If you stress about putting on the perfect family dinner for Christmas each year, roping in your homeschool students to become your Christmas task force may be a good way to get extra help. Plus they will learn a great deal from the experience in terms of life skills.
Cleaning the house
A round of “Spring Cleaning” all over the house is a good place to start. Allow the homeschool students to clear out whatever they are not using any more and pile it into bags and boxes. These cast-offs can then be delivered to a favoured charity. An important lesson is put in action – giving is part of the joy of the season.
Preparing rooms for guests
If you are looking at over night guests, which could include cousins, uncles and aunts, you need to prepare the rooms accordingly. Have the children help with the creation of closet space, laying of fresh linen and even adding mints on the pillow. Teach them how to welcome others into their home.
Decorating the home
Naturally the tree and decorations are a huge crowd pleaser, so take some time to plan out just how the children want to deck the halls and rooms. Have them come up with themes if they want to do individual rooms with different ones. Or just throw all the decorations you have into a cardboard box and have them go any way they want.
Setting the table
This sit down dinner is a good time to teach them about the intricacies of fine dining. You can tell them about the different flatware, glasses and course that you will be serving through the meal and how they should be handling each part. Have them practice setting a place formal place for dining as well.
General etiquettes for hospitality
While your homeschool children may be perfectly well behaved, it may be a good time to give them some “finishing school” style tips on how social etiquette was handled in the past. Also add rules about what they are expected and not expected to do during the actual meal. Ban the smartphones from the table!
Baking and catering
A good part of the actual cooking needs to be done in advance and the homeschool students can be make in charge of one dish each. Have them practice and prepare it a couple of times before you give them the honour of serving it for Christmas dinner.
