Although we follow an all-year-long homeschool schedule, as I’ve found through the years, December is a great time to slow things down. We take a break from our regular homeschool lessons and try new pioneer Christmas activities for families. And I get intentional about keeping our holidays simple as the pioneers did.
Our family enjoys celebrating in an old-fashioned Christmas style. We give homemade Christmas gifts, make old-fashioned Christmas candy, and enjoy the music and books about Christmas.
Recently we also started making food gifts from our kitchen, and focusing on eco-friendly and sustainable gift ideas. These include making homemade soaps and lip balms.
This year, I’m sharing some pioneer-style activities we’re including as we homeschool through the holidays.
Foraging for Pioneer Christmas Greenery
In frontier times, the pioneers didn’t buy fancy Christmas decorations for their cabins. Instead, they foraged for tree branches, berries, and other natural greenery.
Then, using their ingenuity and creativity, they made wreaths, mantel dressings and Christmas tree decorations.
I use foraging to teach my children about the natural bounty around us. During the holiday season, we practice winter foraging. And we collect greenery such as:
- Spruce boughs
- Cranberries
- Pinecones
- Birchbark
We then use these natural items to decorate our off grid home.
Christmas Caroling
Pioneer Christmases usually included a church service and caroling at church and home. Remind your children of the glory of the season by singing Christmas carols together daily after dinner.
Then help your children research the history of caroling, or do a free Christmas caroling unit study.
Read a Pioneer Christmas Book
Cold wintery dark days are the perfect opportunity to catch up on reading aloud as a family. There are many old-fashioned Christmas books for kids to choose from.
We have a tradition of adding one Christmas book to our family library each year. Since we don’t have television and live in a very remote area, we read together every night before bedtime anyway.
And during the month of December, we read our Christmas stories......
for the rest of this post, please head over to Mom for All Seasons where I had the privilege of guest posting in the Homeschooling Through The Holidays series!