Holiday Schooling for Free: Learning Through the Winter Season

No matter what type of homeschooling your family prefers or what winter holidays you celebrate, holiday schooling can be a fun way to merge the two. It can be laid back and easy or well planned and intricate. Do whatever works for your family!

I’m going to show you how to do it for FREE using free resources you can find online. 

Holiday Schooling for Free in 3 Steps

Whether you are on a strict budget, planning last-minute, or prefer to use free resources, there are plenty of fun activities and even unit studies available online. I love finding free homeschool resources and gathering them together in one place. Then, when I need them, I can just go to my lists and find what I want.

Step One

Decide when and how long you will holiday homeschool for. This will depend partly on what holiday or holidays you are celebrating, when your school break is, and how long you want to holiday school for. There is no wrong way to do it of course. 

We holiday homeschool in December and take the two weeks off our local school board does but you don’t have to do that. You can just do one week. Some US homeschoolers holiday school from (US) Thanksgiving to their winter break. In the past, we have done activities for Hanukkah and Christmas. This year I’m still planning. 

Step Two

Decide what type of holiday schooling you want to do. What sounds fun to you and your children? Holiday read-alouds? Studying Christmas Around the World or Winter Holidays around the world (Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, etc)? Do you celebrate one holiday but want to learn about another? Perhaps you think a Christmas Unit Study would be good.  

If you are a Christian homeschooler, you might want to study Christmas from a faith-based perspective. There are tons of resources for that as well. All of these ideas are 100% possible. I like to do something different each year. After a few years, you can circle back again as your kids will be older and can tackle it differently. 

Step Three

Find the resources you will use. This could require lots of googling or asking around. You can also check out websites that share holiday schooling resources. 

If you prefer to look for yourself, try asking in homeschool Facebook groups you like or searching the web with keywords such as “free Christmas homeschool” or “free secular Christmas activities.”  Also, try searching YouTube for “winter solstice read-alouds,” “Hanukkah kids,” or “What is Kwanzaa for kids.” YouTube is great for drawing videos for kids for art.

Everything you do doesn’t HAVE to be holiday-related. I am thinking of focusing on life skills or personal finance instead of some of our regular activities, with some Christmas things thrown in. It’s your chance to do something extra or special, or extra special! 

Last Notes

Don’t stress yourself out more during this holiday season, though. Since it’s coming up fast, pick something requiring little prep and save the more extravagant ideas for next year when you have more time. You want it to be fun for everyone, yourself included. So don’t overplan. Take it easy during the holiday season. I’m sure you have a lot to do already. 

One last thing, don’t forget what you already have. Most homeschoolers collect lots of things for “someday”. If you already have craft kits, books, or resources for the holidays, use those up before you scavenge for more to keep things orderly. 

Happy holiday homeschooling, friend! 🎄

Are You Looking For More Holiday Homeschooling Ideas?

Be sure to check out these great holiday homeschooling posts!

• Simple Holiday Countdown Activities Kids Love
• Practical Tips For Using Homeschool Holiday Materials To Cover Content Areas
• 5 Low-Stress Ways to Make Family Memories This Christmas

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