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Attempting to accomplish school at home with a toddler in the mix is a special kind of hard. In the past semester and continuing into the present, a visitor to our home would hear any and all of the following phrases with rapid-fire frequency:

“Mom, she's on the table again!”

“Sorry, son, we need to pause our math lesson while I change your sister again.”

“Quick, someone grab the scissors out of her hands before she…oh. Too late.”

Our sweet, utterly beloved toddler is a proper little terror on school days. Inflicting chaos via her short attention span, penchant for rapidly emptying drawers and cabinets of their contents, and silent manner adopted only when she is getting into the naughtiest of circumstances - among other loveable qualities - she tries the patience of even her most devoted siblings. I'm happy to say that I am managing to contain my annoyance because I know this phase will not last long, and that on the other side of this seemingly interminable season lies a child who will play more happily alone, for longer periods of time, with a slightly greater grasp of the off-limits nature of the white bookshelves and walls to receive her bright orange crayon scrawlings.

Despite the adorably aggravating interruptions to our school days, we are still mostly managing to accomplish what we need to, and even a little of what I want to, because I've learned a few tricks to working with the toddler antics. I don't blame you if you don't want to read any further considering what I've already shared; since, no, I cannot tell you how to eliminate the crayon wall drawings or scissors swiping. (Yes, those items are supposed to be kept out of the youngest’s reach, but…well, I also have a 5 and 6 year old.) But we do still manage to get math, Latin, and spelling done.

My main goal in managing my toddler’s behavior while doing school has been twofold: to allow her as much freedom as possible while keeping the truly necessary areas restricted, and to allow her to feel included without inflicting damage on herself, others, or school materials. Because what she really wants to be doing is what everyone else is doing, and obviously that isn't actually possible.

I try and have the toddler color at the table on paper as long as possible so she can feel satisfied in her imitation of sibling activities, and I also let her nurse or eat a snack pretty often. An older toddler can be occupied with Montessori-style work trays, kinetic sand, dried beans with cups and spoons, play doh etc but my gal just isn't there yet. So, keeping her happy without bending the rules is my modus operandi.

I do not have a gated space to contain the toddler, and she would be bored in one anyways after about 10 minutes. I've just accepted that many books will be pulled off the shelves, and some cupboards opened and rummaged through, but the Really Restricted Spaces - such as the kitchen cabinet with cleaning chemicals, pantry and bathroom - have been locked. (I hate those baby cabinet and door locks, and try to only install them on the above mentioned RRSes.) This means that by lunchtime there is often a good bit of things to put away; but honestly, myself and the other children can pretty fairly tackle it in a few minutes. The way I see it is: if I don't let her get into at least some things, she would look for even greater transgressions to commit. Of course, this is considering my child’s unique personality and temperament, but it may be applicable in your situation as well.

If things begin to tilt towards frustration on my part or become so distracting that schoolwork isn't being accomplished, I will delegate one of my responsible-enough older children to take the dear toddler into another room for 15 minutes while I work on a needed subject with one child at a time. Usually this is something like math or grammar. I set an actual timer on my phone and when the 15 minutes is up, I'll either take the baby back or delegate another child to take their turn in occupying their sister for the next 10-15 minutes. In this way, everyone's frustrations are managed and no one feels overly put upon or - conversely - neglected. I am not a proponent of “parentification”, but I am a fan of encouraging my children to help one another (and me) so everyone can be be sufficiently attended to.

Speaking of giving the other children a break from their toddler sibling so they can convert mixed numbers into fractions, sometimes Mom needs a break too. There are days when it feels like an invisible tipping point is hit and my brain suddenly feels like a pot of macaroni furiously bubbling over. Ironically, when I was searching for beautiful art pictures to compliment this essay, most of them had a child touching her mother's face: an instantly recognizable image of both the intimacy between mother and child, and also sometimes the last drop that overfilled the bucket of moms capacity for human physical contact that day. So please, take a break if you are overstimulated or mentally kaput for the time being. I promise your children will not learn any more or better with a teacher who is rapidly losing her cool.

