #4 Just Because it Worked for One Kid, Doesn’t Mean it Will Work for the Others Believe me, as much as possible, I use the same curriculum with all three of my kids. But sometimes a certain style of learning just isn’t the right fit for a particular child. For example, each of my three kids uses a different spelling curriculum. I’ll actually make an entire separate post about that later. For now, just know that sometimes you might have to make adjustments for each child in your family. #5 Don’t Be Distracted by the Bells and Whistles It may sound like a great idea to spend the entire year re-enacting Gettysburg, making a hoop skirt, and learning to pitch a teepee like the Kiowa tribe, but before you swipe your credit card, think about it realistically. Will you really have the time for all those activities? How expensive will the material be for that hoop skirt? Do you have a big enough yard for teepees and Civil War battles? Hands-on activities are fine, but make sure there’s something there to fill in the gaps on the days you don’t feel like cooking over an open fire wearing fifteen petticoats. #6 Don’t Purchase Literature Curriculum No textbook is wasted as much as a literature textbook. Your child will be better off reading books. There are so many wonderful children’s novels at your local library. This is one subject you should be able to do for free. I’ve done a separate post on how we do literature in our home school, and all you need is a book. However, if you want to do activities along with a book like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Charlotte’s Web, there are plenty for free online. My kids made their own "Charlotte's Web," and we just used yarn we already had: #7 Don’t Be Afraid to Switch Gears
Is a curriculum just not working for your child? Are they not retaining the concepts? Is the material too dry? Don’t be afraid to toss it, even in the middle of the year. However . . . #8 Don’t Be a Curriculum Junkie Even though you shouldn’t stick with a curriculum that isn’t working, you don’t want to change constantly, either. Especially in math where concepts build upon each other, your child could get confused if you don’t stick with one curriculum long enough. Also, if you’ve changed curriculum in one subject three or more times, I suggest taking a long look at other factors before you change again. Could your child have a learning difference? Is your schedule too chaotic? Children thrive in routine, so be sure you aren’t unsettling them by constantly chasing the next great homeschool product. So that’s it! No blue unicorn, but gathering materials for your homeschool doesn’t have to be difficult. And never forget - the curriculum is just a guideline. In a previous post, I opened up about my own struggles with test anxiety. I also explained how test anxiety, and performance anxiety in general, is not uncommon. It is especially prevalent among gifted students and autistic students. Even if your child is not identified as gifted or autistic, however, doesn’t mean they may not struggle with performance anxiety. As a matter of fact, anxiety among children and teenagers are on the rise. We could argue all day long over why this is, but the most important question for a parent is this: How do I help my child cope? Performance anxiety affects children in many ways, not just with testing. There are times it can cause your child to freeze or fall apart, even when simply finishing an assignment. I know this from personal experience because my daughter struggles with this. I’m not always perfect in handling it, but I have learned a few tricks along the way. The encouraging thing is that it is much easier to help a child like this when they are learning at home. Tip #1: Stay calm. Easier said than done, because when a child is refusing to even try an assignment, it can test your patience tremendously. I want to pause here and explain something extremely important: Freezing and feeling unable to even begin an assignment is completely different than a defiant child who is simply refusing to do what you ask. Only you, the parent, can discern the fine line that separates the two. It does take patience, however, so pause for a moment to think everything through. If you need to, leave the room for a moment to say a quick prayer for guidance. The most important thing is that you avoid yelling or saying something in frustration. Stern commands tend to backfire with anxious kids. They will only shut down even more. Tip #2: Break tasks down into smaller parts. Haley was recently having an extremely difficult time with her math lesson tests. Because it’s a test, I would give it to her, then leave the room. The problem was, I would return maybe fifteen or twenty minutes later to check on her, and she would still be sitting there with a blank test and her head down in defeat. It would literally take her all day to take a test with only 15-20 problems. We tried just about everything to help her. We reviewed the day before by going over every single type of problem she would see on the test (which she would do with flying colors). I let her do problems on our white board if she wanted to. We prayed. We did breathing exercises. We shook the glitter jar. Nothing helped. However, I still needed to be sure she could do the math we were learning on her own. One test day, I knew we couldn’t afford to do nothing but her math test. So, I made a deal with her: do problem number one, then we’ll take a break and read a chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She happily did the first problem. Then I said, “do problem number two, and then you can color your handwriting sheet.” She happily did the second problem. We continued that way the rest of the day, and she got a 93% on her test! It was the first time she had even passed, much less gotten a good