Beat Cabin Fever with Fresh Homeschooling Ideas

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It’s March and I don’t know about you, but in upstate NY we are still socked in by winter and we’ve had a school year fraught with illness. We’re getting a little stir crazy! What do you do when you are only half way through the third quarter and it’s time to hit the books? You look for ways to Beat Cabin Fever with Fresh Homeschooling Ideas!

Beat Cabin Fever with Good Stories

Reading aloud as a family is always a good way to sooth the grumpies at our house. It doesn’t matter how old our kids get. They always love a good story! Suggestions for lifting spirits this time of year:

• Choose a family favorite to read again– Swallows & Amazons or some other great adventure can provide hours of enjoyable listening time.
• Start a reading streak– How many days can you go with reading daily?
• Listen to Audio Books– While you play games, work on handicrafts, or build creations using building blocks, legos, etc. We are members of Audible and enjoy listening from our Kindles.

Try a New Art Medium

I like to challenge our kids now and then with a new art project. As long as mom is ready to go, it’s easy to get the kids on bard- even those who don’t enjoy art. Here are a few I’d like to try:

• Fabric Mosaic– Fun way to use some of that fabric stash
• Mixed Media Collage– Collage self-portrait from this pin
• 30 Day Art Challenge– Fun daily art ideas
• Favorite Spot or Moment in a Bottle– cool idea from this Pinterest picture
• Magazine Scrap Sketches– My boys would love this activity!

Avoid Cabin Fever by Cooking Together

It’s important for our kids have cooking skills before they leave home, but how many of us leave time to allow our kids to cook with us? Use some days here and there to do some good old fashioned “home ec”.

• Have your kids plan a meal– Then they get to make it!
• Try a new dessert– Sometimes all you need is a little lift.
• Teach them to make a pie crust– One of the things on my summer list of things to do! If you don’t know how, then it’s a great time for you to try!
• Make a Thanksgiving Meal– Just for fun. Work on the timing of preparing a big meal.

Play Games to Bust Cabin Fever

You can never have too many games choices in your house! Grab out some old favorites or try some new ones. Here are a few ideas to bust the late winter boredom in your homeschool.

• Scrabble– Great vocabulary practice and building game
• Bananagrams– This is a challenging game to race to build the first crossword. All ages can play these games.
• Monopoly– Math game with many skills built in. You can even have your kids make a math journal page about their game experience.
• Equate– This is a more challenging equation game that plays like Scrabble. There are leveled tile sets which help practice all sorts of equations.
• Chess– It’s never too early to learn chess and it’s a game that builds strategy and thinking ahead skills.

Adjust Your Homeschooling

Sometimes all you need is to change your pace with academics. How? Here are a few ideas:

• Write Fiction– Instead of plowing ahead through your writing curriculum, change gears and write fun stories. You
• Follow and Interest– With Adventure Boxes for your kids or anything that has sparked them during their regular studies.
• Reading Challenge– Revisit old favorites, try out a new series, start a family book club, etc.

103 Fresh Homeschooling Ideas

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas has some truly inspiring thoughts from the 55 homeschool mom authors. I picked out just 10 of the chapters that I thought would make great cabin fever busters right now.

• Easy Ways to Keep Science Hands-on and Fun– Learn about ways to spruce up science time.
• Games: Playful Learning with Kids– When things get slow at our house, a game always changes things up.
• How to Use Movies for Learning– When the snow is blowing or the mud is deep, try out a movie for learning.
• How to Make the Most of a Field Trip– When being outside isn’t easy, travel to someplace new.
• You CAN Teach Art– Art projects always provide a pick me up on a grumpy day.
• Teach with LEGO Bricks– Find out ways to use LEGOS you hadn’t thought of before!
• Hands-on Learning– What new ideas will be shared here to break up the monotony.
• Teaching Creative Writing– Take a break from the grammar and enjoy some creative writing ideas.
• Teaching with Geography Quests– Enjoy a virtual field trip as you learn about new places.
• Everything You Need to Know about Gardening to Get Started– Nothing makes you think spring like planning your garden or planting seeds indoors.

Once winter is over, we’ll have a mud season to contend with while the snow pack melts and things dry up. Spring fever is a serious malady here. How do you handle cabin fever when it starts to show up?