Homeschooling 101: How to keep school interesting
Reading days
My 5th grade teacher did the idea and I loved it. It’s super simple but a welcome change of pace. We make little cozy spots, have fun snacks and school that day is simply just reading. I usually do a read out loud to them for a bit and they read on their own as well or work on their book projects. We get their sleeping bags out, pull cushions off the couch. Sometimes we even set up a little tent and they read inside. I often have mellow instrumental music quietly playing in the background. The day is shorter, cozy and fun. I don’t usually plan them in, but when I notice the boys seem run down because of life or colds I’ll throw one of these days in. I’ve done the same with science where all we do all day is science experiments that I’ve had waiting.
Snow days
I always make them do school on snow days, with the reminder that once Spring gets here we don’t want to be stuck inside doing school. However I do make snow days a bit more fun. I require them to do their basic math and their weakest subject, but then I have a box in my closet with fun activities to do that I found throughout the year and stored away for our snow days. Sometimes it’s a little sewing kit, or an art project or a math game, or a fun recipe I’ve been saving for them. Of course we always have hot chocolate and lots of time to play in the snow.
The 100th day of school
I always make our 100th day of school a HUGE celebration. It begins our countdown to summer, only 75 days left. When they are younger the focus is 100 and we did crazy math things: What can you build with 100 cups or toothpicks, or marshmallows. We painted gumball machines onto shirts and used our fingerprints to make 100 gumballs. One year I made them a 100 square grid paint by number, the end result was a mine craft themed painting for each of them. Pinterest is one of my greatest resources. As they got older we moved out from the 100 focus by celebrating the Winter Olympics on the 100th day. We studied the history of the Olympics, we did 100 exercises, we studied the history of the country they were being held in and made a dish from that country for lunch. Another year they were really into the How To Train Your Dragon series that year vikings were our focus. It’s a big day as we celebrate all that we’ve accomplished and begin to look forward to summer.
Student/teacher conferences
Now that they are older before school starts each summer we go out one on one to talk about last year and what each of us would like to learn about, improve on and change in the next year. We also do this halfway through the school year.
My 5th grade teacher did the idea and I loved it. It’s super simple but a welcome change of pace. We make little cozy spots, have fun snacks and school that day is simply just reading. I usually do a read out loud to them for a bit and they read on their own as well or work on their book projects. We get their sleeping bags out, pull cushions off the couch. Sometimes we even set up a little tent and they read inside. I often have mellow instrumental music quietly playing in the background. The day is shorter, cozy and fun. I don’t usually plan them in, but when I notice the boys seem run down because of life or colds I’ll throw one of these days in. I’ve done the same with science where all we do all day is science experiments that I’ve had waiting.
Snow days
I always make them do school on snow days, with the reminder that once Spring gets here we don’t want to be stuck inside doing school. However I do make snow days a bit more fun. I require them to do their basic math and their weakest subject, but then I have a box in my closet with fun activities to do that I found throughout the year and stored away for our snow days. Sometimes it’s a little sewing kit, or an art project or a math game, or a fun recipe I’ve been saving for them. Of course we always have hot chocolate and lots of time to play in the snow.
The 100th day of school
I always make our 100th day of school a HUGE celebration. It begins our countdown to summer, only 75 days left. When they are younger the focus is 100 and we did crazy math things: What can you build with 100 cups or toothpicks, or marshmallows. We painted gumball machines onto shirts and used our fingerprints to make 100 gumballs. One year I made them a 100 square grid paint by number, the end result was a mine craft themed painting for each of them. Pinterest is one of my greatest resources. As they got older we moved out from the 100 focus by celebrating the Winter Olympics on the 100th day. We studied the history of the Olympics, we did 100 exercises, we studied the history of the country they were being held in and made a dish from that country for lunch. Another year they were really into the How To Train Your Dragon series that year vikings were our focus. It’s a big day as we celebrate all that we’ve accomplished and begin to look forward to summer.
Student/teacher conferences
Now that they are older before school starts each summer we go out one on one to talk about last year and what each of us would like to learn about, improve on and change in the next year. We also do this halfway through the school year.
Stations
Sometimes when they were younger I would set up stations where they could do there school. Just to be different. We might set one up between by pulling the couch out from the wall, making a little tunnel to do math in. Or by throwing some sheets over some kitchen chairs where they could do art. In the deep of winter sometimes just making small changes just for a day can help keep everybody's focus and attitudes up.
Field Trips
Anything and everything can fall into this category. In the younger years pretty much everything was a field trip. Now that they are older apple picking no longer counts. But My biggest boy went through a babysitting course the Red Cross puts on and that counted as a field trip. He learned CPR, and first aid, how to interact with younger children as well as how to decide on pay rates. So many life skills were learned that day, and still talked about. I’ve counted Christmas shopping as a field trip where they have an envelope of money that they need to use to buy each person in the family a gift, they need to figure in tax. We started by bringing a notebook and pencil in. We would literally sit on the aisle floor and work out the math problem.
Mining for gems to go along with our Earth Science study
Daily Life
We live by lists, schedules and routines. On average I would say we do one of the above things a month. Sometimes I’ve found that one or all of us woke up on the wrong side of the bed and we simply need to be reset, remember first that we are family and second student/teacher. Those days often I’ll bring something out of my rainy day box and we’ll set aside our list. Usually the day that starts with tears ends with hearts full ready to dive back in tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong there are times when you just grit your teeth and push through, but I’ve learned that most often if you set it aside for a bit sometimes only an hour or so the concept will be easier to learn when the frustration is gone.
Field Trips
Anything and everything can fall into this category. In the younger years pretty much everything was a field trip. Now that they are older apple picking no longer counts. But My biggest boy went through a babysitting course the Red Cross puts on and that counted as a field trip. He learned CPR, and first aid, how to interact with younger children as well as how to decide on pay rates. So many life skills were learned that day, and still talked about. I’ve counted Christmas shopping as a field trip where they have an envelope of money that they need to use to buy each person in the family a gift, they need to figure in tax. We started by bringing a notebook and pencil in. We would literally sit on the aisle floor and work out the math problem.
Mining for gems to go along with our Earth Science study
Daily Life
We live by lists, schedules and routines. On average I would say we do one of the above things a month. Sometimes I’ve found that one or all of us woke up on the wrong side of the bed and we simply need to be reset, remember first that we are family and second student/teacher. Those days often I’ll bring something out of my rainy day box and we’ll set aside our list. Usually the day that starts with tears ends with hearts full ready to dive back in tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong there are times when you just grit your teeth and push through, but I’ve learned that most often if you set it aside for a bit sometimes only an hour or so the concept will be easier to learn when the frustration is gone.
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