Are you ready to spice up your homeschool learning during this holiday Christmas season? Most homeschoolers start to slow down their academics around the holidays. Most children and adults get what I call, "holiday head" and it can be difficult to focus on the usual academics routine.

Why not give in to the season, leverage the "holiday head" phenomena and create the optimal festive learning experience with a homeschool Christmas unit study featuring our beloved furry friends, cats?

It's no secret that kids love animals, and what better way to enjoy the homeschool holiday season then with a comfy cozy Christmas unit study focused on cats? There is such a gold mine of Christmas cat books out that this study can be literature based. I created NatureGlo's FREE Vintage Christmas Cats Unit Study BUNDLE, perfect for the homeschool or classroom Christmas learning season.

Step 1: Read through NatureGlo's DFY Vintage Cats Christmas Unit Study

After downloading NatureGlo's FREE Vintage Christmas Cat Unit Study BUNDLE, read through the DFY Vintage Cats unit study plan. Decide together with your children which stories to read aloud, although, I suggest reading aloud from the Cat Tales book further discussed in step 2 below. The stories are the "spine" of your Christmas cats unit study.

Step 2: Read Aloud Short Christmas Stories from Cat Tales

Children of all ages love to be read aloud to. I've carefully done the work for you and researched some beautifully illustrated vintage Christmas cat stories for your homeschool reading pleasure.

You can start with a delightful book from 1887 called Cat Tales, Interesting and Instructive Stories of Our Favorite Household Pet by the Lothrop Publishing Company. I've carefully selected and curated three short Christmas cat stories from the book. These stories are a great way to whet your family's appetite for the additional stories I've curated for your homeschool.

I frequently read aloud to my learners, especially during the holiday season. Since ancient times, humans have thrived on stories passed down through the ages. Indigenous tribes to this day yet carry on their ancient traditions through the art of oral storytelling around a roaring fire.

I have several other recommendations for Christmas cat story reading for various ages found in my FREE Vintage Christmas Cat Unit Study BUNDLE.

What better way to engage learners through the holiday season than through beautifully illustrated stories read with vigor, charm and enthusiasm. Try altering characters by varying your voice. This can go a long way to entertain and engage learners of all ages. Try varying tone, volume, and characterization as you read aloud.

Alternatively, children can take turns reading aloud from the book. Older learners may enjoy getting lost reading books independently at their reading level from the given list.

Read aloud the following three short stories from Cat Tales:

1. The Gingerbread Cat pages 7 & 8 - Both a story and a poem
2. The Christmas Kitty pages 14 - 16 - A heartwarming story about two young siblings who are all alone for Christmas when their father's train becomes snowed in. The children are without family or presents until a stray kitten comes to the house looking for a home.
3. Snow-Ball's Experience pages 17 & 18 - A brief one-page story about a fluffy white kitten's first snow

Step 3: Draw and Color Images Inspired from the Stories

While reading aloud from any of the suggested Christmas cat stories from NatureGlo's FREE Vintage Christmas Cat Unit Study BUNDLE, listeners can draw and color freestyle images from the story.

What do I mean by freestyle drawing? Kids can freely draw images from their imaginations based on what they hear from the stories. They can also get inspiration for their drawings by looking at each story's images.

Additionally, there are black and white images from Cat Tales that children can color while being read aloud to. The BUNDLE also includes a packet of vintage Christmas cat coloring pages.

Step 4: Look Through NatureGlo's Vintage Christmas Cats Unit Study BUNDLE Internet Activities

FREE Vintage Christmas Cat Unit Study BUNDLE includes a link to the Vintage Christmas Cats Internet activities Virtual Library page. On this page can be found:

1. Additional Christmas Cats stories
2. Projects and activities
3. Christmas cat videos

Select the resources that you and your learners are most interested in and complete them.

Step 5: Watch NatureGlo's Cat Tales Story Read Aloud Playlist

I've pre-recorded myself reading aloud the three cornerstone stories from the Cat Tales book. You and your learners can view the videos as you wish including as a way to introduce the study, review the stories and, or, conclude the study.

During the read alouds, I model variations in tone, volume and character differentiation. Enjoy these read alouds for your amusement and tutelage on how to deliver an exciting storytelling experience to your learners.

Step 6: Cover Additional Academics from the Unit Study Plan

You can cover additional academic subjects using the unit study plan. I've included connections with math, history, Literature (through the stories), and art. Additionally, you can add more to this study by filling in the blank lines in the DFY plan, or create your own using the blank unit study planner template provided inspired from the DFY Vintage Christmas Cats Unit Study plan.

Conclusion of the FREE Christmas Unit Study

My hope and desire is that this comprehensive guide will inspire you and your learners to truly enjoy the holiday season while learning in an interesting, engaging and exciting way while enjoying Christmas through cats.

NatureGlo's FREE Vintage Christmas Cat Unit Study BUNDLE can provide you and your family with hours to weeks of memory-making holiday fun through these beautiful furry felines.

Be sure to grab your free copy of this charming study.

Let me know in the comments below how this study works out for your and your family.

Talk soon,

NatureGlo