Unschooling Ideas for all subjects

The boys all piled into my bed for some snuggling and cuddling.  We talked and just enjoyed hanging out with one another for quite a bit.  Once they all started tickling one another, feet were flying and wrestling ensued I decided to sneak out and spend some time on the computer coming up with a plan of activities.

It seems our weeks go best when I have activity ideas already in my mind when the week begins. 

 If we don't get around to them it's not a big deal, but it seems to work best if I have suggestions for some fun learning games and projects.

Typically I only plan enough activities to last us until lunch and then they're on their own for actual unschooling.

I don't force anyone to participate in any lesson or activity;  I suggest things to do that I hope they'll be interested in.

Lately, I've made the mistake of not having ideas at the ready and it seems like we're all floundering for things to do.  I started out trying to make a list of 5 activities for us to use for the week and ended up deciding to make more of a master list of ideas for me to pull from when I'm short on time and ideas.


I started at our library's on-line catalog and found a few books I'd like to check out: 

1. Better Late than Early: A New Approach to your Child's Education
2. Family Math
3. The Great Number Rumble: A story of Math in Surprising Places
4. Spilling Ink: a young writers handbook

 I've decided over- planning works best for us so if they don't like something I've chosen they have other ideas to choose from.

 Here's a few ideas for covering various subjects: 

For math:
1.  we'll play board games like Monopoly, Life, Phase 10, Battleship, Connect 4, Chess, etc. 
2.  Read books like Seeing Symmetry and then looking for it in real life.
3.  We'll play Estimate It, Addition/Subtraction/ Multiplication Tic Tac Toe, and other games found in the book Games for Learning or Games for Math.
4.  Complete a few lessons in McRuffy math workbooks
5.  Continue working on extreme dot to dot and color by number books in the car
6.  Keep a family puzzle going on the dining room table that we can all work on.
7.   Take the boys shopping with their gift cards and teach them about budgeting, calculating costs and estimating sales tax.
8.  Bake or cook something together in the kitchen; using our knowledge of fractions.
9. Building with various blocks.  I always try to keep a huge variety of building materials on hand so the boys can apply problem solving skills in so many fun ways.
10. Play on-line games that practice math in a fun way like those on ABCya.


For Reading and Writing:
 1.  We'll continue to listen to Magic Tree House books on CD
 2.  Try out 10-minute writing, silent conversation, and story sharing in the book Games For Learning
 3.  Pick a family read aloud book each week (or bi- weekly depending on length)
 4.  Write in our cursive books
 5.  Continue to encourage each boy to read at least 15 min. before bed each night. 
 6.  Play board games like Scrabble, Words with Friends, Scattegories, Boggle
 7.  Visit library, Boxcar Children's Museum, and children's book clubs
 8.  Teach them games like MASH and how to make a Cootie Catcher
 9.  Write a recipe and try it out-- we've done this in the past and they loved it!
10.  Get them some fun activity books and bring out the Mad Libs.

For Arts and Crafts: 
1.  We'll make glue resist t-shirts (If I remember to buy dye!).  Instructions here
2.   Paint pictures on watercolor paper
3.  Continue to explore with shaving cream, play doh, goop, etc and make them glittered, glow in the dark, smelly or even magnetic
4.  Visit art museums and craft fairs
5.  Have photo scavenger hunts & encourage kids to use their cameras more. 
6.  Try out crafts found in The Big Book of Kids Crafts, What Shall I Paint?, Year Round Crafts for Kids, etc.
7. Read books about famous artists and try to recreate some of their famous masterpieces
8. Decorate clay pots
9.  Make mother's and father's day gifts.
10. Draw with chalk pastels.


For Science
1.  Watch movies like Bill Nye the Science Guy, Beakman's World, Magic School bus, How it's Made, Disney Imagineering, etc. 
2.  Carry out more science experiments like those in our book Super Science Book or on Pinterest.
3.  Go on Nature walks/ hikes
4.  Visit Zoos, nature museums, science museums, factories,
5.  Read non- fiction books about nature, animals, etc.
6.  Plant a garden/ container garden
7.  Experiment with liquids-- dancing goop, magic milk, colorful bubbles, experiment with oil/water/vinegar/baking soda/ etc like they did here
8.  Look at objects under the microscope
9.  Start a nature journal
10.  Watch and record the birds that visit our bird feeders.


For History/ Geography:
1.  Watch movies like Liberty's kids, drive thru history, how the states got their shapes, School House Rock, Travel with Kids, etc.
2. Read more historical fiction books (I find my kids don't object to these kinds of books nearly as much as actual history books)
3.  Read more biographies
4.  Make crafts from other states, countries and times in history
5.  Visit places like Mashantucket pequot museum, old Sturbridge village, Plymouth Plantation, Higgins Armory Museum and Fort Adams.
6.  Play games like Scrambled States of America, GeoBingo, Ancient History memory, & American Trivia.
7.  Cook up a new recipe from another land.
8. Take a virtual field trip
9.  Make edible maps or salt dough maps.


For motor development/ Exercise:
1.  Continue Trampoline Lessons
2.  Participate in organized sports like basketball/ soccer
3.  Ride bikes, swim and play sports in the yard at home
4.  Try out new parks and playgrounds for a variety of climbing, jumping, running, etc
5.  Fly kites, Use Frisbees, jump rope, etc
6.  Read books about the human body, sports, exercises, health, germs, nutrition
7.  Visit Zoinks, Parks & Playgrounds, roller rink, ice rink, and Doctor's office
8.  Teach them games like leapfrog, mother may I, red light/ green light.
9.  Play Twister, Wii Fit/ Wii Active/ Wii sports, hopscotch (with words/math facts/ etc for learning and activity!)
10.  Go see a live sports game/ activity


Phew! I think that's enough of a start for now... still have to narrow down to which activities I have supplies for on hand that we'd like to try this week but I think I have plenty of great options to choose from.  Please feel free to share more activity ideas as we're always looking for fun things to do.