Christmas is just over a month away, and as the season approaches, homeschool moms everywhere begin asking the same heartfelt question. I recently saw it again in a Facebook homeschool group:
“I’m thinking about taking December off. Does anyone else do this? I want to bake, sew, serve… all the things we never have time for. I’m scared to let go! Maybe we’ll at least do math every day. Does anyone else take December off?”
It’s an honest question — and a wise one.
Here’s the truth:
December can be full of warmth, meaning, and fun without abandoning learning or your home routines.
In fact, stepping away from both often makes January harder. Families who drop structure for the whole month usually struggle to regain momentum and fall straight into the post-holiday slump where “Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.”
But Christmas isn’t something to rush through; it’s something to savor.
This is where hygge shines: warmth, comfort, family, fellowship, simplicity, and meaningful connection. A hygge-style December keeps your days gentle, intentional, and joy-filled.
So instead of “taking the month off,” consider making Christmas the lesson of the month.
Explore the Lost Arts, practice service, enjoy cultural traditions, read beloved Christmas stories, create, bake, sing, and learn in beautiful, hands-on ways. This is one of the greatest gifts of homeschooling — the freedom to turn real-life, heart-centered learning into your curriculum.
When I was a child, early elementary school wasn’t driven by academics. Christmas programs were religious.
Christmas programs were religious, featuring nativity plays like "The Three Christmas Trees" that I participated in during third grade (1963). In our public school choir, we sang Christmas carols, not just holiday songs. We performed nativity plays, sang true Christmas carols, studied other cultures’ holiday traditions, and even cooked their festive foods in the classroom. All of it was considered education — because it was.
And it still is.
No matter your homeschool philosophy —
Reading, ’Riting, and ’Rithmetic,
Reading, Reasoning, and Reciting, or
Research, Reason, Relate, and Record —
Christmas integrates beautifully. Cultural arts, classic literature, Christmas journals, holiday-themed math, music, poetry, and Scripture can all gently replace your regular curriculum while keeping your routine steady.
Look closely and you’ll see: Every subject can be explored through Christmas! With that in mind...
Here are Twelve Ways to Homeschool Through the Christmas Season
1. Scripture Study
Read and discuss Old Testament prophecy and New Testament passages about nativity, gratitude, charity, forgiving, and service. Scripture reading and discussing require no prep time. Just open and share! Enjoy reading and discussing these topics in December.
2. Art
Appreciate viewing and studying (Charlotte Mason style Picture Studies) classic nativity and Christmas-themed art. Take Christmas photographs. Do Christmas crafts. Perhaps design your own Christmas Card.
3. Music
Appreciate classic hymns of Christmas and Christmas carols, some are centuries old. Learn to play Christmas-themed music on an instrument or learn to sing Christmas Carols.
4. Literature
Enjoy reading treasured classic Christmas stories and excerpted Christmas passages from classics.
5. Poetry
Listen to, memorize, recite, and appreciate Classic Christmas poetry.
6. Penmanship
Write Christmas lists & baking lists, create Christmas tags, write thank you notes, sign Christmas letters, sign Christmas cards, and copy quotes. scriptures, and poems by hand and even keep your own special Christmas Journal.
7. Social Studies or Geography, History, and Culture
Study Christmas traditions around the world and the history behind the carols.
8. Living Science
Make a study of snow. Keep a weather log. Take winter nature walks. Collect and study nature, such as tree studies, winter birds, pine cones, seed pods, and even nighttime constellations!
9. Living Math
There is so much contextual, hands-on, experiential living math that touches Christmas!
Consider:
- Counting of links in a chain, cookies, Advent days, and Christmas Cards.
- Fractions in measurements for baking.
- Decimals in counting, giving change, saving for a gift, or for materials to make a gift.
- Telling time, calendaring, and time management.
- Mensuration of measuring fabric and weighing packages.
- Creating a Christmas budget, shopping for needed materials, handling money, and giving change.
- Learning to read thermometers, such as-- candy thermometers, meat thermometers, and weather thermometers.
