Episode 4: Holiday Homeschooling: How To Relax And Make It Fun
The holiday season is here, and with it comes a whirlwind of to-dos, festivities, and—yes—homeschooling! In this episode, Amy dives into how to transform holiday homeschooling from stressful to sensational. Discover ways to balance your homeschool routine with festive fun while keeping your stress in check. From practical tips to fun, low-prep ideas, you’ll learn how to create a relaxed and meaningful holiday season for your family.
Amy tackles common holiday homeschooling struggles like feeling behind, chaos, mess, and the fear of losing your routine—and how to turn them into opportunities for connection and joy. Plus, she shares creative ways to sprinkle holiday cheer into your homeschool subjects and simple strategies for self-care during this busy time.
✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Top Concerns About Holiday Homeschooling
- Creative Holiday Homeschooling Ideas
- 8 Practical Tips to Relax and Enjoy the Season
- Fun Resources for Holiday Homeschooling
🎁 Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
🎧 Don’t Forget to Subscribe & Share!
🎄 Happy Holiday Homeschooling, Mama!
Prefer to read? I’ve put the transcript to this episode below! Let me know if you have any questions 😊
How to Enjoy Holiday Homeschooling (and Not Lose Your Mind!)
Hey there, mama! With the holiday season quickly approaching, I wanted to take some time to share one of my favorite topics: enjoying relaxed and fun holiday homeschooling.
Let’s look at some common concerns and struggles when it comes to homeschooling through the holidays, some fun ideas to consider, and my tips on how you can relax and make the most of this special time with your kids.
The holiday season can get SO busy! Everyday life stuff (like meals and chores) still need to get done. Then, there’s all of the holiday tasks (like decorating, shopping, and wrapping). With only 24 hours in a day, how and when are you supposed to fit homeschooling in?!?
Before you hit the panic button, I want to reassure you that you’ve got this, mama. And I’m here to help. Because here’s some fantastic news: You have options when it comes to homeschooling through the holidays. Let’s look at some common concerns and struggles when it comes to holiday homeschooling – then we’ll get to simple ideas and practical solutions.
Holiday Homeschooling Concerns and Struggles
It’s completely normal to feel stressed about holiday homeschooling, whether you’re new to homeschooling (get tips in episode 2) or have been at this gig a while.
But, I don’t want you to be stressed! I want you to be able to relax and enjoy these special times with your kids -and maybe even sneak in a bit of holiday learning fun!
Here are 5 common holiday homeschooling concerns:
- Getting “behind”
- Chaos
- Mess
- So much to do – who has time for fun?
- Hard to get back on track
Let’s look at each one and how you can transform that concern or struggle from negative to positive:
Getting “behind” – Are you worried that your kids will get behind in their “regular” work if you add some holiday fun activities to your homeschool? Guess what? There is NO behind when it comes to homeschooling! You have flexibility and freedom on your side.
How to transform this concern? Remind yourself that learning takes place all the time – not just with scheduled lessons and specific curriculum. Your children will get SO much out of holiday-related activities.
Chaos – Concerned that your children will be bouncing off the walls and nothing will get done? Totally understandable!
Unless you decide to completely take off from homeschooling during this time, I recommend that you counteract chaos with simple plans. Depending on the ages of your kids, pick a reasonable number and type of activities. Also, setting realistic expectations is extremely helpful – more on this in a bit!
Mess – The holidays often bring MORE, especially decorations. If you’re already feeling a bit cramped from all the extra (or just don’t want one more thing to deal with), mess can be a big concern.
To transform this thought, I want to remind you of this: You have control over what holiday activities that you do with your kids.
For example, if you want to make a gingerbread house with your kids but cringe at the thought of the mess and all that sugar, go with a mess-free option (like my free printable 3D gingerbread house or paper bag gingerbread house set). You do NOT have to do all the things you see on social media or Pinterest. Glitter or paint make you want to cry? No biggie! You do NOT have to do those types of activities. Pick a project that you feel comfortable with and your kids will love.
So much to do – who has time for fun? – Yup, there is a lot to do, even more so than usual. And you may feel like you have time for nothing.
You’re the boss of your homeschool and you get to decide what needs to get done in a day – or doesn’t. So, if you skip science and bake cookies, will the world come to an end? Nope! If you don’t do history for a week because you’re enjoying Christmas Around the World fun, will your homeschool flop? Absolutely not! Swap out some subjects for holiday learning fun. And keep it all simple!!
Hard to get back on track – Afraid that it will be too hard to get back on track with your “normal” homeschool routine? Well, how do you get back on track after a weekend? Or a few days off? Or a vacation?
You ease back in (well, I recommend that you do!). And prior to enjoying your holiday homeschooling, talk with your kids about WHY you want to do these activities with them. Remind your children (and yourself) that you want to make the most of this time AND it’s temporary.
Options + Basics to Homeschooling Through The Holidays
- Set realistic expectations (I have a free printable pack to help you set realistic expectations and rules, especially when it comes to fun activities!
- Sit with your kids and explain why you’re holiday homeschooling (if you’re choose to add more fun ideas to your routine).
- Talk about what needs to get done (if you are still going to do some subjects, like math) prior to starting any holiday fun.
- Also, discuss clean up (if necessary) and who is responsible for what.
