In public schools, next week is either completely off or running on half days for Mon-Wed, then there is the long weekend. But what about if you homeschool?

The truth is that whatever works for your family is fine. However, you need to apply some common sense here, as well. For example, if your kids are just too hyper to work on math during the week before Christmas, you probably won’t get much done anyway, so why not take that time to work on holiday crafts and prepare for Christmas, instead?

Some families (mine did!) work right up to Christmas Eve, and then also the week between Christmas and New Year’s in order to get a jump start on the new year. It can mean that you get to finish sooner than school kids, which is always fun, or you can use this time to catch up. Just be sure not to totally ruin the holidays by asking your kids to work right up to Thanksgiving dinner!

Obviously, not everyone celebrates all holidays, but chances are you have some in there, so start thinking now about how much time you want to take off and how it will affect your classes in the new year.

Where Does Childhood Stress Come From?

Kids nowadays are exposed to a lot more at a much younger age than ever before. While homeschooling can help limit some of the things they are exposed to, chances are you won’t be able to block it all. Absorbing information before they are ready for it can be very distressing.

Sometimes, the source of stress is the parents themselves. I know a woman who feels her son just isn’t stimulated enough at home, so she fills every minute of every day with activities and lessons for him to go to. Her son is five and he is exhausted at the end of each day from going to school, then gymnastics or art lessons, then to swim lessons and the like.

In other cases, the stressor may be something far more serious, such as bullying at soccer, marital issues between parents, or sickness in the family.

Signs Your Child May Be Stressed Out

How do you know if your kids are feeling the pressure? They might not tell you, but here are a few signs that they need to relax.

• Nightmares
• Frequent stomachaches or headaches, especially when they have to do something.
• Overreactions to little things
• Trouble sleeping
• New habits such as chewing on hair, nailbiting, etc. which may be methods of coping with stress.
• Extreme anxiety or dislike of activities they used to enjoy.

You know your child best and you will notice if something is off. Could it be stress? You are the best judge of this.

Reducing Stress

When a child is running on too little too long, they are going to have difficulties. You can do quite a bit to reduce the anxiety a child has and remove some of the pressures.

1. Quit some extracurricular activities. While lessons and activities are great for social interaction and learning, sometimes kids need time to just be themselves and just hang out at home. They don’t need to be occupied every minute of the day, so let them just relax sometimes.

2. Talk to them. In some cases, your child may be stressed by things they are keeping bottled up and talking about them can help. If they are worried about their parents not getting along, it can be useful to reassure them that you still love each other, for example and that you love them.

3. Hang out together. Kids need parental interaction and not just the kind that comes from explaining math problems. Spend fun time with your kids, too. Go for a bike ride, have a picnic or take them fishing. Teach them how to relax by doing it with them.

How do you deal with childhood stress in your family?

Not sure where to start? Well, hands on is always best when it comes to kids, so here are a few ideas:

• Volunteer for weekly duties at the local soup kitchen. Your kids can serve food to people who really are greatful for every spoonful. Or, if you prefer, just make up some bags with a sandwich, drink and a chocolate bar to hand out to the hungry yourselves.
• Sew some blankets to give to the homeless. Warming Families is a great place to learn more information about this. If a blanket is too big a project, start with hats and scarves to give out come winter.
• Take a trip. There are thousands of charities around the world that could use a hand and it’s a great way to show your children how others live. You might try Habitat for Humanity or look for orphanages or schools in a country that you are interested in for volunteer opportunities.
• Write a letter to a sick child. Sending a card or note to a child who is in the hospital is a wonderful way to brighten someone’s day. You can learn more and find sick kids to write to here.
• Snacks for homeless kids. Take some paper bags and put a treat inside, along with a snack such as a granola bar or packet of cookies. Your children can decorate the bag and then drop them off at the local women’s homeless shelter, to be handed out to children.
• Walk some dogs. Many animal shelters welcome kids to play with and walk some of the animals. This lets them get out of their cages and get some exercise, without overworking the staff.

