Hygge Homeschooling: A How to Guide
Hygge (hue-gah) Homeschooling – what an interesting concept. The winter months can be difficult for homeschoolers, it is dark and snowy (at least in my neck of the woods). We tend to hunker down, but I still want our homeschool to be life-giving.
Before we get into the how of hygge homeschooling, let’s explore the what. What exactly is Hygge Homeschooling? Well, first we need to define what hygge is. And unfortunately, that is a bit of a challenge because there isn’t an exact English translation for the word Hygge.
hyg·ge: noun
a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).
source
What is Hygge Homeschooling?
If hygge is a quality of coziness that gives a feeling of contentment, then hygge homeschooling is a cozy, contented homeschool environment.
Creating an environment of cozy contentment is a primary goal of mine during our homeschool year, but most specifically during the dark and cold winter days. When the sun starts to set at 3:30pm, it can be a bit depressing. Add to that the February slump that so many homeschoolers go through (February can seem like the longest month of the homeschool year!), and you can see how we would want more hygge in our homeschool lives.
How to Incorporate Hygge into your Home & Homeschool
One of the easiest ways to incorporate hygge into your homeschool is to add light. Light in the way of twinkle lights, fairy lights, and candles. Adding these soft bits of light into your home automatically makes it feel cozy. Now, if you are lucky enough to have a fireplace or wood stove, that would also add to the hygge in your home.
You want to think about things that make you feel comfortable and content. I recommend creating a list of ideas to draw from as you go through the next few months. Once you have that list, you will be able to incorporate a lot of those ideas throughout the year. Instead of focusing on hygge only during the cold winter months, you can incorporate that feeling of cozy contentment all year long.
Creating a cozy environment is going to be specific to your family. Just because it works great for me does not necessarily mean it will work for you. But, I want to give you several ideas to help you.
Hygge ideas
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- Beeswax Candles
- Twinkle Lights
- Poetry Tea Time
- Good books
- Knitting
- Handcrafts
- Warm Blankets
- Tea
- Hot Cocoa
- Chocolate
- Homemade Bread
- Any Baking
- Audiobooks
- Music
- Puzzles
- Board Games
- Favorite Hygge Books
The above are all just ideas. It does not mean that you have to incorporate all of these ideas, these are a few to get you started. You can certainly add to this list if there are cozy things that would work better in your home! Look at the above list, and then sit down and think through some of your own ideas. Write them down so when you are trying to get into your hygge rhythm, you can pick and choose from your own list.
A Winter Hygge Rhythm
Once you have your list of ideas, pick one. You do not need to incorporate all of your ideas. In fact, that may become more overwhelming and completely defeat the purpose of hygge homeschooling.
Instead, pick one idea. Then incorporate that into your daily rhythm. Maybe you light a candle at the start of your homeschool day. Or maybe you will have a time set aside specifically for games. Poetry tea time can be a great way to incorporate hygge into your home and homeschool.
What works best for my family is reading books aloud on the couch while we have twinkle lights all around us.
It doesn’t have to be an every day thing. But, also it can be. If everyday is too overwhelming, then pick one thing for one day. Perhaps it can be the start of your week, to get your week off on the right foot. Or maybe it is how you wrap up your week with a Friday full of board games and treats.
How does Hygge Homeschooling Cultivate Simplicity?
Hygge homeschooling allows you to lean into comfort. Oftentimes we, as homeschoolers, think that we need to have a strict and rigid schedule. We are taking control of our children’s education after all – shouldn’t it be strict? However, leaning into this comfortable and cozy environment will take the stress off of you and off of your kids.
Learning is hard. Education is hard. We all want what is best for our kids, and to give them the opportunities and tools they need to succeed in life. But, it doesn’t mean that everything needs to be hard.
Hygge homeschooling allows you to relax a little bit. You get to sit and enjoy some of life’s little pleasures WITH your kids. Instead of just directing their learning, you get to sit and learn with them.
The Bottom Line
When done well, hygge homeschooling promotes relationships. This is a time that you get to take as a parent and build on the relationship that you have with your kids. You do this through the lens of homeschooling. You get to come along side them to watch them learn and grow, and you get to grow as well.
Some of these days will be the fondest memories that I look back on with my kids. The times that we are all baking cookies in the kitchen. How we each stand up to read a little poem during our poetry teatime. We get to have those deep conversations about life, to lean into what is important to us as an individual family, and to learn how to build our relationships. This is all thanks to that word hygge.
Hygge homeschooling helps take pressure off of you as the parent. It helps to reframe your thinking about learning and school. And when you are able to let go of some of the pressure you put on yourself, you will see what wonderful things can transpire in your own home and homeschool.
Do you practice hygge homeschooling? What is one thing that you can add to your homeschool days now to promote the theme of hygge in your home?
