Ditch the Desk and Play Some Games

Homeschooling affords us the wonderful opportunity to get rid of the desk, that traditional school model, and learn in unique ways. Ditch the Desk does just that. Through twenty-four weekly or monthly unit studies, students in kindergarten through fifth grade can examine topics such as being an author or illustrator, backyard critters, baking with math, banishing boring book reports, birds, the life of frontier photographer Evelyn Cameron, fairy tales, growing up Dutch, space, the Renaissance, the ocean, the weather, and even candy canes. Students in second grade through twelfth grade will enjoy Daily Puzzlers. These are language-based logic puzzles that vary in difficulty according to grade level. The student must follow the directions in the puzzle to move step by step to the final answer. These puzzles can be used to help a student with comprehension in the reading and understanding of the instructions given, to encourage critical thinking to find the correct answers, and to practice vocabulary.

Everyday Games with Teresa Evans is a fun and interesting way to teach preschool and elementary students math and phonics. Students won’t even realize they are learning math, and the reading games practice many skills, such as consonant blends, suffixes, prefixes, compound words, and much more. Daily printable board games make early reading and math skills fun. Hundreds of games are available. If your student would like to have some out-of-this-world fun, enjoy Everyday Astronomy. This course provides a basic understanding of the solar system, along with some fun activities, including recipes that the family can make and virtual “field trips” that deal with the history of discoveries and accomplishments mankind has made in relation to space. Topics include the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, an introduction to constellations; elementary. More than 180 daily lessons are available.

Tammie Bairen

Editor, SchoolhouseTeachers.com

A division of The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine