Learning through Games

Not long ago, I joked on Facebook,"Who said the Wii isn't educational?" Isaac was playing Wheel of Fortune. It actually was helping him learn his vowels, spelling patterns, and numbers. Children love to learn through play because it comes natural. Choosing some fun games that have some education behind them can help them learn without it being a sit down with pencil and paper time. Just make sure it is not all "Edutainment" and actually helps them learn a concept you want them to grasp.

Before Isaac was even 2 he learned his letters and sounds by playing on Starfall.com.  Unlike Eli who could care less and gets mad at the mouse, Isaac was a natural at the computer. He loves learning and playing on the computer even today. I let him play a game called Civiballs. It is great for cause, effect, thinking things through, and a little bit of physics. Neon Maze is another good one in which he as to use that noggin.

The other day, I taught Isaac to play Yahtzee. He needed some help with the Lower Section, but the Upper Section was really good for him: adding, grouping, introduction to multiplication, strategy, counting by 2s, 3s, etc. The best part is I got to spend time with him.   

Here is a dice game we played this morning and one we've done in the past:

So we use the Lauri pegs and board with some

big foam dice I got through Oriental Trading.

I didn't see this game anywhere, we just made it up. So if you've seen it anywhere, its purely coincidental. Who knows, maybe it is in the instructions, I don't know! We take two dice and foam mats 2-10 (because you can't roll just a 1 with two dice, and the box doesn't come with 11 and 12). We roll the dice, Isaac has to tell me the answer. (reinforces his math facts) Then, we place a peg on that number. We roll until we have no more pegs. When we get to the end...

We make a graph, count our pegs for each number

and see which number was rolled the most.

Now this game originally came from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

but it was too easy. You roll the dice and circle which one you rolled.

This would be an early game for learning your dice patterns, numbers, and counting.

So we changed it up, and took turns rolling the dice to see

who got the higher number in each square.

Then we tallied up my wins and his wins to see who the grand winner was.

Isaac wanted it to be more challening, so we made boxes

with the numbers through 12 and used two dice.

This again, helps him reinforce his addition facts because we

are rolling two dice to add together.

Community Helpers and More

Been MIA for a while, but we've been busy! So here a few things to catch you up.

In March, we went to Roundup, an annual homeschool educators camp for members of the church of Christ. Met so many great people, and we really look forward to going back. The boys were sportin their shirts here. Hope to have actual pictures of camp in the future to share.

The boys have been as onery as ever. Keeping me on my toes.

Workin on some potty training. Unlike Isaac,

Eli needs some lessons in modesty,

but it does make potty training easier!

Wish me luck!

However difficult they be at times, my boys bring me joy,

and I'm so thankful that I get to stay at home with them. 

I'm working on my own "Why We Chose to Homeschool" topic that I will want to share in the future. It is more for me, but perhaps it will answer questions as well. With Isaac's Kindergarten year coming up, I knew I'd be getting more and more questions and facing those that might be a bit judgemental in our decision. Just feel the need to get my thoughts out on paper. Hope to share that soon.

So here are some things we've been doing:

Mama has been on a 30 day yeast/gluten/refined sugar free diet. Trying to develop better habits. Today is day 30! Now I'm trying to decide my meal plan for the next month and decide which foods I will allow myself to add back in. The goal is to leave the refined sugar treats for special occasions. (ex.don't make a batch of cookie dough and eat on the dough all week...lol) The best thing about this has been new recipes and ideas on healthier snacks! 

The boys certainly didn't mind my sugar free snacks!

 Notice the chocolate on Eli's face and that longing look for MORE!

We got carpet in our schoolroom! Remnants from the Sterling church building!

Gotta love the orange...lol. Piece of my childhood in here.

We started a unit on community helpers. 

Read library books about each career. We made lapbooks, too. Most of the material came from

www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com or www.homeschoolcreations.com.

We've learned about police officers, fire fighters, librarians, and post office/mail carriers so far.

Occupation cards from Mardels

Here's our policeman costumes.

We played a stop and go game like red-light, green-light.

Happy officer

Mad officer

Happy officer

Our homemade stoplights. Eli wasn't convinced that it wasn't his instrument.

Note: On the Making Patterns section. I laminated and put large magnets on the back of the cards.

The actual squares you see on the lapbook have magnetic paint behind them, so it sticks!

Studied Fingerprints

I made a notebook full of our work.

Laminated alot of this stuff b/c color ink is expensive.

Then we just use wet/dry pens.

The graph is a dice game using these things I bought.

http://www.educationcubes.com/

Isaac had fun with it.

We did a fire experiment. I didn't take pictures cause you really gotta watch Eli around fire! Here is the site where I got the idea.

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/09/kindergarten-fire-safety-theme-week.html

Our mailbox. These came with their valentines this year.

I bought them because I thought it would be perfect to let them play

"mail" or "post office." And that is what we did!

Isaac had to purchase paper, an envelope, and a stamp. I then helped him write letters to his Daddy, Leah, and Nick. This activity turned into a shopping activity. He got his shopping cart and started filling it up. I was the cashier. I told him that will be one quarter, dime, nickel, penny, etc. So he was learning to identify the coins, but he thought he was playing! ;) We also made a trip to the real post office to pick up a package. Isaac had to do the talking.

We go to the library every Thursday so he is pretty familiar with librarians.

This was an activity I made while in college. You alphabetize the books on the bookshelf.

A teacher friend gave me these old books that were being thrown away.

I swear these are so familiar. I think they were the same readers I learned from. This is 1st grade and Isaac is whizzing through the reading. He doesn't like the workbook though. Phonics rules, spelling, and writing can come later. He just wants to read, read, read!

I bought this cool little slip pocket thing.

Perfect for dry erase and reusing supplies!

I have alot of folder games from Words Their Way. I keep this bin full of the ones he can do, we've worked on, or are currently working on. These go in his little reading corner.

This box holds little readers he can read independently. I kept alot of Leah's old readers from kindergarten and 1st grade. Isaac has been reading alot of those. Apologetics Press easy readers are great, too.

Watching God's creation at work! We found this on our front porch.

We'll be turning this into a study of the Butterfly Life Cycle!

Love how education just happens at home!