bbcovert@juno.com

’Tis the season to deck the halls, bake the treats, make the ornaments, craft some gifts, and bless the underprivileged in society. In short, it is the season laden with life skills opportunities! Here’s how you can reduce your stress and delegate holiday responsibilities while continuing to mark homeschooling days off the calendar. 

First of all, you can count any holiday baking and candy-making toward math and reading comprehension skills as well as kitchen skills. Learning to read and follow the directions of a recipe is an important lesson that you can teach your children. That children usually find it fun is an added bonus! They may learn that two ¼ cups of sugar is the same as ½ cup of sugar. They may figure out that the only way to get a ¾ teaspoon of baking soda is to use the ¼ teaspoon and the ½ teaspoon together. Why wait until school work is completed to try to fulfill all your baking goals? Finding “spare” time later on will leave you feeling stressed out and rushed. Instead, do schooling in the kitchen. Your day will flow more smoothly, and your evenings will be freed up for relaxation or more enjoyable activities. 

Also, part of teaching life skills is teaching children to clean up after themselves. Be sure that your “life skills curriculum” includes lessons on cleaning dishes, wiping down counters, shining the sink, and mopping the floor. These are not skills meant solely for teens. I heard of a homeschooling mother on bed rest whose 7-year-old daughter could help her by making lunch and loading the washing machine. Your children will probably not handle these chores as quickly or as neatly as you do. Just remember, you’ve had years of practice. Be patient and enjoy their efforts. 

Trimming the tree can be a lesson in sorting. For instance, bigger ornaments go on the bottom part of the tree, and smaller ornaments go higher up. Your children may reveal a knack for patterns, i.e., star, ball, snowman, star, ball snowman. On the other hand, they may prefer organizing all the ball ornaments over here, all the stars up there, all the snowmen on the other side, etc. Their ideas on tree trimming can be very entertaining! If you have specific ideas about how “your” tree should look, you might want to consider buying a kid-sized tree for your children to decorate. My two children have collected (and crafted) so many ornaments that I finally bought them their own tree. I love watching them work together on it! It promotes cooperation and teamwork, and the sharing of memories as they rediscover forgotten ornaments. 

Speaking of ornaments, there are so many choices for crafting these! This definitely falls under the art category with a possibility of math as well. Younger children can work with construction paper, glue, and glitter, while older ones can paint and otherwise decorate plain, glass ornaments found at craft stores. You might use natural materials like feathers, pinecones, or twigs to create something, or purchase one of the many inexpensive ornament kits that are for sale. Those kits have supplies to make from 3 to 12 ornaments. These make great decorations for packages! They are also delightful for gift-giving with a personal touch. 

Perhaps you would like to do a lesson on the cost of wrapping paper and bows. After finding the cost of Christmas gift wrap, compare it with the cost of plain butcher paper or any other larger-than-normal paper. Your children can have fun and save you money by stamping a design on plain paper! One year my little ones decorated all our gift paper with gold, green, and red stars, using star-shaped sponges and paint. My mother taught me how to make beautiful ribbon bows for a lot less than ready-made bows. I was amazed at how simple it was! The children could make a game out of this activity. 

Having your children design Christmas cards and envelopes is also possible. You need to plan ahead for that activity. One year I hand-painted some simple cards. Then I used an envelope template to make the envelopes out of gift wrap. (I used white mailing labels to address them so that the mail carrier could identify the recipient. They looked like presents arriving in the mail!) My children aren’t interested in that much artwork, preferring crafts that can be done quickly, but you may have at least one child that would find such an activity appealing. Such cards could become keepsakes for your loved ones! 

How well do your children know the Christmas story and the names of all those involved? Find out by letting them arrange the nativity scene while telling you the story of Jesus’ birth. This would be a good time to read the story from the Bible. You don’t have to wait until Christmas Eve. Count it as a lesson in history, religion, or public speaking. 

Finally, at this time of year many community service opportunities are in the spotlight, making it easy to find a way for your family to minister to the less fortunate. Organizations that provide gifts to needy children need donations of gifts, wrapping, or delivery. Others collect food; your children could organize a food drive or else participate by choosing foods that other children would like. You might be able to offer a day of yard work to an elderly family or child care for a single parent. Your ministry might be to those stressed-out store clerks who wonder if the holiday season will ever end! If you present them with a little ornament and a cheery, “Merry Christmas!” or “God bless you!” you might impact them in ways you never imagined. Teach your children about Matthew 25:40, which says, “Then the King will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for Me’.” 

What other life skills might you consider teaching your children this month? Take a break from the books to train your children in laundry washing, drying, and putting away. Demonstrate the fine art of vacuuming not only exposed carpet, but also the carpet under the furniture. (It’s no fun when your feet find crunchy stuff under the dining table. Yechh.) Other chores – oops, I mean life skills – include emptying trash cans, changing sheets, dusting, and cleaning out the refrigerator. Also, learning how to reduce clutter is a very important life skill! Broken toys need to go bye-bye. Unused toys need to be donated. Damaged clothing needs to be removed as well. Discarded papers shouldn’t decorate the floor. (You may have to remind your kids that trash cans exist for everyone’s benefit.) Playing Christmas music while you clean will make the time pass more quickly. While you are training your children, you will be preparing your home for holiday visitors and reducing the work and stress that normally face you during this month. 

My Christmas wish is for you to enjoy a peaceful, meaningful, God-centered holiday surrounded by friends and family. Hug your children often. Speak words of love and encouragement. Don’t allow stress to take hold of your emotions or your tongue. Rest in the knowledge of God’s deep love for you, and enjoy the beauty of the holiday season. Be blessed!

Copyright 2003 by Brenda B. Covert