How do I make school fun?

[dollie*]

I NEVER thought the day would come where I would homeschool. I am three months into it with my 7- and 10-year-old girls and I LOVE it! I just feel like I'm too serious and too much of a hard a#* with them. We strictly do work and don't incorporate fun learning or fun activities for fear of straying from the "important" work and running out of time in the day. My older one gets right to business and doesn't slack. The younger one gets distracted easily and has done work, in between much playing, from 9 a.m. until past 6 p.m. I SO admire the bloggers I follow for how fun their HS looks in the pictures they post. I want to keep their interest and want them to have a fun yet structured environment. I keep saying, I want to get them in a good routine of the serious work and THEN I'll introduce fun, but I don't know if I can let go of my rigid structure. All advice will be truly appreciated.

[athena1277]

Do you sit with your 7 year old when she is doing school work? At that age most kids need someone to keep them on task. She should be able to finish in 1-2 hours total. Getting her on track would give you more time for fun things.

 

Remember too, that there is a lot of work that just has to get done and may not be fun. That's the part you don't see on those blogs. They wouldn't be very interesting if they showed you all the "boring" stuff they do each day.

[bettyandbob]

at those ages I had the week scheduled on a 4 day schedule so we had an overflow or field trip day.

 

The 4 days included doing a history project (making a Egyptian level, Greek theatre masks, etc.) and science lab. One year I also used an art history project book and we did an art project related to our history period. So, in addition to basic skills we got into hands on stuff related to content area instruction. We still had time for homeschool swim, homeschool gymnastics, scouts, soccer and more. I was pretty intense on academics with them.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

At the end of our first year of homeschooling, I looked back at all we did and realized my kids had done A LOT of work- way more than they would have done at public school. So, I loosened up and planned a fun lesson or fun activity in every subject about once a week for this past year. We all had a blast doing the fun things. It's a nice break from the boring stuff and, the best part- when I was putting together our portfolio for this year, I realized that we had done even more work this year than last year. I think having the fun stuff interspersed with the boring stuff made my kids work better all around.

 

You can see some of our "fun" stuff on my blog.

[Chris in VA]

:grouphug:

You sound a little hard on yourself.:001_smile:

 

What curriculum are you using, if you don't mind telling? There are ways to keep a tidy schedule AND have fun.

[Walking-Iris]

Also keep in mind that you don't have to do everything every day. With your kids you ought to be able to finish the basic 3 r's in a few hours. At those ages no single subject lesson should be taking you more than half an hour to an hour to complete

 

A math lesson and some essential language arts every morning (spelling, phonics, grammar for the 10 year old, possibly handwriting/cursive, read aloud times)

 

History/geography can be done 3 days a week and science 2 days a week. Your afternoons can be used for projects and art and music.

 

The 7 year old needs you right with her for her entire math and language arts lessons. have your 10 year old silently read while you work with the younger or work on something she can do on her own. At those ages you may be able to combine them in history and science to a more or less degree. They certainly can be combined in any art/music studies.

 

ETA: it gets more fun as you learn how to make learning a lifestyle and a part of your family's day rather than a separate do your work time and then play etc.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Walking-Iris

[Cassy]

We also seem to spend hours and hours 'just getting work done'. A lot of our curriculum is very teacher intensive, so even if we finish early enough for fun I often feel too wiped out to even contemplate doing any elaborate fun stuff. What we do manage though is lots of fun, silly moments while doing the boring, routine work: singing, silly voices, jokes, games, occasional prizes of a piece of chocolate if something is done very quickly or very well. On the whole though, fun educational events happen at the weekend when dh is around to help :tongue_smilie:.

 

As a pp said, don't be too hard on yourself.

[dollie*]

…work with each of them individually. We have our daily work logs where everything for the day is outlined. I work with J alone, while still accessible to M for questions or help on her independent lessons. When I'm done with J, we trade places. They are never alone while doing their work; I am always within sight, and ready to assist. J is finished with all work in about two hours, and then she (and I do as well) tries to encourage M to finish her work so they can go on to do more fun things. But M is such a strong-willed child that she will only do things when she is good and ready, even if it means sitting there that long. I used to sit with her the entire time, only to get frustrated, and it only ended up being and unproductive day. Then I thought, Why the heck should I go through this almost insane frustration when she is not even phased by how much we want to help her?? It's not that she can't do the lessons, because when she decides it's time to finish, boy, she gets it done!

