As more and more kids enter into a homeschool routine, the idea of gameschooling becomes more popular. Though these two terms do not necessarily go hand in hand, there is much crossover that should be of interest to homeschooling parents. Whether your child has been homeschooled for most of their life or external reasons have lead to a recent decision to homeschool, one truth remains ever-present: teaching your kids at home can be tough.
Kids tend to struggle with keeping focused on their subjects when they’re in an educational environment, let alone when they’re at home – a place they might not typically associate with learning. To keep kids focused on learning and developing skills as part of the curriculum, many homeschoolers are looking into new ways to keep their children present and interested. Of the countless ideas to make homeschooling fun, games seem to be the most effective.
If you’re homeschooling your children, there is a lot to keep in mind. From teaching the school curriculum to helping your kids develop in a familiar setting, homeschooling can be difficult. Luckily, there are new methods available that can bring out the joy in learning and allow you to teach your kids without worrying about the effectiveness of your lessons.
What is Gameschooling?
Gameschooling uses educational homeschool games – board games, card games, online games, etc. – to teach kids and keep them interested in a subject. It seems to be the most prominent method of learning for homeschoolers, and a good reason. Many of us struggle to focus on topics that we don’t find interesting – if math is boring to you, the last thing you’ll want to do is learn more about it via the traditional institutions. But, if you include fun lessons and games, math becomes much more interesting. By introducing a competitive aspect to a subject, some kids might be more inclined to learn about it.
That’s where gameschooling has found its success. Even the most grueling topics can become fun to read about as long as you have something to interact with. Essentially, gameschooling is just letting your kids play games to make learning fun. It’s a great way to get your kids to focus and even be interested in what they’re reading about.
Adding a sense of fun to the lessons can change the demeanor of your child. Homeschoolers often struggle to retain knowledge and focus, especially when they grew up in public schools. By implementing games, school becomes much more accessible to them.
How Gameschooling Benefits Homeschool
The first and most obvious benefit of a gameschool curriculum is how it enables kids to focus on the lessons. When students can learn about a subject and then put their skills to the test in a fun and friendly manner, they’re much more likely to retain the information. Gameschooling acts as a way to solidify information by reinforcing the information in a much more accessible manner. If they read something in a textbook, they can apply it to the game.
In some cases, it’s really important to embed ideas in games rather than teach them to a student directly. Children aren’t the same, and neither is their preferred method of learning. While some kids might find it easier to learn from a book, many learn better by doing. That’s what gameschooling enables kids to do – learn as they play and do.
When you implement educational games into your subject plans, you’re allowing your child to develop skills and learn these lessons. Board games are a great way to develop the above skills that children need throughout life. By playing these games, logic and critical thinking become a part of their everyday lesson. Kids can have so much fun playing games as they learn important life skills.
The best part of a gameschool curriculum is that these board games and card games can be brought in to play with the family. Many of these games designed for school are so much fun that your kids will want to play them outside of homeschool hours. A joyful experience is important to inspire change in the effectiveness of homeschooling. When your child is looking forward to playing a game related to the subject, they’ll be more likely to retain the skills they’re learning about.
Choosing Educational Board Games
One important thing to note is that each subject has its own games that add separate educational and social benefits for your homeschoolers. Each subject is different and imbeds its own benefits, so it makes sense that each game is a little different. That’s why it’s important to note the differences and build your homeschooling course around the skills you want to better develop for your kids.
The first step to creating a gameschooling course for your children is to note the importance of each school subject. Many of us understand that a well-rounded curriculum is important, so too do games designed for learning. Math games might help develop critical thinking and logic, whereas language arts games might help make your kids more sociable. Games are a fun and fresh way that you and your homeschoolers can learn together.
Choosing Your Subject
Think of the subject your children are struggling with and add games as part of the lesson to help guide them through the parts they’re struggling with. Should reading comprehension is tough for them, let them play games that focus on building reading skills. If an understanding of history is where they struggle, work to implement board games that help teach the past and analyze it while having fun.
Math
Our list of subjects starts with math games. Not because they’re the most abundant or the most popular, but because they might be some of the most well-developed available. There are countless free resources available for math games designed specifically for gameschooling. It’s always been popular to make fun of the subject of math for its difficulty and the aversion children feel when they face learning about math.
That’s why people have developed so many games and homeschool resources for math. Making this subject fun by creating activities and games that students will like is a great way to get them interested in learning. Gameschooling around this subject enables parents to teach their kids logical and critical thinking techniques while reinforcing the information they’re learning. On top of that, gameschooling makes math much more accessible to children and parents alike.
Science
This subject is one that offers some of the best game options available. Science on its own is already an interesting topic with endless capabilities and ways to teach. Still, many of the games that have been developed for gameschooling make the topic even better. Some games guide students through the environment around them and promote an active hand in making it better. You can go out together with your kids and have a fun day collecting nature items in the area around you.
Other games even take a stab at chemistry or the body and work to make things more accessible for homeschoolers. Children love science games and have a blast playing them. You’ll find that science games are much more focused on making the information accessible than getting children to focus. Playing games while learning about science is one of the best features of gameschooling. It’s a great way to get your kids interested in the topic and to help them understand the details of it all.
