20+ Ways to Make Your Homeschool More Fun This Year
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Homeschooling doesn’t have to mean endless workbooks and flashcards. Try one or all of these tips for ways to make your homeschool more fun this year!
Are you looking for ways to make your homeschool more fun this year? Did you know that homeschooling doesn’t have to be all workbooks and memorization? You may be surprised to find that homeschooling is much more fun when you think outside the box!
And it doesn’t have to be complicated or super time-consuming to add some fun to your days. The ideas in this article are great for students of all ages but iIf you’re looking for ideas for middle and high school students, check out 100+ Awesome Hands-on Activities for Middle School and High School.
The homeschool fun happens when you start to relax. If something isn’t working for you or your kids, it’s okay to change it. Remember, homeschooling doesn’t have to look like a public school or private school.
Your homeschool experience may not look like your friends’ homeschools or the ones you see on Facebook and Instagram. That’s okay, too! Do what works for you and your kids. It can look and feel however you want it to. That includes the fun factor!
Try one or all of these ways to make your homeschool more fun this year.
20 Ways to Make Your Homeschool More Fun This Year
1. Play More Games
How about strewing games? (If you’re not familiar with the term, strewing essentially means leaving interesting things lying around the house for your kids to discover and interact with in their own way. Kids tend to learn better when it’s their idea.)
Games are perfect for stealth learning and fun. Grab a few off the closet shelf and blow the dust off, or check out a couple of our favorite games for inspiration!
Games provide loads of teachable moments such as:
- Early literacy skills
- Math skills
- Verbal communication skills
- Cooperation skills
- Learning to handle wins and losses
- Improved critical thinking
- Problem-solving skills
Games make a fun, low-key way to learn new topics or review concepts. Bingo, matching, memory, or fishing are some of my favorite, easily adaptable, DIY games for almost any subject.
For fishing, tie a magnet to a dowel rod with a piece of twine. Then, put paper clips on index-card “fish” or cut fun fish shapes from construction paper. When kids catch the fish, they have to read or define the word, explain the concept, or answer a question based on what you wrote on the card.
You can also use your imagination, a pack of index cards, and the board from most board games to create your own homemade learning games. Jeopardy is a fantastic game for teens and tweens or try Periodic Table Battleship.
2. Incorporate Music
Try playing music first thing in the morning. Music can be a soothing, calming way to start the day. Or have random dance parties in the kitchen to your favorite songs. (Family dance parties are also a great way to build relationships and enjoy each other’s company!)
Music also helps us retain facts. If you’re old enough to remember them, I bet you can still sing some of the Schoolhouse Rock songs from Saturday morning cartoon time.
3. Get Messy with Art
Paints, pastels, paper, and canvas all have a fun factor, especially for children who love to get messy or kids who want to learn more about different mediums and techniques.
Try some of these ideas with your kids:
Your kid doesn’t have to be an artist, and his projects don’t have to be elaborate. Encourage him to choose something that represents some aspect of the topic he’s studying. He might try a collage of vertebrates if studying mammals or a painting of sea creatures for marine biology, or even a self-portrait collage.
Kids can make their own cave paintings on paper bags. Let them create a mixed media masterpiece depicting a historical event or famous person or try their hand at sculpting with clay.
4. Play with Language
Have you thought about learning a new language? Recently, my kiddos and I started learning Chinese and German with Duolingo. The best part? It’s free! Learning a new language can be an excellent way to add fun to your homeschool day.
Try watching subtitled movies in other languages or switching the language on your TV and adding English subtitles. (Just make sure you remember how to switch it back!)
5. Hands-on Crafts and Kits
Hands-on crafts and kits are wonderful for keeping little hands busy during a read-aloud. But they are also great for providing learning opportunities through open-ended play. Try things like:
- Building Lego creations
- Knitting
- Making slime
- Tinker Crates
- Building puzzles
6. Go on Field Trips
Plan a couple of homeschool field trips! Did you know that many zoos and museums offer discounts for homeschoolers or offer deep discounts on certain days of the year? Reciprocal memberships are also a great way to save money.
Think outside of the box for other field trip options that follow your kiddos’ interests or spark new passions. How about:
- Car museums
- Water filtration stations
- Local factories
- Historic, cultural, or natural resources
- An extended Homeschool Travel Adventure
We’ve done everything from caves (for geology) to a replica of one of Columbus’ ships (history) to an emergency room (health and safety). We’ve even done an official (as opposed to a homeschool stereotype) field trip to a grocery store.
Heading out to see the things you’ve been studying in person is one of the best hands-on learning activities around. Simple, stress-free homeschool field trip planning tips make a group outing a breeze. Try my field trip ideas for middle school and high school students or get some fantastic field trip ideas for preschoolers.
7. Watch Documentaries and Films Together
Watching documentaries is a great way for kiddos to dive deeper into a subject of interest or discover new interests. Our favorite documentaries are just $2.99 per month with Curiosity Stream.
Watching films is also a fun way to relive a beloved book or series and bond as a family. If you need some inspiration check out our list of 100+ books made to movies you can watch on Amazon Prime.
8. Incorporate Cooking
Get cooking with your kids! Make cookies for a neighbor or dinner for friends. Call it cooking class or add a few basic life skills and build your own Home Ec course.
My kiddos enjoy watching Master Chef Jr. and then getting in the kitchen and doing their own thing. Ask your children what recipes they may be interested in and work alongside them as they learn how to create a new dish. You never know where inspiration may strike.