grade. I know what you’re thinking because it crossed my mind too: “But they won’t be allowed to take tests that way in college!” Then I remembered: she’s only ten. We won’t take tests this way forever, but for now, it’s what she needs. As homeschool moms we do need to have long-term goals. However, we have to be realistic in how we get there. We must be patient with our kids on their unique journey towards independence and adulthood. Tip #3: Try a different format. If your child is frozen before a blank sheet of paper, let them do the assignment on a white board or chalk board instead. You can also do an assignment orally if needed. Always ask yourself: what is the point of this assignment? If, for example, the point is to make sure your student knows what medieval monasteries were like, they don’t necessarily have to write down answers on a sheet of paper. Instead, they can tell you about monasteries, draw and label a monastery, or act out a monastery with their stuffed animals. Just changing things up a bit can break them out of their anxiety. Tip #4: Emphasize that your love for them is not attached to performance. You may have to express this a million times before it sinks in, but keep saying it. Say it in a way a kid will understand, too. I always say this to my kids: “You can never do anything that will make me stop loving you.” I will also ask them when they freeze over an assignment: “If you fail, will I stop loving you?” By this point, they know the answer is “no.” Don’t ask it, however, until you’re certain they know the answer! And back the sentiment up with action. Never punish a child for a bad grade if you know they tried their best. When they do fail (because we all do at some point), find things in the assignment that they did well and praise them for it. Approach failure as a learning experience: “Okay, you missed these words on your spelling test, now we know to practice them next week!” Instead of, “How could you miss these words? You know this!” See the difference? Tip #5: Make them laugh. I confess, my husband is better at this than I am. As a matter of fact, if he’s home, I’ll sometimes ask him to take over. (This also gives me a breather if I feel myself getting frustrated.) Sometimes he’ll do a worst case scenario bit. He’ll ask them, “So what happens if you get all your spelling words wrong?” They’ll answer with something like, “I fail the test.” My husband will nod and then say something like, “Oh, so then the house turns into a giant pickle?” Of course, they giggle and say “no, Daddy!” Then he’ll say, “Oh, so YOU will turn into a giant pickle, is that it?” By then, they are giggling even more, and he can get them to start the test or whatever other assignment they have frozen over. Yes, it’s ridiculous, but it works. Other times I offer ridiculous answers when my kids refuse to give me one. Like this: “What’s 56 divided by 7?” *Silence* “Oh, did you say 5 million? Okay, let’s try that.” Usually, they laugh (or groan and roll their eyes) and say, “No, Mommy, it’s 8!” Tip #6: Teach them a breathing exercise. We’ve probably all heard this, but it really can help. Just have them take a deep breath in, then slowly let it out to the count of ten. Make sure they don’t take too many deep breaths in without the rest in between, however, or you can actually make it worse. Here’s a good video on how to do breathing exercises with kids: Tip #7: Give them a glitter jar. It’s amazing how much this helps my daughter. She shakes the jar, and watches the pieces of glitter fall in the water. Doing so calms her (and me!) down. It’s really easy to make one. All you need is an old jar (like a spaghetti sauce jar), glue, glitter, and water. You can find instructions HERE. Tip #8: Pray together. Yes, I’ve saved the best for last. However, it isn’t a simple fix. Some people over-simplify anxiety by saying, “just pray!” I’m not saying prayer isn’t powerful - it absolutely is, but prayer is also something that changes us slowly over time. The transformation that God achieves in our lives is so powerful, that it takes a lifetime. Just think about your own struggles. We’ll just take a common mom struggle as an example: worry. Did you just say one prayer asking God that you wouldn’t worry, and - boom! - you never worried again? Of course not! The Lord probably worked on you over the course of months and years. He showed you His words in scripture and opened up the truth of them to you. He sent you other women of God to encourage you in your journey. He met you in times of worship. He came through again and again with his provision, proving to you that He would always come through. You probably still need reminders from Him not to worry. So why do we expect to say a prayer and suddenly our kids won’t be anxious? Walking in victory is a process for us, and we need to be patient as that process happens in our kids. So yes, absolutely pray together (preferably out loud), but then also practice the other tips above. I hope this list of tips helps you with your anxious child. I’m praying for you! Anxiety can leave even an adult frozen in her tracks. However, there is always hope! You were equipped by God to walk through difficulties like this with your child. He didn’t make a mistake when he made me Haley’s mom, and he didn’t make a mistake with you, either. Blessings to you, Mama! |
AuthorHi, I'm Melanie! I'm a homeschooling mom of three kids ages 13, 11, and 9. I have a BS in English Secondary Education from Asbury University plus 30 hours of gifted certification course work. I've taught in just about every situation you can imagine. Public school, private, homeschool hybrid, and private tutoring. The most important thing I've learned? One on one, individualized instruction can't be beat. Archives
July 2022
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