The FUN-damentals!!

I learned very early on in this process that I am not perfect, and that if I’m going to do this homeschooling journey, I’m going to have FUN doing it. Everything is about energy! When you are excited about what you are learning, truly excited and not just patranizing the child, the child becomes excited about it as well! I went through Pre-K, Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, and Grade 7 with a completely different set of eyes. I experience it as though it was my first time learning it! I took pleasure in the simplicity of it all and discovered you can make a fun game out of literally anything!!

One of my favorite games? Its kind of like 52 pick up but with far less cards. So in the game 52 pick up, you toss a deck of cards in the air and pick them up lol. A game my brothers LOVED to trick me with. However, with spelling words and young energetic children, it’s a complete turn up!

You take 7-10 sight words, write them on index cards, and right before you toss them in the air you say “On your marks! Get set! GO!” and as you say go you flip the cards into the air! The children are excited and bursting with energy to be the first to pick up a card! The catch is that every card they pick up, they must be able to read in order to get the point. The one with the most points, WINS!

This game was ALWAYS a crowd favorite! I didnt matter who the children were, they relished in this game that challenged their speed, recognition, coordination, and memory. I and just loved watching them fall all over themselves going for the words.

This game made words exciting. This game made reading a THRILL!! These simple games that we played with the children encouraged and instilled a level of joy and excitement that is not usually attached to reading.

This was when I fell in love with putting the JOY and EXCITEMENT back into the learning process!