18 Dec 2006 08:31 AM

Christmas Time: The Ideal Time for Project Work for the Homeschooled

In the time that I homeschooled my son, Christmas time was an ideal period to target for project work.  From the age of 7 years old upwards and varying in degrees of detail, according to his age, to very basic to extremely sophisticated, he planned Christmas, which also had to include my birthday celebrations (my birthday is on 23 December).  

This project had to take the form of a detailed written proposal with timescales, costings, present buying, menu planning for each day, in fact organising the whole of Christmas in the minutest detail, including when he was going round to his friend's to play, to what games we would play as a family after Christmas lunch and what we as parents had to do whilst he was around at friend's.

This was all presented in a large Lever Arch Ring Binder which I categorised into the areas of the curriculum that he had achieved.  Many of the subject areas were covered such as English, Maths, Technology, Home Economics, RE, Art (as he designed and made all of the Christmas according to who they would be sent to, including the inscription that would go inside it) etc...  

When any visitor from the Local Education Authority (LEA) came to check on my son's progress, the first thing that he would always show him would be his Christmas Project Folder.  He even went as far as volunteering to organise the LEA visitors Christmas for them.  Many of the LEA visitors went away and nicknamed him the 'Christmas Planner', delighted with the progress that he had made.

My advice to homeschoolers would be to see this as an educational opportunity for your child.  A fun and educational time where education can continue throughout the Christmas period.  Merry Christmas everyone and a happy, prosperous and healthy new year to you and your families.

What do you do at Christmas to make it an educational experience for your homeschooled child and how does it affect the rest of your family? 

I would appreciate if you would visit my blog and make a comment, whether good or bad - as all comments are welcome.

http://lec23.blogspot.com/

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