3 Ways to Break the Winter Blues, including a Butterfly Unit Study
The best homeschool advice I have ever received was, “Do not decide to quit homeschooling in January (or February)!” This year we are fighting the dull of winter with a brand new open-and-go Butterfly Unit Study. What’s not to love about colorful butterflies?!
Returning to the homeschool routine in the dull winter months is hard. The end of the year seems so far away and the weather makes it hard to escape outside. We just have to keep going. It is tempting to hibernate indoors and be on screens all day.
Over the years, however, I have found when I intentionally lean into a different homeschool rhythm, we can make it through thriving during these months. It takes some intentional choices.
3 Ways we change our homeschool in the winter
- Always take the snow day or late start to play in the snow
- Add handicrafts and Creativity to combat the winter blues
- Start school with a new unit study or read-aloud.
Check out the Unit Study options from Sonlight
1. Take the Snow Day!
One of our homeschool rules is about snow days. While we don’t need to take the whole day off for the logistics of bad weather, we always start school late if they are out laying in a fresh snowfall. It’s a rule I will not make them outgrow.
I know that if they go and move and play they will be more focused when they do sit down and work later. Maybe I’m selfish and want to enjoy my coffee a little longer, too.
We can also incorporate seasonal learning into our homeschool plans; studying the science behind snowflakes or reading literature set in snowy landscapes. When extreme temperatures hit we like to do experiments and talk about the natural impact on the world around us.
2. Take Time for Handicrafts
When the weather outside is frightful, it’s the perfect time to explore indoor activities that you might not have had time for during the busier months. I find my creative interests change with the seasons. I enjoy more handicraft projects in the winter. My kids find more time to read independently when they aren’t rushing outside to play.
I am horrible at getting out the craft supplies and encouraging my kids to be creative. I think it’s the cleanup that deters me. The Butterfly unit study we picked is great because it has at least one craft project each week, and most of the supplies are included in the kit so I don’t have to go shopping. A big win for actually getting them done. The first week we made a caterpillar that we can change into a butterfly and its chrysalis. Check it out on my Instagram!
My interest in quilting is doubly beneficial as the creativity makes me happy and everyone enjoys the finished product as they cuddle under the next quilt on the couch as they read. Everyone’s curriculum is literature-rich, so anything to make reading cozy is a good idea at our house.
Extra science experiments and cooking projects also provide a welcome break from the monotony of winter days. My kids are always changing their interests and the extra indoor time gives them space and time to pursue their interests and research them more deeply.
3. Try Something New
One of the best ways I have found to break the monotony of Winter is to shake things up and try something new. I look for a new unit study or book to read aloud in our homeschool so we have something special to look forward to as we start back.
Adding novelty into your homeschool at any time of the year can reignite excitement and motivation for learning and get you out of a rut.
Let’s learn about Butterflies!
This year we started the year with a Butterfly Unit Study from Sonlight. It’s too cold in our area to raise one right now, but we are learning all we can and can look forward to raising one in the spring.
We picked butterflies because they are colorful and fun to study. My older students have a less flexible class schedule this year so I’m mostly doing it with my 5th grader. I realized since he is my youngest, raising butterflies is something he doesn’t remember the big kids doing. He is enjoying the together time as well.
Sonlight makes it easy with their Unit Study Kits. There are 4 weeks of lesson plans to follow and most of the materials are included. The open-and-go is perfect for us, as we ease back to our routine.
The unit is based around 3 books which are included in the kit. 1 non-fiction title and 2 picture books. Throughout the 4 week unit, you compile a lapbook in addition to a variety of other activities. There is a worksheets for the non-fiction book, crafts, research projects, and fun snack ideas. There are enough activities that you can even pick and choose among them based on your student’s age level or interests, without feeling like you are leaving anything out.
Our Favorite Butterfly Unit Study Activities
My 5th grader wasn’t interested in making creative snacks and we added the optional research projects on the 6 families of butterflies. I didn’t even know the differences between butterfly families so I got to learn with them on this one!
I love that part of homeschooling, that we can learn right alongside our kids instead of always knowing the answers for them. The Sonlight Instructor’s Guide helped guide me to resources online to use for the research needed.
As I mentioned before, handicrafts are a great winter activity, as the creativity helps fight the winter blues. The weekly craft projects in the Butterfly Unit Study were fun for my students to use. I don’t pull out the craft supplies often enough and they enjoyed the excuse to get the paint out.
The butterfly eggs don’t come with the Unit Study which was perfect for us, because the season was wrong to watch them grow. There are instructions in the Guide for purchasing them when the time is right and we have something fun to look forward to when the weather warms. We can watch a butterfly grow and release it. We might have to add planting a milkweed garden to our spring project list.
More from Sonlight
Sonlight offers more unit studies than just Butterflies. They also have ready-to-use kits to study the Election, The 50 US States, Summer and Winter Olympics, Easter, and Lent. We have used their materials from the beginning of our homeschool journey in a variety of ways. Every program is built on the same foundation, reading great books together. The Sonlight leveled readers are one piece that I can say worked for all three of my kids even with their different learning needs.
I find their materials easy to scale for the different learning needs and styles of my Neurodivergent students. The instructor guides are laid out in simple grids followed by notes by lesson day so I can see the assignments at a glance and read the notes for the assignments when I have questions.
