Warding off the Winter Blues With Simple Joys

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, this means that I will make a small commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

The Winter Blues, the February Blues, cabin fever… It doesn’t matter their name, it’s all too real to the homeschooling mom. You have hit the doldrum, your sails are hanging limp and there is no wind anywhere in sight to get you going again. And it’s not just you, your little, and big, cherubs feel the same. There is no energy nor motivation anywhere.  What is a mama to do?

The Winter Blues

First, have hope, this is a totally normal phenomenon. The Christmas season is behind us with its flurry of excitement and activity. The days are still short and dark. It’s cold, oh man, it’s cold. We are all inside. All. The. Time! On top of each other (house size does not matter). We are most likely either sick or recovering from being sick, or not going anywhere to avoid being sick. My stars, it’s the Winter Blues! This is a perfect end of the world scenario! But how can we flip this around? How can we turn this mid-year slump into, maybe not our favorite time of year, but at least one we start looking forward to.

First things first

Christmas, sickness, all this takes a toll on everyone. Everyone is grumpy, touchy and unmotivated. I need to think: when is the last time we have taken a school break? I would suggest that right now is the right time to take a break. But we’ll get behind, says a little voice. We cannot be behind ourself, the curriculum is here to serve us, not the other way around. I have been Sabbath Schooling for years and it has been a tremendous blessing. I talk all about Sabbath Schooling here. And we are just about due for a week of break and I welcome it. It will allow me to revamp a few things and get us going in a better direction to combat the dreaded doldrums. So taking a break might be the best thing we can do right now. Rest is crucial to all of us. We need to be rested in order to function peacefully.

Daily rhythm

During this time of year my people like to hibernate. They enjoy sleeping in a little later, and that’s ok (as long as the farm chores allow it). Teaching my children to listen to their bodies is part of equipping them for life. Sleeping in a little later is good for everyone. Next, a nice warm breakfast rather than a breakfast on the go seems to help. Yes, it delays our school start time but that’s why I have given up on a strict school schedule. Just knowing what comes next is sufficient. Let’s just do the next thing without any time attached to it. Heading outside right after lunch has also been a great help. It’s the “warmest” part of the day and even if we are only out for a short time, it’s better than nothing. We save the longer read-alouds for the evening, it’s dark and cold outside, no one wants to stay out there. This opens up our evenings for more learning.

Spending time outside and field trips

Part of changing things up is including as much outdoor time as possible and field trips. Being blessed with the Rockies in our backyard my husband takes the kids skiing once to twice a month. This gives them lots of outdoor time, and a quieter day for me. We also go on more field trips during that time of year. Museums have many free days and homeschooling days in our area, so we just pick and choose these. But I make more of an effort to know when there are free days than the rest of the year. On a nice day we will have a field trip to a nearby State park for a nature walk. A “nice day” might be higher temperature or just the sun being out, and for a real winner it might be both. Making an effort to head outside daily, weather permitting, has made a very big difference for all of us. And yes, that includes me. A short daily walk outside does wonder to refresh my mind and mood.

Atmosphere

When we take the Christmas decorations down, I always leave some white string lights in the kitchen, at the top of the cabinets. It is amazing the difference they make on a cold, grey, cloudy day! Light candles or oil lamps. Revamp, or just clean up, your school room. Before each school year I empty the entire school room and move things around, cleaning up, purging. I get yelled at for at least the next month because no one can find anything anymore, but I’m ok with that. I have been known to do the same thing in the middle of the school year as well… Kids are involved more and more in the process and it really helps change the mood. Move furniture around if you can. Without spending any  money you can really give your home a whole new atmosphere by just moving things around. It makes things exciting and charming, at least long enough to get more wind under your sails.

New focus

Another thing we enjoy is completely switching our focus from an academics heavy curriculum to a more arts and crafts one. Slowing down, spending more time  doing Picture Study, listening to music, making Poetry Tea Time a priority have all been a blessing. Or simply learning a new handicraft skill. Turning our minds to a different learning mode has really helped ward off the Winter Blues. In recent years we have also acquired quite a few “educational” board games (see resources below). These have been fun to pull out and focus on during this time indoors. Puzzles are also a great thing to pull out. You wouldn’t believe the conversations that happen around a puzzle. It’s a fantastic way to approach things that we would not otherwise talk about as easily.

And then of course there are…

Picture books! Instead of our usual pre-programmed, organized reading, I let people pick the ones they want to read. This can make for a crazy mix of topics but it is so much fun. Sometimes we will pick a “topic” such as fairy tales, geography, Dr. Seuss or Bill Peet. It creates quite the challenge and can be really entertaining. Fairy tales are one of my favorites to pick, especially if they have to include a horse or a wicked step mother or what not. It’s like a treasure hunt with picture books. Picture books are so versatile and can be included in your day in so many different ways! Your imagination is the limit.

Fun with picture books

This could probably be a blog post in its own right but for the sake of warding off the Winter Blues’ evil, here are a few ideas.

• Read picture books on only one topic for the day. This could be anything from fairy tales, geography, a word in the title has to be included (hen, adventure, story, etc…). Only favorite picture books can be read. You get the idea. This can quickly become hilarious, and laughter is so good for us!
• Play charades based on picture books. That’s a fun one! People end up getting so mixed up and you can really gauge the reading comprehension of each child  through that. Costumes and props not mandatory but can definitely add to the entertainment. 
• Picture books treasure hunt: hide a few books throughout the house. Give only a vague description of the hidden books, then let them loose. The winner is the person who found the most books and gets to pick which one is read first. 
• Change where you read. Build a fort, pile up all the pillows on the floor, read in bed. Just make it different. If you build a fort, read in the evening by flashlight without any other lights on. Make it a spooky tale.

Read only picture books with recipes, then create the recipes. I bet we could have a whole dinner put together that way. Stone Soup by Marcia Brown for the main meal and The Moon Might Be Milk by Lisa Shulman, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand are the first two that jump to my mind.

Enjoy some Fun Schooling

Well, I don’t know about you, but now I am excited about a little time in the doldrums. Putting all the thoughts together of what could be done makes it much more tangible. I could even change the name and call it “Fun School”, we will still be learning, growing and discovering new things. But the different format, the relaxed atmosphere will help impact the mood. So let’s get through the dreaded Winter Blues in style and laughter.

Board games resources:

• Space-opoly (Astronomy)
• Sequence (Math)
• Dixit (Writing)
• HuggerMugger (Writing) – ours was a thrift store find, totally worth the $5 I paid for it!
• Ticket to Ride (Geography)
• Uzzle (Math, critical thinking)
• Samarkand (History)
• OuiSi (Picture Study)
• Sorry (Math)
• The Way Things Work

Puzzle resources:

• Country Diary: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter (Picture Study and Nature Study)
• Any artist’s masterpiece (Picture Study)
• Animal puzzles (Nature Study)