An Easy {and Techie} Christmas Traditions Unit Study

Feel like ditching homeschooling for the holidays?  I normally don’t feel like homeschooling between Thanksgiving and New Year’s either, but learning about Christmas is a lot of fun, and a great way to keep our home education going.

If you’re looking for something new to study this season, consider adding a Christmas traditions unit study to your homeschool plans.  I’m sharing a simple template with you to use in organizing your lessons, plus some techie tools that will make it easy and interesting for your kids.

Don’t forget to enter to win one of the two gift cards we are giving away! Full details follow Sarah’s techie post!

The Importance of Family Traditions

Christmas was my favorite holiday growing up, and it still is!  One thing that always made it special were the family traditions we had.  It’s such a joy now to be able to make new memories with my own kids each year and teach them about the traditions that were a big part of my life.

Anything special your family does each year for the holidays helps tell your family story.  These rituals are important – they are helping give your kids a sense of identity, trust, and family values.  As you create memories together, you build emotional connections that make the holidays a time to look forward to each year!

As my kids get older, they are noticing more and more that not everyone celebrates Christmas the same way we do.  Different families have different traditions!  For example, growing up, my family celebrated St. Nicholas Day with stockings on December 6th; my husband’s family filled stockings on Christmas day.  

I’m sure your kids can think of some examples as well, as you think about the traditions you celebrate and compare them to others.  Do you have Advent traditions?  Get a visit from “Santa Claus”?  Open presents on Christmas Eve?  

Have a short brainstorming session with your kids and see if you can write down all of the traditions you currently celebrate.  If you don’t have many yet – now’s the perfect time to start!  Here’s a great list of memorable Christmas activities filled with ideas to try.  Print it out and decide which traditions you might like to implement this year.

Teaching Our Kids About Different Traditions

While I have many great memories of our family Christmas traditions growing up, to be honest, I never learned much about other ways different people and cultures celebrate.  Even though we all celebrate Christmas, there are differences that can be appreciated!

What better time to teach our kids about the traditions of other cultures than while creating our own traditions?

Doing so expands our kids’ cultural world, invites critical thinking opportunities, and leads them to understand, appreciate and respect the experiences and traditions of others (that’s the hope, at least!).  Not to mention, it can help them appreciate their own traditions even more.

Christmas Traditions Unit Study

Hopefully, I have you convinced.  So what could a Christmas Traditions unit look like in your homeschool?  

Like I mentioned earlier, we scale it back quite a bit over the holidays.  But it’s super easy to put together your own unit study and teach your kids about different traditions in other parts of the world.

Your unit study can be as simple as you’d like, or there are multiple resources available to go more in-depth. 

Let’s take a look at how you can put together a simple Christmas Traditions unit, including a fun techie project your kids can do to commemorate your family traditions.

Part 1: History of Christmas Traditions

Begin your unit by sharing the following video with your kids.  It briefly covers the history of Christmas and the origins of some common Christmas traditions:

Discuss with your kids anything new you learned from the video, or what surprised you.  

Remember that brainstorming session you had earlier about your own family traditions?  Visit this website and see if any of your traditions are on the list.  Click the links to discover how those traditions began!

Part 2: Christmas Traditions Around the World

Next, you’ll choose a country and learn about their Christmas traditions and customs.  

This part might take multiple days or a couple of weeks, depending on how many countries you want to cover.  A good plan might be to study one country each day, or 2-3 each week.

I’ll use France as an example, and you can model other countries after this.

Where is France?

Begin by learning where the country is located.  Google Maps is a great tool for this!

Search for France on Google maps. Ask your kids: What continent is it on? What other countries are nearby?

Use Google Maps Imagery to discover more about France. If you’re not sure how to use Google Maps, click here to learn how Google Maps Imagery works.

Next, find the capital of France and “visit” the city with Google Maps.

Then, select a different region of the country and explore there. How is it similar or different to the capital? Are any of the areas of France similar to your home? Discuss why or why not with your family.

What is the distance from your home to the capital of France? Measure it with Google Maps.  Here’s how:

• Open Google Maps.
• Search for your home
• Right click and select “Measure distance”
• Click on the map and draw a path to the capital. You may need to zoom in and out to extend the path the full distance.
• You will see your distance at the bottom of your map.

About France

Take a few minutes to learn some interesting facts about France.  Kids World Travel Guide is a great resource for this, or you may pick up some books from the library.

Christmas in France

Discover how the French celebrate Christmas by watching the video below:

Why Christmas is another great website to learn about Christmas in other countries.  If you’d like your kids to have a printable to record notes about each country you learn about, you can grab this Christmas Around the World Research Guide to use as a companion to your unit study.  

Here are a few discussion questions you can have with your kids after your research:

• How do people in France celebrate Christmas differently?  How are their celebrations similar to ours?  (Make a Venn Diagram together!)
• What do you think is the most interesting tradition and why?
• Are there any traditions you’d like to incorporate into ours each year?
• What kinds of foods do they enjoy at Christmastime?  Look up a recipe and make a traditional dish together if you have time.

Each day of your unit, choose a new country and study their Christmas traditions using this same format.

Part 3: Family Traditions “Techie” Activity

To wrap up your unit study, your kid can make a digital scrapbook-like page about your Christmas Traditions using a web tool called Padlet. You can register for an account for free.

Watch this video to learn how Padlet works:

Let your kids know they will create a Padlet of your family’s traditions.  Here are the steps to complete:

• Login to your Padlet account
• Create a new padlet. Give it a title (something like “Our Christmas Traditions”)
• Add at least four posts about your family’s traditions. Use personal photos and videos or find content online.

Once you and your kids learn how to use this simple tool, you may find many applications for your homeschool!  Definitely save a link to their project in their homeschool portfolio.  You may even have them create a Padlet for your entire unit study, sharing what they have learned about Christmas traditions around the world.

Christmas Around the World Online Unit Study

If you’d like to teach your kids even more about Christmas in other countries, my Christmas Around the World Online Unit Study might be a perfect fit.  Online unit studies are great for middle-school-aged kids who can read and navigate the internet on their own, although younger students can work through them as well with a little help.

While completing the unit study, your kids will “travel” to each country with Google Maps (just like we did with France above), then read web articles and watch videos to learn more.

They’ll discover the Christmas traditions of each culture, and create a craft or other hands-on activities as they go: a Swedish heart basket, Mexican hot chocolate, unique Australian-inspired Christmas carols, and more.

They’ll even plan and make an ethnic Christmas feast!

Check it out here, and use the coupon code HTTH50 to take 50% off.

Enjoy Exploring Christmas Traditions

The holiday season is a time for much-needed relaxation, but also a great time to learn about different cultures and traditions with your kids.  It will benefit them in many ways!  

I hope these ideas will help you with your planning, and that you enjoy making new memories and traditions with your family this year!

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