Halloween Homeschool Ideas

Are you searching for some fun, creative, curriculum worthy ideas for your homeschool this Halloween? There are so many ways to get creative with your homeschool lessons and sometimes that gets overwhelming. I started this blog to save our ideas year to year to comeback to when I need motivation or inspiration! I hope it helps you too! Here are some of the activities we’ve incorporated into our learning leading up to Halloweens past and in 2022, I created a fun, free “Mini Lesson Guide” that you can download to help you DIY some fabulous October homeschool fun! (Full unit study coming soon)

The origins of this magical holiday can be traced back more than 2000 years ago in what is now Ireland.

The most direct lineage of what is now “American Halloween” comes from a Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced: sah-wen). Every civilization we know anything about has a relationship between life and death and this time of year was a sacred time of connection between those two states of being in many places, in many cultures, for thousands and thousands of years.

Like so many ancient traditions, sadly, the Church “Christianized” Samhain into “All Saints Day” (All Hallow’s Day) which was initially in the the Spring- but moved to become “All Saint’s Eve” (all Hallow’s Eve) take over the Pagan celebration. We start most of our DIY lessons/unit studies with questions and research and with annual holidays I love seeing what my kids remember from years past. It’s always super cool to hear their version of it from memory/personal perspective.

Here are some activities we love doing while we learn about and celebrate Halloween all October long:

History/Geography/Cultural Studies

Holidays are an excellent opportunity for exploring history, geography and cultural studies. Research and discuss the origin, traditions, topographical impact and changes over time of holidays like Halloween. Like so many “American traditions”, you’ll find this one a wild ride of colonization and Christianizing. Exploring how Euro-centric religions destroyed ancient practices is an important part of this lesson for sure.

You can learn more about the history of holidays a few ways and from as many cultural perspectives as you can find. I love starting our lessons/unit studies by reading stories, watching videos and asking questions (then digging for answers). We use our dry erase boards to make notes and write down our questions so we can come back later and see if we answered them! You’ll find a whole page of questions, called “curiosity seeds” in the PDF lesson guide.

Investigate how different cultures connected with their dead loved ones throughout history. Finding similarities and differences, and incorporating a timeline activity is a fun way to see how very different communities, thousands of miles apart, with no way of knowing one another were practicing similar celebrations at the same time of year!

Incorporate maps, tracking a tradition from it’s birthplace to ways it’s celebrated around you now, identify and learn about the region the holiday originated in and where it’s celebrated now- even 5-10 minutes finding locations on a map is a great touchpoint!

If you’re kiddos are into it, October is also a great time to research famously “haunted” places and learn their history/lore. Checking out SPOOKY LAKE MONTH together is a must!

You can also build on the lesson by asking your kiddos what other holidays they know are celebrated in October besides Halloween and learning more about those.

Nature

Investigate the animal kingdom, on land, in the air and in the water! Discuss the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals. There so many awesome animals associated with Halloween, can you think of one?

Did you know there are also plants that are “ghosts”- there’s a ghost pepper, a ghost plant and a ghost flower! What are some other plants or places in nature that remind you of Halloween? Study gourds, pumpkins, and other plants harvested or planted or flowering in fall.

What are some ways to explore food this season? What grows native to you this time of year? What are your favorite plants to eat in October? Having a “feast” and discussing/enjoying seasonal foods is an awesome way to celebrate Halloween!

Weather and weather systems- Living near Los Angeles our weather doesn’t get too dramatic when the seasons change, we still observe the changes and compare to what we see happening with the weather in other places. Fall and Spring are definitely our families favorite seasons to dig into learning more about weather. What is your favorite type of October weather?

Science

October is a fabulous time for some spooky science!

I really can’t think of a better time of year to start an anatomy unit! With “Skellys” in nearly all our neighbor’s yards, we can get lots of practice learning about the beautiful bones that support our bodies! This can be done through some introductory youtube videos, coloring pages, crafts building or construction skeletons etc. The Human Body Theater book is super fun and we highly recommend it.

If you have a science subscription box like MEL SCIENCE you can use this month’s box as a centerpiece and build some experiments and research from there.

Check out your favorite science sites, youtube channels and resources for themed lesson plans or sign up for a fabulous science class on Outschool you can get $20 off your first class here!

Music/Literature/Media

We have a Halloween playlist that we love to listen to and really any music that feels right for this time of year for you works- this is also an awesome cross-curricular addition to a history or geography lesson.

I included a big book list in the PDF lesson guide that you can find on my FREE RESOURCES page (if you don’t already have it!).

We almost always watch some Halloween movies as part of our homeschool week leading up to Halloween too, and check out Halloween episodes of our favorite shows.

Check out your favorite reality-competition type shows like pumpkin carving, baking, etc for Halloween themed episodes too!

Arts & Crafts

Another excellent cross-curricular activity, there is always room for art and you can make this part of history, nature, science, math, or ELA lesson. We made magic wands last week and it was soooo much fun!

Pumpkin carving is a very traditional art project many kiddos do in October- we were stoked to find both CostCo and Trader Joe’s had pumpkins for $4 this year.

You can find an extensive list of craft project ideas on my Fall Pinterest board HERE. I’ve been sure to include crafts for the littles, the elementary kiddos, the tweens and teens and for adults too! I know it’s tricky to put an age range on crafts, especially for homeschoolers- you know your kiddos best so check out my Pinterest list and I bet you’ll find a new craft to do together!

For a book list and more fun ways structure your October and Halloween Homeschool learning adventures- download the free Lesson Guide here!

Don’t forget to visit Teachers Pay Teachers in October too, often you can get amazing freebies and that’s a great way to find new vendors you want to buy from in the future!