How can I entice her that there are better, funner projects at the end of the rainbow? I've threatened, yelled, let her do what she wants, tried not to care that she sits there all day, and she just won't budge. And because we wait for M to finish her work so we can do projects or fun things, all of us end up doing nothing for fun.

[bettyandbob]

do you do any outside activities?

 

We did a lot as I said previously. There were some subjects ds did not want to do at 7. If he didn't do the assignment he didn't go to gymnastics or whatever. Sometimes we'd leave for the activity and he'd be working on a vocabulary workbook in the car, he might even miss the first couple of minutes finishing the assignment, but he finished (appropriately--not shoddy work) and ran inside. Some stuff isn't fun, but you have to do it. But not all our school needed an incentive to get done--some subjects and assignments were just done and enjoyed.

 

We had a mix of types of assignments and sometimes an incentive was in order and sometimes the assignment was the incentive. It's a balance that is different for each child. Sounds like you just need to find the right balance.

[jujsky]

:bigear: I'm not good at making school fun, so I'm thankful you posted this, OP. I'm hoping to glean some good ideas.

[angela in ohio]

I ask another question: How do I raise children who enjoy learning for learning's sake? Then you never have to worry about adding extra "fun." Cutesy projects and such look nice on blogs, but I know too many families whose dc became dependent on those. So I wouldn't stress about trying to add fun activities. It's far easier to take what you are doing and tweak it to be more meaningful, more joyful, and more interesting to your dc (yes, there will always still be things that just need to be done.)

 

It would be helpful if you posted the things you are doing, and we all could give advice about whether it seems generally reasonable and age-appropriate. Also, we could give ideas of how we have made the subjects/curriculum you are using more interesting or showed dc the joy in it.

[Farrar]

I keep saying, I want to get them in a good routine of the serious work and THEN I'll introduce fun, but I don't know if I can let go of my rigid structure. All advice will be truly appreciated.

 

This is a bit like the "don't smile before Christmas" credo that many school teachers hold to, I think.

 

Different families make different styles of homeschooling and discipline work for them so this may work for you. However, I want to gently say that I think for some kids this could make for a difficult adjustment. All work and no play may make for kids who are resentful and don't do as well with their work. If the punishment is to wait on the play even more, that begins to set up a cycle that's hard to escape from. Some kids need deschooling time and if you didn't take that time, that can make it doubly hard.

 

Some fun stuff can be structured if you're worried about it taking over. For example, making a routine of going out for a field trip once a week or having an educational games afternoon once a week is contained and structured but also fun. Things like letting a child pick their project from a list can also be contained and structured but can increase their enjoyment.

 

Sometimes fun can also come from spontaneity and that's harder to build in - it requires seeing that a child is into something and putting away the day's math work to pursue it. It requires trusting that the academic stuff will happen. It also requires trusting that helping a child learn to pursue their own interests and love learning is just as important a skill as that copywork page or that multiplication drill you had planned.

[Lori D.]

Welcome to homeschooling!

Like a previous poster, we also schooled 4 days a week and did field trips, time-consuming art/science projects, get-togethers with small homeschool co-op, etc. on the other day of the week. I also put our fun activities on the schedule as something for ME to be able to check off -- for example, a "fun page" a day for the DSs to do solo; or, starting our day with together time with Bible, but also a fun puzzle for us to do all together -- like hidden picture puzzles, or other fun activity from the Highlights magazines (check out the Puzzlemania books, which are collections of puzzles from Highlights). I also wrote the game into the schedule, for example: "lesson 21 in math program; play game; do math facts" -- or once in awhile dropped the regular school work for one subject and just did something fun or different (booklet with manipulatives, play a game, watch an educational video, have a turn with educational game software, etc.).

Here are some past thread with ideas for adding a little fun and spice to each school day:

Please share independent enrichments and fillers

What are you using that is fun and outside-of-the-box?

