Homeschool Memoirs #12: Let’s Play A Game!
Posted By Jacque on November 6, 2008
Homeschoolers are very resourceful people. They use what they have and use them to their best ability. I know in our home many times people ask us how we use this or that for learning, and we are happy to explain it’s value. I think the main thing that a lot of people miss is that life is learning, and you must use everything in your home for learning otherwise you won’t fully be prepared.
THEME
This week I want to invite you to share what different games you use for learning in your homeschool. Outside games, board games, or card games, and what purpose or subject you use them for.
Using games in our homeschool comes and goes. We can go months without playing a game, and then get out a game and play it almost daily for months. I am not a big fan of silly games, but I have always loved learning games.
(bolded words are linked)
These are a few that we use in our homeschool:
Trivial Pursuit – We have the Genus Edition. It has subjects such as history, sports, leisure, literature, science, nature, and entertainment. We got this game out a couple of weeks ago and had a great time!
Boggle – This is an all-time favorite of mine. I love word games. I remember having Boggle marathons when I was a child.
It is a bit more of a challenge when playing with the 7-14 year olds, but it is such a good time with them. I love answering their questions and telling them the correct spelling and then looking for more words with after the timer has stopped. When I play with the younger children, I only write down words with 4 letters and up.
Rummikub – I have not played this game. Eric has this game, and he likes it. It is a math game, and it teaches them colors, sequence, and sets, as well as keeping score.
Yahtzee – Counting and strategy -and sometimes just chance – are what you get when you play Yahtzee. I have loved Yahtzee since I was a little girl, and I enjoy playing it with our children now too.
Battleship – This is mainly for our middle children. They like to play it, and recently, they are teaching Isaac, age 5, how to play.
This game is good, because it hones their strategy skills and also their reasoning as they try to find the ships. I remember when I was a Middler that my brother had one.
Scrabble – I had this game when I was a child. Like I said, I love word games. Let’s see… spelling, thought, strategy, addition… these are just some of the great learning skills used when playing Scrabble.The more one plays with others, the more words are learned also, as they see and read new words that their opponent plays.
When we went on vacation, we were blessed by Dawn’s family with a Travel version of Scrabble. What a great gift idea! There are also different ways to play this game. You can find out more about that at Wiki/Scrabble.
Hangman – We actually have an old, old Hangman game. With children, playing the paper and pencil version or even better yet, the chalkboard and chalk version works just as well.
This is a game that all of our children can play together, because everyone loves to have the secret word and have others try to guess it. It teaches the alphabet, spelling and logical deduction.
Chess – This is one of the games that when we start playing it, it becomes marathon chess days. I am amazed at how young a child can learn the placement and moves of the pieces. It teaches them how to think, strategize, and be patient.
I caught Hannah (8) teaching Isaac (5) how to play chess for the first time the other day!
Tic Tac Toe – Simple, yet teaches thinking skills. Who doesn’t love a quick little game of Tic Tac Toe?
Dominoes – I like to play Dominoes. We *did* have a jumbo 60-some piece set of Dominoes that likely was used as a latching set or to build something, because we no longer have the full set.
BUT… our children LOVE to play it, and so do I. It is tradition to play it with Aunt Jen whether we are at our house or hers when we visit!
Card games we play occasionally:
Solitaire – We grew up playing Solitaire. My Grandparents taught us how to play a few different versions, and though a lot of times it is the luck of the cards, it also teaches and reinforces counting, strategy, and perseverance, but when you finally win, there is a feeling of accomplishment!
Phase Ten – I don’t know that I have played this game. My sweet sister taught it to the girls and Eric, and I remember them playing it at the airport a couple of years ago when we were waiting on her flight. It is something they love to play particularly with Aunt Jen!
Uno – I have not played this in awhile. We used to play it a lot too… I guess we played a lot of games when I was young! hehee This is a good game to teach colors, numbers, matching, opposites and strategy too! I think it is more for children (and I hate keeping track of card games anymore!)
Rummy – I also grew up playing Rummy with my siblings and my parents and Grandparents. I LOVED playing Rummy! I loved strategizing my pick-ups and holding the sets to lay down at the right time and, of course, winning!
This teaches counting, colors, matching, runs, strategy and laughter! It also teaches how to count by fives.
We used to have some cards that were just questions and answers. We do still have the Brain Teasers “cards” which are attached at the a bottom corner by a pin and have the answers on the back. Those types of games come in a variety of topics, and also by grade.
Well, this was fun. I believe I am going to have to set aside a day a week to play games now that all of these have been brought to my mind!
blessings~
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5 Responses to “Homeschool Memoirs #12: Let’s Play A Game!”
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Word games are my favorite types of games too – scrabble, boggle, scattergories, etc. But the guys in my family much prefer strategy games like Risk which I totally do not understand! LOL
Phase 10 is a good one, and Yahtzee too! That’s one I forgot to mention!
Blessings,
Kym
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My son loves word games as well! He can entertain himself for hours with Up Words, Scrabble, and Banana Grams!
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My friend likes Boggle, and Bananagrams. I like word games, but my family doesn’t. I have to find people who want to play with me!!
I like your list!! I think I will have to set up a family game day/night too!
Aadels last blog post..Let’s Play a Game. . .
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I LOVE Boggle, but no one here will play with me! (they got tired of losing!LOL) I do have one son(22 years old now!) that will sometimes play. After reading several of these posts I got such an urge to play Rummy. My 22 year old happens to be home and free tonight….guess what I am about to go play!!
tammys last blog post..Homeschool Memoirs #12: Let’s Play A Game!
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