Homeschooling Lessons On The Go
Cover Math, Science and Spelling with "Colorful" Ideas
Homeschooling on a budget doesn't mean your child's or children's learning time should be short changed. Read on to quiet the naysayers and skeptics.
Homeschooling on a budget doesn’t mean your child’s or children’s learning should be short changed.These ideas for schooling will engage your kids, help them learn at the same time and may impress your critics.
Produce Colors!
When you grocery shop and the kids tag-a-long, while in the produce section, see how many colors you and the kids can find, but find other names for. Make a game of it and choose a kid to keep score. “Red” isn’t “red” anymore, it’s “cherry” or “maroon”. “Orange” becomes “carrot”, “pumpkin” or “tangerine”, “Yellow” is “banana” or “pineapple”, “green” turns into “lime” or “emerald”, “purple” can be labeled “plum”, “violet” or “eggplant”, and so on. This keeps the kids occupied, they learn how to spell and discover new color names for familiar color ones—and you get your shopping done with minimal negative distractions, too.
“Plastic Milk”
You’ll need:
- Skim milk (or 1% milk works just as well)
- White vinegar
- Microwave-proof bowl
- Strainer
- Explain the nursery rhyme “Little Miss Muffet”
Put 1 ½ cups skim or 1% milk in a bowl, and then add 4 tsps. white vinegar. Microwave the mixture for one minute. Make sure, when you do this with your child, as he’ll need help in working through this experiment.
Watch what happens.
This “science kitchen” chemistry lesson explains to your homeschooler how milk separates when soured, what “whey” and “curds” are (this might be a good place to insert the “Little Miss Muffet” nursery rhyme reference) and discusses how cottage cheese gets made in this fashion. Bonus note: “Curdling” is why you don’t ever add lemon juice to your already light-and-sweet hot tea.
Math Lessons, M & Ms Style
Eventually, you’ll need to look into standard math materials for your homeschool but before that time comes about, why not master the basics with grouping colored M & Ms? (Chocolate and nut flavors, with or without nuts are up to you.) The candies can be arranged into piles and you and your homeschooler together count how many candies are in the piles. There’s a multiplication factor in there, if they’re to that level. If not, you and your homeschooler can trade off how many you give to each sibling or to one another (but don’t eat them!). Word problems can arise in this mode: She has 14 green candies, you have 22 blue candies, how many blue and green M & Ms are there together? Counting by 2s, 5s and 3s can be a contest, too. It’s a very inexpensive—and flavorful—way to learn the foundations for much more difficult mathematics to come.
The Sunny Day/Rainy Day Rule
On your day off, the last thing you’d like to do is run around outside. But the day’s too gorgeous to pass on. Play tag with you kids outside in the park. You and your homeschooler can practice hopscotch moves, play catch, get in a great one-on-one basketball game, or toss a Frisbee around. Get into a jumping jacks competition for ten minutes. Whoever does the most in that time, wins.
Start a sprint contest; you will be amazed how fast your little guy can run! (And you both get in a great workout, too.) On cloudy or dreary weather day where traveling isn’t impeded, keep an eye out for open free play in your municipality. Homeschooling co-ops or home educators networking groups could know of free or low-cost activities like indoor soccer leagues for kids or an indoor tumbling gymnasium open to the general public. You can also visit the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America’s website and find a local Boys and Girls’ Club near you. All these activities will usually fulfill the needed city and state health and fitness requirements for your homeschooler.
You’re looking to keep your homeschooling life invigorated, enriching and fun, and not get in a stale, tired rut. Consistency is key. With regular outdoor play, indoor activity visits and creative new ways to instruct your child(ren), childhood diabetes can be averted, the homeschooler gets physically and mentally fit—as do you—you’ll shed unwanted pounds as a bonus and you and the homeschooler learn all the time, at the same time.
