A brand new year means a blank calendar to fill with family fun and festivities! Incorporate some of the silly holidays below into the lesson plans for January to make treasured memories, memories that will warm the hearts of those you love. Do new things with the family this year and revive some old ones, too. Make much merriment with the family throughout this new year! Enjoy these January homeschool celebrations.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 NIV
January Homeschool Celebrations
Apple Tree Day – Cook up a batch of homemade applesauce to celebrate the day. Peel and slice three pounds of red apples. Place the apple slices in a crock pot. In a separate bowl, stir together one-half cup granulated sugar and one-half teaspoon ground cinnamon. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the apples and stir until the apples are well-coated. Add one-half cup water to the crock pot. Cover and cook on high heat for four hours. At the end of the four hours, use a potato masher and then a whisk to soften and smooth the applesauce mixture. Snack on the applesauce while warm, and store leftovers in the refrigerator. While the applesauce is cooking, read some fun books about apples, like, Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss; Apples, Apples Everywhere! by Robin Koontz; Apples by Gail Gibbons; Applesauce Day by Lisa Amstutz, and Apple Trees and the Seasons by Julie Lundgren. And, be sure to memorize this verse: Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8 NIV
Whipped Cream Day – Celebrate the day with artwork using Cool Whip tinted with food coloring. Finger paint on freezer paper or a used shower curtain liner. End the winter day with a cup of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream. Give thanks for fun, family times and the provisions of food and drink before sipping the hot cocoa.
Penguin Awareness Day – Create a colony of penguins with this fun family craft. Spread out a large sheet or white art paper or freezer paper. Let each person in the family take turns stepping into a shallow pan of black, washable paint with one bare foot and pressing the footprint onto the paper, toes pointed down for the feet of the penguin. Place and lift carefully so as not to smear the print. When the paint is dry, let each person glue onto the heal of the print two wiggle eyes and an orange construction paper triangle to represent the face. Cut out a white construction paper oval and glue into place for the penguin belly. Lots of penguin books are available for kids. Check out and read some of the fun books like, Tacky the Penguin by Helen Laster or the chapter book, Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Florence and Richard Atwater. Memorize this verse to go along with the holiday celebration. So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. Genesis 1:19
Squirrel Appreciation Day – Go for a family walk on a warm afternoon. Walk quietly and search for squirrels out and about. Watch the scampering rodents search for acorns or show off their agility in the treetops. How many squirrels did you see by the end of the trek? Thank God for His magnificent creations when you say prayers at bedtime.
Compliment Day – Encourage the sharing of compliments frequently, but make an extra effort to give away accolades for today’s celebration. Take the opportunity to be intentional with compliments for everyone in the family. Try to give five compliments per family member by the end of the day and make a mental note to compliment those you love regularly. Commit to memory Ephesians 4:29: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Find something new to celebrate every day in the month of January, but make sure to continue the practice into the next month and the next one, too. Make lots of memories with the ones you love this year, and fill January days with fun and adventure.
Julie Lavender, author of 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, looks forward to celebrating something new throughout the month of January and beyond. She’d love to connect with “new” friends, too, and you can find her on social media.
Julie Lavender loves making memories with her family that includes her high-school and college sweetheart, David, four adult children, one son-in-love, and one precious toddler grandson. Julie is a journalist, author, and former homeschooling mom of twenty-five years who holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. Julie loved living in various locations across the country as the wife of a medical entomologist for the United States Navy. After her husband retired from active duty, the family moved back to their hometown, and David began work as a wildlife biologist at a nearby Army installation. Julie is excited that her parenting book, 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, published by Revell, releases October 2020. She is also the author of a homeschooling devotional, 365 Days of Celebration and Praise. She is a freelance stringer for her hometown newspaper and her work is included in various magazines, like Guideposts and Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine, and others. Julie would love connections on her Facebook page or author page, and she would love even more if you’d join the conversation about showing love to a child on her Facebook Group, 365 Ways to Love Your Child.
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