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‘Tis the season to be jolly and joyous! With Christmas and New Year's Day fast approaching, here are some fun activities to enrich your holidays without losing the momentum for homeschooling that you have worked hard to build all year.
Learn Christmas Carols, Their History & Meaning
Gather around, sing joyful Christmas carols together and learn about their history and meaning. Here are some famous carols you can listen to and sing along with following the lyrics:
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Watch Christmas Movies & Documentaries
Have a family Christmas movie marathon with hot cocoa for a cozy night of fun. Enjoy classics such as It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and more,
For families looking for more educational content, check out nature and animal documentaries such as Planet Earth or Blue Planet and bring a virtual aquarium or zoo into your living room.
Attend a Local Holiday Market or Parade
Visit a holiday market or watch a parade in your town! It will not only be fun and festive but also give you a chance to meet your neighbors and socialize.
Make Holiday Presents for Friends & Family
Celebrate your friends, family, and neighbors and let them know how much you love them by making holiday presents for them. This could be a fun arts & craft class where your students can get creative and crafty.
Write and Send Family Holiday Cards
Have kids help with holiday cards by adding their own special messages, poems, and artwork. Or create a Christmas newsletter with a contribution included from each child. This can be a great writing exercise and help your students gain more confidence in their writing skills.
Research Christmas Traditions Around the World
Learn about different holidays traditions around the world, watch documentaries or YouTube videos, search the internet for recipes and create a feast featuring international holiday foods and music from different parts of the world!
Practice Math with Holiday Baking
Help your students learn baking skills AND develop their math skills. Make batches of Christmas cookies and let your child practice math skills such as counting, sorting, measuring, fractions, adding, multiplication (doubling, tripling, etc the recipe), and then dividing the cookie batches into delicious gifts for family and friends.
Participate in a Community Service Project
The holiday season is for sharing and giving. Get together with friends and family, donate food items and other essentials to a local food bank or homeless shelter. Find an Angel Tree in your area or other organization and sponsor a child or family by providing them gifts for the holiday. Your kids can also help other kids in need by donating used books and toys to local charities.
There is a lot that you can do to make this season merry and bright as well as a valuable learning opportunity for your kids with a little imagination and flexibility.
