s/o Should school be fun??

[NanceXToo]

While school isn't ALWAYS "fun" for us I do try hard to make much of it fun much of the time. We like it that way. I want us to enjoy what we do and the time we have together. (I don't agree that my daughter's public school teachers tried to make school fun when she was in school).

[littlebug42]

I am trying to institute a Fun Friday school day here. If the girls get their regular work done during the week, we can do educational fun things on Friday. We do Mad Libs, play the game Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. As spring comes, we will do some outdoor things. It is still learning but a little escape from the regular drudgery. It also gives a little motivation to get stuff done on the other days.

 

As far as the other goes, I don't think school all has to be fun but I certainly get more out of my kids if I can work with what they enjoy. Sweet Pea loves to read and devours books constantly. I give her a lot of reading and this works well for her. Boo-Boo however lives for workbooks. She begs to do them for fun. I have moved to more workbooks for her.

[3peasinapod]

This hit me today. We do fun stuff here and there, but it is not all fun (even for me! Gasp!) A lady I know told me she couldn't homeschool. She said she did that for 2 weeks before January to see with her K'er, and her K'er complained it wasn't fun. She told her DD that it wasn't fun because she wasn't an elementary teacher. I didn't say anything, as I think she was feeling bad about not homeschooling, and I don't believe it's for everyone.

 

Anyhow, this has helped me today. I kept thinking about it, a little niggling thing that the girls would have more fun in school. Done with that now! Thanks everyone!

[Guest]

For my kids, school IS fun - because they think learning is fun. They did not have a lot of fun in public school because they did not learn - despite all the "fun" activities.

We find math fun. We find reading Homeric epics fun. We may not find memorizing French irregular verbs a lot of fun, but it surely is fun to be able to read a fairy tale in French.

I do not see a contradiction between "work" and "fun". I work in a job and love it, I have a lot of fun at my workplace. My husband as well. We are surrounded by people who have fun while they work - because they can follow their passion. I would prefer my children to develop an attitude like this - instead of viewing work as something unpleasant and fun as its opposite.

 

This does not mean that every single task at schoolwork or job is joyful, but it is a general attitude.

 

Thank you for sharing this :)! :iagree:

It was this kind of attitude that I always had at work also. Even when the job as a whole was not as pleasant, I always found elements to make it fun for me and those around me. But fun means different things to different people. For me fun is for example when I can read a book to my son and see his little brain working and making connections. Fun is when I see his face light up when he reads a book I have picked for him that is spot on with what he likes. Not everything is fun of course and there are times when he doesn't feel like doing something and he knows that his school is his responsibility but it is this attitude, as regentrude so nicely put it, that I want to instill in him. Like everything else it is a work in progress :D.

Edited January 6, 2011 by Guest

[scrapbabe]

:iagree:

I think some people assume that making school "fun" means using easy curricula and adding lots of meaningless/fluff activities, but for me it's the opposite — we skip the busy work and worksheets and instead use materials that are both rigorous and inherently fun and engaging. We use MCT for language arts, which involves cuddling up on the sofa reading and making up silly sentences, and we throw in some MadLibs for extra giggles. Science is very hands-on and full of experiments and field trips and documentaries. History is living books and documentaries and Teaching Co courses and interest-led projects. We do Spanish with Discovery Streaming. We go on nature walks and do nature journaling as well as lots of art projects at home. Math, which is not DS's favorite subject, gets livened up a bit with Zome Geometry and books like Murderous Maths. We use Type to Learn software for typing (it's set up like a game where the kids are secret agents) and for handwriting they use colored fountain pens and I print out custom practice pages with interesting copywork. Of course this is more work than using a boxed curriculum, but it's also the whole reason I homeschool — to instill a life-long love of learning and help my kids find their passions.

 

Jackie

:iagree: Love this!

[Beth in SW WA]

(I haven't read the other replies.)

