Homeschooling children is tough. It’s something you’re fully committed to, of course, but when you have to be parent and teacher both, you’re going to run into some unique issues along the way! Namely, you may hear your kids complain about being bored or finding things too difficult more than the average parent, and that’s when that unease about homeschooling can start to set in.
That’s where gaming can come in and make a positive difference. After all, kids tend to like playing games – they’re fun, they’re interesting, they present a challenge that can be overcome, etc. These are all elements that kids love to tackle, and you can make good use of them within your own homeschool classroom. In the same way that getting online can be good for children, a bit of gaming here and there can be too!
So let’s ask the question: should gaming make up part of your home school syllabus? The points below should help you to consider.
Games Make a Lot of Concepts Simpler!
How often have your kids stopped halfway through a lesson and said they don’t quite understand what you’re teaching them? It’s probably happened at least once or twice in your homeschooling career, and trust us, it’ll happen again too!
It’s natural for kids to run into bumps when they’re on the road to learning new things, but they should never feel like they can’t understand anything at all. That can be incredibly demoralizing, and kids that feel ‘stupid’ often do worse simply because they think it’s not even worth it to try.
You can prevent that from going on within your homeschool by providing some alternative means to understand the concepts that the kids are struggling to get to grips with. Gaming is one of the best methods for this, as games can turn something boring and difficult into something fun, bright, and engaging.
Math Puzzles Make Numbers Fun
Most kids turn away from numbers at a young age. They’re really not all that fun! And if you’re an adult who doesn’t really like math, you’re probably not going to impart passion during these lessons either.
That’s not necessarily a problem, but it can make your kids face math in a way that puts them at a disadvantage. But you can turn to games here to make numbers simple, easy to access, and a lot more fun to deal with.
There are plenty of websites out there that design and release math puzzles for kids, but you can also learn to set a few of your own. Theme them around addition and subtraction, or division and multiplication (whatever the kids don’t quite understand), and then play the game altogether during your next math lesson.
Word Games Encourage Literacy
Playing some word games from time to time could help your homeschooled children to get to grips with literacy. Spelling, reading comprehension, being able to construct sentences, understanding punctuation and grammar – they can all be difficult things for kids to wrap their heads around. Word games can help to make them much more simple, and a lot more fun, within the homeschool classroom.
And we all know and love a few word games ourselves as adults! You’ve probably played quite a few rounds of wordle before, with all the highs and lows such a simple game can apparently bring with it! Why not let your kids get involved with the same kinds of games and see how they fare? They’ll enjoy themselves and learn at the same time, and that’s just the kind of attitude you want to encourage when you’re homeschooling.
You Can Make Reading More Rewarding
Do your kids love to read? If not, it’s going to be hard to convince them to do so more often based on a book’s own merit. That’s something gaming can help with as well. If you want reading to seem a lot more rewarding, download some apps that reward kids with games, quizzes, and other media.
Of course, reading a good book is its own reward – as is any knowledge you gain from flipping through a nonfiction piece. But younger children might not quite understand that! They may need a little more ‘instant gratification’ to encourage them to go onward and dig deeper. When they’re older, they’ll have a much larger appreciation for the written word, and spend more time flipping through book pages.
Gaming Often Improves General Knowledge
When you play a lot of games, you’re likely to come out with quite a well rounded general knowledge. After all, you’re dipping in and out of words that teams of people have come together to make, all of them bringing their own thoughts, interests, and skills to the table.
As such, you’re going to pick up a little about a lot, whether it be history, geography, literature, pop culture, or trigonometry! That tends to give you a pretty big knowledge bank, and then it’s up to you to pick and choose which subjects interest you the most and develop that knowledge.
This is something kids can benefit from in a homeschool. Encouraging them to play some games, and introducing them to as many different games as possible, can give them a lot more insight into the world around them. Even life skills can be developed from a few good games!
Put Gaming on Your Home School Syllabus
Does gaming sound like the next best thing to pop on your homeschool syllabus? It’s up to you of course, but we think it does deserve a place. After all, gaming makes schooling more interactive, less ‘stuffy’, and honestly just a lot more fun!
You can make lessons infinitely more interesting, present complex concepts in bite size pieces, and give the kids something to focus on that doesn’t require reading a piece of paper over and over again. Not only does that make the learning more fun, but it could also take the pressure off of the teaching as well!
