12 Tips for a Nourishing Fall Routine for Christian Homeschool Families | Homeschooling & Routines

A fall routine for Christian homeschool families can be beneficial for easier homeschool days. As the daylight shortens, and we approach winter, our bodies tend to acknowledge the change of seasons. We can either fight those changes or flow with them. In this post, we are going to share 12 tips for creating a fall routine that nourishes our bodies through this season, helps us focus well during our homeschool day, and keeps Christ at the center.

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Hi, I’m Priscilla!

Before I was a homesteading, homeschooling mom I was a professional musician and music teacher. I carried over my teaching experience into homeschooling my children, but I learned it was much different teaching your own children. And, when I started homesteading, I started with NO experience. It was something I never imagined doing. I had to do a lot of researching and learning each season. So, I know how hard it is to start homeschooling and homesteading with no experience! 

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Now, I’ve homeschooled for 11 years and have 6 children of homeschool age with 1 more in waiting. And, while I do have a background and several years of experience in education, I do not think one can actually be an expert on homeschooling! Why? Because we are educating our own children, and that’s a different dynamic than any classroom or studio lesson. Also, all of our children are different, and we all choose to homeschool in different ways, with different styles, and different curriculums. No one can be an expert at all things homeschooling, in my opinion.

BUT, I do believe that experienced homeschool moms and new homeschool moms alike have wisdom and experiences to share with one another that can help encourage and inspire each other onward. Homeschooling your children is no easy feat. It is a full-time, energy-demanding, brain-challenging, emotion-driving, patience-testing job.

And, I’m always looking for ways to make things more time efficient and enjoyable by making them simpler to do, delightful, and sustainable. When things are simpler, they are more sustainable in our already full lives. Therefore, we want to help others do the same, no matter what their skill set is and no matter where they live. Building up all things home will allow us to sustain our families no matter what the future holds!

We are still learning on this adventure every day. But, we knew if we could do it, others could do it too! So, we started this blog to encourage other families to start homesteading and homeschooling, with Christ at the center, for a more abundant life no matter where they live; NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! We offer simple solutions, resources, and encouragement for your Christ-centered homesteading, homeschooling journey.

Why create a nourishing fall routine for your homeschool family?

A good fall routine is one that embraces the rise and setting of the sun. A routine that allows our bodies to try to sync with the season. And, a good homeschool fall routine is one that does that AND makes homeschool days easier. Fall is the transition from energetic, vibrant summertime to a calmer, more restful wintertime. It is a time where we begin to see less hours of daylight and cooler temperatures, but we still have energy and time to get some things done before winter.

With less daylight comes less time to play outside and even less energy. Our bodies tend to sync with the seasons. So, with less daylight it feels as if we have less time in the day to complete homeschool, chores, and other tasks. The dark starts settling in and we have a natural tendency to want to cozy in with it. 

Since the fall months can feel like we have less hours in a day, we need to use them wisely, but also honor that our bodies recognize that the fall months are transitioning us into a much needed season of rest. We shouldn’t fight it, we should flow with it. Here’s 12 tips to help you create a nourishing, Christian Fall homeschool routine:

12 Tips for a Nourishing Fall Routine for Christian Homeschool Families:

1. Keep waking up early

The sun gets up later, but we shouldn’t. It will get darker earlier in the evening which tends to cause us to get tired earlier, so we want the majority of our day’s work to be done so we can settle down and relax when the sun sets. The dark, and fall back time change, may help us get to bed earlier so that we can wake up earlier. But, if you struggle to wake up when it’s dark, like I do, then it can be a challenge.

However, it is really good to keep waking up early to fit in Bible and prayer time and other morning routine tasks before waking up the children. And, in the same way, it is also good to keep children on their same schedule of wake up time. It is possible that going to bed earlier will be easier in this season making it easier to wake up at the same time each morning. If not, you may need to use alarm clocks and the next few tips to help everyone wake up and source energy for the day.

2. Drink 1-2 cups of water upon waking up

There are multiple reasons this is good. Our bodies lose fluids all night while we sleep to work on important body functions. So, our bodies needs to rehydrate. And, this rehydration supports better brain function, concentration, focus, and memory. Drinking water also increases energy. There are other benefits like nail and hair improvement, as well as weight management, but that’s not helpful here.

I like to focus on how much water can actually rehydrate and re-energize us! It is also best to drink water before coffee for better digestion and metabolism. I have also read that drinking 2 cups of water upon waking is sufficient! If drinking water helps with brain function, focus, and memory, then not only do I rehydrate every morning, but I encourage all of my children to rehydrate every morning. Better brain function and focus equals a better, more productive homeschool day. And as the days shorten, we may need a little extra support.

3. Go outside for fresh air and sunshine and move

This is recommended year round in any climate, for adults and children, but is easier in warmer months. However, since the sun rises later and can make us sleepier and struggle to wake up, it’s a great idea to go outside at the first sign of sun. It is good to get our bodies moving as well. Moving in the fresh air and sunshine will help us all wake up. The brain will wake up, blood will circulate, oxygen will flow, and muscles will warm up. Also, vitamin D from the sun will elevate moods and bring energy.

All of these things promote focus, concentration, good posture, and elevated mood. Even if it’s a cloudy winter day, the sun’s rays can still get through clouds to us and the fresh air is still there. So, it can still help us jumpstart our day with joy. If your fall is cold, you may want to bundle up and go for a short walk even if it’s just around the backyard. Or, have a stretching session if it’s really cold so that muscles can warm up slowly.

4. Add Worship and Music to Homeschool Bible time

Good music naturally elevates mood. As a professional musician and previous music teacher, I watched hundreds of children come alive through music. They were encouraged, uplifted, joyful, and would thrive. The brain lights up more when it hears music than any other time or activity (read about it here). This article here even calls music “nature’s wake-up call”. So, on the topic of waking up and re-energizing for a good homeschool day, music should definitely be on the list.

If you don’t already regularly participate in worship or song with your morning Bible time, fall or winter is a great time to add it in. Music, worship, and songs to God not only can be fun and uplifting, but they glorify God and help get our minds focused on God instead of self. When we are focused on God and His ways we tend to be more optimistic and show godly character. So, this can help create a great start for our homeschool day. But, it doesn’t have to stop there. We can even have music class in several different ways at whatever point in your homeschool day to keep energy going.

5. Add a creative activity to each day

This may sound overwhelming or intimidating. It may sound like it requires a lot of planning, but it doesn’t. That’s not my way of homeschooling. I do NOT do detailed planning for anything. I use curriculums that go in order of lessons or have the lesson right in each day. When we study subjects like History, Science, Health, and more, I use books and just read them in order or make it a family study. We choose which activities and experiments to do, and one of our History curriculums has everything we need for activities. Our Language Arts curriculum includes subjects like poetry, art, geography, and more. But, it is very simple to include other creative activities in our days, and I’ll show you how.

We can make fall homeschool days more lively and fun by adding a creative activity to each day. That could look like an art class, a simple craft, a drawing prompt, a writing exercise, poetry prompts, story prompts, an artisan skill, or baking. Or, even grabbing a book on music composers at the library and having active listening time to listen to a piece by the composer of the day. Yes, we did that last one which is why it was so detailed. You can even grab a book on artists, ballerinas, poetry, etc. Activities like this wakes us up and helps us get some creative energy flowing. It can be incorporated at any point in the homeschool day, but if the day is extra slow or tired, a creative activity before harder subjects like Math can really help! Check out our list of ideas below.

No- to little- planning activity ideas:

• a free art class tutorial on YouTube (Art Kids Hub)
• a simple craft from an art book you may have on hand
• a drawing prompt (we have 50+ free drawing prompts for you here! and 200+ here!)
• a painting prompt (can use drawing prompts for this!)
• a writing exercise, poetry prompt, or story prompt (come up with some or search it and you’ll quickly find free ideas everywhere!)
• bake something
• active music listening (use a book or pick a composer or artist and search for a song! Composers to get you started: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Scott Joplin, John Williams)
• make a bracelet with beads or string
• make a thank you card for someone
• a free origami class on YouTube

Read more in-depth about these activities in my post 10 Simple Creative Activities for Homeschool: No Planning Necessary. Hopefully those ideas help you to get started and inspire you to think of more of your own ideas. Plan ahead or don’t. These creative activities will help bring or keep up energy and focus in our homeschool days in fall.

6. Chores

Chores are never-ending and must keep going to steward our homes well. Fall is a time to focus on opening windows and deep cleaning tasks in preparation for a closed-window winter. The home should be deeply cleaned to help keep everyone in it as healthy as possible since getting fresh air (or in the house) may not be a daily habit in winter.

Maybe this doesn’t feel like a part of your homeschool routine, but for us, chores is an anchor in our day. We expect to complete our chores right after homeschool is done. Everyone in our home is done with their Math and Language at different times because they are different ages, so they complete those subjects individually and last.

