Summer Holidays

WHEN do you take school holidays?

Well, it depends really. This year our plan is to have three months of holidays - January, June and December.

WHY?

January Mama Bear is trying to get the house up to scratch and planning all the school work for the year plus we have a big church camp to go to as well. June, we are having a new baby and we are taking a bit of time to get into the groove before hitting the books again and December is all about Christmas Prep and cleaning.

HOW?

Well, so far our holidays seem to be about me looking around wishing someone would do the housework, Princess Doc digging through the shelves to find anything that remotely looks like school work so she can do it and the younger ones bubbling along much as usual! Oh, I did take some time out to read a real grown up NOVEL or two as well. Princess Doc is not a fan of holidays and is champing at the bit to get back into school work but this is HOMEschool and the HOME part is probably why we need to take holidays most. A few weeks where we can give everything a good scrub and evaluate the direction we are taking gives clarity. Plus, I think Mama Bear deserves a few weeks hibernation, don't you?

What do holidays look like at your house?

The forteen days of homeschool (sung to the tune of the twelve days of Christmas)

On the first day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can you homeschool legally?"

On the second day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the third day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fourth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the fifth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "YOU ARE SO STRANGE! What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the sixth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How long will you homeschool, YOU ARE S0 STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the seventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, do you homeschool legally?"

On the eighth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE! what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, do you homeschool legally?"

On the ninth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "They'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, do you homeschool legally?"

On the tenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "What about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they’re missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the eleventh day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE! what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can they go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialised, can you homeschool legally?"

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: "They can go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don't like the prom, we do it 'cos we like it, they are missing nothing, we'll homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., and we give them tests, they are socialised, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!"

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How can I get started, why didn't you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE'RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, we'll join a sports team, and we'll homeschool legally."

Decorating for Christmas

We finish up "school" by December 1 so we can focus on getting ready for Christmas.

Things we do to get ready for Christmas include:

* Getting the house in order - some people spring clean, we summer clean!

* Preparing cards and gifts - we usually try to have this done by the last week of November, this year I'm settling for the second week of December!

* Creating a Jessie Tree - this year we are doing a reading each day and colouring a picture to stick up on the wall. I have strung up tinsel in the shape of a Christmas tree and we're filling it in as we go through the readings. We are really enjoying reminding ourselves of the "old" stories and placing the nativity in context! I use some resources that I found here


* We have fun! During this time I try and arrange cooking together, playing games, watching movies, reading books, going on walks and all those things that we love to do and normally only squeak in once or twice a week if we're lucky.

Our most recent addition to our celebrations is our gratitude chain.



We make a paper chain the usual way (step by step instructions here if you haven't done it before) except on each strip of paper we write and/or draw a blessing we have received this year. The blessings are many and varied - from answered prayer, to elephants; from safety and health to grass; from financial security to lollies! We will be adding to our chain as we prepare for Christmas with an attitude of gratitude.

God Bless you this Christmas Season!