 

School is school. Fun is fun. If school was fun, we'd call it fun. But it's called school. Sometimes they overlap. :)

 

In our fam, we get our work done so we can have fun. I don't want to drag out school for hours and hours in the name of fun.

 

Our idea of fun is being outside playing (when it's dry here), playing music together, reading great books together, skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, sight-seeing, travel, coloring, games, cooking together, doing art, church, going to theater, plays, etc.

 

School first. Then fun. :)

[MerryAtHope]

I tell my kids their attitude is their choice--whether they have fun and enjoy something is 90% up to them and their attitude. The world isn't going to dance to make it fun for them & the world doesn't revolve around them. They can enjoy it...or not, their choice. It was so freeing for me to realize this!

 

Now, I do try to make some things fun, and I think most of the time it should at least be interesting, but should they want to do school over their favorite play activity--probably not realistic for most kids!

 

I also tell my kids they don't have to like it all, but they should do it with a good attitude, just like I should do the laundry, cooking etc... with a good attitude even if I don't feel like it.

[Karen in CO]

My ds is very adamant that I should not try to make school fun. He was in both ps and homeschool; he went to 2 years of ps high school, a couple of years of cc classes for foreign language, and is now in a Japanese university. He remains very involved in homeschool discussions concerning his sisters.

 

He contents that the material should be interesting and challenging. He is against mind-numbing repetition. He thinks the girls need to write more and talk about their work more. He doesn't think that arts & crafts and games should be a part of school. Art as a subject is different than arts & crafts. Games should be fun and not just chosen for their educational value. It is like hiding vegetables in food instead of just teaching kids to enjoy vegetables.

 

I try to make our learning time worthwhile leaving plenty of time for fun, boredom, and leisure activities.

[jsleepymom]

I tell my kids their attitude is their choice--whether they have fun and enjoy something is 90% up to them and their attitude. The world isn't going to dance to make it fun for them & the world doesn't revolve around them. They can enjoy it...or not, their choice. It was so freeing for me to realize this!

 

Now, I do try to make some things fun, and I think most of the time it should at least be interesting, but should they want to do school over their favorite play activity--probably not realistic for most kids!

 

I also tell my kids they don't have to like it all, but they should do it with a good attitude, just like I should do the laundry, cooking etc... with a good attitude even if I don't feel like it.

 

I REALLY like the way you put this Merry!

 

I am a newbie and we are actually school dropouts as of oh about the end of November :001_huh:.

 

My eldest will be 6 next month and is a good reader so I don't feel too bad about taking an early sabbatical :tongue_smilie:. Over the past month or so I have done a lot of evaluation of our home/school life. My son, although performing well in the little we were doing of K, complains, sulks, balks, whines and absolutely makes me miserable with every school subject we encounter (and this is with not MUCH going on schoolwise!!) :confused:. I have researched curricula until my head has hurt, I have tried different schedules and presentations of material, I have spent tons on books for us to read aloud and enjoy as a family only to feel like it is all in vain.

 

My younger children (ages 4 1/2 and 2 1/2) actually want to do school. My 4 year old will struggle through writing letters on paper (without any encouragement from me - he's an August birthday and i don't want to begin K with him until he is 6!) and do it with a great attitude and dedication despite the fact that he has absolutely NO fine motor skills whatsoever! The 2 year old constantly wants to 'do school' and is happy as pie to scribble on paper, paint or listen to me read for endless amount of time.

 

I've had to come to the realization that even though I read tons of posts on this board about children using such and such curriculum and loving cuddling with mom and reading, learning new exciting things about our culture, exploring the world of science - it's just not meant to be for our little school. I've also realized that I have done a poor job of working on attitude as a behavioral problem around here which is what we are doing these days as we just work on being a family that is kind and serving towards one another and that maintains a clean home (maybe he will tire of scrubbing and mopping and realize that school was a better option someday :tongue_smilie:).

 

Until we begin again (maybe in the Fall or next Spring), I will be :bigear: in the hive and continuing to try and assemble a workable schedule for our big family of littles.

