It is almost time for my favorite time of our school year, Christmas School. Christmas School means different things in different homeschools and let me explain how we utilize it in our homeschool year.

What It Is:

In general homeschooling circles, Christmas School is schooling during the Christmas season. It can look different from one homeschooling family to the next. Some add a special devotional or study to their current schedules, and some, like us, take a break from regular school and have a particular focus for the holiday season.

To me, a routine is a natural rhythm without adhering to set times during the day. A schedule is the opposite and is a more regimented timetable for things to happen throughout the day. Because of my inexperience, I tried to set up a homeschool schedule when I started our homeschooling journey. I constantly looked at the clock and lost focus on what I was trying to do. I often felt behind, and then I would rush through things. I would abandon the schedule and then try to restart over the next day and the next.

So, instead, I implemented more of a natural rhythm to our day.

A lot of other people will jump on the bandwagon of not using a curriculum at all, start unschooling their children, and be very successful. But there are some of us out there that still need assistance. Some of us don’t have the time or the patience to plan every lesson and detail. Others never actually have any learning happen because our attempts at unschooling turn into a free for all circus without a plan of some sort. This blog post is for those who need some guidance but are confident enough to make the necessary changes to what they have purchased, to make their homeschooling experience. I fully applaud those that can lesson plan well or that can unschool. While I love making lesson plans, I do not like the time it takes away from my family and other outside hobbies and interests. I prefer to lesson plan for the extras and supplements we use (hence the printables I have made and are now making available).

Combining students for us started very simply, which was also very natural. Our youngest (now middle child) just journeyed along while I was teaching big sister. I did eventually separate them for history. I have since kept them together for history and combined for the bible, geography, science, art, sign language, music, and our advent schooling.

I chose to do year-round schooling early on in our homeschooling journey. I was feeling overwhelmed by fitting everything in. You see, I was at a point where the girls and I were doing much traveling, and I mean a lot. We had taken a two-month-long vacation and took school with us. While we were checking boxes and doing things, I felt far behind. We were not going to "finish" in a typical school calendar year, from August to May.

In a previous life, I wanted to teach High School English. I loved it all! Compositions, plays, poetry, novel reading, and I even LOVED grammar. So, of course, when it came to homeschooling our daughters, I felt prepared to take on this area of our homeschooling adventure. I spent much time obsessing about reading, writing, grammar, and all that encompasses language arts. I obsessed over this area a lot, and I worried I would mess it up. My only initial fear in the Language Arts area of our homeschooling journey was that of teaching our girls how to read. While I have little knowledge of the formation of the English language, I hadn’t studied or prepared myself to teach someone how to learn to read.

When I started homeschooling, I came to schooling from a former public school mindset. I had never envisioned homeschooling, let alone thought it was a path I would be pursuing and loving for my children. Eight years in and shifting a few things around, we thrive in our homeschool. None of these are of more importance than another, and not all of these changes happened simultaneously. Looking back on the things I have changed along the way, I can say that these five changes have only made our homeschool time together so much better.

Singing loudly for those in the back, "It's the most wonderful time." Maybe not for everyone, but this time of year is our Christmas for most (perhaps not all) homeschoolers. New curriculum is rolling out, homeschool conference sessions are rolling, and catalogs are arriving in our mailboxes. My nerdy side is bursting at the seams. I love the planning, the pursuit of possibilities, and the endless opportunities.

If you follow a traditional school schedule, then the allure of the next school year and the end of the current year is on the horizon. For more year-round schoolers (like us), we like the deals during this time and the promise of a chance to change things up, where I need to tweak or change things as the school year continues.

As all the shiny newness can overwhelm us and you find it hard to make decisions, keep in mind the following as you make your decisions for your next school year.

The first book I chose was “Homeschooling Bravely” By Jamie Erickson. It felt good to read this book and know that my fears about homeschooling were “normal.”

I narrowed down what I learned from reading this book into five big lessons.

1. God’s Hand is On Us

2. I am Not Alone

3. Keep Our Focus On The Why

4. Each New Step in Homeschooling is a Season

5. There is a Bigger Picture to Homeschooling

There are mornings when my girls take almost an hour to get dressed and ready in the morning. Why? I have no clue. There are days when my oldest seems to have forgotten every math fact from essential addition to division. There are days when the middle daughter can't sit still and is more consumed. They are just as many days that our littlest is just not having our school time, and I have to stop what I am doing with my older girls and rearrange our school day. Those are just some days, though, and some of our struggles. Throw in outside forces telling you that your doing something wrong, that your kids will be awkward and weird for homeschooling. What about your house out of control, laundry piled higher than the ceiling allows? Just like everything in one's life, we sometimes can get overwhelmed. Homeschooling is not different, and Yep, homeschooling isn't always sunshine and rainbows either.

I'm here to tell you that it is ok to hit the reset button, and it is ok to take a step back and reevaluate your homeschooling. You do not have to quit homeschooling. Let me say that again. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO QUIT HOMESCHOOLING! In our homeschooling journey, I have had several times where I felt like throwing in the towel and just giving up. In my mind, I couldn't see past the pile-up of everything return tog that seemed to be going wrong steadily.