This is a guest post contributed by Leah Hudson. You can learn more about Leah in her bio at the bottom of her post.

Homeschooling shouldn't be drudgery. Homeschooling is filled with opportunities for celebration and joy.

In a busy and overfull life, the tiniest of things delight me. I mean miniscule. Well-prepared food, well-placed words, soft smiles on the faces of my loved ones, a nap on a rainy day. These are the delights of my soul. They introduce wonder into my day, usher in the most natural thanksgiving - a smile.

Taken as a whole the accomplishments of our homeschool days can often look meagre. Especially in busy seasons - hard seasons, dry seasons - the drudgery of our dailies can obscure the larger work taking place under the surface. Little people are being made into more mature, more well-spoken, well-read, kinder, gentler, - dare I say - holier human beings! And we as the caretakers of these little ones are not only observers of this phenomenon- we are also partakers of these improvements in character, in knowledge, in wisdom.

But daily life is just so daily.

And the celebrations of our day slip by unadorned by our cheers and sometimes even our smiles.

I contend homeschooling should be a celebratory act. It should be full of delight in discoveries, revelry in reading, and triumph in trials conquered. And yet, I still have times when I struggle with a simple smile in the midst of my day.

As I set out to write this post about celebratory homeschooling, I assumed I would find tons and tons of mention of this approach to homeschooling in the books I read about the Classical method. And, to be sure, there is much about delighting in learning itself. But very little in the way of encouragement for the homeschool mom to delight in the little joys of her day.

Thus, I humbly offer my thoughts on the topic of celebratory homeschooling.

What is Celebratory Homeschooling?

I have a very basic definition for you here. Celebratory Homeschooling is the art of diligently delighting in the tiny moments of a homeschool day. That's it.

But even as I consider this, I am reminded of Colossians 3:16:

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Here we see the formula - the Law - for celebratory living. And we can extrapolate the corollary into our homeschool. Let's break it down to a basic math sentence.

(Word of God + Teaching) (Psalms + Hymns + Spiritual Songs) = Celebrating with Thankfulness

The Word of God and teaching (or admonishing) are multiplied by psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. The result is celebration with thankfulness.

Now what is the corollary for homeschool? Are you tracking here with me? We take the word of God and the things we are teaching our kids and magnify them with poetry and songs and hymns, delightful things and we will celebrate with thankfulness.

Why Ought We Practice Celebratory Homeschooling?

The simple answer to this question is: because life is hard. We need a soft place to rest. We need to practice noticing the tiny things to be thankful for in our days. But a larger answer is we give our kids a broader view of the world when we notice and celebrate the tiniest things in our homeschooling day. By leaning in and focusing on the small delights of our day, we teach our kids to delight in a God who created everything from the most massive things we can imagine to the most minute particles of the universe.

By focusing on the minuscule, we magnify it in our hearts and our minds. And not just in the hearts and minds of our kids, but our own hearts. I don't know about you, but I desperately need something to celebrate lately. Celebratory Homeschooling naturally brings to the fore the things worthy of treasuring so we can rejoice in them.

What makes for Celebratory Homeschooling?

A Classical homeschool setting is much more relaxed than many suppose. The stuffy and strict recitations and repetitions are just simply not necessary. Our Classical homeschool is filled with singing and poetry. I have often compared our homeschool to a musical - you never know when someone will break out in song.

Here are the things I believe lend themselves to a celebratory mood in our Classical homeschool.

Music and songs - We begin our day with our Gathering (morning time) Playlist. I create a new playlist, which includes a hymn, a spiritual song, and Classical music, each month. It is my sneaky way of teaching my kids to delight in these kinds of things. Each of my kids has been found numerous times singing a hymn or humming a Classical motif whilst playing. Not only are they delighting in the arts, but I get a little lift, too!

We continue our homeschooling day with songs to help us memorize our memory work. Some of our most rehearsed songs have become part of our family culture. It is amazing how quickly a sour attitude can be turned sweet by singing a well-known song in a silly way. It is hard to keep the smiles at bay when your favorite song is on.

