You know how December goes.
The regular plan limps along beside the baking, the travel, the relatives, and the concerts. By the middle of the month you have done one of two things. Either you have quietly abandoned school and feel guilty about it, or you are pushing through a history chapter nobody is listening to while the cookies burn.
There is a third option. Set the curriculum down for four weeks, and run a December term instead.
Same subjects, seasonal content
A December term is not a month off. It is the same subjects at the same level of rigor, with content that fits the season instead of fighting it.
Instead of the next chapter of American history, your children study the American Christmas itself: how a holiday that was once banned in parts of this country became the biggest celebration of the year. That story runs through colonial America, the nineteenth century that invented most of what we now call Christmas, the arrival of trees and cards and mail-order catalogs and electric lights, and on to the modern holiday.
Seven strands across four weeks
The term covers history, literature, science, mathematics, geography, art and music, and service. There is a kitchen lab, because December is when everyone is in the kitchen anyway. There is a December budget, which is real math with real stakes. And there is a service strand, because a term about Christmas that never looks outward would miss the point.
Where to look
“Look it up” is not an instruction. It assumes a child already knows where to look. The Where To Look pages name real sources, so your children practice finding things out instead of being handed them.
For every age at once
- Twelve two-page Fourfold entries (The Fourfold Method) for older students
- Four drawing entries for younger students, plus Draw It pages facing every history week
- Reading lists for read-alouds, independent readers, middle grades, and high school
- A parent reading strand, with books for you and your own entry pages
It still counts
The hours and subject coverage logs record what you did across every subject, so the month counts as instruction. If your state asks for hours or a portfolio, you will have a record of December like any other month.
What’s inside
- Four weeks across seven strands
- An American history spine, from colonial America to the modern Christmas
- Where To Look: real sources, named
- Twelve two-page Fourfold entries and four drawing entries
- Draw It pages facing every history week
- Reading lists by age
- A parent reading strand
- A kitchen lab, a December budget, and design pages
- Weekly plans and records
- Hours and subject coverage logs
- A traditions keepsake page
Get The December Homeschool
94 printable pages, 8.5 by 11, black and white for a home printer. Download it now and you will be ready to start on December 1. Your family license covers every child in your household, every year.
This is a first edition. Tell us how your December term went, and we will build the best suggestions into next year’s edition. Every purchase includes free updates to future editions.
Gina Glenn Steffy
Lisa Nehring and her husband, Dr. David Nehring, a Clinical Psychologist, and Biblical Scholar speak together on a wide variety of topics, including education, classical education, vision, mission, parenting, marriage, and more.
- A December Homeschool Plan: A Four-Week Christmas Term That Still Counts - October 9, 2026
- Just Started Homeschooling? What to Do in Your First 30 Days - October 9, 2026
- Homeschool Portfolio and Evaluation Log: Gather the Evidence as the Year Happens - October 9, 2026
