Here’s a big tip for gameschooling: have theme days. This is how I do it:

Monday: Language Arts

Tuesday: Math, Science, Logic, and Deduction

Wednesday: History and Geography, i.e. Social Studies

Thursday: we take a break to attend our co-op school

Friday: Art (including Drama) and/or Music

I like to pick a picture book and a game or games to go with those themes. So yesterday, Monday, Language Arts Day, we read the book pictured above, after listening to Maple Hill as an audiobook in Scribd. It’s an ah-MAAAZ-ing story about a woman who was born into slavery back in 1848, saw slavery end, and worked hard from dawn till dusk at menial jobs. During all those decades she never learned to read, until after she was retired from hard labor. She didn’t learn to read until she was 116 years old! Guess what book gave her hope? Yes, the Bible. I hope you read her story, it’s true and wonderful and so inspiring. After she learned to read, whenever she got lonely, which was often since she outlived her husband and children, she would read her Bible and not feel lonely anymore. So sweet. She died at age 121 in 1969. Incredible! What a reminder to all of us that one is never too old to learn. I also hope whoever reads it will feel grateful for the ability to read.

Then we played Hidden Hints and Whoonu. Hidden Hints is more for younger students, I’d say ages 7-12. It was too easy for the older 12s. Hidden Hints is all about reading comprehension using contextual clues. A fun game but I’ll save it for a younger crowd.

Whoonu is one of the best games ever, because everyone plays at once, and you get to learn about each other. A great getting-to-know-you game. I’m so grateful I scored it for free at my girlfriends’ yard “giveaway” instead of yard sale. Actually just the girls and moms played the game today. I sent the restless boys outside to play football. I also love the game because you can have it be as short or as long as you want. So it’s a great filler game when you have some to fill up. I love it!

Another gameschooling day in the books! If you want to know what else we’ve been playing, go here.

If you want:

-to get my presentation about about gameschooling, my slides turned into a PDF

-AND a PDF of how to build a gameschool collection on a budget

-and the link to read a free copy of The Board Game Family, go here.