Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year! We have so many Christmas traditions and doing “Christmas homeschool” is one of them. What is Christmas homeschool? It’s when you set aside your regular curriculum for the Christmas season and do all things Christmas! In this blog post, I’m sharing with you the Christmas homeschool ideas and activities that we cherish so deeply in our home!
When Does Christmas homeschool start?
For us, our Christmas homeschool starts on December 1st and goes for the entire month of December! December 1st also happens to be my son’s birthday, when the elves arrive from the north pole, and when the kids get their chocolate advent calendars. So, it’s kind of a big day around here!
By this date, our entire house is already fully decorated (other than getting our Christmas tree), and we are all 100% full of the Christmas spirit! We have so many meaningful traditions that we carry out during the holiday season, and December 1st marks day 1 of our Christmas homeschooling!
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How Much School Work Do We Do?
For us, Christmas homeschool means pressing pause on everything except math. For most of our school time together, we do a Christmas unit study from Gather Round Homeschool.
If you aren’t familiar with Gather Round, they are a curriculum company that offers unit studies for the whole family. As the parent you only need to teach from one teacher’s manual, and each child has their own workbook based on their level. We use their curriculum a lot within our homeschool, and when it’s time for Christmas homeschool, we love their Christmas units!
Each lesson is centered around a main theme, but has each of these components to it:
- Language arts
- Social studies
- History
- Geography
- Art
These Christmas unit studies are a great way to keep your kids learning and practicing some skills, while having loads of fun! Last year we did their unit titled, “The First Christmas“, which was all about the birth of Jesus Christ and the history of Christmas. This year, we are doing their unit titled, “Christmas Around The World“, which teaches about how people in different countries celebrate Christmas.
There are lots of activities included in these unit studies such as making Christmas cards for people, creating a nativity scene, and more. All the lesson plans are done for you, so it’s just open and go! If you’ve never done a Christmas unit study, I highly recommend Gather Round. You can purchase a physical copy or buy the digital download and print it out yourself.
Christmas Activities We Love
Our Christmas homeschooling experience goes FAR beyond doing a unit study! There are so many Christmas activities we enjoy together. Here is a list of some of the things we love to do:
- Watching our favorite Christmas movies: Movies like Polar Express, The Santa Claus, Elf, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and Noelle always make the list!
- Reading lots of Christmas books: Our morning time routine always consists of reading something Christmas related. Plus, we do a special book countdown with the kids! This is where I wrap up 24 Christmas books, and each evening before bed they take turns unwrapping one to read!
- Coloring: My kids love to color, and so do I! During our Christmas homeschool, I print out lots of Christmas coloring pages and we spend so much time just sitting down together and coloring.
- Build a Gingerbread House: This is such a fun activity! We buy the kits, and create an entire gingerbread village – including gingerbread people!
- Giving Christmas Cookies to the neighbors: Every year, we go to my moms house and bake dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies! Then, the kids and I package some of them up in pretty Christmas cookie tins with a note saying “Merry Christmas”, and deliver them to our neighbors!
- Listen to LOTS of Christmas music: We pretty much have Christmas music going in the house non stop during December! And whenever a favorite song comes on, the volume always gets turned up!
- Create A Christmas Show: In the last couple of years, we have created a tradition of putting on a musical performance for our family on Christmas Day. This is a fun way for the kids to showcase their talents, as well as give a meaningful gift to the family.
- Making Christmas Ornaments: This is a tradition we started a few years ago and we look forward to it every year! The kids make a few new ornaments for the Christmas tree…and I join in as well!
- Go Caroling: Last year was the first year we did this, but I think it’s going to become a tradition! We went to a nursing home with our homeschool group and sang Christmas songs for the residents. The joy on their faces when they heard their favorite Christmas carol being sung was enough to bring us back year after year!
Other Christmas Homeschool Ideas
Christmas is such a wonderful time of year and there are so many fun activities you could incorporate into your Christmas homeschool experience. Here are some more ideas you may want to include:
- Celebrate Advent season: There are so many great ways to celebrate advent together as a family. Find a free resource online, or download Gather Round’s Advent activities.
- Study the different Christmas symbols: As a family, make a list of the most common Christmas symbols (Christmas tree, star, lights, etc) and research the history behind them.
- Christmas Crafts: Crafts always provide a great time for everyone, especially younger kids! Do some crafts that have Christmas themes like a paper countdown chain or homemade Christmas tree ornaments!
Enjoy The Season Together
As a homeschool mom, it can be challenging at times to give ourselves permission to set things aside and just have fun with our kids. But doing Christmas homeschool is the perfect way to feel good about stepping back and just enjoying your time together.
Prepare for this by borrowing some beautiful Christmas picture books from the library, and having a few hands-on activities ready to go.
But more than anything, take time to breathe and enjoy the magic and wonder of the Christmas season! Make family time a priority, and soak up every minute you have with your children. They grow up so fast….so don’t miss out on the opportunity to make the most of this precious time.
And remember, the true reason for all of our Christmas celebrations is the birth of Jesus! Because He was born a human, lived and died for our salvation, we can spend eternity in heaven with Him! THAT is good news worth celebrating!
Blessings!
~Maryann
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