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Back in the day of sailing ships, sailors dreaded hitting the doldrums. As they were nearing the equator, the winds would often drop, and the sailors would find themselves drifting—no wind in their sails; just biding their time and doing what was necessary to keep the ship afloat, but with no sense of excitement or expectation. They were just going through the motions day in and day out.
Do you feel like you’ve hit the doldrums in your home school? Somehow that sense of eager expectation and excitement for each new day has dropped off. You’re keeping your home school afloat, you’re going through the motions, but there’s no wind in your sails.
Here are 10 activities that you can do in your home school that will help you break free of the doldrums. They are anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes long and simple to do. Let’s jump in.
1. Family Read-Aloud
There’s nothing like a continuing drama to give you a sense of eager expectation. You want to find out what happens next! That’s what a great read-aloud story can do. Just gather everybody together and read for 15 or 20 minutes a day. Depending on the book, you might get through part of a chapter or even a whole chapter or two. Then set it aside, no matter how much you or your kids want to keep reading. The next reading is something to look forward to. Why would you rob your children of that delicious sense of expectation? You can read during regular school time or save your family read-aloud for snack time or bedtime. Add this delight whenever it works best in your schedule. If you need some ideas, we have some recommended titles.
2. Picture Study
This activity is so simple, but I’ve seen over and over again how it wakes up the senses and brings new energy to the group. Here’s what you do. Show your kids a picture by an artist. Keep it in their view until they can close their eyes and see the picture clearly in their imagination. Then hide the picture and ask them to describe it to you. After they’ve told all that they can, show the picture again and help them clarify or confirm their descriptions. Then put that picture on display somewhere in your home for a week. Put it where the kids can see it often as they pass by it every day. Then the next week, pick another picture and do it again. It works really well if you stick with pictures by the same artist for several weeks. They get a really good feel for that artist’s style. It’s a simple activity, and takes only about 10 minutes once a week.
3. Singing
Now some of you just smiled and others of you just rolled your eyes. Your reaction probably reveals how much you enjoy singing or whether you think you’re good at it. But singing is a great way to add a quick pick-me-up to your day. It doesn’t take long to sing a folk song or a hymn together. And let me encourage you that, even if some of these ideas don’t appeal to you or align with your natural abilities, they might just spark something in your student. A child might have a natural gift for singing, but if he never has the opportunity to sing, he might never discover it. And the same goes for the picture study we just talked about, and the other ideas I’ll be sharing. Too often these enriching practices get left out of a child’s education, and they never realize the seed of possibility that was tucked inside them. So sing like no one’s listening, or use a recording to lead the way. Even singing a song just once or twice a week is a great way to add new energy to your home school.
4. Handicrafts and Art
Again, some of you may enjoy working with your hands and others not so much. But don’t let your personal biases prevent your student from discovering his potential talents. I think some of the appeal of this activity depends on what you think of when I say “handicrafts.” I’m not talking about stickers and glue and glitter. I’m talking about working with different materials—cloth, yarn, wood, leather, rope, clay, watercolor—to create something useful. Your students need opportunities to work with their hands, to practice eye-hand coordination, and to create something worthwhile that can be used in your home. It gives a real sense of accomplishment and community to contribute an object that you imagined in your mind and carefully created with your hands. If you don’t feel qualified to teach a handicraft yourself, simply look around you. There are people in your church, neighbors, even family members who have interests and hobbies that they would love to share with your kids. And if you can’t find a real person, use videos. And use this activity to break up other school work. Just a 15- or 20-minute handicraft session once a week offers something different to look forward to, and gives your student’s brain a nice break from book work.
5. Poetry
Here’s another quick and easy little “Easter egg” to drop into your school work just once or twice a week. Simply read a poem aloud and enjoy how the poet used words. You don’t need to analyze it. You don’t need to dissect it or tear it apart. In fact, please don’t! Just enjoy the words and how the poet communicated his or her ideas. You can read the poem during a meal or during regular school time. It’s up to you. But it takes only 5 minutes or less to enjoy a poem together. And just as with the picture study, choosing one poet and reading that poet’s poems for several weeks can give your students a good feel for that poet’s style. For some of you, poetry is not your thing. But don’t assume the same is true for your student. And I dare say that if you commit to dropping one poem into each week, you might just discover a new enjoyment of a certain poet for yourself too.