Wacky Wednesdays -- need goofy ideas

 

Also some past threads with ideas for hands-on projects:

Tell me what your favorite hands on project was this year

How do you plan hands-on in your day?)

 

And for specific subjects, such as:

Favorite fun cool things esp. for math and science

Logic??

It is harder to incorporate fun in the middle school/high school years, but here are threads with lots of ideas for when you get to those ages:

What are you doing to make jr. high fun for your kid?

How to add fun?

Once your child hits middle school, does that mean the fun stops?


Also try subject searches for ideas for specific topics, or a tag search for "math games", "fun days at school", "fun grammar", "fun writing", etc.
Enjoy your homeschooling adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Lori D.

[dollie*]

for M (7-y-o, challenging child)

cursive practice (alone)

time worksheet (alone)

spelling practice (days of week, months; alone and review with me)

addition practice (flash cards with me; review alone)

spelling workout (alone; review with me)

reading her choice of book (alone; or if she wants, she reads to me. She loves to show off her reading skills)

daily reader (with me)

language lessons (with me)

reading primer (with me)

 

Waiting to do: field trips; Story of the World; Telling God's Story; R.E.A.L. Science; Geography; sewing; art.

 

She takes piano lessons and gymnastics.

 

All of these lessons are great for us. The lessons (I don't think) are the problem because we have had great days when M and I are done with work in three hours (which I think is great). It's her motivation that weighs us down. That's why I'm thinking that if I took what I had and made it more fun, we may have happy success. But how do I do that?

[dollie*]

I ask another question: How do I raise children who enjoy learning for learning's sake? Then you never have to worry about adding extra "fun."

too many families whose dc became dependent on those.

 

Amen! This is exactly my goal in HSing. And you nailed my fear: becoming dependent on the "fun"! So, yes, please help me tweak and make it more joyful and interesting!

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I ask another question: How do I raise children who enjoy learning for learning's sake? Then you never have to worry about adding extra "fun."

too many families whose dc became dependent on those.

 

Amen! This is exactly my goal in HSing. And you nailed my fear: becoming dependent on the "fun"! So, yes, please help me tweak and make it more joyful and interesting!

 

You don't need to fear becoming dependent on fun. Learning is fun. Some of the things that I think of as just plain school work, my kids consider to be fun. Some of the things that I think will be fun fall flat. I don't add "extra fun", I incorporate the fun into what we are already doing. If we are learning about adjectives in Language Arts, then we do a fun game or craft related to adjectives in addition to our regular grammar book. If we are learning multiplication, one day we will roll dice and multiply those numbers together. It's really easy to make science and history fun, and it reinforces the lesson. The things I remember most from elementary school are the things that had fun projects associated with them, like learning about the animals of Australia or making a salt dough map of Indonesia.

[AK_Mom4]

When DD10 was that age, right after lunch was for the "fun stuff" - in her case, history and science (alternating days). History and science were fun for her because they were very hands on. If she didn't finish her morning work, then she had that to finish in the afternoon as "homework" before she got to go play.

 

Notice that we didn't skip the fun stuff if she didn't finish her regular work - she just had it to do later and eating into her free play time. Knowing that she had something to look forward to every afternoon helped her keep motivated with her morning work and kept it from being a battle with me wanting her to finish her work and her stalling at every turn.

[Chris in VA]

for M (7-y-o, challenging child)

cursive practice (alone)

time worksheet (alone)

spelling practice (days of week, months; alone and review with me)

addition practice (flash cards with me; review alone)

spelling workout (alone; review with me)

reading her choice of book (alone; or if she wants, she reads to me. She loves to show off her reading skills)

daily reader (with me)

language lessons (with me)

reading primer (with me)

 

Waiting to do: field trips; Story of the World; Telling God's Story; R.E.A.L. Science; Geography; sewing; art.

 

She takes piano lessons and gymnastics.

 

All of these lessons are great for us. The lessons (I don't think) are the problem because we have had great days when M and I are done with work in three hours (which I think is great). It's her motivation that weighs us down. That's why I'm thinking that if I took what I had and made it more fun, we may have happy success. But how do I do that?

 

Just off the cuff--Could you combine some of the above things to accomplish the same goals in different ways?

