Cool Games

Last week I talked about Vacation Schooling, but this week lets talk about our kids learning when they think they are playing games. Being on vacation kids don't want to "do school." But don't you love when you find great websites to use with your kids that will challenge them to learn all the while they are having loads of fun. This is perfect for vacation schooling, roadschooling or just plain every day school.

Some of our favorites are playing hig pig games on http://www.vocabulary.co

Art games on http://www.learninggamesforkids.com

ABC games on http://www.spellingcity.com

There are many games on each of these websites. Check them out and see how you can use them in your vacation schooling or roadschooling. 

Vacations Schooling?

Do you do school when you go on vacation?

I know strange question. Vacation is supposed to be fun, not school related right? I know of many homeschool families that do just that. They plan vacations around their school subjects they are doing. Example of this is a friend of mine a whole year of Marine Science with her kids as a group. So over the summer their plan is to hit the Florida Aquarium and Sea World. Yes it will be fun but they will also have some educational time in there, too.

I asked my friend if she planned on physical school work while on vacation.  She informed me that she has a child that needs to continue to work on math so they are going to use math flashcards to help with review while on vacation. She also said she has a child that has trouble with reading comprehension especially when she can't read a word in a sentence. So she is going to use some of the flyers and hands outs at both places to work on using marine science vocabulary context to comprehend what she is ready. She has another child that needs to work on their penmanship, she will have that child write out words that they learn from their trips.

Wow, I would have never thought of putting all that together to do vacation school! I can't look at a vacation with out thinking of ways to make it educational again.

What about you, do you vacation school? If so what are some of your neat ideas to slip school in during a vacation?

Writing and Tension in the Home

Writing can be one of the hardest subject to have sometimes. If you have a child who struggles then this can make it even harder to deal with.  I have one of those children. I have a child who struggles not only in writing, but also reading and spelling. He is wonderful with reading comprehension. That is a blessing in itself. There are so many ways to learn the correct way to write. I am not talking about the actual penmanship. Even though penmanship is a subject that is disappearing, it is always good for our children to know how to pen clearly and legibly as it is for them to know how to type. When I speak of writing I am talking about the words on the page. Our children have to use writing in their future endeavors.  Even if they are going to be a hands on kind of job. They still need to be able to write up proposal, notes to fellow employes, resumes, the list goes on and on.

With my own child, writing is a fight. He does not like to do it and will do what ever he can to get out of doing it. That is where a writing tutor can be very helpful. I love that I can find online writing homework help. Even though we homeschool my son can always use help with the assignment I have given. With my own child it is better to have an outside person, a writing tutor, correct him in this area then his own mom. These are the true reasons we homeschool. To be able to make our child's curriculum/schooling fit to their personality.

What do you do to help your child in the subject of writing.