A Childs Guide to Christmas Around the World Unit Study

This isn’t your average Christmas Around the World study. We will be taking a trip to the following:

- Australia

- United States

- Japan 

- Germany

- Mexico

- Italy

- Scandinavia - Norway, Sweden, Iceland 

- Africa

- Russia

- Greece

- And SO much more!

Is this 100% secular? Well, technically, because we teach the culture around Christmas from different countries around the world, some of these countries have their catholic/Christian beliefs. However, we can make this as secular as possible by teaching the pagan origins, world religious beliefs behind Christmas, and the accurate historical timeline behind those beliefs. Most secular families celebrate Christmas, so why not learn all there is to know about this day? This guide takes on a secular format, and we don’t introduce these beliefs as true or accurate; we acknowledge them for what they are and what others all over believe. This guide may not be a good fit for your home if you don't celebrate Christmas.

Winter holidays such as Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, and Winter Solstice are also included. We will dive into The Nutcracker Ballet and a little composer study, as well as Saint Nicholas's wicked sidekick, Krampus, who punishes naughty kids (this is just folklore). There will be advent calendar activities and tags to create your advent calendar. Many of the art and handwork prompts have a Waldorf touch to them as well.

These lessons are easy to complete in 1-2 days. Each country will have an interactive Letter from Gnomen Jingleberry, our tomte tour guide that explains each country and how they celebrate Christmas. The best part is an mp3 audio file included with each lesson so your child can hear Gnomen while he reads his letter to them, discussion questions, copywork, creative writing prompts,  art and handwork, decorating and assembling an included ornament to hang, main lesson book prompt, and recipe(s) to make together.

Your child will receive their passport with beautiful stamps to place after visiting each country and learning about their culture and history around their Santa and the celebration of Christmas. This guide will not only be great for little ones, but I also keep older ones in mind and do not leave them out of the fun and learning. The crafts/activities and recipes will be geared for every age.

Grades 6-8 will have visual and kinesthetic options for learning about each country's Christmas celebrations, along with dictation and creative writing prompts.