December 10, 2025 – What Learning Looks Like through the Holidays

Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP

Healing Learning

Parents often ask me, “What does learning look like during the holidays? Do we pause everything? Do we push through? Or do we just hope for the best?” The good news is that learning never stops—but it often changes shape. And for many of our wonderful, struggling, or simply worn-out learners, this season offers a chance for what I call “Healing Learning.”

During the holidays, children often experience what my Resource Room kids used to feel after a long weekend—overstimulation, schedule changes, later nights, more sugar, and less structure. For a child who is already working hard just to keep up, this can feel like an “educational flu.” So instead of pushing through the regular curriculum, we use this time to gently strengthen the brain.

What does Healing Learning look like during the holidays?

It looks like small victories. Ten minutes of decoding long words on a whiteboard, just playing with sounds. It looks like a short oral reading time with tricky words prepared ahead—so they sound smart to themselves. It looks like jotting down a silly, colorful “template” for math steps and hanging it up for quick success. No pressure. No “finish the worksheet.” Just leading them to a win.

It also looks like building the brain in everyday moments.

Baking becomes sequencing. Wrapping presents becomes fine-motor work. Holiday stories become comprehension practice when we “make a movie in our head.” Even playing a game of cards builds logic pathways faster than any workbook.

Most importantly, holiday learning looks like connection. Sitting side-by-side. Ignoring mistakes. Celebrating effort. Success breeds success—and this season is rich with opportunities for small, daily successes.

So don’t worry about “getting behind.” Instead, use this beautiful time to restore confidence, strengthen pathways, and move into the new year with a healthier, happier learner. This is the essence of Healing Teaching.

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About the author

Dianne Craft has her master’s degree in special education, is a certified natural health professional, and is considered the leader in Alternative Teaching Strategies by several teaching universities. She developed the Craft “Right Brain” Learning System for bright children who have to work too hard to learn. Hundreds of parents each year successfully use her approach to reduce and eliminate learning glitches: Brain Integration Therapy, Right Brain Teaching Strategies, & Targeted Nutritional Interventions. https://diannecraft.org/

Study all 50 states (statehood order): FIFTY STATES UNDER GOD (two levels) teaches US History. GEOGRAPHY OF THE FIFTY STATES teaches US Geography. Open-and-Go! www.statehistory.net

Todd Wilson

Making Memories

We had our first snow (and it was a good one) . . . officially making it the Holiday season. And what a glorious season it is. At least 75% of my best memories come from this time of year . . . and I know my kids feel the same.

Here’s the deal: don’t let homeschooling get in the way of making all those memories for your kids. Use your homeschool freedom as the means to collect even more holiday memories.

Practically, this is what it looks like: When anything FUN presents itself . . . choose it over doing school work. I know I just lost a few moms. So . . .

– When your kids want to decorate their room right in the middle of the school day . . . you let them, or better yet, do it with them.
– If your kids ask to play a fun Christmas game* during math . . . you finish up math and play the game.
– If you need to make cookies, crafts, or go shopping but you feel too busy because you have schoolwork to do . . . you put the schoolwork away and “Holiday.”
– You read fun Christmas books** instead of the usual boring ones.
– You watch a Christmas movie instead of your boring history documentary.
– You go see lights, a live nativity, or reenact the pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving . . . and you skip school.

And while you’re skipping normal school, you bask in the truth that you are doing something even better . . . that will be remembered forever. That’s real learning. The best kind of learning. And you can count ALL of it.

Keep an eye out for holiday fun and be real,
Todd

* The best family Christmas Board Game – To Bethlehem
** Eight enchanting Christmas read-alouds that all point to the manger – The Familyman’s Christmas Treasury.

Get them now to assure plenty of memories!!

