How to make homeschooling more fun.

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  • July 7, 2011 at 8:41 pm
    TreasuresFromHeaven
    Participant

    I apologize because I don’t even know what catergory to post this question in.  I have been doing CM for a couples years.   My son started Kindergarten with My Father’s World and they had all kinds of activities, paper to cut, color, paste, activities etc.  Half way thru K, we veered away from a box curriculum since my son could already read and we were doing cursive rather than manuscript.  

    So since them, I have been piecing together things from this site and Amblesideonline.org.  But I feel like we are in a rut and it is read a book and mark it off the “to-do list” then read the next chapter and mark it off.  Since this is a literature based curriculum, I understand that but how do we make it more fun?  We do 106 Days of Creation, so that adds some spice.  

    Any suggestions?

    Thanks,
     Jessica

    July 7, 2011 at 8:51 pm
    LillyLou
    Participant

    Jessica, I’m not in charge here, but I would think this was an appropriate category for this question. 

    Have you considered doing some lapbooks with the books you’re reading?  We did some of this when we used Sonlight last year for pretty much the same reasons.  I also used lapbooks with some Five in a Row books for my Preschooler last year.  They’re fun, and a lot of times, you can find templates for lapbooks based on the subject or book you’re reading for free.  On the CM side, I found that they lent themselves well to narration; my children would get them out and essentially narrate what they had learned while going through their lapbook with, say, grandparents.  Not a purist type narration, but nonetheless… 

    This is where I found many of our lapbook ideas: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php  Maybe looking through this will give you some ideas at least.  

    Blessings, 

    LillyLou

    July 7, 2011 at 9:48 pm
    blue j
    Participant

    This is off the top of my head:

    Spice up narration:

    Draw a picture
    Make a playdoh model
    Use Legos
    Write it in verse
    Make a song
    Make a play
    Make a game

    Spice up other areas:

    Play various games for math, spelling, science, etc. like

    Bananagrams
    Scrabble
    Boggle
    Sequence
    Sequence States
    Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?
    Wacky Contraptions (CD-Rom)

     

    July 7, 2011 at 10:12 pm
    my3boys
    Participant

    Just wanted to say that I struggle with making hsing more fun, too.  I feel pressure to get the “book work” done and don’t spend enough time on the fun stuff, even if the fun stuff is educationalUndecided.  I’d like to lighten up some, do more crafts, etc., and still feel like my kids have accomplished what I feel they should be.  See, there I go, NOT equating crafts as educational….well, anyway,  I do know what you mean.  I’m hoping to spice up our next year as well.

    July 7, 2011 at 10:18 pm
    sheraz
    Participant

    Here are the things that we do and links to things that we love:

    http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/loanfinder/   free art, history, science, and other lesson things on loan to your home from the National Gallery of Art

    http://handsandhearts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=40   hands-on activities for lots of the history modules

    http://www.knowitall.org/instantreplay/content/LanguageIndex.cfm   free foriegn language lessons for kids

    http://www.myaudioschool.com/   let him do some handicraft or lego and block building while listening to an audio book

    http://www.livingmath.net/   lists of living books and ideas to make math fun and relevant

    http://www.freetypinggame.net/   free typing games for kids

    http://www.squidoo.com/drawingwithchildrennature   drawing / nature study lessons

    http://www.squidoo.com/harmony-fine-arts-mini-units  free ideas for artist and composer studies

    http://cgfa.acropolisinc.com/index.html  artist bios and picture galleries

    http://notebookingpages.com/   these are amazing in the “fun” you can put into narrations – written and drawn for all subjects – I use these all the time

    http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php  – same link as LillyLou’s – we really like them

    We like to mix up our reading with lots of different narration things…this link from SCM is very good:

    http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/

    My kids like to act it out with handmade puppets or paper dolls…they like to draw a “book” by folding a paper in fourths (like a card) and drawing the action of the story from beginning to end.

    We listen to audio stories while doing nature puzzles

    We paint our narrations

    We make file folder games to go with our topics (or skills) from here:  http://filefolderfun.com/

    We have them draw a picture of something the music study reminds them of, makes them imagine or feel

    Make sure that you are doing nature study and walks…really helps us to break up the days

    There are lots of cut and paste activities in the Considering God’s Creation science curriculum. 

    We like to watch nature and artist etc. videos and then I have the kids draw a picture of some animal we watched and then tell me what they remember (at least one fact per year in school)… 😉

    I am always interested in what others do in this area…seems like they were always bringing home projects in PS…but when we do things I’d prefer they have a purpose… =)

     

    July 8, 2011 at 12:08 am
    sheraz
    Participant

    Forgot to mention that the SCM modules come with hands-on ideas in the “Links, Tips, & Updates” section of each module.  These are on-line and might help you find some things to add. 

    July 8, 2011 at 3:15 pm
    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    Also remember that Charlotte advocated a broad curriculum that included many things along with the good literature. For the young children (grades 1-3) she included

    • Handwriting/copywork

    • Learning and reciting poetry

    • Foreign Language (done orally)

    • Hands-on math

    • PE in the form of Swedish Drill or folk dancing

    • Learning to read

    • Drawing

    • Picture Study

    • Handicrafts

    • Singing

    • Music Study

    • Free play

    • Nature Study

    along with reading and narrating history, geography, science, and Bible.

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