Getting Back to Homeschooling After The Holidays
Are you ready to get back to homeschooling? Returning to your regular homeschool schedule after The Holidays can be a little bit overwhelming. Over the years, I’ve come up with some fun low-pressure ways to transition from The Holidays to our regular routine.
If you’re searching for tips on how to get back to homeschooling after The Holidays, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to discover how we decided to slow down for January with a simple plan that totally works. Plus, get the scoop on fun books and games you can use to make the transition fun and engaging for homeschoolers of all ages.
Transitioning From The Holidays
Did you take a break from homeschooling for The Holidays? Taking time off or a break from your regular homeschool routine to enjoy the spirit of the season is totally worth it! There’s so much fun to be had, memories to make, and life experiences you won’t find inside a traditional homeschool curriculum.
Even if you didn’t take time off and adopted a fun holiday homeschool unit study approach instead, you might be feeling stressed about transitioning back to your regular routine. The Holidays are so much fun, but all that fun can be intense and make transitioning back to normalcy tough.
After all the parties, gifts, and staying up late, it’s hard for kids and adults to go back to regular life. As homeschool moms, there’s a lot we can do to make transitioning from the holiday season easier for everyone (including ourselves).
I’ve realized that getting back to homeschooling after The Holidays doesn’t have to be so hard. Adopting a slow, no-pressure approach to homeschooling in January can make it easier to get back to your routine. Ready to see how we get back to homeschooling with a simple but effective plan for January?
How We Get Back To Homeschooling After The Holidays
Our slow and simple approach to homeschooling after The Holidays has been a game changer! At The Waldock Way, we don’t just jump right back into our regular curriculum, books, and worksheets after Christmas. Instead, we take it slow with books and games that ease us back into homeschooling all month long.
Our book and game approach has been super effective! Want to try it with your homeschool family too? Grab a book and a game each day.
I like to choose books and games that are related. We read the book aloud together and play the game together too. If we don’t get to anything more formal than that, our homeschool day is still a success as long as we manage to read one book and play one game together.
Taking this slow approach in the month of January has made it easy on all of us. Plus, there are so many amazing benefits to reading aloud and playing games together that I can feel really good about this. Keep reading to see some of our favorite books and games for every subject in your homeschool.
Games And Books For Your Homeschool
There are books and games for every subject in your homeschool! You can find books for math, games for art, and everything in between.
Want to explore more homeschool books and games you can use to get back to homeschooling after The Holidays? Check out some of our favorites for every subject below.
Language Arts
Reading picture books aloud is a great way to encourage early language arts skills, no matter what they’re about. However, did you know there are lots of awesome language arts games too? I’ve found all kinds of fun games you can play to practice reading skills, spelling, grammar, and even encourage creative writing in your homeschool. Check out my favorite combinations.
- The Word Collector + Bananagrams
- Rocket Writes a Story + Rory’s Story Cubes
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom + Alphabet Bingo
- Down By the Bay + Rhyme Antics
Get the scooop on How to Homeschool Language Arts Without a Curriculum. Plus, find my favorite Language Arts Picture Books to use with your homeschoolers this January. Then, add the very best Lanugage Arts Games for Homeschoolers to your resource shopping list too.
Math
Math games aren’t hard to imagine, but what about math books? There are so many great books you can use to introduce math concepts beyond those preschool counting books on your shelf. Don’t miss our favorite fraction books and math adventures to pair with fun games this January.
- The Hershey Milk Chocolate Fraction Book + Fraction Dominos
- A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars + Race to Planet X
- Multiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumplestiltskin + Proof
- Once Upon a Time + The Perfect Timing Game
Don’t miss my list of 40 Math Picture Books for homeschoolers. Then, learn why we love using Teaching Textbooks for homeschool math through the year. Finally, get tips on what to do When Your Homeschooler Hates Math.
Geography
Explore the world from your living room this January with exciting geography books and games you can enjoy as a family. Check out some of our favorite geography pairs covering the 50 states and the rest of the world too.
- A Ticket Around the World + Ticket to Ride
- P is for Passport + Passport to Culture Game
- National Parks of the USA + Trekking the National Parks
- Pancakes to Parathas + Airplane Chef
If you’re looking for a new approach to homeschooling geography, check out my Travelling the States Curriculum. Then, explore beautiful Geography Picture Books for your homeschool reading list and engaging Geography Games for homeschooling without a curriculum too.
History
What if you could spend January travelling through time? Reading a book and playing a game for different historical periods is a good way to get started! Don’t miss some of our favorite history picture books and games for getting back to homeschooling after The Holidays below.
- Timeline: A Visual History of Our World + Trekking thru History
- The Children’s Book of America + Professor Noggin History of the United States
- How the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Were Built + 7 Wonders
- Tales of the Greek Heroes + Top Trumps: Ancient Greece
Discover How to Teach Homeschool History Without a Curriculum all year long. Plus, don’t miss my exciting History of Aviation Morning Basket for more fun learning history in your homeschool.
Science
If hands-on science experiments are more than you can handle right after The Holidays, don’t worry. You can still have lots of hands-on fun learning science even without messy experiments. These science learning games and picture books are a whole lot of fun too!
- A Rock is Lively + Rock On Geology Game
- Wild Tracks: A Guide to Nature’s Footprints + Match a Track
- Our Planet: There’s No Place Like Earth + Hit the Habitat Trail
- The Fantastic Body + Professor Noggin’s Human Body Trivia
After all the book and game fun, discover How We Homeschool Science Without a Curriculum. Plus, get Interest-Led Hands-On Science for your homeschool lessons. Finally, don’t miss my favorite Science Picture Books for homeschool learners.
Art
Emily and Kevin love art! While they share this passion, it’s a subject I have always found stressful. As we ease back into homeschooling during the month of January, reading books and playing art games is a fun way to incorporate their passion for art without lots of big art projects to stress me out. Discover a few of our favorite art book and game pairings below.
- Lines That Wiggle + Doodle Dice Game
- Katie’s Picture Show + My Big Art Show: A Card Game
- Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art + Junk Art
- The Book of Mythical Beasts & Magical Creatures + Mythical Creatures Drawing Game
Want to discover more fun art books and games? Check out our Art & Artist Inspired Morning Basket. Then, don’t miss The Best Art & Music Games for Your Homeschool.
I hope I’ve inspired you to try a slow and simple approach for your return to homeschooling this January. This challenge is a favorite of ours during the month of January, but you can start your own “a book and a game a day” homeschool challenge any time of year.
And don’t worry, you don’t need to have 31 different games, one for every day of the month. You can play your favorites again and again. Plus, there are all kinds of awesome games you can play with just a deck of cards.
If you decide to adopt our favorite tradition of books and games, I’d love to read all about it in the comments. Please, come back and tell me which books and games your homeschoolers loved the best!
Grab your free printable below to join us in the homeschool challenge: a book + a game every day for a month!