Winter Homeschooling: How to Beat the Blues this Year
Winter homeschooling provides the opportunity for reading by the fire, bread baking days, and bottomless pots of hot cocoa. But you and I both know that it can also mean stir-crazy kids (and mamas!) that haven’t seen the sun in DAYS!!
Personally, I love winter, but since moving to Minnesota almost six years ago, I’ve learned this the hard way: Winter homeschooling requires back-up!
Back-up like fresh, new art classes, science kits that we have more time for in the winter, fresh curriculum to change things up a bit. I watch for deals on art supplies, new read alouds, audiobooks, and winter-specific curriculum.
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Inspiring and life-giving resources for ME are another important thing I stockpile for wintertime. I can always use a pick-me-up on those long days when we’re stuck inside and everyone is on edge.
I start stocking up early in the school year, especially as the holiday sales start to hit, with winter homeschooling in mind.
The following post offers you TONS of ideas that we have used over the years in our winter homeschooling, PLUS most of these resources have Holiday Sales happening RIGHT NOW!
Don’t wait! Stock up while the prices are amazing!!
If you are more of a list kinda gal, click here for a big list without my commentary 😉
Gathering the Goods for Winter Homeschooling
I’m sure you have some tricks up your sleeves of some awesome resources that will save your bacon this winter. The following are my favorite tricks.
The goal is not to just mindlessly buy things. I like to think about what my kids have gotten sucked into in the past–the things that really grab their attention. For us, it’s things like audio stories, chalk pastels, games, and history to name a few. They love things they can grab and do on their own. Anything that gives the opportunity to go outside and enjoy nice winter days is also a bonus!
When you know what you’re looking for, you’re already on your way to a peaceful, cozy winter homeschooling experience. Congratulations, let’s do this!
On to the goods
Geography and History for Winter Homeschooling
Around the World Stories
If your kids like audio books, they will love this. Around the World Stories is exactly what you think it is…except more. You get a new story every single week from a certain country. The same country is covered for a month and you’ll get a new culture every four weeks.
These stories are captivating! You can listen to samples on their site.
A parent guide is included with each story with discussion ideas, recipes, and activities! You could literally use these stories for a whole week or more.
CHECK OUT Around the World Stories HERE
>>Around the World Stories SALE<<
30% off all titles Black Friday-Cyber Monday!
RELATED: Gift Ideas for Kids Who Don’t Need a Thing
Homeschool in the Woods Unit Studies
What I love about these unit studies most this they are already planned out for me. They cover mostly history, but you can find studies on the states, holidays, artists, and more. We have used (and LOVED!) the Industrial Revolution, Ancient Egypt, U.S. Elections, Renaissance and Reformation, and Colonial Life (current history study).
These studies include exquisite timelines, text to read each day, tons of book and movie suggestions, projects, writing ideas, recipes and loads more. We love these!
We studied the American Revolution last winter.
>>HS in the Woods has put together special bundles for this weekend! The U.S. Bundle looks PERFECT for 2020 and the upcoming election!<<
Fine Arts for your Winter Homeschool
Winter is a slower season for us. We have a lot more time at home, which gives us a lot more time for art and music. I love to brew some tea, turn on the fire and enjoy a quiet hour with my kiddos on cloudy winter afternoons.
Maestro Classics
I wish I would have known about this resource earlier on in our homeschool journey because they are just fabulous! These are classic pieces of classical music paired with stories, all performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. They’re perfect for turning on while working on an art project or math lesson.
We own the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Handel’s Story of Water Music. All are fabulous!
*NEW* for this year is a whole story on Bach!
>>Maestro Classic Sale! All single CD’s are $11.50 shipped and only $89.50 for a bundle of 12!! Free Ship too! No code needed.<<
Chalk Pastels
We have been using Chalk Pastel guides for years. We keep going back because they have proved over and over to be the least stressful art lessons with the most reward in the end. A few of my kids can be perfectionists, but with chalk the art is meant to be imperfect which seems to alleviate their stress. 🙂
There are lessons on history, seasons, some of your kids’ favorite characters, holidays and more.
I also love that they provide video courses in addition to the ebooks.
Especially great for this time of year is their gift subscriptions and certificates! You could totally bless another homeschool family for the holidays!
>>Chalk Pastel SALE!! All courses + bundles are 20% off through 12/2! No code needed<<
RELATED: Chalk Pastels in Your Homeschool
Green Kid Craft Kits
This kit is great because you can purchase a subscription or a single box and there’s a ton of variety. They’re also packed with goodies, which will cure the winter doldrums any day! Kits include science and art activities on things like dinosaurs, holidays around the world, botany, birds, and magic.
GREEN KID CRAFTS BLACK FRIDAY EVENT – UP TO 70% OFF FROM 11/19-12/1!
