It's summer. How can we bring fun into homeschool? My boys are all about the games. I covered some math flashcard games previously. Today I'll share some fun elements we add into reading, writing, and spelling.
1. Games
This is a game I made called Vowel Racing. It helps practice different vowel sounds but they also learn the short and long diacritics. They make the sounds as race car noises.
We also love letter sound scavenger hunts with flashcards. I would give the kids a few alphabet flashcards and then tell them to find something around the house that started with that letter. They left the cards with the objects and then I went back and found them all to see if they were correct. (You could do the same thing for a math game using the number cards.)
Playing Memory is something we do almost everyday after our spelling lessons. It gives a great incentive to get done with the lesson to beat Mom mercilessly!
2. Location
Sometimes a change of scenery really makes the day fun. We sometimes do school on the patio but our favorite is to pack up and go to a nearby farm that has a little playground. When they are done with their schoolwork they can play! You could go to a park or the library. Anywhere not too chaotic. Sometimes we just go to my mom's house. Cookies from grandma after school is a treat.
3. Artistic Input
So, anytime I can let them draw or color or doodle along to a lesson I do. They are free to write in colored pencils and draw illustrations of their copywork.
In some cases I've purposely worked it into the lessons. Here is one of my middle son's reading assignments; Book Summary Comic Guide.
We use word pictures with my oldest son's vocabulary packets.
There is space to doodle when he brainstorms for his weekly paragraph writing packets.
4. Bring a friend to school:
My first grader enjoys bringing his favorite toy, Master Chief, to school. My rule is that he can't be within arms reach (because Master Chief is working very studiously and musn't be disturbed). We set him up his own little desk at the beginning of the day and of course he takes lunch and recess with us.
My oldest switches back and forth with another homeschool friend each Friday for Study Hall. The boys go to each other's houses to do school and then they get to hang out after. I try to make a fun snack that day like popcorn or a snack plate.
5. Make it Sensory:
The most natural way for me to do this has always been in the kitchen. We get a baking pan with a lip and fill it with corn starch or flour and write in it to introduce writing but recently I baked a cake and we ended up with extra frosting. What to do? Spread it across a plate and write the letter B in it of course. We also love cloud dough. The recipe is equal parts corn starch and hair conditioner. You can shape it into letters, roll it out and write in it with an instrument, it inevitably becomes snowpeople at our house.
Recap; how to bring some fun to language arts?
Games, location, artistic input, bring a friend, and make it sensory. That's how we do it.
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