September 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 September homeschool unit study ideas using fun holidays.
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What to Celebrate in the Month of September
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 September that you can use to supplement your homeschool curriculum.
I’ve compiled a YouTube playlist containing most of the video links included in this article. Bookmark this page to come back and find the unit study, activity, and article links, and visit the Must Love Lists YouTube playlist for monthly video links.
Classical Music Month
If your family doesn’t typically listen to much classical music, take advantage of this awareness month to introduce your kids to some famous composers.
10 Famous Pieces of Classical Music
- Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart)
- Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
- Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven)
- Ave Maria (Gonoud/Schubert)
- Messiah – Hallelujah Chorus (Handel)
- Blue Danube (Strauss)
- Canon in D (Pachelbel)
- The Nutcracker Suite (Tchaikovsky)
- Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 (Bach)
If you want to explore more classical music with your kids this month, check out my YouTube playlist September: Classical Music Month. You’ll find 30 famous pieces of classical music so you can enjoy one each day all month long!
Read: Music Practice Checkoff Chart (Free Printable!)
National Sewing Month
Learn how to sew on a button or repair a seam this month.
For kids who are interested in sewing, encourage them to try a few simple sewing projects.
Debbie Shore: Learn to Sew Kids Playlist (YouTube)
Red Ted Art: Easy Sewing Projects Playlist (YouTube)
National Preparedness Month
Visit ready.gov for emergency preparedness resources to help your family be more prepared for disasters and emergencies. Talk about the type of natural disasters your area is most likely to experience (e.g. tornado, earthquake, flooding, etc.) and what to do.
Teach your kids when and how to call 911
Work on a fire escape plan and what to do in case of a house fire.
Go over basic first aid with your kids. Show them where supplies are kept, what is included in a first aid kit, and how to use it.
Read: Monthly Motivation for Kids
National Week Holidays for September
Next up are the national awareness weeks to use as homeschool learning opportunities during the month of September.
National Indoor Plant Week: 3rd week of September
Learn about the benefits of keeping indoor plants, research which plants live inside, and how to care for indoor plants. This lesson plan from Kids Gardening will help your kids learn how to choose and grow indoor plants.
Another fun option would be to create a terrarium or unique succulent plantscape.
National Day Holidays for September
Now we’re on to the individual day holidays for the month of September. Choose a few to incorporate into your homeschool for a variety of learning and fun.
Skyscraper Day: September 3
What a fun unit study topic! Visit Visual Capitalist for a chart illustrating the past 20 years of skyscrapers. You’ll also find stunning photographs of some of the world’s most spectacular skyscraper designs from Architectural Digest. Have your kids choose one to learn about: history, architect, design/engineering, obstacles.
Check out the PBS Skyscraper Challenge and decide which type of skyscraper to build given three different locations.
How Are Skyscrapers Built? (YouTube – Interesting Engineering)
How the World’s Tallest Skyscraper Was Built (YouTube – TedEd)
Will There Ever Be a Mile-High Skyscraper (YouTube – TedEd)
Why Europe Doesn’t Build Skyscrapers (YouTube – The B1M)
The World’s Biggest Skyscrapers (YouTube – Bright Side)
Lunch Atop a Skyscraper (YouTube – Time)
Skyscraper Build Challenge Ideas:
- pipe cleaner skyscraper challenge (Wayne State University)
- tall tower challenge (tryengineering.org)
- tallest paper tower challenge (sciencebuddies.org)
- choose a skyscraper design and attempt to recreate it as closely as possible with LEGO, blocks, or other material
For older students, have them read this article about 10 construction challenges in high rise buildings.
National Ampersand Day: September 8
Take a few minutes for some random trivia knowledge today. Watch History of the Ampersand for a quick overview of how we got our “27th letter of the alphabet.”
Sewing Machine Day: September 10
Learn the history of sewing machines, how they work, and how they have changed our lives.
The Forgotten History of Sewing Machines (YouTube – The History Guy)
How Does a Sewing Machine Work (YouTube – Interesting Engineering)
How a Sewing Machine Works (YouTube – Animagraffs)
How the Sewing Machine Changed Daily Life (YouTube – The Henry Ford)
How to Draw a Sewing Machine (YouTube – Art for All)
National Video Games Day: September 12
Your kids will be thrilled when you tell them you’re celebrating this holiday! Watch a quick history of video games, and let your kids play to their hearts content.