 

Is she just learning cursive, i.e., learning the how-to for letter formation? Or is she practicing making it smoother/pretty/ykwim? If she's already had instructions in the how-to, just have her use it. Maybe she can pick 5 of her most favorite words (ask her!) and write them for you in pretty script. Or maybe she can copy 5 of her spelling words--Sort of the kill two birds with one stone theory.

We used history to practice a lot of skills, for example. Dd would copy a narration (she'd tell it to me, I'd write it on the white board, and she'd copy it or part of it) to practice handwriting. We also tied our reading to history for a while--not completely, but it helped get some history knowledge in while we were practicing reading.

 

She loves to read aloud? Could she read into a recorder for you, or read to the dog/cat/stuffie?

 

Time worksheet? Just get a clock or a Judy clock and set it for, say, 5 different times, and ask her what time it is. No need for a dull worksheet.

 

I'd lay off the practice of writing out the months and days, and just write the date every day on an erasable surface (I used an erasable sentence strip, but there's lots of choices.) By the end of the year, she'll get the days of the week and the months, no sweat. Small things, done well over time, lead to big things!

 

With Spelling Workout, could you skip part of the practice exercises in the workbook and do something else to practice--write the words with magnet letters, write in different colors (or maybe vowels in red, consonants in blue), write in fingerpaint, spell them orally to you and get a reward for each correct one, jump to each letter on the floor in the order they are in the word, etc.

 

When you say she's doing things alone, but you are in the room, could you maybe change that a bit and sit right beside her, and give her feedback for every problem she does? You can refocus her, then tell her if it's correct immediately, giving a couple atta-girls along the way.

 

Math facts--switch up the practice by doing orally or playing games (hang up cards with answers around the room and have her run and tag the answer, give her a plastic plate as a mini-white board and have her write the answer then "reveal" it to you, clap the answer, etc.) Flash cards are great, but can get dry.

 

Just some ideas to mix it up a bit.

HTH

[Walking-Iris]

for M (7-y-o, challenging child)

cursive practice (alone)

time worksheet (alone)

spelling practice (days of week, months; alone and review with me)

addition practice (flash cards with me; review alone)

spelling workout (alone; review with me)

reading her choice of book (alone; or if she wants, she reads to me. She loves to show off her reading skills)

daily reader (with me)

language lessons (with me)

reading primer (with me)

 

Waiting to do: field trips; Story of the World; Telling God's Story; R.E.A.L. Science; Geography; sewing; art.

 

She takes piano lessons and gymnastics.

 

All of these lessons are great for us. The lessons (I don't think) are the problem because we have had great days when M and I are done with work in three hours (which I think is great). It's her motivation that weighs us down. That's why I'm thinking that if I took what I had and made it more fun, we may have happy success. But how do I do that?

 

If she's just learning cursive (and honestly cursive isn't necessary to learn before 3rd grade) she shouldn't work on it alone. If she already can write in cursive, just have her do her spelling workout lesson in cursive. If you have one spelling program you don't need to add other learning to spell months etc. Just have a wall calendar pocket chart type thing and have them write their name and the date every morning.

 

Again spelling is best done *with* a child. Are you using any type of math program besides flash cards? Honestly flash cards are hardly ever fun---doing them daily is even less fun. Get a good math program like Miquon, Singapore or Right Start etc. if you're not using one. Where are you getting the time worksheets? I agree with pp to just use a real clock---there will be practice in a math program.

 

I'd cut out the daily review too.

 

What is the distinction between daily reader and reading primer? Do you mean you're working on a daily phonics lesson and then she reads aloud to you from phonics controlled books? What are your language lessons? Copywork and narration? All of that would be fine.

 

I wouldn't wait to do SOTW or science---that's usually where the fun is. Art is usually accomplished in one afternoon a week. Geography can be as simple as reading Scrambled States and playing with a globe and wall maps of the USA and World and puzzles.

 

I'd say that since she seems to love to read (does she love hearing you read aloud?) then you may get more spark and motivation out of her by adding more of a Charlotte Mason, living books, literature reading method than seatwork with workbooks and flash cards.