- Loose planning and prep (practicing those flexibility muscles!)
- Take time to gather ideas, activities, and themes.
- You can either surprise your kids OR work with them to formulate a plan.
- Create a loose plan with plenty of wiggle room.
- You can sort into different categories (like an activity that would be good for math and a project that’s great for art) or randomly pick and choose.
- Options for when to enjoy your holiday homeschooling:
- Do a little each day (pick 1-3 activities based on the time you’ll have available, ages/stages of your kids).
- Pick a day of the week (like Fun Friday).
- Do less of other subjects (or hit the pause button if doing a holiday unit study).
- Take time to gather ideas, activities, and themes.
- Choose to take a break from homeschooling altogether during the holiday season!
⭐ Free printable cheat sheet ⭐
Ready to enjoy homeschooling with less stress? Learn my 5 simple steps for feeling more confident, patient, & relaxed.
Because you deserve to feel calm —no matter what comes your way!
Easy and Fun Ideas for Holiday Homeschooling
With a bit of planning and prep (plus outside the box thinking and creativity), you can have a blast with holiday homeschooling that’s totally worth it!I’ve got over 7 ways that you can rock your holiday homeschooling:
- Rethink your “regular” subjects. For example:
- Reading – holiday books, audiobooks
- Math – baking, cooking, budgeting
- Life skills – chores, decorating, party planning, budget
- Science – trees (Christmas), reindeer, snow
- Arts & Crafts – DIY cards, decorations, gift making
- Music – holiday songs, caroling
- History – learn about the origin of the holiday
- Christmas homeschool fun activities: I’ve got a BIG list of ideas. You’ll find sections on crafts, games, holiday themes for different subjects, and more. Oh, and I have another post where some friends and I share our top tips for enjoying Christmas in your homeschool.
- Christmas poetry teatime – Such wonderful ways to enjoy holiday-themed poetry! Try our free printable holiday-themed poetry teatime that’s perfect for building keen observation skills.
- Holiday-themed activities – Fun activity packs in 5 fun themes: gifts, decor, holiday characters, treats, and Ugly Christmas sweaters. Get these print-and-go activities now!
- Holiday Projects – Encourage your children to captures special moments this season with photography (use this free printable photo challenge) and videography. Volunteering is awesome, too!
- Movies/videos paired with activities – Awesome ways to sit back and relax with your kids. I’ve got ideas for classics, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and The Polar Express.
- Christmas Around the World – Our favorite way to rock holiday homeschooling! Fantastic for geography, world cultures, reading, and more. Get my Christmas Fun Around the World packs (featuring plans and activities for 8 countries) and free printable Christmas Around the World coloring pages.
How You Can Relax for Enjoyable Holiday Homeschooling
Here are 8 tips to help you let go and chill this holiday homeschool season:
- Tweak your homeschool expectations. It can be tough but remind yourself that it’s temporary. And in holiday homeschooling, you’re getting great practice for real life – dealing with unexpected situations/issues – building those flexibility muscles that are so helpful to have as a mom, especially a homeschool mom!
- It does NOT need to be perfect or look a certain way. Ignore all those picture-perfect social media pictures. We’re all about experiences and building memories! Do you want your kids to remember you taking an hour to get something set up “just right” for pictures OR for getting in there and having fun?
- It does NOT have to cost a lot of money. Frugal and free are positively fine!
- Take time for prep work – even if just a few minutes. And have your kids help (if they’re old enough). With just a bit of time, you’ll be ready to get right to it and not run around like a chicken with its head cut off.
- Let go of “looking for the learning” – such a homeschool mom thing! Not everything has to be educational. Remember: It’s good to have a mix of experience and fun, too!
- Make a playlist of holiday songs that you like. You can make a playlist with upbeat songs to energize and a list with slower songs to calm and quiet.
- It’s okay to say no. You do NOT have to do (or help) at all the things.
- Self-care: It can look a lot different during the holidays – and that’s okay because it’s temporary.
- Focus on your overall well-being: nutrition, exercise, sleep, and mental health.
- What are your needs right now? You know yourself best. Use my free printable list of self-care ideas for what you need now for inspiration.
- How can you plan to take care of your needs? For example, do you know that you struggle to function if you have too much sugar or caffeine? Plan and prep for healthy alternatives. Or maybe you know that you need to have some type of movement/exercise in the day to work off anxiety (me too!)? Put on music and dance it up OR take the kids for a walk and look at Christmas decorations.
Oh, one thing that I wanted to touch upon…you can gather some amazing information from your holiday homeschooling! For example, one year, our Christmas cookie baking showed me that I really need to up my life skills game with my boys. So, I started to teach them more about kitchen safety, cooking, baking, grocery shopping, and meal prep.
Also, our Christmas Around the World fun encouraged me to periodically plan more unit studies because my boys and I truly thrive with that type of learning.
It’s time to wrap up this up pun-intended! It has been such a pleasure to chat with you about holiday homeschooling. I truly hope that these tips and ideas help you relax and make the most of these incredible moments with your kids.
I have a favor to ask of you: Promise me that you will take a few moments each and every day to close your eyes, take some cleansing breaths, and remind yourself that you have got all that it takes (and more!) to positively homeschool.
From my family to yours, I wish you a very happy (and positive) holiday season!
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