Social Studies
When you homeschool your children, it can be difficult to offer them a wide range of information about various topics. Social studies tend to take the backseat to topics like math and English because many parents seem to forget about its importance. One of the best things you can do for your kids is to teach them about history when homeschooling. The myth that plagues the idea of homeschool most is that the children end up lacking social skills.
While you can easily enroll your kid in camps and social clubs and still homeschool, there is some truth to this issue. Helping them actively and effectively learn social studies – from history to modern information – will get them the social skills they need in life. Homeschoolers can don’t need to miss out on the important topics that social studies offer. Many games developed for history lessons work to get students thinking about interactions with and between people.
Language Arts
Reading and language comprehension are topics that many kids struggle with, not just in a homeschool environment. If your kid has difficulty reading and writing, then one of the best ways to help them in this process is through gameschooling. There are countless free devices available online that have been specifically designed to assist in homeschooling and to curate a safe learning environment where kids can develop skills on their own time.
Gameschooling is a great way to get your kids to understand reading and language comprehension. When learning how to read, one of the best teaching methods is to get them to interact with the sources they’re learning. Using a game to reinforce the data they read will help them comprehend the language and even boost them to greater reading levels. The same can be said when learning a foreign language – concrete examples are better than hypothetical ideas.
Critical Thinking
Don’t stifle your students’ creativity and block their path to critical development. Gameschooling presents opportunities for your students to think outside of the box and find creativity they wouldn’t otherwise have in conventional teaching methods. Most of the games you have available have been designed to get students to think and analyze rather than stick to the conventional rules and subjects.
Your students will love the games you offer them and will have fun as they play and learn. Over time, lectures and readings can only do so much. Day after day of books and slideshows will begin to hurt students. By playing board games every so often, your students will find new interests in the topic you’re teaching and will be able to think creatively, and will like school much more than before.
The Best Way to Play Games
One of the largest debate topics for gameschooling is whether it’s better to use board games or online resources when you homeschool. Should students be allowed to play a game online while they learn, or will that act as a distraction and lead them away from the topic of the day? Well, while both sides of that argument certainly do have merit, we think the benefits of an online game of gameschooling resources and databases outweigh the possible negatives.
We don’t think there’s one method of gameschooling that outweighs the other. Board games have just as much credit as an online game. We want to mention that there is more pressure on homeschool parents’ shoulders to ensure that students are on task when online, but as long as they stay with the games on the list, they’re sure to experience the benefits.
Board Games
There’s nothing like a classic. Time in homeschool will fly by with a classic board game that is fun to play and great for learning. Whether just in the classroom or with the family, using a board game to teach students is one of the most effective methods of gameschooling. These games are fantastic for hands-on learners and offer plenty of benefits to students.
On top of the classics, there are many games specifically for homeschool learning. These new games consider the modern-day students and offer the resources you would need to keep your kid engaged and focused on the lesson at hand. These new devices know how to keep students interested and impart the knowledge they need through fun games that they’re sure to love.
Online Resources
We’re living in the modern world, and gameschooling has made great efforts to match modern needs. Plenty of childhood development and homeschool have worked to create libraries of fantastic online games for you and your family to play while your little students learn. These resources know how to keep students focused, much like your classic board game, but have the benefits of technology within their reach. Most of these resources are free and offer a vast list of games your students will love.
By taking some of your lessons online throughout the day, little by little, your students will further their interest in a topic. These online games are fun to play and impart important lessons throughout the time they’re in use. Modern gameschooling enables parents to use free online games so that students can remain interested and experience the benefit of learning while they play.
Who Can Use Gameschooling?
As long as you love games and know that your students will benefit from them, you can utilize a game for educational purposes. You don’t have to homeschool to play a game throughout the day that could benefit your student. As most schools are currently online, playing a quick little game together might be a great method of preventing burnout throughout the day.
When to Implement the Game
Play the game whenever you want. One major benefit of gameschooling is that the implementation of games is up to you. You can play games once or twice a week, or you can have them be a daily part of the lesson. Whatever works best for your students. We’ve found that by increasing the use of games little by little, the effect will be greater. Start with one or two games a week and then increase as you deem fit. Some parents use games as an end of the week incentive, whereas others use them throughout the week.
It’s also important to note that you don’t have to limit your games to the classroom. You can play a game whenever you want to impart a lesson to your little ones. As long as you know they’ll love the game, feel free to use it.
Educational Gaming With the Family
When the school day ends and family time commences, there’s no reason why the games should be stored away. Your little students will like these games so much that you’ll know family time is sure to be a blast when you bring a game out. You can extend the teaching to your little ones without them even realizing.
There’s nothing like teaching without the students realizing they’re learning. Bring the whole family out for a little game night and let the knowledge continue to flow. That’s our favorite part of gameschooling: bringing the games out lets the family gather to enjoy a little game time. Everyone will like the time, and your little ones will like education once again.
