August Fun Learning Holidays
Looking for ways to supplement your homeschool curriculum? How about short unit studies to explore a variety of topics? These fun holidays are a great way to celebrate and provide engaging learning opportunities for your kids. Here’s my list of August homeschool unit study ideas using fun holidays.
(Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I use and love or would love to use! For full disclosure details, click here.)
What to Celebrate in the Month of August
Every month has designated awareness holidays. Take advantage of these holidays to introduce your kids to a new experience or get them to try something new. Also, if your child wants to dig in, use these holidays to spend additional time focused on a particular area of interest.
Let’s look at some of the monthly awareness themes for the month of August that you can use to supplement your homeschool curriculum.
Family Fun Month
I think every month is perfect for family fun, but you can take advantage of this designation by holding a family meeting to get your kids’ input about what they’d like to do for family fun. Download my free family meeting template from my printables library to get you started!
Make a family fun bucket list for this next school year. Have each child contribute a few ideas they think would be fun and plan to incorporate some family fun every month.
Read: Family Meeting Agenda Template
National Dog Month
If your kids are dog lovers, they’ll love learning more about their four-legged friends this month.
Areas of study about dogs
- history of dogs
- differences in dog breeds
- choosing a dog breed for a family pet
- care of dogs
- dog obedience training
- dog anatomy and physiology
- working dogs
Hands-on activities related to dogs
- build a dog house or install a dog door
- walk your dog or neighbor’s dog
- dog training
- field trip to a veterinarian, pet hospital, or farm
- “read to a dog” at a local library
- play Dog-opoly
Interesting Dog Stories and Movies
3 Ways to Smell Cancer (YouTube – SciFri)
Stella, the dog who learned to talk (YouTube – Good Morning America)
Dog Genius (YouTube – National Geographic)
Dogs with Jobs (currently on Amazon Prime)
Look for these dog books at your local library or click the links below to see them on Amazon’s website.
National Sandwich Month
Encourage your kids to create their own unique sandwich recipes! For middle school or high school students, this article, How to Build a Better Sandwich, offers tips from the pros on everything from bread, to condiments, to building the layers properly.
Your kids can travel the world through this video and discover what 23 sandwiches look like around the world.
Read: Monthly Checklist for Homeschooling Moms
National Week Holidays for August
Next up are the national awareness weeks to use as homeschool learning opportunities during the month of August.
National Simplify Your Life Week: 1st week of August
Include your kids in brainstorming ways to simplify meal planning, clutter, or activities. Here are a few suggestions you to consider doing this week.
- pick a few meals to repeat every week (e.g. Taco Tuesday, breakfast for dinner on Thursdays)
- have your kids make a list of their favorite meals and assign them to a day of the month
- teach your kids to make their own breakfast or lunch
- choose a time of day to have everyone participate in a 10-minute tidy up
- assign a day of the week for each child to do laundry
- encourage your kids to write down the activities or goals that are most important to them and choose one or two to focus on at a time
- help your kids box up clothes, books, or toys they don’t use often: donate items they don’t want and save the rest to pull out in a few months to revisit whether they still need them
Perseid Meteor Shower: 2nd week of August (peak viewing)
What is the Perseid Meteor Shower (YouTube – Lowell Observatory)
Perseid Meteor Shower Homeschool Lesson from You Are an Artist, along with How to Draw Perseids Meteor Shower in Chalk Pastels from the YouTube channel.
Visit Teachers Pay Teachers for a variety of meteor lesson material
National Day Holidays for August
Now we’re on to the individual day holidays for the month of August. Choose a few to incorporate into your homeschool for a variety of learning and fun.
Campfire Day: 1st Saturday in August
Teach your kids how to build a campfire. Feel free to motivate them with the promise of roasted marshmallows when they finish. Or, add to their knowledge by cooking a meal over your fire!
National Mountain Climbing Day: August 1
Everest start to summit in 3 min (YouTube – David Snow)
How to Climb Efficiently (YouTube – Climbing Daily): Brief video for kids interested in some of the details of ice climbing.
National Watermelon Day: August 3
The Amazing History of Watermelon (YouTube – Fire of Learning)
How to Pick a Watermelon (YouTube – Daisy Creek Farms)
Watermelon Time Lapse (YouTube – Green Timelapse)
Square Watermelons (YouTube – RTR Japan)
National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day: August 4
Have your kids experiment with a few chocolate chip cookie recipes. This ultimate guide to chocolate chip cookies provides a control recipe and changes one ingredient in each sample to show the difference it makes in the finished cookie.
Dishing Up the History of Chocolate Chip Cookies (YouTube – Dishing Up the Past)
The Chemistry of Cookies (YouTube – TedEd)
How It’s Made: Chocolate Chip Cookies (YouTube – Science Channel)
National Lighthouse Day: August 7
Visit Whole Child Homeschool for a comprehensive lighthouse unit study adaptable for elementary through high school.