[Cabertmom]

I love what you said, Julianna:

 

Originally I envisioned the whole "learning lifestyle" where education and fun and life flowed together seamlessly. :lol: I was given a dd who started asking in K, "is this for fun or for school?" :glare::lol:

 

I was exactly the same way, but it never worked. I even spent a few months trying out unschooling when the oldest were young. Well, they had lots of fun playing with Legos and building sandcastles and reading. They didn't really learn much though.

 

I have recently determined that the idea of "fun" is overrated. Perhaps instead of "fun," we and our children should be asking if something is "satisfying"or "interesting" or "worthwhile."

 

I love singing opera and polyphony, proofreading, translating, and working at my part-time job doing medical transcription. However, rarely do these fall in the category of fun. Instead, they are immensely satisfying tasks that require concentration, skill, and patience instead. I think in the long run, perhaps teaching our children to value things that are satisfying may be more important than valuing fun. That doesn't mean nothing should be fun, but perhaps fun should be more of a break than a constant expectation.

 

All this is nice to say, but I am still frequently met with the question from my 5-year-old, "What can I do that's fun?" If I were starting anew, I would never have introduced the word into our family vocabulary.

[texasmama]

Haven't read any of the other replies...

 

I am not such a "fun" mom.:D I don't like crafty things, and I am old and tired.:tongue_smilie: My goal has always been to make school as interesting as possible, and I believe we have achieved that goal. But I don't try to make it "fun". My kids don't seem to mind school for the most part...well, maybe 4th grade grammar gets a bit tedious at times...but they do seem to enjoy most of our reading, literature readalouds, history and science. They even enjoyed the short foray into Latin we did last summer. They don't find math too "interesting", but they don't generally object, either. They did find our supplementary Life of Fred book to be fun at times. Grammar and writing doesn't get a big thumbs up from them, but that is okay.

 

FWIW, I don't compare our schooling to public schooling. It is apples and oranges, IMO.

[KatieH]

I don't try to make school work fun. Work is work. Deal.

 

Like I've said before: I'm such a fun mom. ;)

 

I agree with this. This is pretty much how I am. Some things we do are fun (she loves the activity book for SOTW I!) but I don't choose and plan curricula based on whether or not I think it will be fun. Which isn't to say I'm opposed to having fun during school, it's just not my focus. And I think that learning can be fun without trying to make it so, anyway. I see people bash worksheets all the time, for example, but when I was a kid I LOVED doing worksheets, writing book reports, drilling multiplictions facts, etc. They were fun for me. I've always liked learning in general.

[KatieH]

Haven't read any of the other replies...

 

I am not such a "fun" mom.:D I don't like crafty things, and I am old and tired.:tongue_smilie:

 

 

Uggh, crafts! Don't get me started. I hate doing doing crafts. Which is why my kids go to pre-school somewhere else! I keep a lot of crafty things on hand for the kids to mess with, but I don't direct. The closest I come is whatever is in SOTW, and that's not so bad since dd1 can do most of it on her own.

[texasmama]

I keep a lot of crafty things on hand for the kids to mess with, but I don't direct.

 

Same here. :001_smile: We have play dough, paints, water colors, markers galore, sequins, feathers, treasure boxes to decorate, glue, etc..."Have at it!", I tell them. (I will be hiding in the other room pretending that there will be no mess to clean up at the end.:D) I am a creative person, just not a crafty one. I do dye eggs.:tongue_smilie:

[angela in ohio]

I don't think "fun" should be added or a reward for after learning is over. I think dc should be taught/shown that learning is an enjoyable pursuit, even when difficult. Someone who enjoys learning for itself and thinks it is fun will be a lifelong learner.

 

I know several homeschoolers who went out of their way in the early years to be very public school-like, with lots of fun and games, and it backfired on almost all of them. Their dc never learned to enjoy learning for itself, and they don't desire it or seek it. The moms either have dc who fight them to do schoolwork or learn anything, or they are having to use elementary school level games (and sometimes materials) to keep the dc going.