Turning the Holidays into Educational Gold: Christmas and Literature

Written by Zan Tyler

The Christmas holidays abound with opportunities to expose your children to some unique learning situations and environments.

With already crowded holiday schedules, how do busy families make time for one more thing? Planning is the key. Also, you may want to reschedule some of your textbook work for after the holidays. You are not neglecting it – just rearranging your schedule to make the most of the unique opportunities presented by the holidays.

Literature

 Choose a classic literature selection that is appropriate for the holidays. Here are just a few ideas from which to choose. The reference librarian in your public library can help you with other suggestions.

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
• The Gift of the Magi, a short story by O. Henry
• The Book of Isaiah (in the Old Testament)

Read one or more of these books aloud, together as a family. With a little creativity and imagination, you can make these very special times and memories for your children. Last year, as a family, we read The Christmas Box in one sitting, gathered around the fireplace. We took turns reading chapters, until the book was completed. Reading aloud creates a unique, and rather unexpected, bond as you all enjoy a literary work together.

I would recommend that everyone choose the Book of Isaiah, or at least selected portions, to read together as a family. Isaiah was a brilliant author, employing a richness in his use of language that is beautiful and inspiring. You can use these readings of Isaiah during your family devotional time.

Books on Tape/CD

For those of you traveling during the holidays, consider listening to one of these books on tape as you drive. Adults and children alike enjoy being read to. Books on tape are a great way to redeem the time as you travel down the road. These books have great benefits, one being that you as the teacher can stop the tape to point out literary devices, explain vocabulary words, make editorial comments, and ask questions to check comprehension and attentiveness.

Our family has listened to countless books on tape as we have traveled. I can remember one Christmas road trip when we listened to O! Pioneers! by Willa Cather. When we arrived home at 1:30 a.m. (we had run into an unexpected snowstorm), we still had half of a tape left. We were exhausted from a long trip and bad driving conditions, but that didn’t stop the children from begging us to listen to the end of the tape once we got in the house. What a great family memory—five exhausted travelers lying on my son’s bedroom floor by his cassette tape deck, spellbound by good literature at 2:00 in the morning.

Regardless of how you choose to incorporate special literature selections into your family life during the holidays, don’t forget to document this time in the literature portion of your lesson-plan book. Homeschooling avails itself to a whole host of learning opportunities—learn to take advantage of them. Your family will be the richer for it.

Zan Tyler is the Homeschool Resource Consultant and Homeschool Editor for LifeWay Christian Resources, on the Web at www.lifeway.com/homeschool. She and her husband Joe homeschooled for 21 years, teaching all of their children from kindergarten through high school. Zan is the author of Seven Tools for Cultivating Your Child's Potential.

Share your thoughts with other readers:  Post Comments   Rate this Article