Valentine's Day Unit Study for MERLD Boys

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I’ll confess, we’ve never really done anything for Valentine’s Day in my home.

When my husband and I were dating, we purposely didn’t put any emphasis on Valentine’s Day, because we felt that our love for one another should be expressed all year long – not just on one day.

And then I gave birth to two boys.

So all of the hearts and pink and purple — well, it’s not very boy-ish.

But what if there is a way to do Valentine’s Day with boys that won’t make them roll their eyes and say, “Ooooo, gross, mom!!!”

Valentine’s Day Unit Study for MERLD Boys

Now that both of my boys are home, I’m looking for ways to do fun things with them that are fun and learning at the same time.

And holidays are the perfect way to do that!

This year I bought all kinds of Valentine’s Day decorations to decorate our home with, because it’s so festive and fun.

We’re prone to think of Valentine’s Day as hearts and girlie colors, roses and chocolate, but there is a history to Valentine’s Day that really has nothing to do with that.

Sometime during the 3rd century in Rome, a man named Valentine who is said to have given assistance to persecuted Christians was martyred.

This opens up a whole new discussion about Valentine’s Day, Jesus’ sacrifice, and the persecuted church.

Literature:

Sadly, none of the books about the real St. Valentine were available on Kindle, but thankfully, there is other media that we are using.

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t read fun books.

So here are a couple of books I picked out to read:

My kids absolutely love Charlie Brown.

This one is available both on Kindle and Audible. What I love about Amelia Bedelia is that that she constantly mixes things up.

One of the difficulties MERLD children face is understanding jokes and sarcasm. They are incredibly literal….just like Amelia Bedelia, so I can’t wait to dig into this book with my kids and talk about why she got things mixed up

Math and Language Arts:

On YearRound Homeschooling I found all of the printable resources I need for both math and language arts.

Here is what I plan to use:

Notebook pages – One of the main areas I am focusing on with homeschooling is writing. We’re doing a lot of notebooking. So we will use these to write about what we’re learning about Valentine’s Day, both about the history of St. Valentine and what we’re learning from our books.
Math – There are printable packs with games and fun math activities for all grades.
I will also be using notebooking pages to do copywork and writing prompts.
Fun Packs – I can’t wait to dig into the fun packs to plan games with my kids!

I also love using these notebooking pages.

Science:

What better time to introduce the circulatory system than at Valentine’s Day!

My kids were flummoxed the first time I told them that our heart isn’t in the shape of what we usually use for a heart.

Here are a few fun and fascinating activities to introduce the circulatory system to my kids:

Teachers Pay Teachers Circulatory System Fold and Learn

And we watched this video a few times and learned how to take our pulse!

History:

One of my goals with this Valentine unit study was talk about the real meaning of Valentine’s Day – the persecution of Christians.

That’s where Minno Kids comes in.

If you’re not familiar with Minno Kids, it is a Christian children’s streaming service with series like Veggie Tales, Superbook, and What’s In the Bible.

On Minno I found The First Valentine – which is going to be a great video to watch together and talk about.

This is a great time to talk about the fact that there are Christians right now in other countries who are persecuted. Grab a globe or a map and find persecuted countries and spend some time praying for the Christians there.

Bible:

What better time than to talk about how St. Valentine displayed the love of Jesus, and Jesus’ sacrifice for us?

Art / cooking:

What is Valentine’s Day without making valentines?

I know, boys aren’t into all the ooey-gooey, lovey-dovey stuff.

So, what are they into? Well, my kids are into Avengers. Last year we used these Avengers valentines from The Joy of Boys.

This year we’ll use these Avengers valentines from Our Handcrafted Life.

I plan to host a giant playdate with my kids’ friends so they can hand out their valentines, plus they’ll make some for family and church friends.

Make Heart Garland

Take red paper and cut out hearts. This is especially good for younger kids to work on their tracing and cutting skills. They can either trace a heart pattern using a cookie cutter or you can show them how to fold a paper in half and cut a symmetrical heart shape.

And talk about the meaning of the word symmetrical!

Framed heart window decorations

Cut out a heart shape, then cut out a smaller heart shape out of the center of the heart (the best way to do this is to use nesting heart-shaped cookie cutters. I got mine off of Wish.com here.)

Make Heart-shaped Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, have your kids cut hearts out of bread and spread butter on them, then cut heart shapes out of cheese and make grilled cheese sandwiches.

You can also make red iced tea with rose hip tea and honey.