The holidays are a time for creating moments with the family. Many homeschooling parents choose to take the entire month of December off to participate in holiday events, including the Sparks Academy co-op, but there is a way to incorporate holidays into those school days, and there are many Christmas & Chanukah resources for your holiday homeschool.

Even if you live in a state with strict requirements on hours and subjects, there are ways to be creative! Cooking is home economics; shopping is budgeting and math; writing cards is language arts. Kids in public schools are spending most of the month of December – particularly in elementary grades – doing arts and crafts, and there’s no reason you can’t, too.

Classified by age group, pick and choose from these resources to create a #HolidayHomeschool plan that’s just right for your family!

Chanukah Resources

History of Hannukah (elementary / middle)
- Learn the history of Chanukah, how it relates to Alexander the Great, and how to play the Dreidel game in this holiday-themed unit.
All About Chanukah (family)
- Each of the ten unit studies in this year-long bundle centers around a book for middle school level and includes videos, cooking projects, hands-on activities, writing assignments, and more. There are also resources for younger children in eight of the ten units.
TalkBox.Mom Chanukah story (family) – This free Hebrew printable also has an English translation and comes with an audio download to assist in pronunciation. {Bonus: Get $20 off your first TalkBox! Use coupon: holly20}

Christmas Resources

Elementary

12 Days of Christmas School
- Press pause on all the traditional curriculum for an easy to implement and fun Christmas curriculum for homeschoolers! The 12 Days of Christmas curriculum includes: Language Arts, Science, Nature Study, Math, Art, Music, and World Cultures. With over 12 days of lessons, this is the perfect curriculum for those crazy days between the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Give your elementary student a full curriculum for the holidays!
Budgeting for Christmas
- Using catalogs, mailers, flyers, gift books that you collect, students can create shopping lists and budgets for a holiday gift giving.
Candy Cane Unit
- This 23-page unit study includes the history of the candy cane, candy cane puzzles (Math), a candy cane STEM challenge, and funny candy cane mad libs (grammar). You’ll also watch how candy canes are made (both by hand and in a factory), conduct your own candy cane experiment, and finish it all off with a fun treat.
Christmas Around the World
- Your family will love studying world cultures and geography this season with this Christmas Around the World unit! This print-and-go resource will transport your family around the globe to study 7 countries. Kids will use the critical thinking skills of comparing and contrasting as they study what makes each culture unique. And the best part is that all the facts are included- no need to waste hours searching for resources and doing research. Enjoy celebrating Christmas Around the World with your kids this season!
{Techie} Christmas Around the World
- Learn about 10 countries and their Christmas traditions, create hands-on and digital projects, and prepare an ethnic Christmas feast!
Christmas Science Projects
- This downloadable PDF includes 4 science projects in the fields of chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. Each experiment ties in with a popular children’s Christmas picture book. Complete supply lists and step by step directions make it easy to complete the projects. Each project includes a printable observation chart to help kids make observations, collect data, and record their experiment results. Each experiment also includes a brief explanation of some of the science concepts that kids will be learning about. Bonus extension activities are included for 2 of the experiments.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Let’s read the book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Then let’s go on rabbit trails of discovery about Christmas, Mistletoe, Santa Claus and more! We will toss some magic dust in the air and jump into the book with hands-on adventures. And when we’ve finished the book, let’s throw a party and celebrate like the Whos in Who-ville!
{LIVE} How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Part I & Part 2
- Jon Miller, Instructor of Humanities at the North Carolina School of Science and Math, has been reading ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ to the delight of students and alumni (and their children) for over 25 years.
NORAD Santa Tracker
- NORAD has done a great job with video shorts that introduce your children to landmarks and Christmas traditions from around the world! In the Village, kids can play games, build gifts, code Santa’s computer, and more!
Schoolhouse Teachers Christmas Corner
- During the month of December, there are TONS of great resources for you to cover every subject with Christmas-schooling. (They have these for several other holidays, as well.) Resources are available for all ages.

Middle

A Christmas Carol
- In this course, A Christmas Carol Online Book Club for Middle School, we will read through the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. As we are reading, we will go on rabbit trails of discovery into history, science, art, and more. We will find ways to learn by experiencing parts of the book through hands-on activities. At the conclusion of the story, we will have a party school to celebrate this classic Christmas story. This online literary guide has everything you need to study the book. This course includes vocabulary, grammar, rabbit trails, and a writing project. It is perfect for advanced elementary or middle school level literature.
Have Yourself a Little Latin Christmas
- Get into the holiday spirit while continuing Latin studies with these 22 pages of games, activities, and history! Includes: Crafts, Caroling, Reading, Games, and Puzzles.
Budgeting for Christmas
- Using catalogs, mailers, flyers, gift books that you collect, students can create shopping lists and budgets for a holiday gift giving.
{Techie} Christmas Around the World
- Learn about 10 countries and their Christmas traditions, create hands-on and digital projects, and prepare an ethnic Christmas feast!
Christmas Science Projects
- This downloadable PDF includes 4 science projects in the fields of chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. Each experiment ties in with a popular children’s Christmas picture book. Complete supply lists and step by step directions make it easy to complete the projects. Each project includes a printable observation chart to help kids make observations, collect data, and record their experiment results. Each experiment also includes a brief explanation of some of the science concepts that kids will be learning about. Bonus extension activities are included for 2 of the experiments.
Home for the Holidays
- Homeschool through the holidays with this holiday bundle that includes three full-length history-based holiday unit studies plus several extra crafts and activities! Full length units include: 1940s Christmas, Victorian Age Christmas, and Christmas in England.
Schoolhouse Teachers Christmas Corner
- During the month of December, there are TONS of great resources for you to cover every subject with Christmas-schooling. (They have these for several other holidays, as well.) Resources are available for all ages.
Symmetry Snowflakes
- If you’re looking for a way to decorate for the holidays while also proudly declaring your love of science, here are templates for paper snowflakes with winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics incorporated into the designs.
Winter Wonderland: Mixed Media Workshop
- Includes 20 full-length, step-by-step video art lessons. Each unique art piece reflects a different aspect of winter – Christmas, snowy winter scenes, winter flowers, winter poetry and even a few delicious holiday recipes! And for the holiday season, we’ll be including easy and beautiful handmade gifts to give, ideas for Christmas cards, and simple homemade Christmas decorations and ornaments to create. In this workshop, we explore and experiment with various art forms including: sketching, acrylic painting, watercoloring, collage art, sculpting, hand lettering, art journaling, and MORE!
Joy to the World Ornaments
- ‘Tis the season to gather the kids and the art supplies! We’ve got a super easy Joy to the World Christmas ornament craft to help you kick off the Christmas season with some creativity!
LiterARTure Christmas Carol
- In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who help him see a better way of life while teaching him the meaning of Christmas. In this lesson, we will create an old fashioned Christmas wreath in front of a frosty window.

