Did you Know?...January Special Days

I am going to share with you today one of my favorite homeschool resources.
Celebrations! by Marjorie Frank.  Why? Because it is full of some educational stuff that happens to be fun (or fun stuff that happens to be educational) depending on if you are glass is half full or half empty kind of person :-) and I will disclose...I paid for my own copy (bought it at the beginning of the school year last year) nor was I asked to review this book...I just really, really love it and find it to be such a wonderful resource and wanted to share it with you!

But first...Did you know that the word January comes from Janus~~The Roman god of doorways and Beginnings?

And so, one new beginning we will be doing here at Brighton Park is a special "Days" post for each month. This is not an all encompassing list; there are many more that what I have listed here, really this is just the tip of the iceberg, but these are great to use to initiate a homeschool lesson or a project of your own interest! All of these came from the Celebrations! book. (And in the book, every single day is covered with over half the days having wonderful lesson plan activities and craft ideas (galore!) and also community projects to enrich their learning. It is a wonderful mash of literature, science, history and anthropology all in one.

It's a new year and by March, you will feel you got your money's worth. My kids and I love looking up each day during our morning circle time and finding out what that day is special for. (We also use a daily Saints book during this time also, but that is a post for another time...)

Here is a SMALL taste of what it covers, those I have listed with an (*) are those that the book also includes either lesson plan ideas or craft ideas for...

January is:

International Creativity Month
National Hobby Month*
National Soup Month*
National Book Month*
National Thank You Month*
Hot Tea Month* (my favorite!)
Celebrate the Past Month*
Volunteer Blood Donor Month*
It's OK to be Different Month *
Love Yourself Month*
and
National Poverty in America Awareness Month*
and many more...

January also contains:

First Week: Braille Literacy Week*
Second Week: National Bowling Week*
Third Week: National Creative Frugality Week*
Fourth Week: Mozart week*
and there are many more special weeks in January...

January includes these special days:

1st~New Years Day*
3rd~ Hobbit Day
4th~ National Spaghetti Day
6th~ Three Kings Day (Mexico)
10th~ Volunteer Fireman's Day
11th~ International Thank you Day
12th~National Clean off your Desk Day (I may need two days for that one...)
14th~ National Dress up your Pet Day (really?)
15th~ National Humanitarian Day*
16th~National Religious Freedom Day
18th~ Pooh Day (as in Winnie the Pooh)
19th~ Archery Day*
21st~National Hugging Day
22nd~Celebration of Life Day
23rd~National Handwriting Day*
25th~Opposite Day*
28th~Christa McAuliffe Day
29th~National Puzzle Day*
30th~ National Croissant Day*
31st~National Backwards Day
and many more...

Famous January Birthdays include:

1st: Paul Revere* and Betsy Ross*
3rd: J.R.R. Tolkien
6th: Joan of Arc
12th: Jack London
15th: Dr. Martin Luther King
17th: Ben Franklin*
18th: A.A. Milne
19th: Edgar Allan Poe*
27th: Wolfgang Mozart and Lewis Carroll
30th: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
and many more...

So, hopefully this gave you a few ideas for January. If you want ideas for each day, and activities and lessons plan ideas to go with them, then grab a copy of Celebrations!

You will be glad you did.

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