[Teachin'Mine]

…work with each of them individually. We have our daily work logs where everything for the day is outlined. I work with J alone, while still accessible to M for questions or help on her independent lessons. When I'm done with J, we trade places. They are never alone while doing their work; I am always within sight, and ready to assist. J is finished with all work in about two hours, and then she (and I do as well) tries to encourage M to finish her work so they can go on to do more fun things. But M is such a strong-willed child that she will only do things when she is good and ready, even if it means sitting there that long. I used to sit with her the entire time, only to get frustrated, and it only ended up being and unproductive day. Then I thought, Why the heck should I go through this almost insane frustration when she is not even phased by how much we want to help her?? It's not that she can't do the lessons, because when she decides it's time to finish, boy, she gets it done!

How can I entice her that there are better, funner projects at the end of the rainbow? I've threatened, yelled, let her do what she wants, tried not to care that she sits there all day, and she just won't budge. And because we wait for M to finish her work so we can do projects or fun things, all of us end up doing nothing for fun.

 

Is the school work challenging enough for your daughter? If she puts it off all day but then is able to complete it quickly, it may not be challenging enough to hold her interest. Just a thought. If it is at the right level, offering an incentive - we'll play a game, go to the park ..., might help.

[Based on Faith Academy]

I NEVER thought the day would come where I would homeschool. I am three months into it with my 7- and 10-year-old girls and I LOVE it! I just feel like I'm too serious and too much of a hard a#* with them. We strictly do work and don't incorporate fun learning or fun activities for fear of straying from the "important" work and running out of time in the day. My older one gets right to business and doesn't slack. The younger one gets distracted easily and has done work, in between much playing, from 9 a.m. until past 6 p.m. I SO admire the bloggers I follow for how fun their HS looks in the pictures they post. I want to keep their interest and want them to have a fun yet structured environment. I keep saying, I want to get them in a good routine of the serious work and THEN I'll introduce fun, but I don't know if I can let go of my rigid structure. All advice will be truly appreciated.

 

 

Wow!! This could have been me posting this!

[dollie*]

I have picked up on some great ideas from you all. I am going to start to incorporate some fun learning. I picked up some games today:

Bananagrams and Brain Quest. Please let me know if you know of more of those type of educational games.

I am going to do a couple of lap books for parts of speech. And I printed a math Bingo game.

I like the idea of ending the day with a fun activity and allowing them to complete unfinished work as homework; but again, I know how this little girl operates, and she will do anything to get out of it in the evening. Then I will end up with that day's portion and have to add on a new day's work--a horrible snowball effect. How do I handle that??

And I have wondered if it is a boredom issue for the M; how do I test her for that?

[Based on Faith Academy]

I wish I could help. My son was just like this until he was ten. It took everything within me to get school even half way done in a day. It was so frustrating. I kept feeling I was failing. Then my ex and I split up. I guess because the consequence of not being able to play games when he was his dad on the weekend, he finally started making an effort. That or he grew up,lol. I wish you all the luck.

[Spock]

And because we wait for M to finish her work so we can do projects or fun things, all of us end up doing nothing for fun.

 

I would stop waiting for her. Plan something fun you can do with her sister while still keeping her in eyeshot--perhaps a fun craft or experiment. Just say something like, "I'm sorry you didn't finish your work in time to do this with us. Maybe tomorrow you can do it, too." or "We're starting our craft/experiment/game now. If you hurry you can do it with us." If you keep waiting, she knows that she won't miss out, or that at least her sister will, too.

[Leav97]

One year I also used an art history project book and we did an art project related to our history period.

 

Do you know the name of the book?

[happypamama]

I ask another question: How do I raise children who enjoy learning for learning's sake?

This is such good advice, IMO! The things my children know the best are the things they've taught themselved, or that they've developed interests in themselves. I still plan work and teach them things because I do think there are things they need to know, even if they don't want to, and I think they don't always know what subjects/topics might interest them.

 

How can I entice her that there are better, funner projects at the end of the rainbow? I've threatened, yelled, let her do what she wants, tried not to care that she sits there all day, and she just won't budge. And because we wait for M to finish her work so we can do projects or fun things, all of us end up doing nothing for fun.

