wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Things are going well with our school work but there is not a lot of excitement. I know school isn't all fun and games but I want to bring in something, ya know? We need more project, activity ideas. More FUN :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 (edited) Things are going well with our school work but there is not a lot of excitement. I know school isn't all fun and games but I want to bring in something, ya know? We need more project, activity ideas. More FUN :D I take a completely different approach. I can't stand projects and activities. However, I would say that our homeschool does have lots of excitement. We get there by really enjoying what we are studying. My 7th grader loves school this yr. We have spent countless hrs reading poetry and Shakespeare.....things that she has decided she really loves (and things I really don't!!) But, she keeps asking for more. My 10th grader chose his subjects this yr, so he is very happy. My 4th grader also chose her subject matter, American history. We are doing Prairie Primer. She loves it as well. Lots of excitement w/some serious study and learning (and no projects.......well, I take that back. The girls are learning to crochet and weave, but nothing that requires my constant oversight and continuous active involvement and nothing messy. :lol:) ETA: FWIW, fun at our house is in games. We love games. Strategy games and cards in particular.....we can't get enouigh. WE have been playing them pretty much non-stop for a few days now! Edited December 22, 2011 by 8FillTheHeart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Projects and activities would be considered no fun here. Fun is listening to books, playing piano, and for my youngest playing the easiest most boring math games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I tried fun activities for December and all I got was whining and moaning. My son kept saying, "Can I go outside and play basketball?" I thought I was being a great parent by doing something fun, but it was a huge failure. They were more excited about going to the library than making snowflakes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Take off!!! W:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtokea Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 We went skating this afternoon. That was fun. I don't know how to add fun into school work. I try to add fun by adding an activity out of the house when I can, ie. skating, skiing, sledding, swimming, biking, etc. Just something different outside of the house re-energizes us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Codes are fun here. So is anything with clues, like a Latin treasure hunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Basically, fun here is getting our 3 r's finished so we can study, or play, or create what we want. Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I sometimes let my son choose a random science project out of one of our books. I don't usually plan projects though. Fun for him is usually checking out a book on a topic he likes. He loves reading! Board/strategy/math games are also a big hit. The majority of DS1's Christmas presents this year are board games. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I just started homeschooling this year. Before I selected all my curriculum, before I set up the homeschool room, before I worked out my schedule. I decide I was going to make a crazy horn. :biggrinjester: I took a cardboard tube and wrapped it in red and and white paper. Attached a funnel to one end with a bunch of bright coloured gift ribbon curls. On the other end I hammered in a brass metal "mouthpiece" which was a metal candle insert. I attached a silver ribbon to hang our horn from a stand. Then I put it into the classroom area with a note on it stating do not touch. It drove the kids nuts. :lol: I live to drive my kids crazy! Now, when I see someone starting to stare off into space, I'll grab the horn and continue reading through it or when we are reviewing something I'll hand it to the child to share their answer by speaking through the horn. They never know when I'm going to reach for it and they think it's funny! I want to buy one of those dollar store microphones that amplify your voice next so when they need to give me an answer I can give them the microphone as if we were on a game show. Other things we do for fun is meet Daddy in town for lunch. Oh and those stupid webkinz. The fluff balls have a nicer wardrobe then I do! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Your fourth (and maybe 8th grader) might like Hands On Equations. It is very fun. I have a post about it on my blog here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 Your fourth (and maybe 8th grader) might like Hands On Equations. It is very fun. I have a post about it on my blog here. This looks very good! I am going to check this out for sure! My 8th grader is not, exactly, a strong math student shall I say! I bet this would do her some good as well!! Thanks :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyCamper Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Great ideas! We do Tuesday Tea and Poetry ala Bravewriter. My husband takes DD golfing on Thursday mornings before work. Fridays we also do HOE for math. I am going to try and see if she might be up for LOF now that we are further along in math. She was frustrated by it on an earlier attempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketgirl Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 every other week we play a trivia game, we go in rounds & I ask questions of each kid from their topics, i make it competitive, but they