My youngest ones do need a play break after they finish homeschool before they can focus on chores because they store up energy. However, the older ones usually go right into completing their chores unless they had an unusually long or challenging day and need a break. Chores help us transition from the homeschool table to the dining table; and from work into family time.

7. Make warm one-pot meals or sheet pan meals for lunch and dinner

Homeschool days always benefit from simple meal plans for lunch and dinner. Okay, the truth is that us homeschool moms are the ones who benefit the most from simple meal plans. But, seeing as we help create the atmosphere in our homes as gatekeepers of our homes, this benefits everyone. As the days feel shorter during the fall transition to winter, it can be helpful to have simple meal plans on homeschool days. One-pot meals, sheet pan meals, slow cooker meals, and instant pot meals are simple options. Not only are these types of meals simple, but they usually use nourishing ingredients and take less hands on work to create.

One thing that will greatly help in simple meal planning for a fall homeschool routine is to have a well-stocked pantry and freezer. You can prep freezer meals that can go straight into the crock pot, instant pot, or even a regular stovetop pot when ready to cook. But, a well-stocked pantry will help get wholesome ingredients into one pot or sheet pan, and let it cook.

It is especially helpful if you render your own broth, and have dehydrated ingredients on hand. For instance, we like to throw dehydrated celery in a soup for added nutrition. What’s more simple and nourishing than having bone broth and dehydrated veggies on hand? Check out our favorite dehydrators here. Here are some quick ideas to get your brainstorm going:

Quick, simple, warm one-pot or sheet pan meals:

• Soups (best with bone broth): tomato soup, chicken noodle or dumpling soup, taco soup, enchilada soup using this homemade sauce, etc)
• Chilis (best with bone broth): regular chili, white chicken chili, cowboy chili
• Sourdough skillet (our favorite recipe from farmhouseonboone.com)
• Chicken, carrots, and potatoes on a sheet pan (or any meat with veggies on a sheet pan)
• Ground beef and sweet potato skillet
• One-pot meat and rice (beef and rice, sausage and rice, etc) (For any meat and rice, you cook the meat in the pot first, then throw in rice and liquid doubling the amount of rice, and cook the rice right in the meat)

That’s 6 simple meal category ideas that have many recipes in each category. Gather recipes, rotate your ideas, and you have quick, simple meal plan for your fall homeschool days!

8. Light candles while cooking and eating dinner 

Again, a good fall routine is one that embraces the rise and setting of the sun. A routine that allows our bodies to try to sync with the season. It has been well-known that using candlelight or fireplace light in the evening instead of artificial light is good for our circadian rhythm. The warm light of candles and fire promote winding down, while artificial lights (especially with blue light) keep our brains awake.

So, lighting candles in the evening is a simple way to embrace the earlier setting of the sun and promote earlier bedtimes and earlier rises for a better homeschool day. However, I love lighting candles for dinner in any season. It’s just one of those things that makes dinner and evening feel special and cozy. And, of course, it smells good, too. (Disclaimer: We do not put lit candles on our dining table because of little ones. So, high places like our kitchen counter are our choice. We do keep unlit candles for smell on the dining table.) The next tip is another thing that can make dinnertime feel special before winding down for the day.

9. Play cuisine-inspired instrumental music during dinner

This is another simple habit that can be enjoyed any time of year. But, fall and winter my favorite time of year to do this. There is just something extra cozy and relaxing about playing instrumental music in the background of a meal. It also feels special. If I made pizza or spaghetti, then the music will be Italian restaurant music. If I made a Spanish meal, the music will be instrumental salsa or merengue. Sometimes the meal I make is American (or I don’t know where it’s from), so I’ll just play some instrumental light jazz.

Now, remember that listening to music can wake up the brain. So, the key here is to make sure the music is instrumental, not too fast, and not too loud. A calm tempo and quiet volume keep the meal cozy and relaxing to help promote winding down after dinner. (Unless you need a little boost to make it, hence my merengue option.) This is especially important because I struggled for years with dinnertime and after dinner being the most chaotic time of day. We changed our routine over the years to include all the harder work and play before dinner, and add in these cozy habits.

