Let’s face it, we all have good intentions when it comes to incorporating holidays into our homeschool plans. Since those good intentions don’t always become a reality, it’s good to have a stash of no-prep needed, last-minute homeschool Christmas ideas.

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Whether you’re homeschooling through Christmas or taking a break, some last-minute homeschool Christmas ideas can save the day in a busy holiday season. Not only can these ideas can add some normalcy to a crazy time of year, they can also help us focus on why we celebrate. What’s not to love about that combination?

Never got around to your #homeschool Christmas plans? Take a look at these last-minute ideas.

5 No-Prep Needed, Last-Minute

Homeschool Christmas Ideas

Here’s a look at five of my favorite no-prep needed, last-minute homeschool Christmas ideas:

1. Christmas Around the World Online Unit Study

We’ve worked through this Christmas Around the World Online Unit Study for the last couple of weeks and I can confidently tell you a few things about it. The first is that it’s a perfect last-minute homeschool Christmas idea.

Ideally you would be able to spread these ten lessons over the month of December, but if that’s not possible, know that they’re engaging, yet easy enough to double-up and do more than one a day if needed. In fact, there have been a few days where my son covered more than one country because he chose to, not because we need to finish.

The second thing to know about this Christmas Around the World study is that there’s no preparation needed in order to successfully work through it.

There are activities with each lesson, but it won’t take away from the experience if you don’t do them all. So, while some preparation may be needed to do some of the projects, you can easily pick and choose based on what you’ve already got in your home.

Lastly, know that this online unit study is the perfect homeschool lesson format for a busy holiday season! It’s great because these unit study lessons teach themselves and free me up to do other things. My kiddo can sit down at the computer while I’m working, doing laundry, or wrapping gifts and no one misses a beat.

2. Christmas Pastel Art

We love Christmas art and we’ve done lots of it this year, but there’s no doubt that all of our mixed media art takes time and planning.

If you don’t have an abundance of time or time for planning, some Christmas pastel art may be a better match for you. After all, if you’ve got chalk pastels and construction paper, you’ve got everything needed to get started.

You can find some fantastic Christmas pastel tutorials on Hodgepodge or you can snag a copy of their Christmas Chalk Pastels ebook.

Either way, your kids will love these Christmas art projects and you’ll love that you can do them with no advanced planning. You can literally say, “Let’s do a project with pastels” and get started five minutes later! It’s a beautiful thing. 😉

3. Music of Christmas

Music in Our Homeschool’s Music of Christmas mini-course is another great no-prep homeschool holiday solution. It consists of six main lessons, but includes bonus lessons to use for alternates or if you have additional time.



Also, these lessons are only 15 minutes long, making them short, sweet, and easy to fit into your already full December days. Better yet, it’s completely open-and-go with information, videos, printables, and a quiz to go along with each lesson.

4. Nature Study Through the Holidays

I love, love, love homeschool resources that are versatile, low-stress and cover more than one area. That’s what’s great about this Advent Nature Study. Since it can be done once a week or every day, it can even be used to, gasp, start an Advent study halfway through December.

If needed, combine some components from weeks one and two for the sake of catch up. Then use the rest of the time to savor this study. That may not be the recommended way to use it, but it’s flexible enough to work that way.



If you add Nature Study Through the Holidays to your homeschool plans at the last minute and wonder how to get it all done, don’t stress. It can take two Advent seasons to get through the nature study components. Choose what works for you now and save the rest for next year.

5. Christmas Copywork

If you don’t have time for a unit study or adding extras to your normal homeschool routine, some Christmas copywork might be a better fit.

Copywork is easy to implement because it’s print-and-go. Better yet, adding copywork to your homeschool plans knocks out handwriting, grammar, and language mechanics in one assignment.



Not quite sure how to get started? You can use scripture (Luke 2 is a good go-to), lyrics from favorite Christmas hymns or carols, or quotes from your favorite Christmas movies or books. There’s really no right or wrong way to approach it!