If you’re looking for just a few activities to include today, try the suggested links listed below.
Read The Lighthouse poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Watch How Do Lighthouses Work (YouTube – Ticket to Know)
Check out the lighthouse explorer database to find a lighthouse near you, or anywhere around the world, and find out more about it.
Try this light refraction experiment (YouTube – Cool Science Experiments)
Make a flower pot lighthouse (YouTube – Gabriel Ash)
For older kids who are interested, visit the YouTube channel of BC Lighthouse Keeper to find a three-part series covering how a lighthouse works, including how math is used in real life to calculate how far the light can be seen.
National Book Lovers Day: August 9
Every day is book lovers day for me, but here are a few suggestions to help you officially celebrate the day.
- ask your kids to each choose a favorite book and read a passage aloud to the family
- join or start a book club
- The Evolution of the Book (YouTube – TedEd)
- How Books are Made (YouTube – Gorham Printing): get a closeup view of the book-making process from a small local printer
- find your next read-aloud with the helpful book lists from Read Aloud Revival
- visit your local library and sign your kids up for their own library cards
- have your kids make a list of books they want to read: they might like to choose one book for each month of the school year as a goal book
Read: Kids Reading List Mensa for Kids
World Elephant Day: August 12
Download a few fun facts about elephants for your kids and have them share their favorite.
Watch Elephants 101 (YouTube – Nat Geo WILD) or for a longer look at elephants, visit The Elephant Sanctuary website for a list of documentaries about elephants.
Left-Hander’s Day: August 13
I’m a lefty, along with my husband and all three of our kids! On left-hander’s day, I’m reminded of the uniqueness of this, as only 10% of the total population is left-handed.
Have your kids attempt to write or do another task with their non-dominant hand today. They may also enjoy thinking about whether there are specific tasks they already do with their non-dominant hand. For instance, I do almost everything left-handed, but I open jars, boxes, and packages mostly with my right hand.
Why are some people left-handed? (YouTube – TedEd)
Older students may also enjoy Why Are People Left-Handed? (YouTube – Neuro Transmissions)
Read: 250 Positive Personality Traits to Describe Your Child
National Roller Coaster Day: August 16
Most kids love rides, so today is a perfect opportunity to learn about how roller coasters work.
The amazing engineering behind roller coasters (YouTube – Interesting Engineering)
The physics of roller coasters (YouTube – SciShow)
How roller coasters use energy (YouTube – ElToroRyan)
How roller coasters affect your body (YouTube – TedEd)
National Aviation Day: August 19
Unit Study on Flight (DIY Homeschooler)
Airplanes and Flight Unit Study (Homeschool on the Range)
Airplanes Curriculum (Teach Engineering)
The Wright Brothers (YouTube – Simple History)
The Rise of the Airline Industry (YouTube – Reading Through History)
How Do Airplanes Fly (YouTube – Interesting Engineering)
National Radio Day: August 20
Who Really Invented the Radio? (YouTube – SciShow)
Radio Waves (YouTube – The OnLine Engineer)
Have your kids build a radio receiver and transmitter: links to required materials for purchase and instructions for the project are included at Try Engineering.
Vesuvius Day: August 24
A Day in Pompeii: full-length animation (YouTube – Zero One)
The Lost City of Pompeii (YouTube – Furious Earth)
Article from How Stuff Works about the volcanic activity of Mt. Vesuvius
National Toilet Paper Day: August 26
How Is Toilet Paper Made (The Kid Should See This)
If your kids are really interested and not grossed out by this topic, The History of Toilet Paper (YouTube – History of Stuff) is a 3-minute overview of how we moved from stones and leaves to the soft white tissue we know today.
Visit my homeschool resources page for monthly unit study ideas, projects, and homeschool planning help!
How to Use Fun Holidays for Unit Studies in August
The key to using fun holiday lists like this in your homeschool is to keep it simple. Don’t try to celebrate every single holiday or awareness theme. You and your kids will be overwhelmed.
One way to implement these supplemental learning activities is to keep a list of fun holidays. Then, note down the ones you celebrate with the year and what you did. Next year, come back to the list and pick another one or two to celebrate.
There are, of course, more “national days” you could choose to celebrate that are not included in this list, many of them focused on food. It’s fun to choose a few of these as well to add in treats here and there or as a way to have your kids try new foods.
Find additional August fun holidays that aren’t necessarily learning-related in these two articles.
Join my mailing list below for access to my printables library, where you’ll find many free printable resources to help you organize your home and homeschool.
Join my mailing list to receive updates when new printable resources are added to the library, plus tips and encouragement for your organized homeschool journey.
You May Also Like…
August Unit Study Ideas for Homeschool Learning