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About the author

Todd Wilson is a dad, granddad, writer, conference speaker, and former pastor. Todd’s humor and down to earth realness have made him a favorite speaker at homeschool conventions, retreats, and churches across the country. As founder of Familyman Ministries and the Smiling Homeschooler, his passion and mission are to remind dads and moms of what’s most important through weekly e-mails, podcasts (The Familyman Show & The Smiling Homeschooler), seminars, and books and products that encourage parents. Todd, and his wife Debbie, still homeschool two of their eight children (six have graduated with four married) in northern Indiana. You can read more at www.familymanweb.com.

BJU Press Homeschool Hub was built for homeschool parents. Plan, grade, track, and learn in one place. Offline and Co-op options available. Visit bjupresshomeschool.com/hub

Heather Vogler

Three . . . Two . . . One . . . GO!

How many long drives have you made it through, kids crowded in the backseat, without some rendition of, “Are we there yet?” making its way up to the front of the vehicle? This familiar tune is inevitable. Why? It’s the novelty of it all—the suspense of what is ahead. Adults are like this, too, just in other ways. A long-awaited date night with your spouse, a family vacation to an unfamiliar destination, or a night home alone to kick back your heels while your spouse takes your kids out for ice cream. In our minds, participating in the regular activity of visiting family on a holiday might seem more of a routine than an adventure, but these seemingly mundane activities can mean so much more to our children. 

If a simple visit to Grandma’s sparks so much excitement, how much more will Christmas? I know this is obvious, but I just want to put a reminder out there of what is ahead, so we can all prepare! The constant questions, the excitement, the wondering—these can all be distracting when we are trying to do all of the normal things, plus everything else that comes along with the Christmas season. One way to help tone down the whirlwind of excitement roaring through your home throughout the next few weeks is to create a countdown. Place a meaningful countdown in a central location in your home that can help you accomplish two things. One, it can count as learning through the holidays. Throw an educational element in there, and you are covered. Two, it will help your kids stay focused. They can have a timeline to refer to, so they aren’t waking up every morning in the month of December wondering if the next day is the big day. Use an Advent calendar, red and green construction paper garland, or a Christmas book basket. Be creative and have fun!  

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About the author

Heather Vogler, her husband, and five children call the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia home where they homeschool and homestead. Heather has homeschooled her children from the beginning and enjoys an eclectic style of teaching. As a freelance writer she has been published in Focus on the Family Magazine, War Cry Magazine, and Brio Magazine. Heather holds a BA in Christian Ministries and currently writes at ThriftSchooling.com.  

Kerry Tittle

Gifts from the Lord

Living in the South, I can testify that late July and August can be quite miserable. Because of that we always start schooling quite a bit earlier than most. This gives us the opportunity to take off from school between Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. We don’t stop completely. My older kids are learning foreign languages, and one is close to finishing her senior year, so they choose not to lose momentum and keep going in certain subjects on their own. But for others we usually just do math. Scripture is a part of our daily life, and we spend most of our time studying Advent. 

I often try to get creative and make the holidays meaningful and keep their creative juices flowing. This year I plan to write random countries on pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. Several times throughout the season, a child will pull out a country and they must make either a meal or dessert that will reflect that country’s Christmas tradition. While looking up this information, they learn the who, what, when, and where about the country. You can take it as far as you want like putting their names in a particular language on name cards. It is super fun!

Here is the hard truth: You only have about eighteen Christmases with each child. Take these moments as gifts from the Lord; they go fast. Make the most of this fleeting time.

Merry Christmas from the Tittles
Soli Deo Gloria

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About the author

Kerry Tittle is a mother of nine children and a 20-year homeschool veteran. She was the owner of ReformationKidz with her husband Rob until a tornado destroyed their home and business in 2014, taking the lives of Rob and two of their daughters, Tori and Rebekah. Kerry is the founder of Refined Family, which is created to encourage others to find hope in the gospel in the midst of trials.

Students can study holiday traditions and their histories or create a timeline of when specific holidays were first celebrated and formally adopted as holidays with History of Holidays in America on SchoolhouseTeachers.com!