To the mothers who are newly navigating the process of homeschooling with a toddler (or two) in clutch, I just want to reassure you that this phase will not last forever, no matter how much it feels like it will. Also, when I first began officially homeschooling my eldest child, I had a 7 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old, 3 year old, and a 1.5 year old. We did school during nap time, and it never took more than an hour. Now that 5 of my 6 children are above age 5, I need to save nap time for accomplishing other activities, so we make it work while the toddler is rampant.

In short: accommodate your toddlers nature in accepting some level of mess and disorder, take breaks as needed, and let your other children help bear the responsibility of care for their youngest sibling!

*Before I go, one more trick I like to use - sending the toddler on little house errands can buy you lots of time. My 20 month old loves to deliver things to her siblings, fetch diapers and wipes when it's time to change her diaper, throw away scraps of paper, and grab tissues or napkins etc as needed. Even little folk like to be useful!

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In a way, the preparation for the Christmas gifts of today begins years in advance. The skills we should teach our children in early childhood - careful handwriting, a steady hand, patience, diligence in following instructions (and maybe even the handcrafts such as knitting, stitching, woodworking, and baking) - can now bear fruit in the form of handmade creations for others. (And isn’t that the ultimate purpose of building these abilities? Not just to enjoy them ourselves - but to use them towards sharing with others? I digress…)

From last year’s post:

In our family, children are required to provide gifts for their immediate family on birthdays and Christmas once they turn 10 years old. Only my oldest child is 10, and this was his first Christmas of making gifts for others. I was so happy to see him planning thoughtful gifts for the special people in his life: making them, wrapping them, and finally delivering them. Such are the dividends paid to parents who’ve let their son use real tools and materials since he was 2 years old! I’m planning a future post on handmade Christmas gift ideas for children, and will share some of my children’s makings there.

It really is satisfying to see your children create meaningful, special things with a loved one in mind. However, if your child - like some of mine - hasn’t learned the above listed skills yet, or struggles to take on a handcraft with enthusiasm - never fear. Many options remain available - and sometimes simplest is best!

Disclaimer: I did not take pictures of all our handmade gifts last year, and we haven’t completed making presents for this coming Christmas, so I’ve resorted to Pinterest for visual representation in some of the examples below.

1. Pressed Flower Bookmarks

This first gift example will require some forethought months in advance, or careful sourcing of supplies.

Pressed flower bookmarks are simple to make. There are many tutorials online - here is one example . They are endlessly customizable since you can use different kinds of paper, background design, and - of course - plant materials. I like the pressed flower bookmarks that use paper as a backing, but you can also make a variation with no background - which some may find even more striking!

Here is the specific tutorial for the bookmarks in the above photo.

It’s lovely to press flowers in the summer months, knowing they’ll receive a second life during wintertime. Like preserving produce from the garden, it is so satisfying to see the products of earlier labor bearing fruit! My young daughter has this little flower press1, and thus far it has served our needs well. I used to use heavy books and paper to press flowers when I was a girl, so you certainly don’t have to purchase specific supplies. You can also purchase kits to make pressed-flower bookmarks. Here is one example - Etsy has a plethora of options.

2. Leather Bookmarks

My son made several of these last year for gifts - but not one for me! I’m low-key begging him for one this Christmas. The bookmarks he made looked just like the above example but without the bead endings. They have such a lovely feel to them that only improves and softens over time, with a pleasantly heavy weight. You could get fancy and stamp or impress the bookmark with initials, or designs - but we did not do that. My son used some leather that I had saved in my fabric stash, plus my heavyweight fabric scissors, an awl to make the hole at the top, and leather cord.

