How To Reduce Stress During The Holidays While Homeschooling

We just hosted all four grandparents at our house for a week. When you homeschool, there may not be large windows of time during your week to prep for the holidays. This time I approached the visit with less stress. I have learned how to reduce stress during the holidays while homeschooling by following a few tips.

A couple of years ago, I felt the weight of holiday prep. It caused me to stress out! I was worried that the kids were going to fall behind. I was mentally drained by thinking about how to prep for family visiting while also trying to stay in balance with our regular household routine.

To be honest, my days are full! From the kids’ school time, to household chores, and the extracurricular meet- ups and events, I am going all day long. That is just when we are moving through a normal week.

Add in the holiday prep of Christmas cards, meal planning, gifts, and wrapping the gifts, and it feels like adding an entire additional full-time job to my plate. This year, I am prepared. Our recent visit with the grandparents taught me that these tips for reducing holiday stress while homeschooling work.

You still have a few days to enter the Holiday Giveaway! All of the details can be found after Jaimi’s stress-reducing holiday tips!

Stress-Free Holiday Prep as a Homeschool Mom

There were three steps I took to get organized, reduce stress, and enjoy the process rather than letting it wear me out. These are: meal planning ahead of time, prepping ahead for our houseguests, and keeping a flexible schedule.

Meal Planning Made Easy

Getting on a good meal planning routine is a key for balance in my house. Everyone likes knowing what is for dinner. We do not have to scramble – most nights – to figure out what to make.

Having older kids means I can get them involved in the meal prep too. I have been a pretty consistent meal planner my entire motherhood career. Let’s just say I am a much nicer person when I prep ahead. It is how I keep stress low.

For that reason, I created a meal planning guide that rotates for 9 weeks.  Nine weeks of dinners are planned for you. The guide includes a printable shopping list to keep each week of grocery shopping organized.

***For this special month, take 50% off when you purchase the 9-week Meal Planning Guide. Use code:  5W7QW9J6 to get your savings. ***

Have all your meal planning done for the weeks leading up to the holidays. Knowing what is for dinner every night takes one task off your prep list. It is done for you with Meal Planning Simplified.

Declutter and Organize Ahead of Time

It is always easier to roll into family visits and holiday events when you have your home decluttered. I designate a cleaning day each week. This has helped me feel on top of household tasks in the midst of homeschooling.

Since my children are all older (ages 8-14), a lot of their school work can be completed independently. When they do their work, I can get some cleaning tasks completed. I do this on my designated cleaning day. The kids do the deep cleaning of their rooms and spaces after. This has helped us feel prepared for changes to our schedule like family visiting.

Since we are a military family, we tend to have family visit for at least a week every few months. Maintaining a regular schedule of cleaning and decluttering has helped us stay prepared for those precious family visits.

Flex the Schedule

Are you even a homeschooler if you don’t change the schedule now and then? That is really the key to any balance in homeschooling. It is even more essential around the holidays.

To open up windows of time, we have done a few different adjustments over the years:

1)      No school on Friday, so we could use it as a homemaking day.

2)      Only core academic subjects from November-December.

3)      Make the season of gratitude the main lesson.

No school on Friday so we could use it as a homemaking day

I shared, above, that I designate one day a week for deep cleaning. We needed a catch-up day. Fridays are for cleaning, organizing, and other home tasks. Now that the kids are older, I have added school back on Fridays. I get my cleaning tasks completed while the kids do their independent work.

You can designate one day a week as a prep day, temporarily, for the holidays. The kids participating with you is an opportunity to learn life lessons. Any adjustments to the normal schedule, that teach our kids balance over chaos, are important lessons in my opinion!

Only core academic subjects from November-December

Cutting the non-core subjects from our plate through the holidays helps each day end earlier. Math, English, Spelling and Reading are core in our house.

We cut out science, social studies and some art. This helps open up the afternoons for holiday prep. Such a time creator!

Make the season of gratitude the main lesson

We start a 25 days of Christmas acts of kindness calendar in December. It makes up our social studies and extracurricular activities. Each day of our calendar has a task listed.

Like an advent calendar, we reveal the act of kindness each day. We then make it part of our intentional work to complete it that day, or at least within the week.

I display the calendar in our homeschool room (aka the dining room). We can review the acts of kindness, and work together, to cultivate a mindset of gratitude.

Reducing Stress Action Plan

When it comes to preparing for family visits during the holidays, I focus on meal planning, staying organized and decluttered, and flexing our schedule to accommodate the real-life prep.

It is nice to focus on gift giving and hosting during this season. Opening up our home is an important way we can fellowship with others.

Following these three tips over the holiday season, and our entire year, helps me stay stress free. I hope it will help you too.

What is your plan for balancing homeschooling and holiday prep this year? Share what has worked for you.

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