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    Home » Homeschooling Off The Grid

    5 Simple Family Pioneer Christmas Activities

    Published: Dec 4, 2019 · Modified: Dec 3, 2021 by Sarita Harbour · This post may contain affiliate links and Amazon links

    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. Instead, we try a new pioneer Christmas activity. 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 a few of the pioneer-style activities we’re including as we homeschool through the holidays.

    box wrapped in brown paper and rope with cedar sprigsPin

    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 collect greenery such as:

    • Spruce boughs
    • Cranberries
    • Pinecones
    • Birchbark

    We then use these natural items to decorate our off grid home.

    Red candles in a cabin windowPin

    Christmas Caroling

    Pioneer Christmases usually included a church service and caroling - both 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 get caught up on reading out loud 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 anyways.

    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!

    LIKE THIS POST? SAVE IT TO PINTEREST FOR LATER!

    Simple Family Pioneer Christmas ActivitiesPin

     

    • 10 Old-Fashioned Christmas Books for Kids
    • Outdoor Christmas Activities for Families
    • Rustic and Pioneer Christmas Crafts for Kids
    • 9 Ways to Have a Green Christmas
    « Easy Honey Graham Cornbread Recipe
    Our Off The Grid Water System in Winter »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Dee | Grammy's Grid

      November 18, 2020 at 3:12 am

      Sounds like lots of fun! Thanks so much for linking up with me at #AThemedLinkup 34 for All Things Christmas. Shared.

    2. Gentle Joy

      November 17, 2020 at 5:21 am

      Such good ideas! Christmas can easily become so commercialized and I, too, enjoy emphasizing the simple things, especially then. Thank you.

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    Dan Hosfeld and Sarita Harbour of An Off Grid Life

    Hi, I'm Sarita! My family and I started living off the grid nine years ago. And if I did it, you can too!

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