Side tip:

Another way to keep things less chaotic at and after dinnertime (if your family struggles like my large family) is to structure your conversation/dinnertime. If I notice my kids are extra hyper (or not getting along at dinner), I have an arsenal of ideas ready to calm things down. Now, some of these ideas sound like winding up, but they aren’t. They quiet everyone and promote focus and attention. And, some days that it just what we need to keep things peaceful. Some ideas in my arsenal:

• Tell clean jokes (I have some pages bookmarked in my internet browser on my phone)
• Tell riddles that require the kids to think (again, bookmarked)
• Pass around poems to read (boooookmaaaark)
• Have everyone share something about their day that: inspired them, encouraged them, was challenging, etc
• Have everyone say a name of someone who blessed them or helped them, and someone that they blessed or helped
• Have everyone say their most difficult part of their day followed by the best part of their day
• Play what we call the “Alphabet Game”. Not original, I know. But, basically, we pick a category and go around saying a word that fits the category. Sometimes we will do as many as we can think of with “A”, then as many with “B”. Other times we keep it shorter by each person thinking of one thing in one letter. First person “A”, next person “B”, and so on. (Ex. Category: Food. “A” is for Apple, “B” is for bread. Of course we get much more creative, but that’s the gist.)

There are many more ideas, but as always, we like to just get you started and inspire you to be creative! If you find that some of these ideas wind up your kids too much, find what work best for your family to keep everyone relaxed.

10. Cozy warm baths or showers

Many families routinely complete baths and showers after dinner or before bedtime. Again, do what works best for your family. But, this is one way we have found to encourage everyone to relax and calm down for the night no matter the age. In Fall, a cozy, warm bath or shower is a relaxing end to a day. However, we have so many people in our family and only two bathrooms, so we have to take turns.

We like to promote extra coziness by adding baking soda to bath water to neutralize chemicals in water, or use a bath bomb or espom salts. All of these added to bath water can promote relaxation, and epsom salts help add much needed minerals like magnesium, to enter the body for a restful sleep. We can’t use bath bombs and salts every time for everyone, so baking soda is helpful. Also, every once in a while we like to make bath time even more special by adding a fake candle light, a diffuser, relaxing music on a portable speaker, or a combination of these ideas. (I use real candles.) The last few ideas can be used for showers, and so can shower steamers.

11. Read a bed time story or scripture as a family and pray

This may already be a part of your family’s daily routine. But, if it’s not, this is another great habit to get into during the Fall and Winter months. It can be really relaxing and calming to cozy together on the couch with a story or scripture. To be honest, sometimes we watch a short show (usually cute, inspiring, or a devotional) before bedtime prayers depending on how busy we are bathing one kid to the next, especially if we are running low on time and it’s getting later than we want.

However, a story or scripture and prayer time together is not only calming, but encourages our relationships. I am not a natural snuggler, so reminding myself to snuggle the kids during this time is special. Snuggling has so many benefits for the brain and bonding. And, ending the day with prayer is not only a healthy spiritual discipline, but also promotes bonding. This is one habit I plan on practicing much more this fall to help us have more nourishing days.

12. Go to bed early

It might feel more natural to go to bed earlier as the sun sets earlier and the time changes. However, if it isn’t natural, it is still beneficial to try to train your body to go to bed early in the Fall and Winter months. Again, this helps us flow with the season, not fight it. Our bodies are transitioning into an even deeper season of rest. Yes, we may be finishing up the harvesting or the preserving at this point of the year, but that actually tends to help promote tiredness. The key is to flow with it, not fight it. So, after the kids go to bed, create your own nourishing bedtime routine to help you get to bed earlier! Remember, “early to bed, early to rise” and have a productive homeschool day.

This nourishing fall routine can help your family have better homeschool days

Allowing our bodies to sync with the season, being energetic and productive during the hours of daylight and calming and relaxing with the setting of the sun, can be so nourishing for our bodies and our minds. It may feel as if we can’t get everything done in a day. Well, we can’t, really. So, try to set your expectations for each fall day to the hours that you do have in a day. If your expectations and goals are realistic, then you have a better chance of ending your day with accomplishment, peace, and joy, even if you didn’t do everything.

And, remember, there is no deadline. So, adjust your routine as you need to so that it works for you and your family. Take one of these tips or all 12. Do them all every day or a few. Find a rhythm for your fall days that supports and nourishes you and your homeschooling family. What would you add to this list of tips for a nourishing fall routine for Christian homeschool families? Which tips do you like best? Let us know in the comments! And please share!

As always, we just want to equip modern families to live abundantly in their homesteads and homeschools. So, we try to provide simple solutions (like this routine) and simple resources (like our free printables and links to other resources) to help you on your adventure.

Live abundantly, Friend,

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