When I first started thinking about this year’s Christmas School, a Harry Potter-themed school kept coming back to mind. I was hesitant to entertain the idea because, as many of you know, we’ve read Harry Potter, watched Harry Potter, had Harry Potter birthdays, and hosted Harry Potter book clubs. We’ve read and studied and talked about these books more than just about anything else we’ve revisited in our homeschool. I thought…I really should come up with something new!
But alas, there must be something calling us back to Harry, because guess what? I gave my kids four options for Christmas School, asking each of them individually so they wouldn’t be influenced by one another. And, all four, unanimously, chose Harry Potter.
So, Hogwarts, here we come!
Christmas Rhythm
Every year, our Christmas rhythm looks a little different just depending on our season of life and where we are with our studies. This year, I'm feeling really good about where everyone is. For the next few weeks we’re taking a break from our regular family studies so I am going to try to double up on some lessons. Then the plan is the week of Thanksgiving, we are going to set aside our regular core work and devote our mornings, from 9–12, entirely to our Christmas studies. We'll continue with our scripture study as well since we're wrapping up our study of the Old Testament, but otherwise, I’m intentionally making room for slow mornings and a few hours each day for some project work. My older girls will have a few things they have to keep working on for some of their classes, but it should be a pretty light load for them.
Advent
Last year, we had such a wonderful experience reading Jotham’s Journey, so this year we're continuing on with the series and reading Bartholomew’s Passage. If you're not familiar with these books, they're a historical fiction series set in Israel, with a short passage to read each day leading up to Christmas. The books also incorporate the use of an Advent wreath and candles which we loved making apart of our evening rituals last year. At the end of the day, we'd dim the lights, gather around the Christmas tree, and read the advent story. I love the quiet and reverent feeling it brings into our home so I'm looking forward to carrying it on this year.
Hogwarts Christmas School
Despite having done so many Harry Potter-themed things over the years, we've actually never gone all out and had a proper Hogwarts experience where the kids receive letters, get to gather supplies, and officially make their way to Hogwarts. So this year, I'm really going all out!
My older girls are already helping me prep and we will surprise my boys with everything. A lot of the pretend part of the unit will be geared toward them but the girls are learning a lot already creating graphics and thinking through which kind of activities we could do for each subject. I’ve got some things planned for them I think they’ll like too. My youngest, now seven, listened to the first few books on Yoto cards a few years ago, but I'm not sure how much of the story he really took in, so in many ways, this will be his first real introduction to the books. I think it’ll be magical for all of us to experience it with him.
I couldn't find a curriculum that quite fit what I had envisioned, so I'm pulling together an eclectic collection of ideas and creating something of my own. My plan is that the first few days will be all about the arrival experience. The kids will receive their Hogwarts letters, and we'll make our way to Diagon Alley to gather everything they'll need for the term. Then, after Thanksgiving, we'll officially begin our more formal subject studies.
This certainly isn’t a new idea, especially in the homeschool world, but my plan is just to study one class subject a day as part of our time at Hogwarts. So, for example, I’ll have a day devoted to Charms and what that really will be is just an introduction of Latin words and etymology - both out of the book, but also with Christmas words and phrases. We'll play with language and expression and be writing our own Christmas poetry that we’ll share over a Christmas themed tea time. It should be fun!
Here are some of the other day classes we’ll be doing:
Potions: Chemistry & Science Experiments
Arithmancy: Math & Logic
Charms: Language & Latin
Herbology: Botony
Astronomy: The Winter Night Sky
Quidditch: Study of Winter Sports
Muggle Studies: Study of Scotland & our Family History
Care of Magical Creatures: Winter Animal Kingdom
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence
Philosopher’s Stone: Geology
Every subject is going to have a Harry Potter AND Christmas flair as well as something for each of their ages. The girls and I are still planning it, but we’re going to have the boys unwrap at least one gift each day to coordinate with the subject we’re studying which is going to be so fun. I wish I could share every detail for every class, but I’m planning 2-3 hours worth of work for each day so it would just be too much for this post (and I’m still pulling so much of it together), but I will share a few of the other books, resources, and special things we've started collecting to bring everything to life.
Christmas at Hogwarts: This book was definitely the inspiration for this theme!
Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone: This time around we’ll be reading this version of the book - I linked a Minalima edition because the copy I have is harder to find. But, it is the UK printing of the book as Rowling originally wrote it. And, did you know the Philosopher’s Stone is a medieval symbol for Christ? And, you better believe that’s going to be a big piece I’m pulling in - especially for a Christmas unit.
Floating Candles with Wand: We already have a few wands from when my girls were younger, but I grabbed this set so we would have another one around. We have a little dining nook we’re going to turn into the Great Hall.
Harry Potter Pop Up Guide to Magical Creatures: We’re going to have this be a “course book” the boys have to buy with their galleons at their day in Diagon Alley. It is probably the coolest pop-up book I’ve ever seen.
Wizards Chess Learner’s Set: My older girls know how to play chess so we’re going to teach the boys how to play on our math & logic day.
Harry Potter Puzzle Advent: We LOVE Christmas puzzle advents and have done multiple ones in the past so this will be a fun spin on it!
Invisibility Cloak & Robes: We already have these and they’ve lasted many many years. They’re both on the pricer end, but have held up great now that we’ve been through multiple kids using them.
Diagon Alley Lego Set: We have a huge collection of HP legos and I’ve been eyeing this one to add to it. It’s a micro set though and I’m torn on whether or not I’ll end up pulling the plug. But, if I don’t get this one I’ll for sure go with another HP one we don’t have yet.
Harry Potter Headbanz: This is in my kid’s top 3 favorite games. We’ll keep it out probably during the whole season so we can play lots.
Harry Potter How to Draw & Drawing Magical Beasts: We’ll be doing some longer projects and will be using these to help us with some drawings!
Wax Seal Kit: We already had this so we’re using it to make the boy’s Hogwarts letters, but we’re also going to use it to send letters from our Owlery on our Charms day.
Owl Wrapping Paper: I’m going to be wrapping up some of our activities and just fun things to go along with the unit (like our Christmas jammies) and this was just the perfect fit!
There are definitely a few others items we’ll be needing, but I’ll have to keep collecting as we move along. Last week I shared our last seven years of Christmas School ideas so if you missed it, be sure to check out that post! This is a year we’re going all out, but not every year has been like that.
Have a great Christmas season, my friends!
Looking for gift ideas? Be sure to check out my
