“Go out and run around the house.” It’s my usual prescription for getting the wiggles out – one circuit around for each year of age. The result is typically three kids – slightly winded – who are ready to settle down and get back to school work. But when there’s snow on the ground and sub-freezing temperatures, the process is not nearly as simple.
What goes on must come off and that includes boots, coats, mittens, hats, and mufflers. December’s joyful exclamations of “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” turn into January’s “Baby, it’s cold outside!”
Recently we asked our Rainbow Facebook friends how they dealt with cabin fever. They bundled their kids up and shooed them outside, played games, snuggled up with good books, and gathered for “gym” with other homeschool families. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget the family who turns the TV to the Latin Music channel and dances. In case you’ve tried all those and need a fresh idea, here are a few of my suggestions for celebrating the “Days of Snow”.
- Snow Day Special! – Start the day with an out-of-the-ordinary breakfast – French Toast Casserole, for instance. Keep the ingredients on hand so when the schools have a snow day and your students are feeling quite under-privileged, you can quickly put together an unanticipated beginning to your otherwise uninterrupted schooling.
- Virtual Field Trip – or google “virtual tours” and plan one (or more) for your snow day.
- Take a Week Off! – To break up the winter doldrums try taking a week off for a self-contained study. We have Week Off unit studies for horses, cats & kittens, dogs & puppies, aviation, and space exploration but you could do a similar study on almost any topic.
- Swing Dancing – The music is familiar and happy and there are a number of YouTube videos that will show you the steps. Have fun with it.
- Grand Tour – Pick a travel destination (country or city). Research the key tourist attractions and construct visual representations for some of them (i.e. construction paper Stonehenge). Place them around the house. Have your tour guide (or multiple tour guides) give you a tour through the attractions, moving your group along, answering questions, and pointing out the notable features of each.
— Janice
From the January 2012 Rainbow Resource Center Newsletter.