all win a prize, its so much fun that my 3 year old asks when we'll play again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaffodilDreams Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Bake or cook something that goes along with what we're reading Let dd decide what she wants to do with what she has studied Choose something from the SOTW activity guide Get out of the house Have school in bed Watch films that go along with our topics Designate some days as fine arts only days Embrace rabbit trails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iquilt Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 We sometimes hold m&m quizzes. Each child gets a personal size whiteboard and a cup. I take turns asking them questions from what they have learned recently ( math facts, spelling, Latin, etc,). When dc gets the answer correct, he/she gets an m&m in their cup. We do this until everyone has a decent stash of candy and then we eat them! Highly motivating for everyone, and of course the teacher gets some too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkid Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 We definitely have to have fun planned in at our house or things fall apart. Not everything is fun, but we do a few things to keep it light or things get too serious and stressful. My dd loves and lives to act. So on Thursdays we each choose 1-2 things from our lessons that week and act them out like charades. It is hillarious! We might act out a spelling word, something Fred did in math (LOF is definitely considered fun for us-- we are just in elementary level still though), a current event, a scene from history or a passage we read for WWE. It's been a blast. We do have to limit it time-wise though. My kids love Bill Nye dvds for fun science. Youngzine has fun stuff on it...after we look over the main current events on Mondays we then watch a couple fun videos of random things. We love listening to the SOTW cds, or other books on cd/tape while in the car. Now I hardly hear complaints when we have to get in the car. My ds thinks Ziggy for preschool is so much fun. He almost cried when I told him we're on Christmas break from school! HTH! Nikki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Mine love projects and activities. We try to do a lot of this with science. Some Earth Science projects for next 3-4 months are: Go fishing in a lake and a river, compare experience. We're in the South so it's still a balmy 50-60 degrees most days. Take a water hose to our neighbors "dirt hill" and see how water/weather causes erosion. Build a weather station from household items. We're going to do a soil test in preparation of putting in a garden. Other ideas... woodworking can be fun, it involves math and life skills. If you're more into crafts you can do a lot with history.... Make a greek urn out of paper maiche (spelling?), use bits of construction paper to make a mosaic "tile" picture... or use real broken tiles on plywood. For medieval times use colored celophane to make a "rose window". For spelling we play "mother may I" for each word spelled correctly 1 small step forward, for each wrong answer 1 big step back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I randomly give out pieces of chocolate or vegan marshmallows for a job well done or reciting a poem we memorized long ago (or accomplishing a current one that's particularly challenging). That's about as fun as I get. My kids consider their studies fun and would prefer to just work through them so that they have the rest of the day to play. We also only school four days a week, so they have three days off every week. And we take every fifth week off. I know it doesn't answer your specific question, but I take the attitude that school is work and should be satisfying, but I don't try to make it fun. I'm not a fun kinda person like that. I have my schedule, and I stick to it for my own sanity. Projects and games and stuff throw me off and, consequently, throw my kids off. Oh, my kids think Real Science 4 Kids is ridiculously fun. They LOOOOOOVE the experiments. I hate experiments of any kind but I do think RS4K is fine. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkid Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Also to add to my previous list... We did Sentence Family at the beginning of this school year and that was a blast...getting to act out each character, draw them, and play games. Grammar definitely got fun again with this program. I plan to post a schedule we used soon so others can see how we used it, since it's not scripted or divided into lessons at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Youngzine has fun stuff on it Wow, that looks awesome! Thanks for the heads up! Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama2Many4 Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I switched to a Charlotte Mason style of learning. All of it is fun, fun, fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Things are going well with our school work but there is not a lot of excitement. I know school isn't all fun and games but I want to bring in something, ya know? We need more project, activity ideas. More FUN :D I schedule a time for hands on for both history and science. Sometimes that is fun and sometimes work, just depends on how the project hits them. (BTW I assign them and don't help, not my thing. I just make sure they have what they need including instructions.) Mostly I try to get thing done quickly so they can have fun of their own choice. Sometimes school is work, and that is ok. They just need to learn work before play. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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