Do you remember the day you realized your child could read or had mastered a really difficult skill?
Priceless, isn’t it?
Seeing your children learn things can be really fun. It makes you feel that you have, in a way, imparted to them the most treasured gift that you can give them — Education. With many influences that lurk in school, you might even wonder if sending them to public school is truly the best gift.
Many parents are worried about how children are getting their behaviors changed whenever they are in public school. The fears lurk on both sides of the public school vs homeschool debate. From the student’s perspective, one of the things they want to know is if homeschooling is more fun than public school.
As a parent, you may be asking that same question.
It’s important to remember that homeschooling was created to provide a feasible option for parents like you who wish to educate their children in a way where you can supervise personally and have input over what your children are being taught. Finding resources that will help you instill your unique family values without the negative influences of public school is the first priority for most families like you who are considering removing their children from public school in favor of homeschooling.
Where To Begin Your Homeschooling Journey
Once the decision to homeschool has been made, you are ready to develop and implement the kind of education you want your children to have. You can manage your children’s behavior and impart to them the values that you want your children to learn.
However, what people do not know is that the very important aspect of why homeschooling is a great alternative to traditional schooling is based on the fact that both the parents and the children can have fun learning together.
With homeschooling, you can make your children’s learning process more fun and less rigid than the traditional school system. Once your family understands the learning styles and basic academic needs of your children, you can begin incorporating fun and engaging activities into every subject.
How To Make Homeschooling More Fun Than Public School
Make Reading More Fun
The best way to teach a child is to make things easier for him or her to understand and learn. The best way to do this is to incorporate fun into the setting.
For instance, if you want to teach your children to read, it would be better if you will read aloud to them just to have some fun together rather than as a schoolwork lesson. Let them enhance their imagination by bringing to life the characters included in the story. Let them dress up, act out scenes, or use silly voices for certain characters. In this way, they will be able to learn and remember easier because they are having fun.
Create a connection with their books rather than just instilling in them the norms and standards set by the typical public school system. Get a library card for each of your kids and make a habit of going to the library on a regular basis to pick books that fit with what you are learning at home as well as ones that will instill the joy and love of reading. Letting them choose what they want to read will encourage independent reading and fun, quality time together.
Make Learning Comfortable
This may seem obvious or just plain silly, but honestly…if your children are comfortable with the program, then homeschooling can be more fun. It will generate more enthusiasm compelling the children to participate in the process. Make sure that it is not too easy and not too hard… as Goldilocks said, make it ‘just right!’
Also, plan to do what you love together! Plan a baking day, a simple DIY project, a bike ride, a campout, or a field trip to a museum or zoo. Plan on organizing resources and activities to help your kids engage in an easy, gentle way to make homeschooling more fun than public school.
When it comes to curriculum, try some sample lessons of the curriculum you like and see how your kids interact with it. Look for curricula that will inspire your kids and help them learn based on their unique learning styles. You will also want to consider how the curriculum is organized for the parent doing the teaching. Your teaching style is as important as your child’s learning style in order to have fun learning together.
Take Learning Outside
The outdoors has everything you need to inspire curiosity and take your homeschooling adventure to the next level. Here’s a quick list of ideas for making each subject of homeschooling more fun than public school:
- Geography – Mapping, trekking, traveling, experiencing, and identifying the differences between various places.
- History – Museums, national parks, local history & personal family connections to places.
- Science – Nature walks, astronomy night sky activities, physics experiments, hands-on lab experiments, and projects. Don’t forget zoos, aquariums, science museums, and planetariums.
- Language Arts & Literature – Create writing activities based on an outdoor activity or recent excursion by using writing prompts. Read famous literary works on location – either a place the author frequented or a place mentioned/described in the book or poem. Visiting after your reading is complete is equally rewarding.
- Math – Find the hidden secrets of math in nature, art, and music. Play math games.
Connect With Creative Projects
When you homeschool, you’re not limited by the practicalities necessary in the public or private school system. Project ideas are only limited by you and your child’s imagination. For each and every unit or subject studied, encourage your child to come up with long-term project ideas or an opportunity to use their learning in a practical way.
