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As the holiday season approaches, parents who homeschool their children have the opportunity to teach their children an additionally important lesson – the idea of giving. Beyond academics, parents who homeschool their children also have a responsibility to educate their children on social issues.

With this opportunity in hand, parents can consider teaching their children about issues that include contributing to the environment, issues that affect children, giving to others, and even going green. Parents can further use these lessons to connect to other academic lessons currently being taught. The following are just a few ideas on lessons that parents can help their children learn during the holiday season:

• Giving to a cause – The holidays really do represent the season of giving. With this in mind, parents have a unique opportunity to teach their children the importance of giving to a specific organization or cause. The benefit here is that parents can then use their gift to the organization as a teachable moment that can lead to other teaching opportunities. Parents can help their children give to organizations that plant trees if they are teaching about the environment, or they can give to international children’s organizations if they are currently exploring a unit on different countries and cultures. There are even organizations that will accept gifts to be used as a method of adopting an animal such as a whale or a turtle – perfect for any nature unit.

• Giving to others – Another important lesson for parents to teach their children is the idea of giving to others. This is perhaps one of the most important lessons that any parent can teach a child. Parents can take this opportunity to teach their children about helping others by having their child visit a home for the elderly or providing a service to the elderly such as walking a dog or cleaning a home.

• Going green – With the environment being such a hot topic these days, parents are constantly looking for ways to incorporate real life experiences with the curriculum. Activities that center on the environment are another excellent way to teach children that they are also responsible for the well-being of the planet. Gifts that are given during the holidays can be environmentally-based, as can some of the activities.

There are many lessons to be taught and learned during the holiday season. For parents who homeschool their child, the holidays represent an excellent opportunity to connect academic lessons with real life experiences. Whether a parent is covering a unit on the environment, on different cultures and traditions, or anything in between, parents can really take the time to help their children learn and experience some very important aspects of being members of society. These lessons, or essentially, these gifts, represent lessons that these children will be able to take with them for years to come. After the joy of a new toy has come and gone, gifts such as understanding the gift of giving to and helping others will last for years, if not forever.