How to Beat the Homeschooling Winter Blues

The days are short and the air is cold, which means winter is upon us. For some families, the arrival of winter brings great joy and happiness. However, for many of us who spend the majority of our time at home, schooling our children, this season has the potential for driving us a bit crazy.

So what’s a homeschooling mom to do? I believe that with a little planning, you can eliminate the winter blues that threaten to take over during the long, freezing days.

What’s the number one way to make it through the winter without losing your sanity?

Have a plan.

Don’t wait for the doldrums to invade your house before you think about how to beat them. Sit down and map out a strategy now when the cold and snow is a novelty. Trust me, you’ll be thankful you planned ahead.

Get outside every day, even for a few minutes

I know, I know. It’s freezing and there’s probably snow on the ground. It doesn’t matter. It’s important for everyone’s mental and physical well being to get out of the house, into fresh air, so bundle up.

Sit down as a family and come up with a list of fun activities you can do together.

• Go on a nature scavenger hunt.

• Do winter science experiments. (Make a snow volcano. See if ice changes Newton’s laws. Try to make frozen bubbles).

• Learn something new like ice skating, snowshoeing, snowboarding, or ice fishing.

Focus on activities you don’t normally have time for

Let’s face it, we’re all busy. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do all of the interesting school projects we want to complete. If winter is the season when you spend more time at home, spend some of those hours on those extras you’ve been trying to fit in.

• Work on an extended history project like recreating a famous battle, design and build a Native American dwelling, or finally mummify that chicken.

• Teach your child new life skills like sewing, cooking, money management, or home maintenance.

• Read a classic book aloud, and then discuss it.

Build a week of fun into your school schedule

What this looks like is up to you. Consider taking an entire week off of school and spend your days having fun and enjoying each other.

Build forts in the living room, have a movie marathon, put together a puzzle, color, or play video games. Let everyone have a week to regroup and recharge. 

If you don’t want to skip the learning completely, give some thought to setting aside your normal lessons and do something different, but still educational, for a few days.

• Focus on your child’s favorite subject. Go deep into history, work on art projects, learn a challenging piece of music, build a website, etc.

• Put away the formal writing plans and instead teach your child how to journal, give her writing prompts, or read and write some poetry together.

• Play educational board games like Scrabble, Wordical, Where in the World, Risk, or American Trivia.

Breaking up your routine is a great way to keep everyone engaged and connected.

Hopefully, with a little planning, you’ll be able to eliminate any grumbles that threaten your home school (and your sanity) this winter.

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About the Author

Megan Zechman is a veteran homeschool mom of two girls. Over at Education Possible, she shares creative, hands-on learning activities for middle school.