Thursday, November 17, 2011
Question: do you homeschool in December?
I've been thinking about whether we should put formal schooling on the shelf for December, and perhaps just focus on making Advent holy and memorable. For those of you that homeschool, what do you do in December? If you take the month off, do you have any ideas for incorporating reading and math into your everyday holiday chores? Please share in the comments section; would love some advice!
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Last year we took it off but I only had a kindergartner. Even if I had older ones, I think I would at least slow down - take two weeks for one week of work or stop after a week into Advent. I don't know. This year is a little different for me as I'm due with a baby right after the holidays so I plan on doing what school I can since they'll have a good month "off."
ReplyDeleteI think there is plenty to do with the Advent season that it could easily fill your days, and help to prepare for the Christmas season.
As far as reading and math... Why not just do some fun reading? Pick out some chapter books to read over the month, have some extra cuddle read-aloud times, and just enjoy reading without it being a check-off thing? Math could be games - online, good old board games, or ones you make up depending on your child's skill level. And of course, cooking and baking as most are prone to do during this time.
Hope you gather some good advice!
Last year we did a Christmas Around the World unit (it's up on my blog) to go with it. This year we'll probably slow down a little with school, but continue to school.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas, Nicole! I tend to forget about online games for learning math, phonics, etc. Thank you for reminding me about this great resource.
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteNicole has some good ideas. I don't know how old your kid(s) are but I have 9 kids from 13 down to baby. I think age makes a big difference! If they are young...take the time off!! Sadly, we live in a area that requires proof of our required 180 days of school. So no school in December would not work well.
We do take off the week before Christmas to make crafts, gifts, cookies, etc. We like to take the Saturdays and Sundays of Advent to do any additional activities.(But different family gatherings make that hard) I wish I could help more, but we struggle with this question, too.
This is late I realize as I just found your blog but just to share we do school in December. We took the first week after Christmas off. We spend a lot of our school focused on St. Nicholas Feast Day, St. Lucia's Day, The Immaculate Conception, counting down to Christmas, our Jesse Tree and we still do reading, writing, math ect but they are usually focused on these things. Our kids seem to do better with the least amount of days off from school. God bless from www.sanctussimplicitus.com
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