As we near closer and closer to the holiday season, many homeschool parents (especially new ones) begin to wonder how they’re going to approach the month of December.
Do you homeschool as usual? Do you give your subjects a Christmas flair? Do you take time off of school and focus on Advent and family traditions?
Let’s take a look at a few different aspects of the holiday and what they might look like in a Homeschool Family Christmas.
Homeschooling and the Holidays
Every year looks a little different for us, as I’m sure it does for you. As children grow and new babies come, what you can do changes with the seasons. Depending on your state laws, you might take the month of December off entirely. This is a common choice among homeschoolers and something we’ve done several times in the past.
When you’re planning your December, consider if you’ll have family coming to stay or if you’re going on vacation. These circumstances will make the choice to take time off of school much easier. I mean, who wants to do schoolwork on vacation?? Not this girl!
Traditions
Family traditions come in many forms. Sometimes it’s something as simple as making cookies together and delivering them to neighbors or friends.
I have a friend who takes her children two hours south to ride a “Polar Express” train. They make a weekend of it every year with extended family. The complexity and expense completely depend on you and what you’re willing/able to do.
Some frugal traditions we have done over the years include . . .
- making cookies together
- singing carols as a family
- learn a new Christmas hymn
- take food to a food bank
- making and sending Christmas cards
- celebrate Advent (we’ve done varying things over the year, but our most recent favorite is Melk)
- decorating gingerbread houses and cookies
- do many, many Christmas crafts (there are a ton of free ones on Pinterest)
- host a Christmas party with our homeschool friends (pitch in style)
- wrap books you already own but haven’t read in a while and then open and read one each night
- drink hot chocolate and watch movies
- get out the miscellaneous craft supplies and see what new homemade decorations we can make
- make homemade Christmas ornaments
Here’s an article specifically about large family Christmas traditions.
Holiday Recipes
Christmas is such a yummy time of year. I’m not usually a fan of sweets, but man, it’s hard to pass up those Christmas goodies!
Here are a few Christmas favorite recipes . . .
- Homemade Peppermint Patties
- Santa Hat Brownies
- Chocolate Pretzel Snowmen
- Oreo Christmas Ornaments
- Peppermint Reindeer Bark
- Starlight Advent Christmas Cookies
- Reindeer Chow
- Elf Chex Mix
If you’re looking for a meal planner to keep track of all these goodies, check out the Meal Planning Made Simple Planner.
Learning Resources
Here are a few fun learning resources that have Christmas flair . . .
- A Simple Red, Green and White Nature Walk
- How to Make Christmas Cooking Baking a Learning Experience
- Nativity Artist Study and Project with Handel’s Messiah
- Christmas Alphabet and Number Matching
- A Scientific Cookie Mystery
- 30 Days of Christmas Bible Reading Plan
- Christmas Math: Doubling with Starlight Mints
- Nativity Story Stick Puppet Craft
- Christmas Glyphs: Fun Graphing Activities
Family Gift Ideas
I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas gifts. I LOVE the joy that they bring my children, but I LOATHE the mess and clutter they bring, which is why we usually opt for family gifts, instead of individual ones.
But don’t worry, the kids still get plenty of “regular” gifts from family. They’re not going without, trust me.
Here are a few family gift ideas . . .
- board games
- zoo passes
- museum passes
- movie passes
- theme park passes
- books
- a pet
- a weekend mini-vacation
Be sure to grab the free Christmas planner to write all your ideas in one place!
The Giveaway
Can you believe that this is the last Christmas in this decade?! Where has the time gone? I have teamed up with some pretty generous bloggers for the 6th annual Christmas Blessings Giveaway with the hopes of making this a Christmas to remember for TWO families as we close out this decade.
While we wish we could bless many more families, we were able to come up with a big prize for TWO families – $500 each (delivered via Paypal) – that we pray will make a big difference in their lives this Christmas season – whether it’s to fulfill their kids’ Christmas wishes, pay off some bills, or to help build some savings, our prayer is that it helps to lessen any financial burden and/or fills a specific need.
There are lots of entry options in the Rafflecopter form below – the more you enter, the better your chance of winning! I know it can seem tedious and time-consuming to go through all the entries, but isn’t a chance at $500 worth it? I think it is! Plus, all of these amazing bloggers donated their own money toward the cash prizes, so this giveaway wouldn’t be possible without them. I hope you’ll take the time to check out each one. Who knows, maybe you will find some new blogs to follow.
The giveaway will run from Monday, November 18th through Wednesday, November 27th (ends at 11:59pm EST). Winner will be notified by email shortly after the giveaway ends and will have 48 hours to respond to claim the prize or another winner will be drawn. You must have a Paypal account to win. By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers. Please be sure to read the Rafflecopter terms and conditions upon entering.
Thank you for the ideas and recipes.
The giveaway is awesome. With a family of 6 – and currently 3 teens and a 20 year old plus an older home with many home repairs — winning $500 would be a blessing. But I know whomever wins it will bring much joy. Thank you to all the bloggers personally contributing.
You are so welcome, Nancy! I know what you mean! I too have an older house full of kids. 😉 Happy Christmas!