3. Hand-Poured Beeswax Candles

Last year was our first time making candles. It was…. so surprisingly easy. For years I had admired all the pretty hand-poured candles in various vessels - jars, seashells, teacups - with customizable scents and sizes. Maybe you’ve ogled them as well? Let me empower you to act on your admiration and create special candles for yourself and loved ones! We used this tutorial to make our own, along with these wicks and wick stickers. For the vessels, we undertook the sacrificial task of consuming a large amount of Petit Pot rice pudding from Costco, which provided us with about 40 adorable jars. This year I’ve been pushing my husband to eat up lots of their creme brulee, which will provide a different, wider-shaped jar for us to use. Make sure you source good beeswax to use - I don’t have one great source to recommend, but I know there are many available! If you have a personal favorite or business to recommend, please leave a comment sharing your source!

4. Cookies

You didn’t expect such a simple idea, did you? But here it is. Kids love to bake cookies. Take off your holiday perfectionist hat and let them help! And everyone loves to eat cookies. Especially when they look pretty and are presented in pretty little holiday-themed bags tied with ribbon. We were reminded of this classic gift idea from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa TV show. In one episode, she makes jam thumbprint cookies and delivers them to friends. This year we planned ahead and acquired some fun customizable bags . What kind of cookies are your favorite to make and share?

5. Dried Herb Sachets

Sachets are so easy to make and customize. I usually have lots of these on hand because I add them as little gifts to each purchase from my Etsy shop , but at various points I sit down with some of my kids and replenish my stock. The ones I’ve made look almost identical the example picture above. To make my own sachets, I used these linen bags , chipped bits of palo santo , dried lavender buds , dried juniper berries , and some white rice for texture and filler.

6. Pocket Handwarmers

Use up fabric remnants to make pocket handwarmers! The above image is from a sold-out listing in my Etsy shop. I used quilt scraps leftover from sewing quilt coats to make these pocket handwarmers. They’re perfect to warm and tuck into coat pockets when headed outside for a wintry afternoon playing in the snow. Even uncles and grandmothers need warm pockets - not just children. Here is an easy tutorial for sewing your own!

7. Pomander Balls

Probably the easiest craft listed here. All you need are oranges, whole cloves, and a small screwdriver/nail/sharp tip to poke holes in the orange rind. My kids adore making these. They love to set them on their nightstands to scent their bedrooms, and we’ve given them as gifts. Typically pomander balls only last for two-ish weeks, so plan accordingly when making ahead to gift. I’ve had some last unusually long - a month or more! - but that’s not the norm. Here is a simple tutorial.

Thank you for reading! I hope you are able to find some inspiration here to add to your own Christmas traditions.

I think it’s worth mentioning that if making homemade gifts with your children is a huge source of stress, please don’t feel obligated just because you read this post! Do know, however, that handcrafting is a very special way to add unique meaning to your family holiday celebrations. If you’re new to crafting with your children, just start with one thing. That may be enough for you and your family! Put on some calming Christmas music (this is one of our favorites ) and have fun :)

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I have found practical imitation to be very helpful in my journey as a mother. Through copying and experimentation upon the ideas of women farther along than I on the path I seek to travel, I have grown as a homeschooling parent and matured my own interests and opinions on varying school concepts. Most of this information has come through reading homesc…

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People often ask me how I manage to include art in our homeschool routine to the extent that we do. I often don’t know how to answer them. “It’s just part of our day” is how I usually, unhelpfully reply. This essay is my attempt to explain my artistic vision for our schooling-at-home and the nuts and bolts of how we accomplish it.

Let’s begin at the beginning: with my overarching intention for homeschooling.

Since before we became parents, my husband and I had decided to pursue a home education for our future children. We decided this for many reasons, including the lack of good schools in our area and our strong desire to have a large amount of influence over what our children would learn. I was only homeschooled for one year - 6th grade - and it made a large impression upon me. I remember a great deal more of what I was taught from that single grade than many of the others put together, which were spent at different private and public schools. My husband was homeschooled from kindergarten through 12th grade, and had complete confidence in the efficacy and possible superiority of a home education compared to the other options available to us.

