When I saw the focus topic for the Canadian blogging team this month, I was itching to get going on it! This is a subject near and dear to my heart! Homeschooling can often become a chore, a challenge, it is difficult and a huge sacrifice and can be completely overwhelming.
But I think too often we allow this to overtake our whole attitude and approach to our homeschool days. How do we get our list done and do the best we can for our children without all of us hating the process? How do we bring FUN and wonder and excitement to the table?
I feel like twirling around the room singing “let it go, let it go!” (can you tell I have little girls in the house?!?!?). Come find out how we have implemented fun homeschooling in our home.
Fun Homeschooling Strategies and Activities
Did I just say strategies? Isn’t fun homeschooling supposed to be spontaneous and unplanned? It can be, but I find with the amount of stuff on the list to do each day, I often have to PLAN fun into our days.
Each week I plan out our daily schedules, what I want each kid to accomplish in their workbooks, etc. I have found that doing a bit of research on fun videos, a few fun worksheets or fun online games saves me a ton of time during the week and ensures that we fit these activities in with our lessons. Just 30 minutes of browsing for relevant materials online and plugging those right into our lesson plans gives me at least one point in the day where we put aside our workbooks and do something I know the kids will love. Be that an experiment, a nature walk, a You Tube video, etc.
Aside from planning, I have found you HAVE to be flexible in your day as well. There will be moments when something just isn’t working and the kids are feeling overwhelmed. Maybe they have been doing bookwork for a few hours and are starting to lose focus. Maybe they are out of sorts and everything you try seems to be a complete waste of time. If this is where you are at in your day, STOP! Hammering it over and over is not fun or productive for either of you! This is the time to do something outrageous and totally unexpected. You don’t even have to stop the learning, just try something completely new and different. Check out these ideas:
1. Toss a ball or bean bag back and forth to help memorize skip counting, multiplication, verses or memory work and more!
2. Make a hopscotch area on your floor with masking tape and get the kids to do their lessons with each hop.
3. Use a hula hoop to get them moving and dance to a song. When we think fun homeschooling, we think of learning activities. Sometimes, you need to just totally log off of learning and find something that your child loves to do!
4. Watch a fun homeschooling video (TONS on Youtube, discovery kids, brain POP, etc.).
5. Get out, take a break, go to the library or park… somewhere out of the house. Sometimes even just a change in scenery changes the entire outlook.
6. We LOVE dancing in our house! We crank the music and have a dance party. It helps get all the wiggles out and everyone is much more focused after we have had a bit of fun.
7. Great rhyming activity: each say or sing a stanza and the next person has to say or sing the next one to rhyme. The kids love this and it is hilarious to hear what they come up with!
8. Build a story… we love doing this while we are camping, go around the circle and everyone ads something to create a story. This is SUCH a great educational activity, but so fun they won’t even realize they are learning! Fun homeschooling on the sly 😉
9. Work with your senses! If you have been doing activities all visual and auditory in your classroom, it’s time to switch it up! Try a smelling activity or a sensory game. The more senses you engage in a lesson, the longer that concept with stick AND the more fun it will be. Do ANY of us like to sit still and listen to someone talk for hours on end? Mix it up! Get creative!
10. Art can be incorporated throughout a variety of subjects! Paint your math lesson! Use dough to create a model of Canada or the US! Let the kids color while you teach! I find giving the kids an artistic and creative way to learn changes the entire dynamic of the lesson to make fun homeschooling a part of your day!
If you want to find some more great ideas on how to have fun homeschooling, check up the roundup of posts over at The Canadian Homeschooler!
