To take a break or not to take a break, that is the question…

With the holidays, it feels good to take a little break from school work. But, did you know that it is possible to have a ton of fun and still be learning? Yes, it is!

The first thing to emphasize when one chooses homeschooling is that life is learning.  That is true any day of the year.  Anything you do can be turned into an educational opportunity of some sort.  Here are just some examples:

• Small children need the fine motor skill practice of cutting and wrapping and opening gifts;
• Children can learn so much from trying to put together that new toy using directions;
• How about baking something yummy?  Well, a cooking lesson is right at hand and so is a math lesson in measurements.  Reading the recipe can’t hurt a little reading practice either;
• After all the gifts, there are always those thank you notes that could really help penmanship and learning how to write notes & letters.
• An all-time favorite that is educational in so many ways are games.  I intend to write a few articles about using games as a method of teaching soon, but during times of a school break, games could be a great way to reinforce skills learned before the break, or just to have some fun together and practice good sportsmanship.
• You can also use the time to have a fieldtrip or two.  Fieldtrip opportunities abound in Santa Clarita and the greater Los Angeles.  We just went to the LA Zoo last week!  Also stay tuned for some articles with fieldtrip ideas.

Have fun for the rest of the holiday break!