Home School and Fun? Yes they can all go together!


Home School and FUN ideas!
April 15, 2020

Today will be a hot day in my neck of the woods, for April anyway. If you followed the link to the science email last week you probably received another freebie today! For those of you who remember the “Magic Schoolhouse” days the teacher science lady reminds me a little of Ms. Frizzel! She is pretty awesome at keeping your kids and you occupied!
Why not have a “Wacky Wednesday” today. Do something different while doing school work. We used to do crazy things like inside out day, and crazy hair day when we hit doldrum days so try that for some fun! Have a family contest for the craziest hair or outfit! Winner either gets to pick what kind of cookies to bake, or the next movie you watch on family movie night!
One fun thing we did also, with my kids trying to inspire them to do more was always an exciting feat!  We had actual brownie points!  You got a bigger slice of brownie depending on your points at the end of the time period!  My son once got a whole pan of brownies! Clean your room? Brownie Points! Pick up the dishes after a meal, mega brownie points!

You decide when you need to enact the Brownie Clause!

While working on Math, we had a very favorite program! Math U See!  The instructor managed to make Algebra 1 and 2 make sense to me! 

I had such a hard time with the beginning teaching Algebra 1, then we discovered Mr. Deme an actual Math Teacher at a private school who created these great teaching videos. The kids and I would watch together and then go over the work together, I was no longer getting an Algebra Headache! Let me tell you the struggle was real up to that point! Also my kids managed to get into Colleges and University with honors so I did something right remember!
IF you are teaching , or assisting  your children in Grade School/ Elementary School math try using hands on objects for it! Multiply with Jelly Beans, or M&Ms… Use graph paper ( you can actually print this on line if you need to @k12mathworksheets.com  I believe that will link you  but if not try google search on Free Printable Math – work sheets, grids, graph paper, etc! 
We used to enjoy the different sizes we could find; youngers could color their blocks to show the graph numbers. Make Math fun again! You can do it!
There are many Scholastics games and videos at Scholastic.com  that we used to use. And here we go Mom and Dad,  there are video games that are educational out there!  Minecraft, teaches minerals, as well as structure and life science to a certain degree! Ancient Civilizations has actual history in there and of course there is always the ever famous Oregon Trail that teaches botany and horticulture of certain plants for health.
Now not everything that is fun is just fun, you will find so many things out there that bring joy to your children that teach them something important! For maps go to 50states.com you will find any map  you want and links to some that you do not! There are state study pages and you will even learn something from there!

If you are tired of the day study time routine throw in a scavenger hunt! I know I put one on the calendar, but it doesn’t have to be on that particular day. Sit down with your cup of coffee, tea or another enjoyable beverage, and a note paper. Begin writing down things you know your kids can find, make it start out easy add in numbers of certain items like 5 socks with stripes, or ten chocolate chips… for older kids the shell of an egg with no egg left inside!  Put animals that they may have in a toy box but do not mention that it is a toy, just say ‘cow’ or “cow with black and white”  pick certain colored things so they have to work at it and once again have a prize at the end! Maybe the prize is picking the toppings for pizza? Or some other fun thing to do. 

*** If you got a pizza in a box, save the box and look up on this Blog for the Pizza California project! 




Sometimes we had the winner write the next list or pick the next fun game! Or sometimes the winner got a second scoop of ice cream!  Be creative! I mean, it could be a ten-minute walk with just Mom or Dad!
It doesn’t have to take your whole day to spend quality educational moments, and then still work from home!
Have a great day! Hug your kids and your significant others in the house!
Teresa Wilson Aka Scoop T’