How to Gameschool the Classics

This week, I’m on the kick of Gameschooling.

Why?

It’s February.

This is the season for spicing up the homeschool routine because the winter doldrums can hit most homeschoolers pretty hard with boredom, restlessness, stir craziness (if you’re cooped up inside), and curriculum burnout. It’s cold out for many of us in the Northern hemisphere. There’s still a lot of homeschool year left, and nothing can spice things up like Gameschooling can.

Check out my video about Gameschooling the classics.

But, I can hear you asking, “But, why would Gameschooling spice up my homeschool?

It sounds like it might create a lot of chaos and derail us from focusing on checking off all the to do’s and fulfilling our curriculum this year.

Here’s why:

1. Gameschooling CAN still help you check off your homeschool academic to do’s.
2. Gameschooling can be used for helping you cover all the academic bases for the homeschool year, but, in stealth ways.
3. Gameschooling falls within that coveted, yet forgotten wisdom that children’s language of learning is PLAY.
4. Games afford you a fun way to address academics in measureable ways, yet allow you and your kids much needed social/emotional connection time.

Games will allow you to break the monotony of the winter blues, yet still cover your learning. I believe homeschooling can be mostly fun if us adults can get into the child’s play language of learning through story read-alouds, free play, Gameschooling, and child self-directed learning with parents providing their children with well-stocked resources, both physical and virtual, that their kids love and want to use and direct their own learning with.

Here I shared the basics for helping you get started as a Gameschooler.

All you need are:

1. A willingly playful mindset (perhaps the toughest one of all for us adults)
2. A single deck of playing cards.
3. Link to https://bicyclecards.com/rules/

Today, I want to invite you to scour your collection of games (if you have them) and look for an old classic game to play with your kiddos.

What are classic games? I mean games you played as a kid. It could be Dominoes, Monopoly, Checkers, Life, Sorry. And if you don’t have any, see if you can borrow any classic games from your neighbor.

If you don’t have access to any of these types of board games, you can play a card game and use the Bicyclecards.com site to help you pick a new game to play with your kids.

Why do I suggest this? It will get you off and running having fun with your kids, breaking the monotony of winter and catering to your children’s best language of learning, play.

What do you want to notice while playing a classic game together?

1. Observe your children’s moods. Are they happy to play? Anxious?
2. Notice their playing styles. Tendency for perfection, cheating, sharing, not sharing etc.
3. After you play today, mark your family’s game playing observations down in your own private journal and refer to it in the future as your family blossoms into gamedom. This will also be helpful for your record keeping.
4. Are you having fun? Why or why not

I encourage you to build game playing into your daily homeschool routine. In another email, I’ll show you how you can honor your academic state requirements as well. But, for now, just get used to the idea of playing games together as a family regularly, preferably once a day, but, at least a few days per week (if you’re not used to playing games together) to start to build the habit and exercise the game playing mindset together. You won’t regret it, as it’s COMPLETELY worth the challenges that inevitably come up with children and games.

Hit replay and let me know what games you’re going to try out with your kiddos. I’d love to hear about it!

Sincerely,

Gloria Brooks aka NatureGlo