We both agreed that we very much enjoyed art as it was presented to us as children, but that it was never really accessible or fully taught in a complete sense - something we have sought to rectify in our own homeschool plan. I come from a moderately artistic family - my dad is a fine painter and photographer, my grandfather is an architect, my grandmother was a painter and sculptor, and I have several siblings who are excellent at their individual artistic pursuits. My aunt is a professional musician; one of my sisters is studying drawing at a school for animation outside the country. Considering this, it was and is important to me to enable and support any of my children’s artistic inclinations as they may present in their individual forms. For myself, I play two instruments and very much enjoy drawing and painting, yet am not very skilled at any particular artistic medium - but homeschooling has provided a convenient way for me to learn alongside my children! More on this later.

My main goal for all of my children is for them to be able to functionally - even beautifully, if they so wish - express themselves through the use of a pencil in both the written word and drawing. Regardless of whether they individually decide to pursue art to a greater extent, I want them to be able to draw what they’re trying to depict in a satisfying, realistic manner. Just like the fundamentals of mathematical theory, writing a coherent essay, and understanding and enjoying excellent literature, I consider a coherent grasp on artistic expression to be an important life skill.

Our mode of homeschooling takes a classical bent, with the curriculum compiled by me based on what we want our children to learn and the books/systems we prefer to use (this is called “eclectic” homeschooling generally). Given these characteristics, it has been simple to select various resources to teach the fundamentals of art.

On to the nuts and bolts:

*Big qualifier here: We have a separate school room which contains the table and storage necessary for the way we “do” school. I am confident there are ways to accomplish homeschooling without having a separate “school table” and cabinet, shelves, corkboard etc but these are a key part of how we function. It’s quite possible I would be less arts-and-crafts permissive if we did not have a partitioned space which can stay “messy” while still allowing us to use our dining table and other rooms without being hampered by supplies and things.

Our school room situation speaks to my first approach to “doing art” which is to make it accessible.

My children’s ages are currently 10, 8, 7, 6, 4, and 10 months old, so my explanations here are tailored to our unique situation. When my children were younger, it sufficed to have one pencil box and one crayon box which I would place in the middle of the table, and a stack of construction paper for them to color on. We would do some simple crafts and hands-on tactile playing. From an early age I have encouraged playing with modeling clay and playdough. Yes, this can make a mess. Yes, it requires discipline in setting limits on where it can be played with, cleaning it up, and storing things properly. But to me, this does not equate to something we should avoid. Also, my children really enjoy it, and I happen to like making homemade play dough with my toddlers and then watching them squish it up and be adorable, generally. So it’s a win-win in my book!

We have a decent sized cabinet in our school room (acquired from an antique store, see above picture) which holds all of my children’s currently used school books, learning and writing materials, and craft supplies. I have a key to lock the cabinet but don’t need to use it most of the time, since my kids are old enough and have been trained not to just pull things out whenever they feel like it. They know they have to ask me first. So the materials for art are all in an accessible place for my children to use them.

Now that I have older children, I have added in structured time for art and additional materials. In our school cabinet we have, among other items:

• several kinds of watercolors

• charcoal pencils

• chalk pastels

• water color paper, black paper, tracing paper, and sketching paper

• many paintbrushes

• modeling clay

• stamps, glue, and glitter glue

I have had to discern how much craft supplies I can “stand” having around which will A) not produce an excess of clutter; B) actually get used; C) allow for a reasonable amount of artistic experimentation without branching out too much into more discrete craft ideas. I’m aiming at a general accessibility to art without allowing yet for more obscure interests which would require unique materials. If my children develop certain artistic hobbies as they get older which necessitate the acquisition of other supplies, we will support them and probably need to reconfigure our setup at that future point. The ongoing modification and adaptation of the school room and cabinet is just a part of homeschooling, though, so this does not intimidate me. (I’ve learned that my early parenthood desire to just set things up and have them be fixed/done/figured out is completely unrealistic and immature, as life is constantly changing.)