6. Music Study
We call this “study,” but it’s not that hard. Just choose a composer and play his or her music often in the background. You might play it during lunch or as a playlist that counts down the minutes before school starts in the morning or in the car while you’re running errands. Mention the composer’s name as you play the music, so your student begins to associate that name with what he’s hearing. Then once a week have a focused listening time. Take 10 minutes to sit down and carefully listen to one of that composer’s pieces. You can move the way it makes you want to move or draw a picture that it creates in your imagination or wave silk scarves or make up a story that goes with the music. This is another simple but wonderful way to break up the book work and add some fresh wind into your week.
7. Foreign Language
The way foreign language lessons are done in a Charlotte Mason way can add some fun and fresh energy to your day. They’re short, oral, and always done with actions. Here, I’ll walk you through a simple one. We’re going to learn a series of statements, with actions, first in English and then in Spanish. You’ll need a book, so grab a book or just use your hands like a book. OK, listen first and do the actions as I say them: I take the book. I open the book. I close the book.
Now say the series with me as you do the actions: I take the book. I open the book. I close the book.
Next we will reduce the series to just the verbs with the actions: take, open, close. Now let’s learn those verbs in Spanish. Listen carefully: tomo. Say it and do it with me: tomo, tomo. Good. Abro, abro. Say it with me: abro. And last, cierro, cierro. Good! Let’s say and do all three: tomo, abro, cierro.
Now all we need to learn is “the book” and we’ll have the whole series: el libro, el libro. Shall we try to put it all together? Tomo el libro. Abro el libro. Cierro el libro.
There you go! Then the next series can build on the statements you’ve already learned. A short little lesson with actions like that, just a couple of times a week, can keep you moving ahead and add some fun to your days.
8. Nature Study
Take 15 or 20 minutes to go outside, relax your shoulders, breathe, listen, and look at God’s creation around you. You can focus on one particular nature friend and see what you can observe about its appearance and habits, or you can go for a nature walk and just see what nature friends you encounter. Even if you live in town, there are birds, insects, grass, bushes, trees, flowers, stars, clouds, probably squirrels, and more that you can build relations with over time. If you want to, each person can keep a nature journal to record what you observed during your time in nature each week. You can draw or paint or just write a description, it’s up to each individual. Nature study lays a solid foundation for science studies, plus time in nature each week is a precious gift that can add a little wind in your sails.
9. Scripture Memory
Here’s a great 5-minutes-or-less activity that you can do every day as a family. With our Scripture Memory system you will continually learn new passages, plus every month you will review every verse you’ve learned—and it still takes just 5 minutes a day. I have several videos walking you through how it works, so I’ll link to that in the description. Here I just want to say that tucking 5 minutes of Scripture Memory into your day is a great way to get God’s Word into your children’s hearts, to spark valuable conversations, and to add a little something different. You can do your Scripture Memory box at the breakfast table or lunch table or any other time of the day. It’s a wonderful practice to make a part of your family culture.
10. Habit Inspiration
Having a habit focus every couple of months can add a nice change of pace to your days and keep you heading in the right direction, not in the doldrums. As you select a new habit to work on, set aside about 10 minutes twice a week to share a story or a Scripture passage or a poem or quotation that will keep you all inspired as you practice that habit every day. I recently did a series on how to pick habits and how to customize them for family members. The resource that will help you the most in keeping your family inspired as they work on new habits is called Laying Down the Rails for Children.
In fact, we have easy-to-use resources for all 10 of these ideas. We have book lists for family read-alouds, collections of art prints, a book of hymns to sing, handicraft videos, collections of poetry and of music, foreign language books and audio files, nature study journals, Scripture Memory cards, and the book of habit inspiration that I mentioned. All of these great resources require little to no prep work; just open and go and enjoy the new energy that will come as your students expand their minds and hearts and have something different to look forward to each day of the week.
Most of these practices are done just once or twice a week. It may seem like a lot to put together, but it’s simple if you use the plans and schedules we’ve already laid out. With the Enrichment Guides, you don’t have to figure out when to do what. The plans even preselect great artists and poets and composers, so you don’t have to. That work is already done for you.
These simple activities will add variety to your days, will help your students overcome mind fatigue by doing something different, and will give them good and noble ideas that will nestle deep within their hearts and shape who they are becoming. And who knows, you may discover a singer or a poet, an artist or a woodworker in your family too.
Sail out of the doldrums. Enjoy the fresh wind of these enriching activities in your home school.
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