A Colonial Christmas Printable Power Pack

Description

What was Christmas like in Colonial times?

Close your eyes.

When you picture Christmas in your mind, what do you see?

Jesus as a baby in a stable?  Christmas lights?  Beautiful trees covered with decorations?

Food? Family? Friends?  Santa?  And PRESENTS ?!?!?

What if I told you that there was a time in our country’s history that a child might have answered like this:     A fabulous feast of fish, flesh, and fowl!

In the year 1608, Captain John Smith wrote this, “The next night being lodged at Kecoughtan; six or seaven dayes the extreame winde, rayne, frost and snow caused us to keep Christmas among the Salvages, where we were never more merry, nor fed on more plentie of good Oysters, Fish, Flesh, Wild-foule, and good bread; nor never had better fires in England, then in the dry smoaky houses of Kecoughtan.”    After so much suffering, and starvation the first settlers in Virginia faced, this Christmas meal must have indeed looked like the best of a royal feast!  As time passed, and more and more people came to settle in America’s first colonies, they all brought with them their own Christmas traditions… and some didn’t chose to observe Christmas at all!

Christmas in the early American colonies wasn’t quite like an average American Christmas today.  

To be fair though, there are some parts of the Christmas celebration that we would find very similar.   A Colonial Christmas might  also have included visiting with friends and family, singing carols, going to church, relaxing, dancing, games, and all around having FUN!

So, do you want to learn more about what a Colonial Christmas was like?
Let’s do it the MOST FUN way possible!

We will taste the colonists’ favorite Christmas foods, craft Colonial Christmas decorations for your house, make homemade gifts for your friends and family, play some Colonial games, sing some traditional Colonial Christmas carols, learn how to dance a minuet, and LOTS more!

How to use this unit:

First, go read these posts -> Christmas School   or   An American Girl Christmas

You will find the whole idea behind this series, and also how to keep homeschooling through the holidays with NO STRESS!

If you dream of finding a way to cover “school”, but also get all your Christmas cooking, gift making, etc… done, and somehow still make wonderful, warm holiday memories with your kids, this might just be what you’ve been looking for!

Next, scroll through each of the sections in the Colonial Christmas Hands-On History unit.  You will find some online reading to introduce each topic, extra books/movie suggestions, and of course LOTS of hands-on projects for each topic of study.
REMEMBER you do NOT have to complete all of these activities.

Choose the ones that spark enthusiasm from your family, and ones that will help you also enjoy checking off your Christmas list!  Make some notes on the planning pages in this (or the Printable PDF Version) of which projects, books, and activities you want to do!

Next, print out this Colonial Christmas Printable POWER Pack and let the FUN begin!
Each page in this pack goes along perfectly with the reading and activities in each of the sections of the Colonial Christmas Unit!  If you like using the planning pages, you may wish to print out several copies so you can them for the entire holiday.  This will make more sense when you see them below 🙂

I also highly recommend keeping Christmas binders (directions for that can be found in the AG Christmas post that I mentioned above).  I still have my children’s binders from years and years ago, and they make wonderful keepsakes to bring out each year!   Just add their writings, thoughts, coloring pages, and anything else you’d like to add in!

Lastly,  RELAX AND ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS WITH YOUR FAMILY!!
Skip the stress, rush, crowds and chaos… and happily homeschool right on through the holidays by creating some homemade gifts together, sending some beautiful calligraphy Christmas cards your children have created, crafting  some sentimental and beautifully simple Christmas ornaments and decorations, or baking some of George Washington’s favorite cookies for your neighbors!
And if you’re feeling extra festive, there are even ideas on how to host a Twelfth Night Christmas party!

Make the holiday the lesson.
And enjoy living, loving, and learning TOGETHER!