A Nordic Homeschool Unit

Last Christmas we got to experience something so fun and magical. The Good and the Beautiful put out a limited edition Nordic Christmas Box. You can't go order it today but it was truly delightful and I would encourage you to snag it up if you ever see someone selling their used copy. We fell in love with the Nordic culture, history, and landscape during that time and we've been enjoying it ever since! 

Here are a few of my favorite Nordic resources if you're interested in putting together a little Nordic homeschool unit of your own! (Especially a Christmas version!) 

The two books we enjoyed from the Nordic Christmas Box were a TGTB original called The Beauty of Norway (Norwegian art, geography, history, and customs all pieced together beautifully), and a reprint of an out-of-print (and set-in-Norway) book, A Grandma for Christmas. (This short-and-sweet book was the read-aloud and comes in at about a 5th grade reading level) 

My aunt got us Sticker Dolly Dressing Around the World and we do the accompanying page any time we learn about a country featured in the book. Norway just so happens to be featured so that made for a really fun hands-on experience.  

Voyage with the Vikings is the first book in the Imagination Station series (a favorite of my son's) that gives a fictionalized glimpse at Viking history. 

Lori Evert's books are really neat photo art stories expertly put together to tell fun and magical Norway-set Christmas stories. How could you not want to hug that cute little girl? We have read and loved The Christmas Wish and The Reindeer Wish.  

Jan Brett books are illustrated in a beautiful, detailed style and many are set in Norway- Christmas Trolls // The Trouble with Trolls // The Wild Christmas Reindeer // Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve 

American Girl's Kirsten books are a bit of a stretch as they're about a Swedish family making a new life for themselves in Minnesota, but I still found them to pair well with this unit since so many of the customs are the same (I especially felt that the Christmas story worked well) 

Horse Diaries: Jingle Bells is the 11th book in this series but each book is about a different horse so they can be read completely out of order and you will miss absolutely nothing if you start with this one. This is the story of a Clydesdale named Jingle Bells and his life, but particularly one specific Christmas night. The family talks a bit about their Nordic Christmas traditions and the back of the book shares some nonfiction to bring it all together.

Finally, we just enjoyed a great National Geographic mini series this week called Wild Nordic which touched a lot more on the Viking heritage while also bringing it all around to present-day Norway and its beautiful nature.