Beat the Winter Homeschool Slump: Challenge Accepted

Sometimes when you feel stuck, setting a series of goals can help you break out of the blah. Put together a family challenge, and spend these short winter days trying to meet your challenge goals.

Have a month-long readathon. Set an ambitious family “pages read” goal, and track your reading progress over the course of a month. Set a fun reward to celebrate reaching your goal—dinner at your favorite restaurant or a trip to an indoor water park.

Make every step count. Buy everyone inexpensive step counters, and try to walk a certain number of steps each week. This can be a great way for active kids to burn energy inside when the weather outside won’t cooperate. 

Paint a family mural. This can be a fun way to brighten up your school space. Design a mural, then carefully transfer it to gridded paper so that you can copy the design onto your wall. (If you rent or just don’t want a permanent change, you can cover your wall with butcher paper first.)

Plant an herb garden. Most herbs thrive indoors, and it can be heartening to see signs of new green life in the middle of winter. Plant seeds for your family’s favorite herbs, and watch your container garden come to life. 

Cook your way around the world. Hang up a world map, and hit the library cookbook section to discover one classic meal from every country. Make shopping for ingredients and cooking these dishes a family adventure, and stick a colored pin in your map for every country that hits your table. 

Host a science fair. This one’s even more fun if you can get a group together. Encourage your kids to choose a big science question and use the scientific method to investigate it. Then put together a project presentation for your experiment.

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