No one can make a bigger difference in your kids’ lives than you! By encouraging their natural curiosity, you can keep your children’s skills sharp and have fun as a family at the same time.
Step 1: Hit the Library
The logical place to start with fun at-home learning projects is at your local library. Libraries typically offer free programs for kids throughout the year. (Think read alouds, crafts, plays, and movie nights).
Step 2: Notice the Math All Around You
Doing math doesn’t mean you have to get out the workbooks. There are many ways to engage your kid in fun at-home math activities. For example:
- Cook with your kids. Measuring counts as math—see, you are good at math!—and simple recipes can be halved or doubled, with younger kids working the math on whole numbers and older ones on the fractions. Make a silly recipe for your child that says ‘5/10’ cup of milk, and have her reduce it to something on the measuring cup.
- Get outside. Outdoor games are a great way to stretch math skills. Place random numbers in hopscotch squares and requiring kids to add up the sums before they can advance. Timed races are a great way to practice math. It takes even more math if you challenge kids to average the results of several heats.
- Stay inside. On rainy/snowy days, read about math. Combine math and reading by adding math-centric books to your list of what to grab at the library. https://www.weareteachers.com/picture-books-about-math/
Step 3: Make Things
Here are a couple ways to get your kids’ creative juices flowing with at-home learning in the arts.
- Make fan fiction! Take a favorite, familiar novel or picture book. Put your finger somewhere at the midpoint of the book and have your kid write a new ending from there. Tell him to let his imagination flow—what might those characters have done if they’d taken a different path?
- Craft an at-home learning makerspace for less than $20 to let your kids explore on their own.
Brain Drain or At-Home Learning Yearning?
As parents, you can make the most of your kids’ breaks from school. Keep them mentally sharp with varied at-home learning activities, and they’ll be ahead of the game when school is back in session.
As parents, you can make the most of your kids’ breaks from school. Keep them mentally sharp with varied at-home learning activities, and they’ll be ahead of the game when school is back in session.
Have a good rest of your day.
Sincerely,
Mr. Tyron D. Hurd