- Hypothesis and Survey. Come up with a hypothesis, such as, "People turn on Christmas music and decorate for Christmas, on 1 December." Ask some questions and survey people to find out what people actually do. Then tabulate the results. Was your hypothesis correct?
A. The Day after Thanksgiving
B. 1 December
C. When I feel like it
D. I do not listen to Christmas Music or Decorate for Christmas
10. Home Economics
This is part of math too! Activities such as holiday baking, crafting, sewing, making decorations, upcycling, and making gifts, all come under Home Economics, and all use math!
11. Shop Class
Make useful gifts and decorations of wood, wire, glass, beeswax, ceramics, etc. Ask for wood scraps at construction sites. These can be sanded and used for toy blocks, add decorative knobs for a jewelry hanger, or a close pin for a recipe card holder. Pinterest has lots of Christmas craft ideas using things found in most homes.
12. Performing Arts
This season is usually full of many opportunities for the performing arts! Carol to shut-ins. Act out the Nativity. Attend Christmas Concerts and Christmas productions. For those who wish to stay at home, there is a plethora of Christmas-themed music, concerts, and productions available online. Grab the popcorn and enjoy an evening together at home with front-row seats!
All of this can be done very matter-of-fact, very playful, fun way, low stress, very hygge and what is also important, they are learning, moving forward, and do not even realize it is school!
In fact, the first seven items can be found in our Classic Christmas Devotional Anthology! You're over halfway there!!! You can use the Classic Christmas Devotional as part of your Christmas curriculum!
The Christmas season offers all the above and more. Mom can keep a Victory Journal of all the school she did with the children. While the children think they are enjoying a Hygge Christmas, having a month off, and keeping a journal of their Christmas Vacation!
Savvy mom!
Enjoy the Journey!!!
A Classic Christmas Devotional Anthology
Explore the Classic Christmas Devotional, a meticulously crafted 31-day anthology with over 240 pages of KJV Bible-based content. This daily devotional is designed to guide and center your heart and mind on the essence of Christmas and the teachings of Christ. Immerse yourself in daily Bible verses, uplifting quotes, and delightful Spirit of the Season Challenges—a Christmas-focused activity for each day. Delight in timeless poems and carols, as well as classic Christmas stories that capture the spirit of the season.
As a special bonus, delve into "Christ-Centered Family Christmas Traditions: From Our Home to Yours."
Learn more about our enriching "Classic Christmas Devotional Anthology" by clicking the link below.
Available in a convenient printable e-format.
Retail price: $24.95.
Celebrate the season with a festive 25% OFF by using Discount Code: JOY2025.
After 25% Discount: $18.71
Make this Christmas a truly special and meaningful experience.
See sample below.
Sample Day 1 ~ Each day begins with a Classic Christmas Art work with Credits below, followed by scripture, a quote, The Spirit of the Season Challenge, a Christmas Carol, a Hymn, or a Poem, followed by a short Classic Christmas Story. Then after all of the days, we share our Family Christ-Centered Christmas Traditions. So you have Art appreciation, poetry, literature, music, the foundation for devotions, plenty of copy work of either scripture or quote, and daily activities. This is a great start for Homeschooling Christmas or a daily Family Devotional.
See Below:
Day 1
The Annunciation
1879, by Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), British Pre-Raphaelite Artist.
“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.”
~ Luke 1: 30, 31
"Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God." ~ By George F. McDougall
The Spirit of the Season Challenge
Prepare for Christmas by placing an empty manger on display with straw in a container next to it.
When someone has rendered a good deed or service, the receiver of the service gets to place a piece of straw in the manger.
[Then on Christmas Eve, place a baby Jesus doll in the well-filled manger.]
Away in the Manger
By James Ramsey Murray 1841-1905
Away in a manger,
no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus
laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky
looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus,
asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing,
the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus,
no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus,
look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle
till morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever,
and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children
in Thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven to
live with Thee there.
The Gift of the Magi
1905, by O. Henry (William Henry Porter 1862-1910)
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating... (The full story is included in the Devotional)
Printable e-format - Retail - $24.95
After 25% Discount: $18.71
25% OFF Discount Code - JOY2025