It’s that time of year and time to start prepping for Christmas school! Every year we take a break in December from most of our subjects and do a fun Christmas study together. We still complete math and language arts, but history, science, geography, etc. gets put on hold until the new year begins. This leaves us more time to craft, bake, relax, and enjoy our time together during the Christmas season, rather than checking off all the boxes in our curriculum.
Today I’m sharing our plans for this December (always a bit early) to give you some ideas, inspiration and allow you time to prepare for your homeschool. At the end of this post I’m also sharing guides/activities we have done in past years and have enjoyed.
My goal for this December is to be simple, yet meaningful. Three of my four kids are in the Nutcracker ballet for most of December and are busy every evening, so I want our days to be restful and full of the things we love most (books, Bible, and art.)
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Bible/ Advent Study
I’m so excited for our Advent study this year, and trying something new! We are going to be doing Adoration at the Manger: A Christmas Hymn Study by Not Consumed. This is a Christmas Bible study that explains the true meaning of Christmas through classic Christmas hymns and carols we hear every year.
I can’t wait to light some candles and listen to the carol or hymn we are studying while doing the workbooks together! There are workbooks you can choose for any age (2-13+) that all work together, but are modified for each age range. They each include fun stickers! I grabbed a Pre-K book for my 4 year old, one Primary for my 1st grader, and 2 Junior levels for my 3rd & 5th grader. There are also parent guides if you would like to join them!
You can find sample pages HERE and the list of the hymns/carols in the study.
I think this will be so fun to do together and show how Christmas carols were written to tell the story of Jesus coming to earth as our Savior. I’ll also be printing the songs so we can learn the lyrics and sing them together.
Christmas Study
This year I created a new Christmas study that we will be using called Symbols of the Season. If you are looking for something SIMPLE for this holiday season, this is it!
My motivation for creating this guide was to have something so simple, yet meaningful and fun! I didn’t want another guide where I have to gather a ton of books, supplies, or find time to craft, bake, notebook, etc. everyday.
This guide covers 12 different Christmas symbols (candy canes, wreaths, angels, lights, presents, etc.) and how these items we always see during the holidays, relate back to Christ. It uses ONE book and art supplies you probably already have on hand. You can complete one symbol each day for 12 days or do multiple in one day, however it works best for you.
For each symbol you’ll read the corresponding pages in the book See Christ in Christmas by Melissa Sunday, read additional scripture together, and create one pentagon art project. There is also a picture book recommended for each symbol, but the read aloud is linked for you, so you can watch or listen to the story while you complete the project!
Once you have all 12 symbol projects completed, all the pieces will form together to create this really cool dodecahedron (12 sided shape) that you can hang in your home for all to see! I think it turned out so cool and my kids are really excited to make their own!
Now available!! Grab it HERE!
Read Aloud(s) & Activities
We love to have a read aloud each Christmas that we do all together. This year our read aloud is going to be The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. We are so excited to read this book and then go watch the new movie! Watch the trailer HERE!
My kids enjoy coloring or drawing while I read aloud to them, so I got these lap books to complete together. They will also be part of our Language Arts as they cover reading comprehension, writing, compare/contrast, cause & effect, and more.
Since this book is pretty short (only 7 chapters) we will probably finish it in one week, so we will also be reading How Winston Delivered Christmas by Alex Smith.
A mouse named Winston finds a lost letter addressed to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and sets off on a journey to personally deliver the letter to Santa. This illustrated advent story tells about his adventures and how a good deed can lead to a very happy ending. This book also includes crafts and activity ideas at the end of each chapter!
Like I mentioned above, my kids enjoy having something hands-on while I read to them, so I also grabbed these fun Sticker by Number books. Match the sticker to the corresponding number to create a Christmas picture!
Every year we also do a new Christmas puzzle together. This year I’m really excited to do this Advent puzzle of the nativity! Each day we get to open a box and complete a section of the puzzle. They can also do this while I’m reading to them. This one is 1,008 pieces total and will be completed by Christmas!
