How can I make school more fun? (without junk food)...

[Jumping In Puddles]

I love some of the ideas in the Hot Cocoa with Math thread, and I am going to start implementing that but I would like more fun ideas that are not food related. :)

[Faithr]

Short lessons, lots of humor, not letting the curriculum teach but YOU using the curriculum to teach directly and enthusiastically, not confining the kids to the desk or kitchen table but getting up and moving around (cuddling on the couch, snuggling in bed, sitting in a circle on the floor, letting them write on a big black or white board instead of in a workbook all the time), moving at the child's pace and not at the curriculum set pace or your own preset idea of how fast the child should be learning, lots of hugs, kisses and I love yous sprinkled throughout the day!

[kalanamak]

Games, like dice and cards. Applications in real life. Biggest for us, I think, is seeing what we study elsewhere: we hear Handel at the mall, my brother sends us a postcard about jambalaya right after we sang a song about it. If your teaching ranges far and wide, you will bump into things. Yesterday it was reading the story of the Argonauts and having Orpheus playing the lyre right after Orpheus was mentioned in the old Bell Telephone movie Unchained Goddess (about weather). We are both alert for such things and it is a contest who will recognize the reference first.

[katilac]

I have to leave right now, but I'll come back and answer this later!

[Ferdie]

Here are some more ideas:

 

- treasure hunt for school supplies at the beginning of the year

- put a ticket for an outing in their workbook and let them find it when they start school.

- theme days, (PJ day, bring stuffed animal to school day, backwards day)

- do read alouds outside or in front of a fire on a blanket

- same with lunch - pack a picnic and let them eat outside, or indoors under a blanket fort

- celebrate the 100th day of school, (since we use workbooks we celebrate the 100th lesson by letting them pick a prize out of the dollar store)

- take lots of nature walks

- play classical music while they do their handwriting/copywork

- make a fun book log to track the books they read for free reading. A catepilar book log is fun. Write the name of each book read by the child on a colored circle and watch the catepilar grow as your child reads. We tape ours to the wall and my dd's is half way accross the wall right now.

- give them lots of hugs!

 

ETA - When my kids were young there were a few days that I experienced extreme burnout. On thoses mornings, (maybe 4 times a year) I packed a bag and took my kids on an outing to the zoo or museum. Today those outings are some of my fondest memories and I have never once regretting missing that extra day of "school".

Edited December 8, 2009 by Ferdie

[WishboneDawn]

Lots of read-alouds and I don't know if this would work for everyone but for my daughter it's key to print off related colouring sheets or let her do crosswords and soduku or even let her drag out build cities for her Neopets toys out of wooden blocks (I love that she's 11 and this is still fun play for her).

 

Right now we're also doing geometry so I'll try to come up with a Christmas or craft project that uses what she's been learning in a lesson.

[Jumping In Puddles]

Thank you all for the responses, there are a lot of good ideas and advice in this thread! :)

 

I think will start tomorrow with lunch under a blanket fort... my kids will LOVE that one. :)

 

Thanks again! :grouphug:

[Margo out of lurking]

We used to have game day once a month. We'd skip school entirely except for board games, card games, outside games--anything was "game" (sorry!).

 

We'd do "beach days" in winter. The kids would set out beach towels on the carpet, umbrellas, dress in swim suits and I'd turn the heat up a few degrees. We'd "school at the beach." We'd occasionally have cooking days, we'd have field trips whenever possible.

 

Your children are young. Focus on the basics, read aloud, and enjoy this time together.

 

I miss those days...

[Cindyg]

My best suggestion is read alouds or audios where the kids can play quietly with their hands as they listen -- Legos, Kapla blocks, magnets, whatever you have.

 

Second suggestion -- we use a lot of music in our school.

 

We just like listening classes. They're not wildly fun like a day calculating velocity at Six Flags, but it makes for a pleasant day.

[Julie in Monterey]

Your kids are so young. School should be *filled* with fun. Try checking out the books, "Games for Math", "Games for Reading", "Games for Writing" by Peggy Kaye. They have all kinds of fun games for those subject areas...very easy to make. My kids made most of the game boards (out of simple materials) Often when my kids jet antsy, I ask if they want to play a game and sure enough we end up spending more time on more school.

 

Cooking can be fun and a great way to work on reading, measuring and following directions. My main goal with kids at this age is to enjoy being home with them, creating strong readers and getting good habits in place.

 

As an aside, when we get in a slump in regards to school, usually it has more to do with me. I am trying to do too many other things while I expect them to stay focused. Often, once I stop and sit down and commit to the lesson and the experience it changes the whole experience for the kids.

As my kids have gotten older (6 and 9), I only answer the phone, check emails, etc on our shared breaks (every 45 minutes, we take a recess of 15 minutes). If I would have changed something sooner, it would have been this. When I am busy during the school day, it sends the message that it isn't all that important and fun seems to go out the door. I'm not saying this is what is happening to you, just that it's happened to us before. It is something to think about.

 

Once a week we "do school" at the local bagel shop. We bring our own cream cheese and drinks so I'm only out for the bagels and it is a welcome change to our normal routine. We do history at the beach on Wednesday afternoons. As others say, a change of venue can make a big difference. Or even waking up and deciding to wear only stripes or purple or eat dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner.

 

Keep in mind, the beauty of homeschooling is that you don't need to stay at home. Go outdoors and read to your munchkins or if it is cold, go to the lobby of a fancy hotel and read in front of the fireplace.

 

Enjoy!

 

Julie in Monterey

[IsabelC]

Thanks all for the great ideas, I will be taking some of them on board.

 

My best tip from recent experience is to be sneaky and give them stuff they don't know is schoolwork. Today I tried in vain to help ds become more confident with his addition facts. He got heartily sick of it and started complaining about how he doesn't like number work, and how I make him do sooo much curriculum (which is a joke, because he could easily do everything I ask him to do in half an hour). So a bit later, during his free time, I found him poring over his times tables. He sat there for about 20 minutes, telling me excitedly how x times y equals z, and even memorized a few. Because it wasn't work, it was 'magic numbers' his Daddy had printed for him. :D

[DawnM]

My kids love PROJECTS! I need to find more, but they love lapbooking and they love creating games and notebooks.

 

For History I loosly use Sonlight but I pick and choose and mostly, since we are doing US History right now, we use Homeschool in the Woods Timetravelers CD activities.

 

In fact, if ANYONE knows a similar program to Homeschool in the Woods for Geography or World History, we will be needing it in the next couple of years.....so please let me know!

 

Dawn

[Jumping In Puddles]

Thank you all for more great advice and suggestions! :001_smile:

 

My kids love PROJECTS! I need to find more, but they love lapbooking and they love creating games and notebooks.

 

 

Dawn

My kids love projects too! I hate projects, lol, but it's not about me is it? :lol: I have SOTW, and I told my kids this morning they were going to start projects for history and they started jumping up and down! :tongue_smilie:

[AngelBee]

:lurk5:

[NorthwestMom]

One fun thing I do is pull out theme music for a week or two. I'll start school by blasting "You Can't Touch This" or "Who Let The Dogs Out?" and the kids just freak out.

[KidsHappen]

Singing and dancing or other kinethic activities. Research has shown that using as many neural pathways as possible increases retention. So we read, repeat out loud, write, act, sing, dance, do gymnatics, play jeopardy style games, add smells, and taste, play classical music in the background. It's a three ring circus here really but my kids constantly amaze me with the things they know and remember, especially when I ask them how they learned or remembered it.