One of things that home schooling families spend a lot of time talking about, worrying about, researching, and buying is curriculum and supplemental classes, programs, books, events, activities; in order to make sure they are covering everything they think is important for their children to learn. An amazing things about home schooling is that you can really dig into topics and activities that your children are really interested in. With a little bit of creativity and willingness to think outside the box, you would be truly amazed at the books, classes, programs, and well just STUFF you can find to make learning at home a fun and interesting experience for the entire family and in my case my daycare families too!
Supplementing your chosen curriculum or program doesn’t have to be expensive either. It doesn’t have to be a book you buy. It doesn’t even have to be a class to take. It can be stuff you do at home that uses anything your children are learning in a way other than the way it was originally taught to them! Cooking or baking are ways to work on math skills, reading skills, and even a little science! Letting the kids make their own lunch is a way to work on manners, socialization, and cooperation.
There are some fantastic programs and classes offered by all sorts of places you may never have thought of, such as:
- Museums
- Zoos
- the Oklahoma State Fair
- Local co-ops
- Local colleges
- Local libraries
- Local churches
and the list is endless! The trick is finding these places. As I discovered many of them don’t advertise or if they do it is just a flyer posted on their door or a small clip on their websites. That is why I highly recommend plugging into a local homeschool group or co-op if you can find them. Even if you can’t participate in every single event or activity they do, many of them have Facebook groups or Yahoo groups where they love to share information!
We discovered a small group of families through our church. The group is not sponsored by our church, but they do meet there for some classes and activities. Our son is currently enjoying an art class and a geography class taught by one of the parents in the group. This classes not only teachers him about art and geography, but also helps him work on his organization and planning skills by giving him home work and projects to do at home and then present to the class. So it also works on his public speaking skills as well. He gets to interact with other children and have other authority figures outside of me and his dad. Plus the best part is that he is learning and having fun at the same time!
Supplemental activities are basically anything not covered at all or not covered in depth in your curriculum and you decide you want to supply more information or a subject not covered at all. This can be anything from art, PE, music, religion, and more. The sky really is the limit!
Our children are in sports, dance, and church activities and more. They are literally learning and interacting with everyone they see and everywhere they go! It is by far, our favorite thing about learning at home—life is our classroom!
