Ways to Keep Kids on Track with Homeschooling After the Holidays

Is it just me, or does it always feel like we have been through a whirlwind after the holiday season? If you feel as if you just got out of a whirlwind, then explore these ways to keep kids on track with homeschooling after the holidays.

Once holidays are over, it can seem as if you are trying to catch your breath. Some of us kept our kids doing a little bit of learning here and there. Others of us didn’t think a bit about homeschooling during the holidays. 

Whichever type of homeschooling stance you took during the holidays, it can be equally as stressful to get back on track. 

So, check out a few ways to keep kids on track with homeschooling after the holidays.

Be prepared with planning and organization.

Developing your lesson plans ahead of time and getting them organized and ready to go will relieve so much stress while you are transitioning from holiday mode to reality mode.

Here are some resources that will help you with your lesson planning and organization for homeschool.

A Simple Homeschool Lesson Planning Method + FREE Lesson Planner |  Wildly Anchored

Tips for Keeping it All Organized

Organizing Your Homeschool for the New Year Using Trello

Organization Tips for Homeschool Moms

Get your homeschooling space ready.

Do you have decorations still hanging in your homeschool area?

It’s time to prepare your homeschool area in a way that works. If last year worked fine with a rolling shelf and the kitchen table, fine. Set that backup, and clear things out.

If your homeschool area or nook needs a revamp or relocating, then grab some ideas below to help.

4 Things Every Homeschool Mom Needs to Know About Her Homeschool Space

How to Homeschool in a Tiny Space – Without a Designated Homeschool Room

Fun and Frugal Book Nook Ideas

Do a good cleaning with your kids and make your chore chart.

Schedule a cleaning day with the family before starting school. Sit down with your kids and talk about the chore assignments for the year. Maybe get some suggestions. 

You will be surprised at what chores they want to do, are willing to share, or prefer not to do at all. Take their views into consideration then make the chore chart to start off your year with expectations set.

After Homeschool Chore Chart

Chore Charts for Multiple Children FREE Printable Charts & Cards

FREE Printable Chore Charts to Manage Your Household

Evaluate if there is anything from last year’s routine needs to be tweaked – or dropped altogether.

Now is a good time to re-evaluate. We can all set routines and plans, but we also have to leave room for change and adjustment. 

My kids and I decided to go to a 4-day homeschool week mid-year January. We have stuck to that 4-day homeschool week ever since. It works for us, but if we would have chosen to be stringent about our 5-day work week, we would have ended our year pretty stressed.

Is there something you need to change, switch around, give up, or add on? 

Discuss the routine with your kids.

As an early learning teacher, I spent almost my whole first week of school going over routines with my students. The kids needed structure; they actually thrived in it.

Whenever we went off course, they would remind me it was story time or reading time. I took this with me when I began to homeschool. Going over the expected routine with our kids gives them a stake in the responsibility to keep it. 

Start slowly and light.

Go into homeschooling after the holidays with ease. Don’t overload yourselves. Keep it simple, light, and stress-free. Starting slow and light is really crucial to help your kids with a smooth flow back into reality. 

For the first week, maybe just do a few major subjects, or maybe start with a review of the last subjects and lessons learned. The key is to not overwhelm your students and not overwhelm yourselves. #homeschoolfreedom ;-)

Give your kids, and yourself, plenty of grace.

We understand that the bar is sometimes set high. Homeschooling has probably not turned out exactly the way you thought it would. 

In my first year of homeschooling, I decided to go full-distance learning. My kids just did not do well with 100% online lessons. They were restless and bored. 

I had to give myself grace and see it not as a failure, but as a learning experience. Be open, take what works, and allow grace in it all.

Begin a new routine of praying together and being an encourager. 

Be intentional about making your homeschool a place where prayer is at the very foundation. If you slacked off last year in the prayer department, God’s mercies are new every morning – and every year holds true for that matter. 

Be an encourager. Let your kids know you are also looking forward to starting fresh after the holidays. Encourage them in their new beginning. Let them know that a reset in homeschool is good, that the break was great, and that you all can look forward to getting right back on track with homeschooling after the holidays. 

Explore How to Encourage Your Child for help in keeping it up throughout the year. In the meantime, these ways to keep kids on track with homeschooling after the holidays will be useful to get the rest of the year started well.