Crayons and pencils (NO MARKERS because I’m not a masochist) are stored in separate boxes on a shelf in our school room since my children take them out and use them every day. They may get moved inside the cabinet at some point, but they are currently unobtrusive, so I’m not concerned about them being out all the time. We clean up the school room around mid-afternoon every day, and my older kids have their own designated snap-shut pencil boxes to keep their chosen favorites in.

One of the shelves on our nearby bookcases is dedicated to coloring books. We have a large stock of the Dover Book coloring books which are photocopied rather than colored in. They have some really nice historical ones which I have found to be quite educational and a nice complement to history lessons. Each child is allowed one copied picture per day - otherwise things would get crazy! We have some other cheaper/not as good coloring/activity books that they are allowed to color in, but we save the good coloring books so they can be used again and again.

In the recent past I’ve struggled with certain mental blocks against letting my kids do art, especially in regards to the “accessibility” point. It’s too messy, it’s not in my ken, how do I store the supplies, how do I keep my kids from tearing things apart and tracking it all over the house, and so on. The way I tackled this was by breaking the blocks down into parts, making lists, and working on my self discipline as a parent. I think this was partly the beginnings of getting my mind around how I wanted to really school my children, so I was in the burgeoning stages of deciding what to teach them and how to do it. I think this is a point at which a lot of people get overwhelmed by homeschooling and quit, but it’s really just a natural stage to be passed through.

Our second approach to art is in sustained cultivation. It’s nice to have a lot of art supplies and a place to store them; but I think that is ultimately insufficient to properly teach the skills and discipline required to use art as a mature function unless you have an unusually gifted or motivated child. Accessibility alone is inadequate; so, we have employed both parent and professional guided instruction.

My older children (aged 7, 8, and 10) each have a drawing prompt book for fun as part of their daily school curriculum. We are also using this Drawing Textbook as a beginning introduction to the principles of drawing. Additionally, this semester we have been incorporating Waldorf -based virtual art lessons which have weekly classes utilizing the different mediums and providing guided instruction. So far our experience with Waldorfish has been excellent - the videos are clear, easy to understand, and come with readily available instructor support for any issues that might arise. These two modes of instruction are all I can currently handle on a daily basis, but as my children age I plan to phase in other virtual classes, in-person classes, and self-guided drawing books moving into figure drawing and basic architectural sketching.

As a particular example, I will share that one of my children has a borderline obsession with drawing, and will spend hours a day - not exaggerating - at our school table creating pictures that each have an accompanying narrative. His drawings are on par for a 7 year old’s typical skill level, but as he progresses through the Drawing Textbook and Waldorf art lessons, it’s been gratifying to see him begin to incorporate the principles he’s learned into his daily drawings.

I have found myself really enjoying learning art alongside my children - fulfilling a desire from childhood to express myself through painting and drawing. The act of making, of creating, provides a deep sense of enjoyment and relaxation which I have sought to bring to our family as a potential outlet. Painting watercolors in a light-filled room while listening to 528 Hz music is an excellent way of switching on your parasympathetic nervous system. It’s important to me to provide my children with the opportunity and discipline to build pleasurable, uplifting hobbies which they can enjoy for - hopefully - the rest of their lives. We also have two children in ballet class, one in piano lessons (taught by me) and another in guitar lessons (taught at a studio) for the purpose of teaching those kinds of hobbies; but the making of art is the greatest expression of this principle in our home.

One more principle in our approach to art that I would be loathe to omit here is the inclusion of beautiful art works in our home via richly illustrated books and interior decor. My hope is that by surrounding my children with many presentations of human-created beauty, they will develop an eye and taste for creating and appreciating such beauty themselves. People tell me that I have good taste, which - if true - I attribute to the influence of my family members in their appreciation for and curations of handmade beautiful things. I’m grateful to have been raised in such an environment, despite its many flaws, and aim to continue on our family heritage of art creation and appreciation.

There are so many ways to teach art, and I have touched upon just a bare few in this essay. Our choices in art instruction are based on our unique living circumstances, budgetary constraints, personal interests, and family goals. You may have other means of including art in its various forms in your home, which I would love to hear about in the comments!

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