By the time the holiday’s roll around, most parents are a bit burned out by the hectic pace of managing parenting, schooling, work and more. Use your freedom in homeschooling and delight learning to be flexible on days and times of the school year that you need to re-ignite your love of managing it all.
First, give yourself permission to goof off a bit. Be thankful for the power you hold to be flexible. Find that freedom and use it wisely.
Use Delight Learning during the Holidays
This time of year, we take it easy and redirect learning to more movie-based, experience-based and project-based learning approaches. This allows us to lay around, watch videos, do craft projects, go on field trips, notebook what we are learning, have deep discussions on topics of interest. Mainly, it’s about interest-led or delight learning with the exception of math, reading and writing.
Things that Derail Us
Moodiness, holiday burnout, lack of focus, and much more.
Let’s face it.
Our home students have good days and DOG days. You know, they don’t want to wake up. They argue with you for hours about how boring the work is. They want to take tons of bathroom breaks and you want to scream. Sometimes you do. This is a sure sign, a redirection is needed.
It’s Okay!
Give yourself permission to just take a week off, heck it’s the holiday’s. Refocus and redirect what you are grateful and thankful for, but you may need to have a break from.
When I have days like that at work, I leave early or I just don’t go. Sometimes, I even take a long lunch break just to get my head back in the game.
Take a Siesta
Times like this, I give us all a ‘timed’ break. I set the alarm and tell the kids they can do anything BUT play video games or go outside. Usually, they just get a snack, watch a show, or read a book of choice. Me – I take a short nap.
Why?
Well because if Mom’s cranky, her kids know it and mom/teacher can’t redirect when cranky.
Make-Up Day
Sometimes the day is a totally wash. So…we make it up. I move the work and lesson to the following day. Or, do school on a day I had plan to have no school or delight learning.
Shorten the Lesson
A shortened lesson is another secret weapon. On days where we have somewhere to go, the kids are not engaged, or I’m too distracted to do an entire lesson, we shorten it. I don’t do their DVD teaching section, I teach the new subject myself to the student. Or, we don’t do every homework practice problem. Or, we even cut out any of our electives for that day.
Remind Yourself to Be Thankful
Create a List for ALL to See
Remembering why we are doing all we do is a good way to ignite passion back into a hectic schedule that is compounded by holiday expectations. Thanksgiving seems to come at the right time.
Include the kids in the creating a Be Thankful board that you place on your walls, in your room, on your refrigerator to remind you just how much you have to be thankful for. Then, tell your kids just how much you are thankful for a particular trait or action they did to make you happy.
Words have power and using them to get ourselves on track is a great way to prepare for the holidays ahead.
By LM Preston, www.empoweredsteps.com and www.lmpreston.com blog: homeschoolandwork.blogspot.com/
NOTE: Not all views from guest bloggers are the views of Kerry Beck or How to Homeschool My Child.
