December, December, how do we get it all done?
Shopping and baking and wrapping for everyone!
Indeed I must succeed without a shout!
But if I am not careful, I will totally
Burn Out!
R. Hoskins
How do you get through the month of December without burning out and shedding tears? Teach one Unit Study for the entire month. I’m using the term Unit Study to mean teaching all students the same subjects centered around a theme. December’s theme is Christmas/ Holiday/ Family Traditions.
If you are like many American’s celebrating Christmas, you will be baking, buying and wrapping gifts, cleaning, cooking, shopping and serving others. You will be decorating, celebrating and creating traditions and memories. In a word you will be homeschooling! Ha!
How do you take those activities and move them into the sphere of learning?Below I will give you a few of my favorite ideas, but I am sure you will quickly come up with your own. The key is to put aside your traditional workbooks and worksheets, and replace them with real life learning.
- Shopping: This activity is ripe for homeschool learning. Anyone from preschool through highschool can learn a variety of concepts, just by shopping for gifts. You can review colors, shapes, and counting with your youngest children. If they are a bit older, say in the wonder stage, they can work on adding and subtracting from an established budget. Still older children in the equipping stage, can work on maintaining a budget, comparison shopping, and work on understanding percentages. You can even talk about how interest works when using credit cards verses when you earn interest from a savings account. You could also encourage older children to purchase a stock (real or imagined) and keep track of it on Yahoo Finance.
- Baking. This is a wonderful time to teach your children weights and measurements in the US and Metric Systems. Help them to measure and weigh items using the tools in your kitchen. If you are baking gingerbread houses, you can discuss geometry with your older children. Talk about shapes with the younger ones. Younger children can be encouraged to sort candies by color, and also to count, divide and distribute. “I have 50 spice drops and five children. How many spice drops do you each get to put on your gingerbread house.” You can really have a lot of fun with gingerbread houses. Baking is also a science, so you can talk and show how sugar is considered a liquid when baking, and other fascinating facts. You can discuss and show the importance of time and temperature when baking. A quick search online and you will find many books to help you. Here is an example: https://www.amazon.com/Edible-Science-Experiments-You-Can/dp/1426321112/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=science+and+baking+for+children&qid=1607125077&sr=8-8 Be sure to check your local library as well.
- Wrapping gifts. All children can be encouraged to create their own designs for wrapping paper. Older children with an entrepreneurial spirit, can sell their “wrapping paper” to friends and family members. They can create an online store and learn about supply and demand, sales, and the exchange of goods and services. If they are older, you can also grab a book from the library and help them to create a website to showcase their goods.
- Making gifts. All ages can learn a new skill, or polish up an old one. Have your children create holiday cards. Those that can write can be encourage to create poetry within their cards. Those who are not at that level can produce artwork for their cards. Show your children how to mass produce their holiday cards. Teach them how to address their cards to be mailed through our US Postal System. There is so much real life learning to be had in this area.
- Read. Now is a great time to encourage all readers, especially reluctant readers, by allowing large amounts of school time to be eaten up with good reading material. Make it fun by allowing books to be read with hot chocolate under a Christmas Tree. (hint: let a reluctant reader choose interesting books that are easy to read). If you have multiple children, have them take turns having their own special 30 minutes of reading time underneath the tree. Many libraries are open for curbside pickup. Take out 10-20 books at a time and enjoy. Create a few reading nooks within your home, with blankets, pillows and good lighting for the independent readers. Enjoy family time with good seasonal audio books during lunchtime. Read to your little ones all throughout the day. Have a craft area where your children can listen to audio books while working on a craft. You can never have too much reading time. Ever!
- Music! Now is the time to give time to hours of practicing instruments and singing. Plan a recital for your family and friends. Create a formal program, designed and printed by your family. Planning, order, time, recording, are all real life learning activities that can be centered around making music in your home.
I can go on and on with real life learning activities. The key is to not add items onto an already busy school schedule. Down shift to a lighter load. Use these activities as replacements not additions.
If you do not want to totally set your traditional schedule aside, perhaps set aside 2-3 days a week for some real life learning activities.
Tis the season! Lean into it, and have fun!
Oh and if you are in the area, I looooovvvve Christmas Cookies!