In this blog post, I share how my family balances homeschool academics during the holiday season. This includes pausing some school subjects, involving kids in holiday prep, and making holidays meaningful with a holiday unit study. Holiday unit studies add in cheery holiday traditions while providing opportunities for reading, writing, and learning.

We all know the holiday season is a whirlwind of activity: festive decorations, preparation, family gatherings, and plenty of special events. Holiday calendars can escalate quickly, and for homeschool families, holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter can be both magical and hectic. It is challenging to maintain academics while being present in the joy of the season. If you are curious how to make the holidays feel special while keeping everything else in balance, I’m sharing all of my ideas in this blog post.

In this blog post:  

• How we do holidays in our homeschool
• What holiday curriculum are we using this year?
• Six tips for incorporating a holiday unit study in your homeschool
• Favorite homeschool holiday activities
• Holiday unit studies from Treehouse Schoolhouse

How we do holidays in our homeschool

As we approach each holiday, I enjoy breaking up our homeschool studies and allowing time to focus on the upcoming season, whether Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter. 

I believe holiday seasons can be pivotal if we make time to learn and make connections to Scripture. During Thanksgiving, we integrate Bible readings about gratitude with A Treasured Thanksgiving. At Christmas, we revisit the nativity story with A Connected Christmas and consider ways to give to others. For Easter, I teach my children about the Resurrection with An Expectant Easter, a study that teaches the Resurrection story with as much emphasis as we give the Nativity story at Christmas.

Homeschooling gives us margin to learn these important lessons, while spilling over into other learning through art, poetry, copywork, reading aloud, and hands-on activities like crafts and baking. This is a time of year my children and I cherish as we gather together to repeat lessons and learn new ones, too. 

I allow time for holiday studies by intentionally pausing some of our other academic work. We don’t try to do everything during the holiday season. As we make time for our holiday lessons, we will take a break from Treehouse Nature Study and subjects that overlap with the holiday curriculum, like history. My older children continue their independent lessons, like math and grammar, and we will still work through our family read-aloud from Treehouse Book Studies. Pausing some subjects keeps us from being spread too thin, cramming in too much, or forcing ourselves to rush through studies we love doing together. It also allows us the flexibility to dive deep into special unit studies. Because we homeschool year-round, we have plenty of time for days off of school before returning to our planned curriculum.

During busy holiday seasons, I also allow time to take a break. If we need time to prepare for the holiday or feel tired after hosting family, I schedule a few days, or even a week, off school to rest and recover before getting back into the swing of things.

The last thing we tend to do during the holidays is practice what I call “life school.” I like to invite my children into different responsibilities of our home. They may use math skills to multiply a recipe for Thanksgiving, or copy ingredients from a recipe onto a grocery list. They may help prepare our house for guests, or make homemade gifts for family and friends. There are plenty of things to teach our children during the holidays apart from academics, and I think this is a perfect time and place for those lessons.

Overall, when we incorporate holiday unit studies into our family’s daily rhythm, we usually add a holiday unit study in place of something that we can pick up again after the holidays to allow room to be present and keep our family from feeling burdened or overwhelmed.

What holiday studies are we using this year?

This year, we plan to use A Treasured Thanksgiving in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Before Christmas, we will use A Connected Christmas. We have traditions from A Connected Christmas that we like to revisit each year, like reading our favorite picture books and baking recipes we love. We are also excited to read aloud A Christmas Carol together and have some meaningful book discussions as we go.

Six tips for incorporating a holiday unit study in your homeschool

If you are adding a holiday unit study to your homeschool this year, here are some ideas for integrating one into your homeschool curricula.

1. Set an intention. Decide what is most important to you as you look over the holiday season and focus on how the curriculum fits into that. For example, you could use the holiday study to focus on the Bible stories or the craft projects, adding in more from the curriculum as you feel up to it. The holiday unit studies are rich and robust no matter how many of the activities you are able to complete.
2. Gather books and supplies in advance. We all know a little advance planning can go a long way during the holidays. Print materials, gather supplies, and reserve or purchase books that coordinate with your study.
3. Designate time for your study. Grab your homeschool planner and block out the days or weeks you plan to add in the unit study.
4. Slow down and savor the moments together. As you and your family engage with the story of the first Thanksgiving or the nativity story, slow down and enjoy this time together with your children and in your home.
5. Use the curriculum as a menu. Give yourself the freedom to choose the parts of the study that speak most to the interests of your family. Whether you just spend a few moments together reading the story or you spend a couple of hours doing these activities, adapt the curriculum to be a fit for your and your family during the holidays.
6. Gather with friends for crafts and activities. Share in the learning with friends and gather together to recite poems, read living books together, or bake and craft together.

Favorite homeschool holiday activities

Over the years, we have enjoyed adding special holiday unit studies for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Here are some of my favorite activities over the years:

• Narration Notebooks: I love having Narration Notebooks as keepsakes for each of my children. My children have several Narration Notebooks from A Connected Christmas, which are like illustrated versions of the nativity story. I love seeing how their learning grows each year.
• Maps and timelines: I am excited for my children to use the maps and timelines in A Treasured Thanksgiving to learn about the Pilgrims’ journey across the Atlantic Ocean and more. We love using maps and timelines in our homeschool for in-depth historical studies. Learn more about how we create timelines in this blog post.
• Traditional Thanksgiving Cookbook: I am also excited about the traditional cookbook in A Treasured Thanksgiving which celebrates the traditional Thanksgiving feast.
• Garland and ornaments: Each year we love making the dried orange garland and the birdseed ornament from A Connected Christmas. It is something we look forward to every year. I love making our home festive for the holidays!
• Recipes from across the globe: My children and I love baking together, and we especially love the variety of recipes included in A Connected Christmas: Around the World. What better way to celebrate other cultures than through trying unique and new recipes?
• Easter Egg Hunt: My children loved learning about the Resurrection story with the Easter Egg Story Hunt Activity.

Holiday unit studies from Treehouse Schoolhouse

These are our favorite holiday unit studies created to make the holidays feel special in your homeschool. These unit studies are designed to be used as a comprehensive curriculum or a menu of ideas for connecting with your family during this special time of year. These studies include living book lists, Scripture reading, art study, poetry, hands-on activities, and more.

A Treasured Thanksgiving

A Treasured Thanksgiving is a Charlotte Mason-inspired curriculum designed with your whole family in mind. It’s an invitation to study the historical Thanksgiving story in a hands-on way. Spend two weeks diving into themes like the Pilgrim’s voyage to America, the Wampanoag people, the First Encounters, the First Thanksgiving, and the relationship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans in the first year. Featuring a robust book list of picture books and chapter books, this study will provide resources for the whole family.

A Connected Christmas

A Connected Christmas is a curriculum designed to connect hearts to the heart of Christmas – to the truth of Jesus coming to earth to seek and save the lost. Explore the nativity story through Scripture readings to delight in festive carols, stories, poetry, art, baking, and handcrafts.

A Connected Christmas, Volume Two

A Connected Christmas, Volume Two continues the same holiday tradition of carols, stories, poetry, art, baking, and handcrafts, designed to bring your family together during this holiday season. Share in the love of Christ by revisiting the Nativity story along with new stories and heartwarming activities to enjoy this season together.

How do you do holidays in your homeschool? Share your experience in the comments below.

Lyndsey Mimnagh is a homeschool mom of four, founder of Treehouse Schoolhouse, and lifelong believer in the power of stories, play, and creativity. Lyndsey lives in North Carolina with her husband and children and can usually be found reading aloud, crafting, hiking, or enjoying good espresso. Connect with her on Instagram @treehouse_schoolhouse.