Here are a few creative ways to keep learning fun and the atmosphere bright in your home during the winter months.
Every year, we get through the holidays, make it to a new year, and hit a slump. My guess is that the change from so much excitement to a month that is dark, cold, and long takes a toll on our mood. The kids often don’t want to jump back into school and fight me when I tell them it’s time to return to our normal rhythm. No one is ready to wake up early again. My momma patience seems to start running thin. I find myself counting down to March when the daylight stretches out for more hours of the day, the leaves start to fill in the trees again, and we can see the end of the school year coming.
If you are like me and find yourself on the struggle bus as a homeschooling momma from January to February, I just want you to know you are not alone. I have realized that my own mental health dips during the winter months, adding to the feeling that we just won’t make it through another year! Now we’ve been homeschooling for seven years (yikes) and I finally have begun to think ahead about how to fight the winter blues in our home.
Here are a few creative ways to keep learning fun and the atmosphere bright in your home during the winter months:
1. Plan a Winter Trip
I know not everyone can afford to plan a getaway in the winter, but if you can, no matter how simple, I encourage you to do it! There is something invigorating for everyone in the home when there is a change of scenery. Somehow, the monotony of waking up at home, staying home to do schoolwork, and starting again can leave us uninspired. Take a drive as a family just to gain a new view, see something different, and learn from a new perspective.
Our personal favorite is a winter beach trip! I know we all love the beach in the summer, but my kids also enjoy searching the shore for shells, running across the sand, and building castles in the winter months. For me, taking in the beach sunset and hearing the crashing waves is soothing to the soul. An extra perk is the beach is a lot cheaper in the winter, too!
2. Make an Effort to Be Outside
One reason we all suffer in the winter is that we are not getting the same level of vitamin D. This essential vitamin helps keep our serotonin levels up, affecting our melatonin, which helps us rest well. Even if the days are shorter and the temperatures are lower, it’s important that we encourage everyone in our home to spend time outside as much as possible.
Bundle those babies up and let them play in the snow or jump on the trampoline for a bit. Momma, don’t forget to get outside, too! Find ways to get walks in or just be outside with the kiddos for some of the day. Being outside also encourages everyone to move their bodies. Exercise has been proven to be a great way to improve our mental health.
3. Learn with Friends as Much as Possible
Isolation leads to depression. It's wonderful as homeschoolers to have the chance to stay in our pj’s for most of the day and spend extra time together as a family, but we all need friends. Parents, you need real, live adult humans to talk to during the week. Your kids need a distraction from their siblings and a chance to be a part of a community. In whatever way works best for your family, create a learning rhythm that includes days where learning with friends is part of the plan.
This can look like joining a co-op, Bible study, a homeschool sport, a wild and free group, and so much more! Knowing there are days of the week in which I have a reason to actually put my jeans on is motivating for me. I love the slower-paced days of the week, but if I’m not careful, too many days at home just with the kids can leave me feeling lonely and depressed. Friends make this hard work a lot more fun for everyone.
4. Change Up Your Schedule
If you guys are finding that there is a need for more joy and motivation in your school day, try changing up the schedule a bit. I like to throw in activities that we often don’t make time for, such as learning how to draw, creating an art project, baking together, or a hands-on science lesson. For me, these more involved lessons don’t always make it into our busier fall days, but over the slower winter months, we can slow down in order to take the time to get more creative in the way we learn together.
Some other ideas include adding some learning games to your day, planning some extra field trips for a chance for more experiential learning, or investing time in read-aloud time for your kids. There are no rules when it comes to how to structure your homeschool. If something isn’t working well, try something new!
5. Invest in Your Mental Health
One thing that I had to come to terms with as a SAHM homeschooling mom is that I have real limitations on how much I can serve my family. The expectation that I will be present and emotionally available to other humans who live in my house from the time I wake up until I fall asleep is unrealistic. Yet, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to live every second of the day perfectly! If I were working in a more traditional workplace I would be free to take breaks, chat with co-workers, grab lunch, and I would have a drive to and from work to decompress.
By the time we get to January, our momma brains and bodies are starting to become pretty taxed. We have finished one semester of school, planning, buying, and cooking for the holiday, and now are jumping back into full-time service to our kids. We start to get burnt out by mid-February.
I’ve learned that for me to be the kind of mom I want to be, I have to invest in my well-being. This includes daily and weekly rhythms that intentionally make space for me to relax my mind and body. Everybody accomplishes this differently, but for me, it’s attending a weekly Bible study, it's making space for me to workout regularly, investing time in my diet so I can have sufficient energy, it’s regular date nights with my husband and meet-ups with friends. It’s weekend walks alone with a podcast and sometimes even fun one-on-one dates with my kids so I can enjoy them without all the beautiful noise that is always filling our home. In recent years, it has also included counseling and medications to help me manage my mental health.
The point is to make space to be human. Burnout is real in the job of serving your kids in a full-time manner. We obviously love our kids, but no one can give endlessly without reaching the end of themselves, and if we are honest, most of us start feeling overwhelmed much sooner than we would like to acknowledge. The truth is my kids won’t enjoy homeschooling if they don’t enjoy me, and I won’t enjoy them if I am stuck in a cycle of burnout and depression.
Diligence is required on behalf of the whole family when we choose to homeschool. We have to give thoughtful attention to our patterns, our well-being, and the way we interact on a daily basis. It can feel like hard work, but it's one hundred percent worth the effort. You’ve got this!
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/vadimguzhva