- Minecraft (like digital LEGOs – kids can build and create a unique environment)
- Cities: Skylines (plan and build a city on a vacant piece of land)
- Prodigy (incorporates math learning in an adventure game)
- Democracy (govern a country as president)
- Oregon Trail simulation (travel the Oregon Trail in the mid-1800s)
- Civilization (build an entire civilization)
- Kerbal Space Program (explore the solar system and build space stations)
- Game Builder Garage (create your own video games with visual programming)
- Odyssey: The Young Socratics (learn astronomy and scientific reasoning)
National Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day: September 13
Encourage your kids to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the family to celebrate this holiday. Find kid-friendly recipe ideas at some of the websites listed below, along with kitchen tips and information for kids.
Recipes for Kids to Make from MOMables
America’s Test Kitchen (Healthy Dinners Kids Can Prepare Themselves)
BBC Good Food Kids’ Cooking Recipes
America’s Test Kitchen has some fun food and cooking challenges for kids on their website, along with after-school snacks kids can prepare themselves.
As inspiration, your kids may enjoy watching a few episodes of a quality cooking show.
- MasterChef Junior (Fox)
- The Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
- Rachel Ray’s Kids Cook-Off (Discovery+)
- Good Eats with Alton Brown (Discovery+)
- Chopped Junior (Discovery+)
Read: Planning a Homeschool Theme Day (Tasty Tuesday)
Collect Rocks Day: September 16
This would be a great day to visit a rocks and minerals museum. Here’s a list of rock museums across the United States to help you find one near you.
For kids who love to collect rocks and want to pursue further collecting, it’s important to teach them the necessity of obtaining permission to remove rocks from public or private property. A helpful article from Rockhound Resource details the regulations for rock collecting on public lands.
Grab a magnifying glass and a rock classification chart, along with a collection of rock specimens for your kids to explore. Visit Mr. Nussbaum’s interactive rock chart to learn about 18 common rock types.
Geology Unit Study from Reluctant Homeschool Mama
Mayflower Day: September 16
Mayflower History is a great resource for comprehensive history of the Mayflower passengers and early Plymouth Colony.
The Mayflower at Cape Cod study by Rebecca Locklear
Constitution Day and Citizenship Day: September 17
September 17th is recognized as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in the United States. Take the opportunity to discuss how our constitution came to be and what it means to be a citizen. You can download the full text of the U.S. Constitution from constitutioncenter.org, and learn about the history and meaning of this document through their interactive constitution.
The Constitution of the United States of America (YouTube – Reedy Library)
The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism (YouTube – Crash Course History)
The Great Compromise (YouTube – NBC News Learn)
U.S. Constitution at the National Archives (YouTube – US National Archives)
Becoming a U.S. Citizen (YouTube – Growing Learners)
National Centenarian’s Day: September 22
Have your kids contemplate what they think the world will be like if they live to be 100. Where will people live, how will they travel, will we visit other planets, grow food differently, or communicate in different ways?
You’ll find a free download in my printables library for your kids to brainstorm some answers to these questions.
Kids Meet a 101 Year Old (YouTube – HiHo Kids)
Read: 250 Positive Personality Traits to Describe Your Child
National Punctuation Day: September 24
Greet your kids with a few fun punctuation jokes today. Examples: “I like cooking my family and my pets” vs. “I like cooking, my family, and my pets” or “A panda eats, shoots, and leaves” vs “A panda eats shoots and leaves.”
Comma Story (YouTube – TedEd)
Download a few punctuation activities from Teachers Pay Teachers to review correct punctuation.
National Situational Awareness Day: September 26
Teach your kids to pay attention to what’s going on around them. If you have young kids, read through 10 Ways to Teach Your Kids Situational Awareness from Tiny Beans. You’ll find excellent, practical suggestions to begin helping your kids observe the environment around them in detailed and useful ways. One example is to play “awareness games” when you’re out in public. Ask your kids questions about the people and spaces around you and test how much they remember.
For older students, this article detailing 7 Ways to Improve Your Situational Awareness has good tips for observing their environment and the people in it.
As your kids become more independent and spend time away from you or your home, they should be aware of potentially unsafe scenarios and practice predicting ways to remove themselves from the situation.
Visit my homeschool resources page for monthly unit study ideas, projects, and homeschool planning help!
How to Use Fun Holidays for Unit Studies in September
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 September fun holidays that aren’t necessarily learning-related in these two articles.
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September Unit Study Ideas for Homeschool Learning