Not only will the project allow your child to learn more about the subject, but it will also carry over into the home as a whole. Other family members will take an interest, and the whole process of buying the materials and planning the project will become part of your child’s educational experience.
Discover Your Child’s Passions (Career Exploration)
Helping your child discover their talents and passion is key to career fulfillment. Once your kids reach the middle and high school years, spend time exploring a variety of careers and skills through extracurricular activities. Career exploration and life skills classes are a super fun way to help your homeschooler find direction. Field trips to visit different types of jobs or industries can help fuel curiosity and provide a place for kids to ask questions to those with knowledge about the field of interest.
Camp On It
If you’ve realized your child is really passionate about a certain subject, camp on it! Expand on the idea of a subject-oriented camp to help your child take a deep-dive into learning all there is to know about their favorite subject or activity.
Basketball camp, writers retreat, science camp, etc. That’s right! Kids love themed camps. So why not add them to your homeschool curriculum?
Explore options that the kids will enjoy and find growth in. You can find loads of camps offered during summer and holiday breaks to join or you can consider creating your own themed curriculum where all studies, activities, and even meals are based on a theme. Some fun examples are:
- Dinosaur Camp – explore all kinds of activities around geology and paleontology
- Space Camp – astronomy activities and physics activities
- WWII Camp – historical museums, recipes for meals using rations, battle reenactments (live or ‘war room’ style)
- Botany Camp – Nature study activities, journaling, printmaking, foraging, gardening, etc.
- Famous Authors Camp – for example, a Dickens Camp where the focus is on a specific classic. Include historical & biographical activities too. The Let’s Study Dicken’s Victorian England is a perfect unit study for this type of camp.
- Art Camp – Focus on a specific era, style, or artist with lots of opportunities to be creative.
- Archeology Camp – plan a dig, visit a dig, and explore famous finds.
- Dinner with… – Pick a super famous person, such as Shakespeare or Jane Austen, and research their life and the lives of other famous people that lived at the same time (or close to it). Explore the culture and social life of the era. Learn about the food and customs. Then, create a dinner party and invite all the famous people. Based on your research, create questions that they might ask each other. The Let’s Study Famous Authors bundle is the perfect introduction to this type of camp.
Explore More Museums With A Focus On Fun
Did you know there are over 35,000 museums in the United States of America? (Wikipedia, 2022) It would take a lifetime to visit them all, but the opportunity to stack your week with exciting museum visits is one of the top reasons homeschooling is more fun than public school.
Bring life to a boring or difficult subject, explore or investigate for a research paper or project. You’ll find loads of reasons to visit the museums near you. And for the ones that are a bit further away, go virtually. Virtual museums offer exciting activities without crowds. So your kids can enjoy learning at their own pace without all the distractions.
Ask Questions To Teach Critical Thinking
Kids are curious. When they ask questions, write them down and then have them research and share the answer. Or, research and learn together, especially if you are unsure of the answer. Discuss the answers and ask more questions that fuel their knowledge and critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Create A Habit Of Fun
What’s fun for your family? Center learning around fun activities or past times and you will connect the joy of learning with the fun experiences your family enjoys together.
Love cooking? Use it to learn about other cultures, math, gardening, and so much more.
Love traveling? Plan intentional travel to deep dive into understanding more about a place your family visits together. It’s easy to turn just about any homeschool curriculum into a family travel adventure.
Maybe you like hand crafts or DIY projects. These are excellent ways for your kids to learn skills that will help them find a sense of confidence and accomplishment. Most kids love having something to show that demonstrates their hard work and skill.
There is so much a homeschool education offers that can not be replicated in public schools. Making it fun is just the icing on the cake!
Start Making Homeschooling More Fun Than Public School Today
Have a brainstorming session with your family and ask them what ideas they have that would make learning at home more fun than in public school. You may be surprised at their answers, but you will definitely be able to glean some ideas that will be unique to your home education style and family rhythm.
To get you started having fun together, grab this free printable, 65 Ways To Have Fun With Your Kids At Home.
