Beating the homeschooling winter blues

February, even though it is the shortest month of the year, for me it is the longest month of the year. (And this year February even contains an extra day. Why couldn’t we have that extra day in June?) The winter blues hit me hardest in February. We have been in the winter season for at least 2 1/2 to 3 months. The holidays are over, but we are still so far from spring. We almost forget what the sun looks like, and it’s easy to feel claustrophobic. Tomorrow we are looking at one of the coldest days this winter. I would just love to hibernate tomorrow!

Our homeschooling is especially affected by these “winter blues.” The cold weather and gloomy skies conspire to keep us inside and dampen our motivation. I wonder how many moms and kids would admit to feeling apathetic about school and getting things done. I know that my motivation to do schoolwork dies as all I want to do is sit down underneath a blanket and read my book. So, how do I keep my motivation up when the temperatures drop? This is a list of 12 of my favorite things to do to beat my winter blues.

Read the Bible with your kids

Nothing helps my sour attitude better than to read the Bible. I know that my kids don’t realize how many days I would just love to forget schoolwork and do what I want to do. But that is one of the reasons that we start out the day with our Bible lesson. Very seldom do we end our Bible lesson with the same attitude that we started with. The Holy Spirit speaks to me through His Word, and I know that He speaks to my children as well. And amazingly, most of the time the passage of Scripture that we are reading for each day speaks to the trouble that one or more of us are having. All three of us have seen how reading the Bible gives us strength and motivation to do our best for Him. We also have seen how the lack of Bible reading starves our spirit and pulls us down. Even though it doesn’t feel like it at times, Bible reading is the most important part of our day. It is also the only subject that grows what will last – our relationship with the Lord and with each other.

Have a game day

Yesterday morning Super Stuffy approached me with another game day proposal. “Could we please play games this morning?” Homeschooling allows us the freedom to be flexible. But sometime that flexibility can be a trap, because it is so easy to abandon the schoolwork when we don’t feel like doing it. But yesterday we struck a compromise. We worked on the essential schoolwork, and then we spent the rest of the morning playing Dinosaur Island. Board games possess great educational value. This game was no exception. The purpose of the game is to create a dinosaur park, plan it, run it, and avoid accidents. This game requires strategy and forethought. But beyond that, playing games together strengthens our relationships and our ability to work together. Game days teach all of us, and they teach the lessons that will follow us into eternity. That is exceedingly more important than today’s typing or grammar lesson.

Clean the house with your kids

Normally we each have our own chore list to work on, and we work on those throughout the day as we have time. But sometimes it’s fun to work together on the chores without worrying about what belongs to whom. We crank the praise music and work through one room at a time. Spontaneous silliness and dancing erupts often. This changes our atmosphere. The laughter that comes lightens our hearts, and when we are done, a clean uncluttered house sparks our motivation to do our best on our schoolwork. This change of perspective definitely contributes to overcoming the winter blues.

Super Stuffy and I just finished our Star Wars movie marathon. I have seen the Star Wars movies so many times that I didn’t believe that I could get anything more out of them. But when you watch old familiar movies with someone you love, it opens new possibilities and insights. The discussions that I had with Super Stuffy while we watched these movies again allowed me to see new things. I also saw more of his heart and his likes and dislikes, beyond my own. He is a big fan of the first six movies, but when I wanted to watch the two newest ones, he went away for awhile. He didn’t want to watch them because he believes that they destroyed the Star Wars saga. While the content of the movies does not really matter, I learned more about my son. I saw him forming his own opinions about something, beyond what he has gotten from me. It cheered my heart to see the young man that he is becoming. And I know that his mind is stretching outside of the box.

Watch some funny videos on Youtube together

Bear Bear loves her kitties. She also loves creative, artistic, and baking videos. I’m amazed sometimes at the things that she learns from some of those videos. But my favorite youtube videos are the ones that we watch together. Sometimes she’ll pull me to watch some funny cat and dog videos. We both have gotten some good belly laughs over those compilations. Our shared laughter lightens our mood immensely. The time that we spend cuddling and watching these videos strengthens our bond. This bond strengthens our relationship when we are frustrated with schoolwork and when we get frustrated with each other. Sometimes the stress of school needs to be released in our cuddling and laughing together. Even now, as I write, I recall our difficult morning this morning. At the end of this day, I will make it a point to pull her to me and find videos that we can laugh at together.

