Learning to Play (Who’s Teaching Whom Here?)
By Alison Stoner
Becoming a homeschooling mom has proven one thing to be true: I’m a rather boring, no frills kind of person. At least a no frills kind of learner.
The little “games” built into my kids curriculum? Yep, skip!
The experiments that require you to go to the store for some random thing you’ll never use again? Definitely skip!
At first I thought it was just me in my adultness. My too-busy-to-bother mindset. But really, I think I’m just a boring kind of learner.
In self-reflection I realized that I’ve never been a visual learner. I’m a memorize the facts, show me the steps, complete, check! kind of girl. Worksheets never bothered me. I just got them done. And really, I kind of liked them.
I’ll put my nerd on full blast - sometimes I do my kids’ worksheets mentally over their shoulders just for fun. I love a page full of long division problems!
This year, however, it has become glaringly obvious that not all my children learn the same way I do. In fact, three-fourths of them don’t.
Last year (our first year of homeschooling and the year my husband had a kidney transplant) was about survival. We needed to transition into our new rhythms and learn something. My goals last year were not ambitious. But this year, I can do more. I am so much more aware of where they are at academically, how they can best be supported in their education, and have more mental and emotional energy to put forth in their learning.
Basically, this year I have no excuses.
That’s why when my 7-year-old started to take two (tear-filled) hours to complete one page of math (that ended with my oldest daughter yelling “12, Kate. The answer is 12!!!”) I knew I had to shift gears a bit.
Again, I’m a get things done kind of girl. I’m not a “manipulatives” kind of mom. But here I am, about to share cutesy ideas with you that have been saving my life (at least my hair that I was so close to ripping out entirely).
In the last few weeks I have been intentional about making things more hands-on for my kids - in particular my youngest two daughters, and in the last few weeks, there have been SMILES. Yes, smiles! Not tears. All around. It’s most definitely required more forethought and planning on my part, but guys, the smiles are worth it. Are you dreading school time because you know you’ll be faced with obstinacy, tears, and feigned ignorance? Are you unhappy with yourself after lessons because you lost your patience and said things you regret? Do you worry you’re ruining your child both academically and emotionally by how your home educating is going? If any of these scenarios describe where you’re at right now, may I submit to you that it’s time to shift gears. No judgement here - this was exactly me about a month ago. But, like our children, we learn and we grow. We do better.
Here are a few things I’ve implemented that have helped our school day improve - feel free to steal any ideas, and I’m 100% up for any recommendations you have (again, I am boring and these ideas do not come naturally to me. If you can save me from hours spent searching Pinterest I will forever be grateful)!
Uno Math. This idea came up on my Facebook feed and it has been so great. Rather than having her complete the math problems in her workbook, we will often create our own math problems with Uno cards. Just flip four cards and there’s your problem. Guys - she hasn’t even realized she’s still doing the same amount of problems!
Jump Spelling. We practice spelling words by jumping for each letter. Do the jumps represent anything? No. Do we end up in a cool place? No. We simply jump for each letter. She’s not sitting in a chair so she’s happy. She spells the word so I’m happy. Win-win.
Stickers & Dot Markers. My youngest often has to find and circle a specific letter when it’s on a page mixed in with other letters. Instead of using a pencil, I’ll give her a dot marker or those circle garage sale price stickers to cover up the letters with. It’s way more fun to use the dot markers than a pencil - hello color! Stickers are a great solution because it also slows her down because she has to peel the sticker off the sheet (I have a problem with her completing her work quickly and wanting more and more!).
Grocery Shopping. Remembering the monetary value of each coin has been a struggle for my daughter, and on the paper some of the coins look very similar to one another. I have started to use real coins every time she does anything with money, and have also started to play grocery store with her instead of having her complete the money related problems on the page. How we play? She shops for a few selected (pre-priced) items and then she has to pay for them. We have a toy cash register - it’s a whole vibe.
Around the Room. I stole this idea from my older kids’ past teachers. You post sight or spelling words (or letters and numbers - whatever, really) around the room and your child has to go on a scavenger hunt to find the words. When they find the word/letter/number I also make them write the word themselves so they are having at least three interactions with that word.
Number Matching. I won’t lie, I don’t know that I’ll do something this detailed again - it took me so long to make, but it’s worked out because both of my little girls have “played” with it numerous times. Basically, on Canva, I created a pumpkin that was split into quarters. Each one of the quarters had a number expressed four different ways (example, 2, two dots, two fingers, and two pumpkin seeds). I did that for numbers 1-10, cut up all the pumpkin quarters and mixed up all the quarters, which then had to be pieced back together like a puzzle.
One thing I would like to add is that in many cases, this hands-on activity has been the lesson. I’m not doing these activities and then still making them complete all the bookwork. It is a replacement because it is more effective for them. Do not be afraid to skip problems or sections in the curriculum you’re using. I have started to look at the curriculum lessons as more of a guide for me than something that my child needs to complete. I do see value in them learning to do some bookwork even at these young ages - not all of their learning will be hands-on forever, so typically I do a mix of a hands-on activity and a couple of the bookwork questions.
The ideas for hands-on learning are endless really, but they do take some time to search for! Some ideas out there are quite elaborate, but I’ve kept in mind what I have around my house already, what my time and mental capacity will allow for, and the prep v. utilization payoff. In my experience, the increased effort on my part has been beneficial and therefore so worth my time and energy. My children’s education is worth that sacrifice.