Winter homeschooling blues have arrived as they seem to do just about every year in February. The bright lights and cheer of December are over, Valentine’s Day has come and gone, it’s cold and dreary, and there’s not much else to pep us up until spring break.

So what’s a homeschool parent to do to get themselves and their kids through the winter homeschooling blues? In this post we’re offering five ways to break out of this seasonal low that will help to get your enthusiasm and energy for homeschooling back on track.

Get Outside Daily

I hear you- it’s cold, it takes time to get everyone into their warm clothes, we have a lot of school to do . . . I’ve said the same thing myself. But, making the effort to get your kids and yourself outside for even 15 minutes will reap incalculable rewards. Exposure to natural light, breathing fresh air, and moving our bodies is the perfect antidote to our tendency to hibernate in the winter. Charlotte Mason espoused the virtues of being outside and said, “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.” So gather up the coats, hats, gloves, and boots and go forth! If you need ideas on what to do, check out 1000 Hours Outside .

Observe Mini-Celebrations

Nothing builds excitement and engagement more than a celebration! I love to do special activities to make little holidays into celebrations- making cherry pie on President’s Day, eating egg rolls and fortune cookies for Lunar New Year, eating pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, and more. I find National Day Calendar to be a great resource for finding fun and unusual things to do or celebrate all year, but especially for something to do to break up the winter homeschooling blues. Here’s one for you to try-National Soup It Forward Day, which encourages you to make soup and share it with others.

Recognizing and Preventing Homeschool Burnout

Winter homeschooling blues might also be a sign that you’re experiencing homeschooling burnout. You’re not alone! Every year around this time, homeschoolers all over start getting “yellow bus syndrome.” You might think to yourself, “There’s a yellow bus that stops at my corner, maybe we should try that.” Instead of putting the kids in school, try to pare back your homeschooling for a bit. Take more field trips so that the kids are still learning, but you can take a little break from having all of the responsibility of teaching while you regain your equilibrium. The Happy Homeschooler Podcast has a wonderful episode titled, Hard Truths About Homeschool Burnout, with many helpful tips and insights that can get you through a tough time.

There are also things that you can do to prevent homeschool burnout which we covered in our post, Preventing Homeschool Parent Burnout. Hopefully knowing what to look out for will be helpful as you go along in your homeschool journey.

Connect with Other Homeschoolers

Getting together with other homeschoolers can invigorate your homeschooling during the winter. Many libraries offer meeting rooms at no cost where you can gather together to do a service project (helping others and helping yourselves at the same time), do a group learning activity, or just play games and have a social time. Or you might get a group together to volunteer with a local organization. Nothing helps to ease feelings of isolation better than talking with people who are going through the same things as you. Having someone who understands and encourages you is invaluable.

Make Spring Break Plans

When I’m in the midst of the winter homeschooling blues, I like planning our spring break activities. Where I live, spring break is usually the third week of March. I can hang on for a few more weeks until spring break arrives! We usually stay home for spring break because it’s affordable and I can work around our activities. Staycations are a great way to be on vacation in your own home town. I like vacationing at home because we actually have more time to do things since we aren’t spending a lot of time getting to a destination. Homeschool Mastery Academy has a great post on Ten Frugal Family Staycation Ideas for Homeschoolers you might find helpful.

The good news about the winter homeschooling blues is that when spring arrives, the blues usually leave with the winter weather. Hang in there and keep moving forward. Spring will be here before you know it!