Homeschooling Christmas

Homeschool Question: "I've been toying with the idea of taking December 'off'. Does anyone else do this? I want to have FUN! I want to bake, sew, serve...do all the things we never seem to have time for. I'm scared to let go! Maybe we'll at least do math everyday. Anyone else here take December off?


Do The Children's Hour and since that is an hour, it is a thread that can run through the year as a spiritual- intellectual devotional! It is scripture, classic, and focused learning. This is just one hour!  Then you can do all you want to do, and it can be school too! 

In November and December, do Thanksgiving and Christmas as part of school, building homemaking skills, enjoying the cultural arts, and serving. The great thing about homeschool is we get to include anything we feel is worth while learning and experiencing. We are not limited by what schools do.

When I was a child in the early years of elementary, we did not do pre-school. Kindergarten was non- academic. Christmas programs were religious. I remember doing a nativity play about the Three Christmas Trees when I was in 3rd Grade. We sang Christmas carols, not just holiday songs in our school choir. It was all part of school. When we studied other countries we even made their food in our classrooms. It was all part of the academics!

When you boil down the 3 Rs whether you do: "Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic," "Reading, Reasoning, and Reciting," or "Research, Reason, Relate, and Record," approach to homeschool,  it is not difficult to substitute the Christmas theme and all of its cultural arts, along with reading Christmas stories, writing a Christmas Journal, and even doing Christmas math, in lieu of what you normally do.

But "you had better watch out!" Wink  You might find yourself creating something thematic each month to take advantage of a New year, President's Day, Spring, Easter, and your children will end up getting a whole education!

There are many subjects to study in Christmas:
Scripture Study  Old Testament and Book of Mormon prophecy, New Testament and Book of Mormon passages about the nativity.

Art Appreciation  classic nativity paintings and Christmas themes.

Music Appreciation  classic Christmas carols, some are centuries old.

Literature classic Christmas stories and excerpted Christmas passages from classics.

Poetry Christmas Poetry.

Penmanship lists, Christmas tags, thank you notes, signing Christmas letters/cards, and even keeping their own special Christmas Journal.

Social Studies (Geography, Culture & History)- study Christmas traditions around the world.

Science study of snow, keeping a weather log, and winter nature walks and collecting (tree studies, winter birds, pine cones, and seed pods).

Math counting (links in a chain, counting cookies), fractions (measurements for cooking) , decimals (giving change), telling time (time management), mensuration (measuring fabric, weighing packages), creating a Christmas budget,  shopping for needed materials (handling money and giving change), and learning to read thermometers (candy thermometers, meat thermometers, and weather thermometers).

Home Economics and Shop holiday baking, crafting, sewing, making decorations and gifts.

Performing Arts  Caroling to shut-ins. Acting out the Nativity. Attend Christmas Concerts and Christmas productions.

All of this can be done very matter-of-fact, very playfully, having fun, and what is also important, they are learning, moving forward, and do not even realize it is school... All the while mom can keep Victory Journal of all the school she did with the children. And all the while they think they have a month off!