9. Explore Nature
The natural world can be fun in so many ways. Hiking, kayaking, fishing, camping, and about a hundred other outdoor activities are just waiting for you and your kids to discover them! Enjoy an ABC nature walk, or incorporate some gardening and nature printables into your education.
10. Party and Celebrate
Celebrate achievements and milestones. Throw a book party when a book is complete. Celebrate when historical figures like Marie Curie or Dr. Seuss have birthdays.
You could celebrate unusual and unique national days on the calendar such as National Taco Day or National Sticker Day. How about incorporating food-themed holidays, such as National Blueberry Pancake Day, into cooking endeavors? The National Day Calendar gives you all the quirky national days at a glance.
11. Build a Map
Increase understanding and help kids visualize history and geography with a 3-D map. Building maps helps kids understand things like why Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt appear mislabeled on a flat map.
Maps help them see the role that geography plays in wars, culture, and civilization. Try some of our favorite hands-on activities with maps such as:
12. Make Costumes
Kids love costumes, simple or elaborate. I’m no seamstress, so when my kids were little, we assembled store-bought costumes or simple DIY options.
Sewing your own costumes provides hands-on learning for math skills as your children measure, figure out how much material they’ll need, and cut out the pattern. Don’t forget to count this as home ec time!
13. Put on a Play or Puppet Show
From writing the script to building the set, kids practice a variety of skills as they prepare a puppet show or play. They learn dialogue, descriptive writing, oral communication, art, creativity, and more.
Performing the play and acting out the scenes they create, reinforces students’ understanding of the people, places, and events they’re studying.
Try making your own:
14. Create a Presentation
Oral presentations make a fantastic alternative to written assessments. Preparing the presentation provides an opportunity for kids to review. Presenting it showcases what they learned (and may highlight areas you need to go over again).
Students can assemble an oral presentation with or without a presentation board, or they can try their hand at PowerPoint, a slideshow, or photo journaling.
15. Make a Paper Mâchè Model
Easily add hands-on learning to subjects like history, science, or geography with paper mache models. Build a model of the earth or even the whole solar system. There are so many creative possibilities!
Think about science models, historic landmarks, or replicas of key elements from a novel for a literature course.
16. Prepare a Themed Dinner
You probably first think of history or geography when considering a themed dinner, but with a little creativity, meals could represent concepts from science, math, and other subjects.
Fix pizza and a round cookie cake when studying circumference. Make a pie for Pi Day. Bake an apple pie when you study Issac Newton.
17. Do a Paper Bag Book Report
Toss boring written book reports and try a paper-bag book report instead. Kids start with a paper bag and add items that represent some aspect of the book (or a person’s life, a time in history, or an invention). Then, they pull out the items, one by one, and recap the highlights of the book as they explain the significance of each.
For example, if a young child were telling you about the book, The Princess and the Pea, their paper bag might contain a toy tiara, a can of peas, and a blanket or pillow.
18. Make a Lapbook or Notebook
One popular, hands-on method of showcasing what kids have learned is assembling a lapbook. You can make your own lapbooks or try a variety of ready-made lapbook sets.
If your kids aren’t fans of lapbooking (mine aren’t), let them make a story notebook or notebooking instead.
For those who want to give interactive lapbooks and notebooks a try, you might like this Landforms Interactive Notebooking Pack or some of these notebooking pages on topics from botany to art/artists to geography and more!
19. Build a Diorama or Model
My kids used to love building dioramas for different biomes (like the ocean or desert), but you can adapt these little shoebox models for many different purposes.
If dioramas aren’t your thing, try other model options like a construction paper representation of Earth’s layers, a shoebox lid Roman road replica, or an edible cell model.
20. Write an ABC Book
Don’t skip this idea just because you have high school students! ABC books make a versatile tool for all ages. Use blank board books or homemade books to create an ABC story on any topic. The older your student, the more detail you can require for the book.
Your student can create a math ABC book – A is for angle, B is for base, and C is for circumference.
Try geography – A is for archipelago, B is for beach, and C is for canal.
The possibilities for ABC book topics are endless!
21. Experiment.
It makes me sad to hear kids say that science is boring. Science is one of the most fun subjects we can study! Don’t just tell your kids science is fun – show them! Don’t just wait for your science book to tell you to do an experiment. They make great rainy-day (or any day) hands–on learning opportunities. And you can conduct science experiments on any topic.
Try some of these fun ideas:
- Rubber Egg Science Experiment
- Ben Franklin Easy Electricy Experiment
- Grow Crystal Snowflakes
- Salt and Ice Experiments
- Radio Wave Transmission Experiment
- 100+ Things to Look at under a Microscope
Use Hands-on Learning to Make Homeschool More Fun
Hands-on activities for kids and teens make learning fun and memorable. The flexibility that homeschooling provides allows for cultivating a rich learning environment. Learning doesn’t always require a curriculum. Did you know that children learn best through play and hands-on, in-real-life experiences? Plus, learning happens when you least expect it.
So, go with the flow of the day more often. Follow those rabbit trails of interest when they present themselves. Strew interesting items and provide hands-on experiences when you can. You may be surprised where they will lead.
Worry less and cherish these moments with your kids. They are learning even when you are not checking off all of the to-do boxes on your list. Promise.
What are some ways you make homeschool fun?
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Erin Vincent is a homeschooling mom to two intense kids. They are child led with a heavy emphasis on read alouds, games, art, nature hikes, and hands on science! They traded the hustle and bustle of city life for the quiet farm life where opportunities for exploration in nature abound. When they're not homeschooling you'll find Erin curled up with a cup of coffee and a good book!. You can find Erin at Nourishing My Scholar.