Easy Homeschool Ideas for the Holidays: Everything Counts!

"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."  ~Matthew 2:10

The first time each year that Christmas is mentioned does NOT have to strike fear and avoidance into a homeschool mama! We've been there and know God has a better plan.

The extra holiday homeschool activities during Christmas can make this season a more special time AND count for home education!

We’ll show you how with things you’re probably already doing. That’s right, add them to your lesson plans as learning because they are!

Holiday activities you are already doing that you should count as homeschool learning:

Holiday Homeschool Idea No. 1: Writing lists

From shopping lists to the planning party rundown, this is a big skill in organizing, sorting and prioritizing. Have your kids help write the lists you need. This will go a long way to creating empathy and their need to support all you do as they see the details involved. Beginning readers/writers could just write the first letter of the words or even make quick drawings to represent the item. Writing lists is spelling, reading, handwriting and even technology development if they’re inputting on a device and/or using a website’s list-making feature. 

Holiday Homeschool Idea No. 2: Making cards and addressing envelopes

The fine art and crafting that comes with the holiday season is one of the most fun things about it. Add in having them write out the message inside cards and these will become precious keepsakes. For beginners, have them use invented spelling and write for them underneath in quotes what they meant to say. Do that once, copy and have them cut and glue it into the cards.

The next part to card-making is addressing envelopes which is one big skill that isn’t used as often anymore, but still important. Even if an official stamp and mailing is not in the works, this is worth the practice if just to teach your children their home address. Use fun stickers in place of the stamp to teach directionality and return address placement. Get a swanky return address stamper and/or stickers to make it more fun.

Holiday Homeschool Idea No. 3: Cooking/Baking

This is Home Economics in action and so much more with the special memories made when cooking and baking together. With traditional family recipes, take the time to investigate the History of where the recipe came from as well as the genealogy of your own family. Get the maps out and add Geography to the equation.

Math concepts also come alive as measuring and comparing units like cups/pints/quarts goes from abstract to concrete. It takes much repetition to get a firm grasp on those units and this is a prime opportunity for it.  Work fractions as recipes are doubled, tripled or even quadrupled…MORE cookies, please! Or maybe halving a recipe is in order as only a few people enjoy a certain item….ours is Crab Pie. Reducing recipes becomes interesting as each person wrestles in their own way with halving an egg!

Also consider using recipes that give measurements in weights and get an electronic scale to discover the difference between grams, ounces and what tare actually means. 

Remember that basically, cooking is Science and there are engaging, free resources online that illustrate it nicely. We like Alton Brown’s Good Eats video, check out one of them below and enjoy your homeschool kitchen.

Alton's Grilled Steak Fajitas | Food Network

Holiday Homeschool Idea No. 4: Christmas Carols

Singing Christmas carols or hymns can be taken up a notch by adding the lyrics. Think of YouTube videos with lyrics like those during worship in church. Adding the lyrics is great for reading fluency.  The same words over and over help readers be able to read and recognize words more quickly.

In those older songs, vocabulary will come in with words like herald, manger or the cattle are lowing…what does that even mean? All of those songs and more contain interesting vocabulary and offer an opportunity for unique word study.

Holiday Homeschool Idea No. 5: Holiday performances/recitals

Most churches get the kids involved in their Christmas play or pageant. These are powerful experiences that go beyond reading and memorizing lines. In presenting on any level, offers practice in focusing on our words and actions, using good grammar, listening and paying attention intently to what other people are saying so a part is not missed. All of that is Language Arts.

Even if your child has a supporting role or is on the stagehand crew, it takes every person collaborating together to make a performance successful and that is building interpersonal skills. Character is built as they navigate the need to compromise, forgive, trust and have fun problem solving with other people when things don’t go as planned.

Conclusion

God provides so much goodness in the Christmas joy happening each day of the season and we hope this helps you relax into it and count it as education in your homeschool plans.

What resonates most with you and how can we help you apply it to your homeschool days? We are here to help you make your days easier and more enjoyable. We encourage you to prayerfully consider the following support systems for your homeschool: The Homeschool Well Community, The Homeschool Well 1:1 Coaching 

We pray this blesses you!

🎄Merry Christmas,

Kim & Jenny

👓Other articles you may find interesting!

Know Your Why: Choosing What to Teach In Your Homeschool

Choosing Homeschool Science Curriculum

How & Why To Add Scripture Memorization to Homeschool Plans

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