Our Plans For Holiday Homeschooling

Want to see our plans for holiday homeschooling? Yes, we homeschool right through the holidays. No, it doesn’t look anything like our regular homeschool days. 

For starters, we abandon all our usual lessons and traditional unit studies during the holiday season in favor of fun and making memories together. How does our approach to homeschooling change during the holiday season? I’m glad you asked!

Keep reading to discover our plans for homeschooling through the holidays including all the fun read alouds, games, and activities we’ll be doing this Christmas. Plus, discover our holiday themed unit studies for learning fun all season long!

How The Holidays Change Our Approach To Homeschooling

Holiday homeschooling looks a lot different at the Waldock house! We abandon our bookwork and traditional unit studies in favor of a more family-focused approach to learning during this season. It’s a time for cozy hygge-style learning together as a family and we love it.

During this season, we cuddle up on the couch with holiday books to read together, watch holiday movies, and play fun games together as a family. There’s a lot of learning involved and it’s anything but boring! I’m excited to share our plans for holiday homeschooling this year and, I hope, inspire you to try a new approach to homeschooling through the holidays with your family.

Our Plans For Holiday Homeschooling

We believe it’s important to cultivate a love of learning and ensure that Emily becomes a lifelong learner. Maintaining a strong connection and spending time together as a family is very important to us, not just during the holidays but all year round. In order to keep that bond strong and participate in learning together as a family, we approach our holiday homeschooling routine a bit differently.

The holidays are magical! I like to encourage more magic and a love of learning with holiday-themed activities and homeschool lessons that are low-pressure and fun for everyone. Check out our favorite ways to have fun homeschooling through the holidays below.

Holiday Read Alouds

Reading books aloud is the very best way to encourage a love of books. Being read to isn’t just for homeschoolers who can’t read independently. There are so many wonderful benefits to reading aloud to kids even after they can read themselves. Here are some of our favorite holiday read alouds from years past and some new books we’re reading this year too:

            

 

Games and Puzzles for the Holidays

If you’ve been following the Waldock Way for long, you probably know that we love games! Family game night is one of our favorite traditions. Playing games during the holidays is a way we can have fun together, make memories, and practice important learning concepts too. Check out some of our favorite holiday games and puzzles to get started with your own holiday gameschooling adventure.

            

 

Weekly Book + Movie Nights 

Another fun holiday tradition we love is book and movie nights. We love watching movies together and the holidays are the perfect time to snuggle up on the couch with a bowl full of popcorn or Christmas cookies for a family movie night. 

As part of our holiday homeschooling tradition, we read a book, watch a movie, and play a related game. One of our favorites is reading The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, watching the Polar Express movie with Tom Hanks, and playing the Ticket to Ride board game together. 

Want to start your own weekly book and movie night? Check out some of our favorite holiday movies to get this holiday homeschooling tradition started.

            

 

Observing Holiday Traditions Around the World 

One of our favorite ways to learn through the holiday season is by discovering traditions from all over the world. I’ve created two holiday unit studies we use to explore and learn about different traditions from all over the world and celebrate alongside other countries and cultures. These are the perfect way to practice interest-led learning with your homeschoolers and have fun together this Christmas!

Check out Holiday Fun Around the World to learn about the different holidays and how they’re celebrated in countries all over the world like Las Posadas in Mexico, Omisoka in Japan, and Saint Lucy’s Day in Sweden. Then, go on a delicious treat-fueled adventure with Santa’s Tasty Trip Around the World to discover cookies and treats from countries all over the world and the traditions they’re a part of this Christmas.

Holiday Homeschool Resources You Don’t Want To Miss

Another way I like to create magic through the holidays and keep the learning going is with a  special learning gift tradition. Here’s how it works: I choose a variety of literacy and math printable activities and print them. Then, I put them all in envelopes and place the envelopes in a box. 

I wrap the box and put it under the Christmas tree. Each morning, Emily can go to the box and choose an envelope. Then, we have fun doing the activity inside. These activities are low-pressure and great practice without being too challenging. It’s an easy way to incorporate learning practice without adding stress to our holiday season.

Check out more of our favorite resources for homeschooling through the holidays and begin your holiday homeschooling fun today:

Do you have a favorite holiday homeschooling tradition or activity? I’d love to learn all about it! Share your favorite ways to homeschool through the holiday season in the comments. I can’t wait to read them and maybe try a few here at The Waldock Way this Christmas.

One Comment

  1. Oh my goodness, I love this so much!! You have such wonderful ideas! I’m going to incorporate many of these ideas into our homeschool this year. Thank you so much!

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