*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission for any purchases. However, all opinions are my own. My kids and I love every single Christmas book I have included links for!*
During the holiday season, keeping students’ interest can be a challenge. I found this to be true when I was a classroom teacher, and it’s also true with my kids in our homeschool. Who can blame kids for being easily distracted this time of year? They’re excited, and honestly, it warms my heart to see children trembling with anticipation. But what do you do about school? Well, since you have flexibility that classroom teachers don’t have, there are several things you can do. The first is the simplest, though it isn’t feasible for everyone: take a school holiday from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. As long as you’re complying with homeschool law with your number of total days and hours of instruction, this is actually a viable option. However, this doesn’t work for everyone, especially if your children have outside work from a homeschool hybrid or online homeschool. Also, if you like to take longer breaks other times of the year, you may not be able to get all of your days in. So, another option is Christmas school! What’s Christmas school? It’s where you take a break from your regular curriculum and make your children’s assignments a bit more festive. Here’s what I mean: #1 Math, Grammar, and Phonics: Holiday themed worksheets Sure, maybe the only difference is snowmen decorating the margins, but it’s amazing how some happy Christmas clip art can make division or prepositions more fun. Other worksheets use actual Christmas scenarios like worksheets with word problems about going Christmas shopping or baking cookies. The website www.teacherspayteachers.com has dozens of these. Some are free, and most others are inexpensive. If you have a subscription to Canva, you can even make your own! One caveat: these are much easier to find for younger students. #2 History and Geography: Unit Studies Take a break from your regular history study and do a Christmas themed unit. For geography, I have done Christmas around the world with my kids. We study the customs and foods of the holidays in different countries. For history, you could learn about the real St. Nicholas or the origins of things like Christmas trees, mistletoe, and wreaths. #3 Math: Baking The easiest way to practice fractions? Do some Christmas baking. Then you get to eat the assignment! My kids and I also make gingerbread cookies, decorate them, and then take them to someone who needs encouragement. We’ve taken them to neighbors, the sales clerk at the store we frequent, or college students studying for exams. This turns a math lesson into a community service project! #4 Literature: A Christmas Book a Day
This is probably my favorite activity during “Christmas School.” I saw the idea either on Facebook or Pinterest years ago. You wrap twenty four Christmas books and put them under the tree. Then, your child gets to open a book every day until Christmas! When I started, we didn’t own that many Christmas books, but over the years I have collected twenty four of them. Before then, we just didn’t do it every single day. My kids love doing this, and they try to figure out which ones are their favorites before tearing off the wrapping. Then, of course, we cuddle up on the couch to read together. Here are some of my favorites from our collection:
What makes it really special is that I only get these books out at Christmas. After the new year, back they go into the closet! #5 Music: Holiday Music Study Learn the history of a different Christmas song or carol every day, then listen to it (or sing it!) together. A quick Google search ahead of time can give you the story behind almost any Christmas song you can think of. #6 Writing: Holiday Copywork You can find lots of holiday-themed handwriting and copywork pages at Teachers Pay Teachers. Or, again, you can make your own. Have them copy lines from Christmas Carols, scriptures from the Nativity story in the Bible, or lines from famous Christmas books like A Christmas Carol or The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. #7 Field Trips: Theater The holidays are probably the best time of the year to expose your kids to theater. Almost every community has a production of some Christmas show. We’ve seen A Christmas Carol at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at a local children’s theater. Right now, another children’s theater group in our community is doing Elf, Jr. the musical. There’s also usually several local dance studios doing productions of The Nutcracker. Here in Atlanta, the Atlanta Ballet usually does a shortened version of The Nutcracker for school groups at a much cheaper ticket price. Get together with your homeschool group and sign up for such a field trip. Your local newspaper probably has a list of local holiday shows, or you can ask at your public library. Speaking of libraries, they are a great source of holiday educational experiences. You’ll often find visits from Santa, craft workshops, and other great activities going on there. I hope I have gotten your creative juices flowing with great ideas for making school fun during the holidays. Even calling it “Christmas School” during this time makes my kids so much more eager to get their work done. You can go to my pinterest page (@aboveallateacher) for more great ideas. Just look for my board entitled “Christmas School.” Merry Christmas!
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AuthorHi, I'm Melanie! I'm a homeschooling mom of three kids ages 13, 11, and 9. I have a BS in English Secondary Education from Asbury University plus 30 hours of gifted certification course work. I've taught in just about every situation you can imagine. Public school, private, homeschool hybrid, and private tutoring. The most important thing I've learned? One on one, individualized instruction can't be beat. Archives
July 2022
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