This year welcome the true spirit of Christmas into your heart with much family time (these 5 December Homeschool Family Fun Ideas will help!) and extra kindness for all those around.
Offer a friendly face to frenzied shoppers and exhausted store clerks.
Allow the impatient driver in the next car the chance to squeeze in ahead of your car, because, after all, what difference will those thirty extra seconds really make?
Allow ample time for snacking on peppermint candy canes, admiring poinsettia plants in the store, sipping hot cocoa, gazing at Christmas lights, and reading and re-reading the Christmas story in the book of Luke.
Celebrate the season and enjoy some of the additional holidays below. Here are 5 December Homeschool Family fun Ideas!
5 December Homeschool Family Fun Ideas
1. International Mountain Day
Check out from the library a copy of the children’s classic, Heidi, and read some each night to explore the young character’s time spent in the Swiss Alps. Memorize this verse to celebrate the day: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” Psalm 90:2 (NIV).
2. Pear Month
Gather in the kitchen to create this recipe together for a festive holiday dessert.
Melt one stick of butter in a baking dish.
Stir together in another bowl one cup of flour, one cup of sugar, two teaspoons of baking powder, a dash of salt, and two-thirds cup of milk.
Pour the batter over the butter, but do not stir.
Layer two-and- a-half cups of pear pieces, cut into bite-sized pieces from peeled pears. Sprinkle one-fourth cup of cinnamon candies over the top. You’ll find the miniature cinnamon candies in the baking section or the holiday candies.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Before partaking of dessert, thank God for His provisions and remember to pray for those whose pantry may be lacking over the holidays.
3. Winter Solstice
Celebrate winter beginnings and the shortest day of the year with a project to bless those who need an extra dose of love and comfort. Take the family to buy new gloves and fuzzy socks for everyone in the family. Buy extras of everything and donate tangible warmth to a church’s clothes closet, local fostering organization, or women’s shelter.
4. Christmas
Work together to make this holiday wreath with just a few supplies.
Fold the largest sheet of construction paper in half lengthwise. Use a ruler to draw a line across the unfolded long end, marking one-and-a-half inches away from the edge. This is the no-cut edge.
Use the ruler again to draw strips from the fold to the no-cut line. Draw the parallel lines about three-quarters of an inch apart.
Cut along the lines, beginning at the fold and stopping at the no-cut line you drew first.
Open the paper carefully and press the fold slightly to flatten. Roll the paper the other way, opposite of the first fold, and bring the two un-cut lengths together.
Use double-sided tape the secure the edges together such that you have a roll or tube.
Next, join both ends of the roll or tube to form a wreath. Carefully staple the two ends together. Embellish the wreath by gluing on red and gold pom poms in different places around the circle.
Hang the wreath for decoration, and then read Luke 2 and reenact the story with the cast of a child’s nativity scene.
5. Visit the Zoo
Take a family trip to the zoo over the holidays, but if that’s not possible, journey on a virtual one by finding online zoo sites, like zooatlanta.org, or others.
Look for pictures of zoo animals specifically that you know very little about and try to learn new facts about that animal. Pick unusual animals and listen online to the sound s those animals make. Do you know what sound a sloth makes? You can listen to one online and then have a competition to see who can mimic the sloth and other animals most accurately! Thank God for His creations and memorize this verse: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” Genesis 1:31 NIV.
Spread joy and cheer and happiness wherever you go, but be sure to encourage the Christmas spirit at home, first! Be friendly and not frazzled, kind and not crotchety. Make it a delightful month of memory-making and fun. Share the gift of time with those you love and make every day a holiday! Happy Birthday, Jesus! Merry Christmas!
You might also like:
- Jotham’s Journey Advent Stories
- 5 February Homeschool Family Fun Ideas
- 365 Days of Celebration and Praise
Julie Lavender loves making memories with her family that includes her high-school and college sweetheart, David, four adult children, one son-in-love, and one precious toddler grandson. Julie is a journalist, author, and former homeschooling mom of twenty-five years who holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. Julie loved living in various locations across the country as the wife of a medical entomologist for the United States Navy. After her husband retired from active duty, the family moved back to their hometown, and David began work as a wildlife biologist at a nearby Army installation. Julie is excited that her parenting book, 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, published by Revell, releases October 2020. She is also the author of a homeschooling devotional, 365 Days of Celebration and Praise. She is a freelance stringer for her hometown newspaper and her work is included in various magazines, like Guideposts and Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine, and others. Julie would love connections on her Facebook page or author page, and she would love even more if you’d join the conversation about showing love to a child on her Facebook Group, 365 Ways to Love Your Child.
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