A Nutcracker Christmas
- The Nutcracker Ballet tells the story of young Clara Stahlbaum, who receives a Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. Later that night, the Nutcracker comes to life and battles the great Mouse King, which leads him and Clara on a fantastical journey. In this course, we create five pieces inspired by the Nutcracker ballet in a colorful, crazy, abstract style: the Nutcracker, a Christmas Tree, the Mouse King, the Grandmother Clock, and of course, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

High

A Christmas Carol
- In this course, A Christmas Carol Online Book Club for Teens, we will read through the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. As we are reading, we will go on rabbit trails of discovery into history, science, art, and more. We will find ways to learn by experiencing parts of the book through hands-on activities. At the conclusion of the story, we will have a party school to celebrate this classic Christmas story. This online literary guide has everything you need to study the book. This course includes vocabulary, grammar, discussion questions, rabbit trails, and a writing project. It is perfect for high school level literature.
Have Yourself a Little Latin Christmas
- Get into the holiday spirit while continuing Latin studies with these 22 pages of games, activities, and history! Includes: Crafts, Caroling, Reading, Games, and Puzzles.
Advent Calendar Project
- Art meets home economics when your high schoolers create a personalized advent calendar for the entire family to enjoy year after year!
Home for the Holidays
- Homeschool through the holidays with this holiday bundle that includes three full-length history-based holiday unit studies plus several extra crafts and activities! Full length units include: 1940s Christmas, Victorian Age Christmas, and Christmas in England.
Schoolhouse Teachers Christmas Corner
- During the month of December, there are TONS of great resources for you to cover every subject with Christmas-schooling. (They have these for several other holidays, as well.) Resources are available for all ages.
Symmetry Snowflakes
- If you’re looking for a way to decorate for the holidays while also proudly declaring your love of science, here are templates for paper snowflakes with winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics incorporated into the designs.
Winter Wonderland: Mixed Media Workshop
- Includes 20 full-length, step-by-step video art lessons. Each unique art piece reflects a different aspect of winter – Christmas, snowy winter scenes, winter flowers, winter poetry and even a few delicious holiday recipes! And for the holiday season, we’ll be including easy and beautiful handmade gifts to give, ideas for Christmas cards, and simple homemade Christmas decorations and ornaments to create. In this workshop, we explore and experiment with various art forms including: sketching, acrylic painting, watercoloring, collage art, sculpting, hand lettering, art journaling, and MORE!

LiterARTure Christmas Carol
- In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who help him see a better way of life while teaching him the meaning of Christmas. In this lesson, we will create an old fashioned Christmas wreath in front of a frosty window.

A Nutcracker Christmas
- The Nutcracker Ballet tells the story of young Clara Stahlbaum, who receives a Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. Later that night, the Nutcracker comes to life and battles the great Mouse King, which leads him and Clara on a fantastical journey. In this course, we create five pieces inspired by the Nutcracker ballet in a colorful, crazy, abstract style: the Nutcracker, a Christmas Tree, the Mouse King, the Grandmother Clock, and of course, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Family-Style

Christmas Around the World
- Eighteen countries (not including the United States) are addressed in the e-book. It also includes a recommended reading and activities list, cultural movies, and Christmas music from around the world.
Friday Boxes
- Give the gift of gratitude for Christmas and the New Year to follow!
History of the Holidays
- This includes eight holidays, and each unit has introductory text, which will give the student the holiday’s history and customs. After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students. You will also find a short list of reading books and fun hands-on activities!
Spanish-English Christmas Carols
- Celebrate Christmas and practice your Spanish foreign language simultaneously! This 14 Christmas carols are beautifully printed in both Spanish and English – to help with language learning and for your caroling pleasure.
TalkBox.Mom Christmas stories
- Available in seven different languages, these free downloads have English translations and also come with audio to help you with pronunciation!

Keep in mind:

Flexibility is good, but try to keep some semblance of a schedule. This will make it easier when you go back to ‘regular’ school in January.
Time spent reading together as a family is never time lost.

It’s Time for Holiday Homeschool! {18+ Tips & Unit Studies}