 

I have a child who tends to dawdle too, and part of that is because her work is challenging now. She's very bright, and for a long time, everything came easily to her with little/no effort. Now she has to do the hard mental work, to engage her brain, and she often still wants to take the easy way out. It is frustrating for the parent, but public school fostered that mentality in me, and I hate it, so I am trying very hard to work with my children to develop the perseverance necessary to do hard work. :)

 

I vote for just doing the fun stuff with J and being very matter-of-fact about it with M. "We'll be doing X in 15 minutes." If she misses it, maybe say something once like, "We're sorry you missed doing X with us, M, and we hope you'll finish faster next time," but I wouldn't belabor the point. If the project is worth doing, it's worth doing with J even aside from M.

 

for M (7-y-o, challenging child)

cursive practice (alone)

time worksheet (alone)

spelling practice (days of week, months; alone and review with me)

addition practice (flash cards with me; review alone)

spelling workout (alone; review with me)

reading her choice of book (alone; or if she wants, she reads to me. She loves to show off her reading skills)

daily reader (with me)

language lessons (with me)

reading primer (with me)

 

Waiting to do: field trips; Story of the World; Telling God's Story; R.E.A.L. Science; Geography; sewing; art.

 

She takes piano lessons and gymnastics.

 

All of these lessons are great for us. The lessons (I don't think) are the problem because we have had great days when M and I are done with work in three hours (which I think is great). It's her motivation that weighs us down. That's why I'm thinking that if I took what I had and made it more fun, we may have happy success. But how do I do that?

 

Just gently here, that seems like a lot for a 7yo. My 7yo son just finished first grade, and this is what his daily work looked like:

-a page of copywork (print; he wasn't quite ready for cursive yet)

-a phonics lesson/reading to himself or to me (a few pages or so, depending on his stamina)

-a few pages of a Miquon math lesson (with me), mostly oral

-listening to a history chapter or book and occasionally dictating a narration to me and drawing a picture to go with it

-reciting a memory verse (and he learned a good portion of the Gettysburg Address as well)

-occasionally listening to a science book and a few science-y projects

-occasional other stuff -- art projects, picture or music study, Christian biography, etc.

-listening to poetry, hymn stories, maybe a Bible story, maybe a chapter from a read aloud, at different times of the day (breakfast, lunch, bedtime)

 

I am stepping up his work for next year a bit, and I am trying to focus on some more projects/handwork/outdoorsy skills, but last year, his work took less than an hour a day, plus listening to me read.

 

Also, my DD is very product-oriented, so she hates any sort of busywork. (My 11mo likes stacking blocks, just to see what he can do. DD, at the same age, didn't like stacking blocks. She'd look at me as if to say, "Why? What is the point?") I also had more success with her at that age if I did more oral, rather than written, work. So I might look at your DD's work and see if there is anything you could combine/eliminate/wait on.

 

Maybe also schedule at least a couple of projects or fun activities or even just non-written activities a few times a week, and make them part of the schedule, rather than extras? Next year, we are scheduling work for four days a week, with Friday being for science and music. I think that will give me the oomph to set up projects and experiments and to encourage exploration.

Edited June 26, 2012 by happypamama

[dollie*]

An update on last week after I made some changes. After seeing our work outline and getting some feedback, I felt like there was too much redundancy in our schedule. I cut down on some of that. I am sitting with them the entire time we do school. It's not that I didn't want to before. I just feel the pressure of sitting there, doing nothing, while they work away, and the loud tick-tock of the clock and time going by kills me! But for some reason it just felt right, good, and I feel my time was spent wisely and not wasted. I explained lessons to them and did some of them with the girls. Whereas before, I explained it to them, made sure they understood it, and walked away to do my own stuff while they worked. That was just one week down, but just those changes made a huge difference in M's attitude (my dawdler). We joined the reading club at our library where they will get prizes for every two hours they read, and they are very motivated by that and logging their 20-minute reading increments religiously. I took that idea and bought some prizes for a prize box. But now I don't quite know how to implement that. J is my great student who does EVERYTHING she needs to do and would always get a prize. M is the one who needs LOTS of push. So how do I handle the prizes; weekly; per assignment; good kid v. bad kid??? I ordered some magazines for them, bought some games, we got a play cash register to practice money and making purchases. Thanks so much for all of your input!