Green Kid Crafts Black Friday Weeklong Event – 70% Off starts now! Use coupon code BLACK70 to take 70% off the first month of any subscription. And coupon code BFGET40 will get you a whopping 40% off any single Discovery Box! To view their subscription options, go here to start saving! These codes will expire midnight of December 1, 2019 or until supplies last. Go here to start shopping!
Science and Nature for Winter Homeschooling
Nature Explorer Guides
These will probably forever be my favorite nature resource. All the thinking is done for you! The theme of your nature walks, the projects, recipes, cross-curriculum activities, extra reading ideas–it’s all done!
Winter doesn’t have to mean no nature studies. There’s still plenty to learn in the cold months. Here are our favorite guides for winter:
We are also using this Math in Nature: Shapes and Patterns from Nature Explorers this winter. It’s totally different than our normal math curriculum, so we’re excited about the change!
>>Nature Explorer SALE! Entire shop is 25% off through 2/2! No coupon needed.<<
Winter Kids Nature Study Course
Living in a cold climate, I am fully aware of how difficult nature study can be in the winter.
I created a course where you can still study nature with your kids, no matter how cold or warm it is where you live. We’ll be talking about
- Winter Birds
- Weather during wintertime
- Trees in Winter
- Animal Hibernation and Winter Survival
- Maple Sugaring
In each lesson, we’ll cover different aspects of each topic, a project or creative art, books to read, poems to recite and copy, and nature journal prompt. We’ll create our own nature journal where we’ll log our nature walks, draw pictures, and record our findings. We’ll also copy beautiful poems into our nature journals.
We also create things with our hands from things found in nature. Each nature walk will take on new meaning when we starting seeing nature in a more artful way. While on nature walks, we’ll talk about taking photos of what we find in nature and what we can do with our photos later.
This course is for
- homeschool families that love nature
- homeschool families that want to love nature more
- those that love creating and projects
- children ages Kindergarten-6th grade (approximately)
RELATED: 100 Ways to Study Nature in the Wintertime
Don’t love science? Me neither. Head here for a ton of ideas on how to get science done without the curriculum.
CuriosityStream
You’ve probably heard me talk about CuriosityStream before. It’s amazing and one of THEEEE best ways to combat the winter doldrums. It’s a digital streaming network that you can stream onto any device for JUST $3/month.
Not even kidding.
Tinker Crate
If you want to let your kids get lost for the afternoon, Tinker Crate is the way to go. We have loved these monthly kits SO much. They cover science in such a relatable and hands-on way. This particular kit is designed for ages 9-16 and I would say that’s very accurate. Kids younger than this would need a lot of help from Mama, but that’s cool too!
If Tinker Crate seems too advanced for your child’s age, there are also art and science kits for other ages too.
Vera has been receiving Kiwi Create all year long and loves it!!
To read more about what we thought of Tinker Crate and other KiwiCo crates, read my review HERE.
Tinker Crate comes from KiwiCo, who offers not just Tinker Crate, but several other amazing crates for all ages and interests. We love this company!
>>KiwiCo. Sale! 60% off your first month of a 3-, 6-, or 12-month subscription! Use code: EARLY for the discount!<<
Writing for your Winter Homeschool
- Freebie: Winter Writing Prompts
- Freebie: Winter Writing Bank–words to help kids have more fun writing!
- Freebie: Winter Writing Activity
RELATED: 70 Top Christmas Picture Books Suggestions from Learning Well Community Members
Help for the Homeschool Mama
I’m a firm believer in nourishing your homeschool mama heart before you can nourish other’s hearts.
There are some great deals on a couple of things that caught my eye that I’m already loving–I couldn’t wait to pass them on to YOU!
- Make Over Your Mornings// I’ve talked about this course many times. It takes just a couple minutes each morning and will change your life! Not even kidding. SALE: 50% off! No code needed. Just $8.50!!!!
- Fabletics// This company has some of theeeeee most comfy workout leggings! Their entire site is 70% (!!!!) off right now!!
- Self-Care Bundle// I’ve been POURING over this mini bundle for days now. A HUGE value for just $12 through Cyber Monday!!
Want more Winter Homeschooling Ideas?
- 100+ Winter Nature Study Ideas
- Winter Olympics Homeschool Ideas
- NATURE KIDS WINTER: STUDYING THE BEAUTY OF COLD WEATHER
- COZY HOMESCHOOL: LESSON PLANS FOR OUR WINTER SESSION
- WINTER UNIT STUDY IDEA: MAPLE SUGARING AT HOME
- Christmas Homeschooling Plans!
For more homeschool deals click here:
I hope this gives you some great ideas for winter homeschooling! Don’t wait! Stock up while the prices are amazing!!
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