Daily Schedule
We are so excited to slow down this December and use all these fun resources. I’ll share with you a quick idea of how we will complete them throughout our school week and how we do all our regular core work as well.
During December we still complete Math and Language Arts, but we don’t do both of them every day. One day we will do a lesson of LA, the next day a lesson of Math, next day lesson of LA, etc. The following week we will switch the days so we are doing 3 days of Math and then 2 days of Language Arts. Doing it this way gives us extra time to relax and do our Christmas studies.
We will start our mornings with our Adoration at the Manger study. We will turn on our carol/or hymn, light some candles, and do our study together. Then we will get ready for the day and complete our schoolwork (independent work, reading, and Math OR LA.) After lunch we will gather together to do our read aloud and lap book, plus one symbol of the See Christ in Christmas guide. Then we have the rest of the day to play, create, and get ready for our evenings at Nutcracker.
Past Years
We have done Christmas school for many years and have used (and loved) some great Christmas guides! Below I’m sharing a quick review of some of our favorites. My biggest advice for Christmas school is to only choose ONE guide to enjoy each year. This way you’re not overwhelmed and doing too much in a time where you want to slow down and enjoy the season. There are a lot of fun guides out there, but remember you have many years you can complete them! I always write in the very back of my planner Christmas guides, books, and ideas that we might possibly like to use in future years. When it’s time to start planning the school year, I also ALWAYS leave December blank. I know we will eventually end up doing some sort of Christmas school, so leave it blank to decide later in the year and plan around it for our extra subjects.
An American Girl Christmas: This is such a great guide that you can use for multiple years! It comes with 6 mini guides each pairing with a historical American Girl and her Christmas story. You can choose to do all of them, or just a few. We did 3 girls one year and 3 girls the next year. Each girl teaches about the history, traditions, and what Christmas was like during the pioneer era, the Great Depression, the Civil War, the Victorian era, and WW2.
Narnia: Last year we completed this study on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and it was one of our very favorites! It was so simple and magical! I shared more about in my Christmas School 2023 blog post and how we completed it in this highlight from my Instagram.
Nutcracker Unit Study: You all know my kids are obsessed with the Nutcracker, so a few years ago we did a full study on it using this guide from Little World Wanderers. It was so fun to read the original story, create fun projects, and learn about the history of Nutcrackers, the Russian ballet, all about walnuts, and more!
Holiday Fun Around the World: We loved continuing our studies around the world with this guide and learning about all the different cultures and holidays! The Waldock Way makes it so easy to complete, providing you with all the information you need and lots of great videos, games, and project ideas.
Come to the Manger: This was a super cute guide we enjoyed when my kids were little by Brighter Day Press. I will probably complete it again next year with my youngest.
I can’t wait to slow down and have most of our days open to relax and enjoy all the fun Christmas activities. I hope this post gave you some great ideas of what you want to do in your homeschool, or ideas to save for next year. I pray you all have a peaceful and meaningful Christmas season together. These are the days we cherish the most!
– Lindsay
P.S. Holiday Gift Guides for Kids!
These are some favorite things my kids have played with and loved for years, or a few things on their wish list this year! I’m still working on adding more favorites, but I hope this helps make your holiday shopping a little easier!
Looks wonderful! I have been eying the hymn advent study for this year too!
How do you think you will complete it as it is 25 days long. Do you guys do it on the weekends?
I always think we will do it on the weekends, but we never do haha. We will probably start a little early, the week of Thanksgiving, to give us some extra days and if any of the lessons are really short (which they don’t seem too long) we might double up once or twice a week until we finish before Christmas.
I’m not able to find the See Christ in Christmas anywhere. It seems to be back ordered everywhere. Have you found it somewhere?
You can purchase it at sofestive.com and use code HOMECENTERED for 20% off. The author also let me know Amazon will be getting another shipment soon, so there will be more available for prime shipping!