We have discovered a festive way to spend December in our homeschool that I just have to tell you about!
Years ago, we discovered Christmas Unit Studies. They are a great way to celebrate Christmas and get ready for Christmas the whole month long!
When our children were young, I would lay out our normal school year, but skip December in our lesson plans. Then each December we would delve into a Christmas topic for school.
Here are some unit studies we enjoyed:
- Christmas in Colonial America
- Christmas in Victorian England
- Christmas with the Pioneers
- Christmas in Mexico
- Christmas in Germany
- Christmas with Cookies
- Christmas with Little Women
- Christmas with Anne of Green Gables
- Christmas Around the World
- Christmas in Bethlehem
Living Books
We centered our unit study on living books. With Celebrate Christmas with Anne of Green Gables and Celebrate Christmas with Little Women, we read those books aloud, a chapter or two each day. With Celebrate Christmas in Germany, we read 1 Grimm’s fairy tale each day.
With our Celebrate Christmas with Cookies Unit Study, we read 1 well-written, beautifully illustrated picture book each day – most of them Christmas stories.
Christmas Devotions
We enjoyed Christmas devotions with each unit study. All of our unit studies included the Christmas story found in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.
In Celebrate Christmas in Colonial America, our devotions also included hospitality Scripture passages since hospitality was such an important aspect of Colonial Life.
In Celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, we look at prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament and how they were fulfilled in Jesus.
Christmas Prep
Each of our unit studies included Christmas preparations like decorating, making gifts, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, and other Christmas activities.
In Celebrate Christmas in Germany, we decorated a gingerbread house and created a paper Christmas village.
In Celebrate Christmas with the Pioneers, we made log cabin tissue box covers and gave them as gifts.
In Celebrate Christmas in Colonial America, we made little gift booklets about Christmas throughout the 13 colonies for all the grandparents.
Christmas Traditions
We loved learning about different Christmas traditions in history and around the world.
In Celebrate Christmas in Victorian England, we learned about caroling, Christmas cards, and plum pudding. All were very popular in Victorian England.
In Celebrate Christmas in Mexico, we had a posada and enjoyed a piñata.
In Celebrate Christmas in Germany, we learned about Christmas markets and even pretended to set up a booth at a Christmas market.
In Celebrate Christmas in Colonial America, we were excited to learn how Martha and George Washington celebrated Christmas in Mount Vernon. We even made some of Martha’s recipes (adapted, of course, for modern times).
Adding Other Subjects
Every unit study was different. We added things that were interesting and related to the topic.
In Celebrate Christmas with Anne of Green Gables, we learned about farming on Prince Edward Island and Human Anatomy. Why human anatomy? Well, Anne broke her ankle, Ellie Mae got croup, and Matthew had a heart attack. It was just a good fit.
In Celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, we learned all about the land of Israel and the history of the Jewish people.
In Celebrate Christmas in Mexico, we enjoyed looking at all kinds of churches and comparing their architecture.
In Celebrate Christmas with Little Women, we learned about the Civil War, nursing, and New England culture.
The hustle-bustle can sometimes be hard to enjoy while you are trying to school at the same time, but if you combine Christmas with school–well, it just makes everything easier.
Check out our unit studies at PowerlineProd.com: https://www.powerlineprod.com/product-category/curriculum/unit-study/
Don’t forget to scroll down for your November Freebie!
Until next time, Happy Homeschooling!
Love,
Meredith Curtis
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