Our favorite tradition is buying a gift for a loved one that has passed and donating it in their memory.
Oh what a wonderful idea, Kayte! Thanks for sharing!
Thx so much for all the Christmas ideas and this awesome giveaway!
We school all year but take the week of Christmas off. We read a chapter everyday in the book of Luke beginning December 1st. We love doing our blessing ring. After Thanksgiving we make a count down ring but on each ring we write a way we can bless others each day. Some days are fun things we do to bless the kids.
The Blessing Ring is a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing!
If I won the money would go towards paying off bills. We have a family of 7, 2 are in college now and I’d love to bless them with some of the cash too! Thx!
Winning would be a blessing to our family because we could use it to bless others and be able to get our 5 children a little something as well. We love to donate but this year has been a very lean year.
Thank you so much for the learning resources! I love the science ones. I also really appreciate the chance to win some extra cash. This time of year there are always so many extra expenses that any extra is helpful, especially after just discovering that my husband’s company has decided to close for seven days throughout December without paying the employees. Once again, thank you and the other bloggers!
You are very welcome! We’re science lovers over here, too. Have a happy Christmas!
Thank you all for hosting this very generous giveaway!
Thank you for such a generous giveaway. Our fave tradition is attending the Christmas Midnight Mass and returning home to open the gifts under the Christmas tree.
What a wonderful tradition!
So excited about Christmas thanks for the the ideas. Giveaway sounds great too!
You’re very welcome! Happy Christmas!
My son needs a good camera and accessories for a filming project he is working on and winning this would indeed be a big blessing.
Thank you for the opportunity.
You’re welcome!
My husband just went through cancer treatment (for the second time – two different cancers). We’ve had medical expenses so money for Christmas is tight. This would be a godsend and let me actually get gifts for my three beautiful daughters.
Cookies, oh, cookies! Every year growing up, my family would host our Christmastime Cookie Bake, where my siblings and cousins would spend the day mixing, (tasting) rolling, cutting, (snitching) decorating, (sneaking) baking (and cleaning up “mistakes” 😉 ). Best. Day. Ever.
We try to include some fun holiday activities along with our schooling and take some extra time off.
Thank you for the opportunity to win! I’d use this money for christmas gifts.
While I’d love to win the giveaway, the Christmas planner and recipes will be a tremendous help. I’m definitely not the most organized person in the world, and tend to get overwhelmed during the holidays. It’s getting harder to get family together for Christmas, too, as my sister and her husband have started spending the winter at their place in Florida. My three girls have their own friends and significant others, too, so it gets harder finding times that work for everyone. Again, a planner for the holidays would be great!
I would love to win this giveaway as it would help with Christmas expenses in a tight year.
I love the Christmas ideas in this post.
Our budget is very tight this year and doesn’t allow for extras which includes gifts. This giveaway would definitely help out a lot!
I love all the links you shared. A favorite tradition is telling what we are thankful for of course, but with a loved one’s recent passing, we may need a new tradition to honor their memory this year.
What a blessing you and the other bloggers are! My favorite day is when we put up the Christmas tree, and I unwrap all the ornaments we have collected over the years– from museums, places we’ve lived, vacations, family photos. Such great memories that make me smile.
Winning would bless us by being able to bless others more this year. The budget is tight, so we are not able to be as generous as we would like.
Thanks for this giveaway. This would be a huge blessing as my car needs repaired so we can go visit grandma for christmas!
Thank you for the family gift ideas!
We just recently found out we are expecting number 8, so this money would be greatly beneficial as we travel this Christmas and plan for another baby!
This would be a huge blessing this year! My husband has only been working part time contract which is up after Christmas. This would help get us over that hump for Christmas
I love this planner! Thank you!
So many great ideas! And the Christmas Planner is lovely!
We are moving this year in December, so special things for the girls’ rooms are going to be their Christmas gifts. Although we could do something like this every year (bed upgrades, kids choose theme for new bedsheets or pillowcases, and so on).
This giveaway would bless our family by helping us toward finishing our student loan repayment. We married in my last year of university, and when I graduated I was 5 months pregnant. So I never brought home an income to help pay off my loan. Instead, I’m staying home with our kids and homeschooling which we agree is the best thing even if it makes it harder to pay off our student loan debts.
It would be great to win this. I have a friend who is going through an extremely hard time and this would help our family (my daughter has autism) and also help him. Would truly be a blessing.
This would to getting a weighted blanket for my daughter ( they are so expensive) and some clothes for my friend who is destitute and hasnt had any new clothes in over 10 years. I would help him.
I love museum passes as a gift idea for so many reasons! Thank you for putting these lists together for us.
This would bless my family by allowing us to catch up on bills from when my husband changed jobs, while still giving my children the joy they deserve.
This planner is such a huge help! Thank you!
This would bless our family as we are a large family (11 people) and our baby just spent time in the hospital which has put us behind on a lot.
Thank you for the free Christmas planner. This time of year can get crazy!
Thank you for hosting this giveaway. Filling out the entries revealed several homeschooling websites I had never seen before.