One of my biggest questions of being a homeschool teacher was what to do with the time in the day.

We’d sit at the little table, working on the phonics with Teaching Reading at Home (Pre-quil to Spell to Write and Read), Miquon Books, Color Matchups, a little bible story, and a craft.  What a wonderful morning we would have learning together. I just Loved being a homeschool mom. And then I’d glace at the clock – WHAT???? 8:20 am? Now what do we do? 

So we’d start later in the day.  Look at the clock later – 10:00 a.m.  Sigh. Now we start our academic disciplines around 10-10:30, but even on a long day – we are done by 1:30 or 2. My question – that I asked everyone – was “What do you do after the school work is done?”  On the nice days we’d join people in town at parks, visit the library, walk through a museum. But we couldn’t always just leave the house looking for something to do.

I got turned on to Timberdoodle and Love To Learn – through their writings and tools, I learned to build our home into a total learning center. I grew to understand that the learning process needed to take place during more times than just the little table/worksheet moments.  One of the tools that makes this the easiest – is Games.  When we moved, we purged the younger elementary games in a garage sale, keeping our favorites. Here is what our cupboard looks like today. (Because I sorted it out – it will NOT look like this next week.)

My first advice is to have a little basket handy,
train the kiddos to put spare pieces found on the floor in ONE spot.
Then, next time you pull out Monopoly, you will know where the little horse and  car are located. 🙂

My next advice is train the to get the kids Able. Able to play without adult help. The more they learn analytic skills, cooperation, and turns – the more fun they will be to pay with later.  We do not encourage the “win” as being the goal.

We created a simple Lapbook for Chess that the boys pull out when a new friend comes over.
They love chess. We have a nice board to play classic. Bosworth is a fun game played with Cards that have the chess players on them. A beautiful board is included that allows 4 people to play at the same time. The directional rules change, and it is quite a challenge to remember which direction each player can move. Our newest favorite is the Solitaire Chess from Timberdoodle – sometimes I am just played out – and this provides a great thinking game for Jon!

We keep a basket for our card games. Card games strengthen the math skills
– we found these little card holders a while back, Jon used my label maker to customize them.

Keep an eye out when visiting garage sales, thrift stores and used book stores. We have purchased more of these used than new. We keep a plastic container of dice , and a plastic container of pieces used to mark your spot in the game.

Most importantly – don’t forget the key essential product while enjoying games on a rainy afternoon — 

Mochas!!!!! Whip Cream is Optional. 🙂

If you have any questions about the Board Games you see above – I’d love to chat about it.
What is your favorite go to game?