Poetry - Our homeschool routine includes poetry recitation everyday. My youngest (currently 3) has come up to me every single day since she was 2 to request to recite her poems. She does nursery rhymes mostly, but has lately started singing the lullabies I have sung to all my kids for years. The older kids have a more formal poetry routine. We get our poems mostly from the PAL program and the Poetry Memorization course from IEW. We also memorize passages of Shakespeare.

Not only is there delight in discovering a fun rhyme together, but there is delight when we work together to memorize the poems. And more delight when the poems are mastered. The spark of light in the eyes of a child who has finally fitted all the pieces together to perform a poem is priceless!

Reading Good Books - I tell my homeschooling mama friends that most of my day is sitting on a couch and reading. We read all day. Our literature rich homeschool approach is not for everyone, but let me make an argument for it in light of this topic of Celebratory Homeschool.

You may have heard of the many benefits of reading aloud with your kids. I want to zoom in on one: connection. In our house (filled with 4 boisterous kids), the most treasured spot is right next to me or on my lap. Each kid knows their read-aloud time with Mama is sacred. The interruptions are few and the smiles are broad.

Even my oldest - now experiencing some sort of early onset teenage mood disorder - cannot resist the pull of our reading time together. In fact, she craves it. Her first order of each day is to read with Mama - her request. We were having quite the week last week - lots of tears - still she wanted more than anything to finish reading A Midsummer Night's Dream together. The conflict of the week (which had been so bad I was dreading a new encounter) melted away as we couldn't help but giggle and exchange glances at one another in the somewhat silly denouement of the play. For those few minutes we did the thing most worthy of celebration in our homeschool - we connected.

Word Play and Various Games - Being a literate bunch, we are avid word players. We are constantly altering poems to fit the mood of the moment. We love to think of punny jokes - even the ones that fall flat. And we often engage in general word play during conversation. But, it should not be overlooked when discussing Celebratory Homeschooling. The joy that comes from a family joke, the sly smiles, the "Oh, I have one!" moments are a priceless part of the celebration of learning.

I know we do not play games enough in our house. It is something I am constantly working to make a bigger part of the day. The reason I think they are an integral part of Celebratory Homeschool is they create natural opportunities to celebrate with one another. The sort of sneaky learning opportunities games provide are not surpassed by the connection and smiles they bring. Teaching simple things like good sportsmanship - yes of course - is important, but taking a moment to enjoy one another's company is all the better. And there is nothing more precious to a child - and nothing more worthy of celebration - than beating mom or dad at a game!

Bite-sized Prayers - Since my oldest was a wee toddler with seeming full-grown-kid brain power, we have practiced the simple, and humble prayer - "Good job, God!" Yes, that phrase good job is overused, and yes, it is a bit trite. But we have used it to remind our kids that God is the one worthy of our praise - big and small. When we talk about God's creation, we take a moment to remember it is indeed God who created the object of our attention. And then we offer up our thanks to the God who did it!

This act of thanksgiving to the Maker and Author of all things is an integral part of Celebratory Homeschooling. A small child taking a moment to offer up a simple prayer brings a smile to my face. I can only imagine how God reacts to it. Hopefully leading my kids in the practice of thankful prayer is the legacy I will leave to them. If I fail in all other pursuits in our homeschool, I hope they will remember God is worthy of all praise.

Is Celebratory Homeschooling for You?

I hope so! I hope this article has encouraged you in the midst of your homeschooling journey. The practice of Celebratory Homeschooling is adaptable to any homeschool. It is not about adding another thing to the to-do list. Yes - we do poetry and singing and reading in our Celebratory Homeschool. But that may not be for you.

I pray and humbly hope this article has directed your hearts toward reveling in the simple joys of God's good plan for you.

Hi, I am Leah, the wife, homemaker, and homeschooling mom behind Simple.Home.Blessings. I like to think of myself as a problem-solver and joy-seeker. Instead of getting bogged down in the problems of life, I try to find a solution and then glory in it. I would like to share one of all-time favorite solutions with you - head over to my site to get a FREE set of our Gathering placemats! Find me on Instagram as well!