Homeschooling ideas for when you're in a bit of a funk and need some fresh inspiration.
It’s always good to have your recycling on hand. It’s so versatile and you never know what direction your children will lead you. Crafts are a great way to top off a project and to proudly display learning. So many amazing homeschooling ideas are recycling based, eg. toilet roll tubes as animals, boxes for making buildings, egg cartons for flowers, etc.
When it comes to home education or fun homeschooling ideas, there is no such thing as bad weather. Every type of weather is a lesson in disguise. Whether you’re observing the biology of plants and watching them fade, freeze, and grow once more, or just explaining to your child how the insolation in their coat will keep them safe and warm, “bad” weather is just another opportunity to learn. It’s harder to understand a storm if you’ve never experienced a downpour.
One of the best ways to learn a language is by watching television, (educational or otherwise) with subtitles. Even if your children are working on their English and their basic reading skills, subtitles can be super helpful.
If you’re trying to master a second language, make sure you turn on subtitles in that language, regardless of your proficiency.
Please note that this works better if you can recognise the alphabet of your chosen language. If you can’t read or understand any Japanese characters, subtitles will be far less helpful for learning Japanese.
Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, in all ages, and from all walks of life. If your children seem to have that curiosity, that spark, be sure to nurture it. Though being an entrepreneur is filled with stress and tough lessons, the younger your children are when they begin that journey, the more resilience they will build up along the way.
Need some tips for a rainy day? Try the next couple.
Even though rainy days are great for outdoor homeschooling, sometimes you just can’t be bothered. On those cold and dreary occasions, building a den might be just what you need. They are both fun and educational. Your children can use creative thinking and problem solving to design it. They can practice engineering as they build it up and when it’s time for those finishing touches, it’s all about perfecting that interior design.
Stuck indoors again and have already built that den? Making a movie might be what’s right for you. You can start by picking a topic, maybe an interest or something you have just started to learn about. Plan your movie, story board it, write a script, film it, edit it and have yourself a premiere. Making a movie lets both children and adults work on skills that may otherwise be neglected such as computing, video-editing, writing, acting, making popcorn, etc.
These next two tips will be sure to help you around the house.
A clean home is a happy home. During those early years children strive to emulate the people around them. If they see you happily taking care of things around the house, then they are likely to happily do so as well. You can make games and contests around doing you’re daily or weekly routine. As all of us homedders know, there is much more to learning than just the contents of a book.
If your child (or you) is having difficulty remembering a particular fact, try placing post-it notes in areas around the house such as on light switches, fridge doors, cupboard doors, etc.
It’s beautiful to encourage awe and wonder about the world in our children. Don’t you agree? A wonderful way to do this is to create your very own, special wonder book. Inside, capture all their big questions they have about how the world works. These can then be used as a start to a research or science project! Read the poem that inspired wonderbooks.
Interested in unschooling or gameschooling? Maybe these homeschooling ideas are the ones for you.
Follow the child means noticing your child’s interests and working them into the learning. The idea of following the child comes from Maria Montessori but you don’t have to be following this particular learning style to put this at the core of your home education. Being home educators means having the freedom to follow your child’s interests and to make learning more engaging and purposeful. For older children, just ask them what they’d like to learn about and let them take charge of their own learning.
There are so many different types of board games and they can help your children develop a love for learning. If your children struggle with creative thinking, consider giving Dixit a try. If you want to learn facts about animals or nutrition, then try one of the many faceoff games. Working on manual dexterity? Try a table top game or even painting some miniatures. Risk can teach you about both geography and probability.
Point being, no matter what you want to learn, there’s some type of board game that can make doing so an absolute blast.
Do your children know where their food comes from? Growing your own vegetables or visiting a farm can help your children understand the concept a bit more. After all, very few children naturally connect the chicken on their plate to the actual animal. My sister swore them off for years when she saw her first live chicken at the tender age of 3. Anyone else have some fun stories to share?
Both parents and children can benefit from finding their inner calm. Learning can’t take place if you’re not in the right mindset. Yoga, a massage, calming music, guided meditation, colouring, these can all be used to centre yourself. Find what works for you.
There are many different types of learning. Try these homeschooling ideas to help your children learn in different ways.
Books can be so much more than just a story. Even the most simple books for children can have different themes for you to branch off from. Take them as a starting point for your learning. For example, in “The Snail and the Whale” you can learn about animals, sizes, environments, community, etc.
Reading is still one of the best ways for children to learn and find pleasure in learning. Children copy the adults around them so if you’re glued to your phone or another device, they will be too. Whether it’s the paper, a book, or even a comic, be seen reading.
Taste buds undergo continual change. As children and adults age, they tend to appreciate more foods. Let your children know from an early age that just because they don’t like a food today, it doesn’t mean they won’t like it in the future. Before your children swear off a food, have them try it on 10 separate occasions and keep track of these occasions with their very own taste chart. We have created a premium, decorated taste chart you can use, or try our colourless, printer-friendly, free version that you can have fun customising yourself.
Share Below