15 Feb Happy President’s Day: Activities and Resources for Homeschool

There is one thing I’ve learned from homeschooling: If you don’t make holidays and celebrations into a really big deal, then your kids are going to miss out. This is especially true in my case, being a Canadian, transplanted into the United States. I was actually a little surprised to learn that I had very little understanding of many of the holidays. The great part is, as a Homeschooler, I get to learn with my children! Today we are using the opportunity to learn about President’s Day, while sharing some activities and resources for homeschool.

Starting with the Basics

President’s Day is one of those holidays I knew nothing about. I actually had to do a little research. I needed to learn a little bit about this holiday, in order to teach Clark and Luci. We haven’t really gotten into politics at all yet, so we had to start at a really basic level with “What is a President?”

We learned that Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday, originally established to commemorate George Washington’s birthday on February 22nd. The holiday eventually changed to the third Monday in February in the early 1970s, along with it’s focus. We now celebrate Presidents’ Day, acknowledging all of the U.S. presidents from the past and the present.

In order to keep things simple, we choose to learn about just two of the presidents for this Presidents’ Day, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Penny Tracing

We learned that some of the presidents’ faces were on our money. Since we were learning about Abraham Lincoln, Luci used a penny to trace his face onto paper using crayons.

Once Luci finished her penny designs, we decided to watch some videos on Abraham Lincoln. Much of the information was over their head, but we found a quick, cute story, which they enjoyed.

Using Presidents’ Day Craft Book, Clark and Luci put together an image of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. While cutting and gluing, we discussed what the job of the President is, and what we would do if we were the President.

Luci was getting a little elaborate with poor Abe’s mouth. I stopped her short of hanging his tongue out. Clark was concerned that the only way he knew how to draw a nose was like a “doll or a pumpkin carving.”

We learned how to curl paper using our scissors, and using the curled paper, we created Abraham Lincoln’s beard.

Clark had a little extra time while Luci caught up, so he went on to make George Washington. He thought the clothing choices were very strange and found it very strange as to why the man would wear a white wig.

The results were pretty fun. Based on the crafts, both Clark and Luci were able to identify both of the presidents in pictures and recall a couple of facts that we had learned about them.

I love that a quick internet search can lead to a day of enjoyment with your children! I hope that on this President’s Day, you can find some activities and resources that help enrich your homeschool.

Happy Presidents’ Day!