Not only do these activities teach compassion and open your children’s eyes to the world around them, it can also promote skills like sewing, crocheting and writing!

What do you do to teach your kids compassion?

Family Fun: A great site for all sorts of age appropriate games and crafts.

Kids Craft Weekly: An awesome online magazine chock full of simple and fun crafts for kids.

Kids Craft Blog: A blog that covers various craft related activities and news.

Fem Manual: In Spanish, but the pictures speak for themselves . . . or you can always use Google to translate.

Zakka Life: Lots of super easy, very cool ideas for little ones.

Dollar Store Crafts: Sick of paying the big bucks to make nice things? This site has ideas that are not necessarily meant for kids, but can be made by any age.

What do you do to keep your kids busy during the summer months?

Kids tend to learn a lot better if they realize that there is actually a good reason to learn something. An example: I did very poorly in my last few years of math. I didn`t understand the need to learn things like geometry and algebra and since it didn`t come easily, I really didn`t make much of an effort. Fast forward a few years and I had a job at a construction site where suddenly all those abstract concepts became concrete! Suddenly, I DID need to know how to calculate an angle . . . it was necessary to figure out the beam positioning for a roof. In a couple of months, I learned everything that I had neglected to study properly for the past three or four years! Showing your kids how their learning fits into every day life is a great motivator.

So, how can you turn every day tasks into learning experiences? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Banking: Have your children open their own bank accounts, calculate interest on deposits, etc. Let older kids help you with balancing the checkbook and working out the family budget. They`ll gain a healthy respect for money and it`s a great way to reinforce math skills.

Cooking: Your kids can help you with everything from selecting the food in the supermarket (price comparison, reading ingredients, choosing quality over price, etc.) to cleaning, preparing and cooking the food. You can “teach” things like fractions, multiplication (measuring ingredients, doubling recipes, etc.) and nutrition to your children as you do this.

Mail: Whether posting or picking up the mail, this could be the perfect time to talk to your kids about how the postal system works, where the mail is coming from and maybe even bring up the history of mail . . . most kids find the idea of the Pony Express to be quite fascinating. It may even spark some research by curious young ones.

What other tasks do you do around the house or while running errands? What can your children learn from this?

What do you want your children to grow up with? What is important to you? You may want to impart your faith to your children, which makes homeschooling the perfect option or you may have certain values that you wish your children would continue with. Your values can be imparted through every single subject. If you want your children to grow up with specific values, this is the ideal time to teach them.

When crafting your homeschool message, you`ll need to take the time to think about what it is that you want to pass on to your children. There will be many different values, but which ones stand out above the rest? Faith, independence and cultural tolerance are just a few of the things you might want your kids to grow up with. Think about what kind of adults you are raising and then follow these guidelines to ensure that your children will receive the education you want for them.

Write it down. Let`s face it, in the hustle bustle of daily life, we leave a lot of stuff behind and forget a lot of things, as well. By writing your goals and the message you want to convey to your kids on paper, you`ll be reminded constantly of what you need to focus on. You could even hang it up in the schoolroom, for daily motivation!

Be consistent. Whatever message you choose to convey to your children, it needs to be presented in a consistent manner. If you want your kids to know that God is everywhere, then make that fit into the curriculum, teach Creation, not the Evolution Theory, take time out in Science to appreciate how intricate the world that God made is. If you are aiming for independence, get your children to do their own experiments, come up with ideas for their own unit studies, etc. No matter what you choose, make sure that you continue to present it in many ways throughout the school day.

Find outside examples. While small children will assume their parents are right, you`ll have to work a bit harder to convince your older ones. Which means finding other examples to showcase your message. It might be in the form of a seminar for teens, a video that covers the same ground you want to, or even a well-written book that presents your message in another manner.

The ability to raise your children as you want, teaching and molding them so they have the best opportunity at life and being a great adult is part of what we do as parents. Homeschooling makes this far easier since you aren`t fighting against conflicting messages that come from school and peers. In your homeschool, you decide what`s important and what values need to be imparted to your children.