Listen to good music and dance

This activity almost never stands on its own. A lot of the time we have praise music playing while we are working. It lifts our spirits and helps us remember that God is with us. Our homeschool day is very free in that we do work on our schoolwork, but interspersed in all of it is laughter, questions, and silliness. Some of that silliness comes in the form of over the top dancing and singing. We enjoy our time together, and I enjoy being silly with my kids. We can move to the music, laugh, and put smiles on each others faces as we work. So many times good music has lifted our moods when we were down. It frees our spirits and allows us to look at each day with a little more hope.

Do some art

Bear Bear possesses an artistic gift that I have never had. Her mind can imagine so many different crafts and art projects that boggle my mind. She uses her creativity to see things in different ways and figure out problems that she struggles with. I have never believed that I own any artistic or creative ability. But she has opened my eyes to see that my artistic ability or lack of ability doesn’t matter. If we both enjoy doing art, then the final project becomes less important. Doing art together gives us the opportunity to slow down, to spend time creating. This creativity allows us to see things from a different perspective, which refreshes our attitude about the things that we need to do. It gives us time and quiet to explore our own minds. But it also allows a release – we release some of our feelings into the art itself. That release grants us the ability to approach our work with a fresh outlook and with an attitude of hope.

Go for a walk

Last summer I decided that I would try to walk each day in order to stay healthy and motivated. Bear Bear became my walking buddy, and we enjoyed many walks together, just talking and laughing. Walking outdoors brought a refreshment to my mind and body. I slept better, and because I was physically replenished, my motivation to do my necessary work increased. However, once the cold weather set in, I have lost most of my desire to walk. The gloomy cold is prohibitive to getting out there and walking. For me, it is a catch 22. The winter blues are the biggest reason why I need to get out there and walk, but the cold gloomy weather is why I don’t want to walk. I think that at this time I am going to focus on my other ways to reinvigorate my spirit. Once the weather shows more signs of spring I hope to get outside and walk more.

Reevaluate your goals and your mission

February is the hardest month for me to keep going. We have been through almost the whole winter and I desperately desire spring, but it is still so far away. Of all the months of the year it is the one where I land in ruts more often. I wish that we could take the month of February and hibernate until March brings the promise of spring. Homeschooling is old, each day brings the same thing, and we easily forget why we are doing this. But sometimes this is the best time for me to go back and read my goals and remind myself why I am homeschooling my kids. If need be, I will rework my goals, rejoice in our homeschooling successes, and reevaluate what we could do differently to make our learning better. This review has the effect of relighting my smoldering motivation, and reminds me of the hope that we have in our schooling at home.

Read good books together – Create a reading challenge

I have written in a past post about the reading challenge that I have created for myself and my kids. In our challenge we have both near and far goals, and we can meet them independently and as a family. Bear Bear has taken off with the reading challenge, and she is reading books faster than I can keep track of them. Super Stuffy reads every day, but mostly because I require it. Our reading challenge gives the kids something to look forward to in the near (they get to stay up an extra hour when they finish a book), in the middle (after 12 books they get to take a day off school), and at the end (when we all go out to eat or a movie when we have finished 36 books as a family). This challenge gives us all something to look forward to, and the books we read allow us to share another’s story. Also, winter is the best time to pick up a book, a blanket, and some hot chocolate and relax while reading. This relaxation helps to relieve some of my winter blues.

Find a means of service that you can do with your kids

As an introvert in the gloominess of winter it is easy for me to focus in on myself. I get lost in my own mind and my own problems and it turns into a downward spiral. The worse I feel, the more I turn into myself to try and figure things out. That is the total opposite of what I should do! The kids and I try to find at least one way of helping someone else during the winter. My most favorite thing is when we take a week or two to drive for meals on wheels. This allows us to bring cheer to people’s lives who can’t get out. We see what God has blessed us with, and it opens our minds to remember what we have to be thankful for. That thankfulness serves to push us out of our ruts and revitalizes our interest in doing our best in what the Lord has given us to do.

What about you?

Do you hit the same winter blues? Do you struggle to keep going during this time of the year when the days just seem to drag on? What do you do to alleviate your winter blues? Leave a comment below and let me know!