How to Play More Games in Your Homeschool

We all want our children to love school and love learning. We hope that they will become lifelong learners who study and pursue their interests with passion. Incorporating games into your homeschool on a regular basis is one way you can help make that goal a reality.

Games are an important way we can encourage all kinds of early learning concepts with young children from good sportsmanship to taking turns and even expanding vocabulary. With older children, games present us with an opportunity to bring the lesson to life, check for comprehension, and reinforce concepts we’re learning in our homeschool lessons. 

There are many ways to add games to your homeschool routine. Keep reading to discover some of my favorite games and get practical tips for playing more games in your homeschool.

Why You Should Add Games to Your Homeschool

If you’re the type of homeschooling mom who loves to check off boxes and stick to a plan, I can see how playing games might feel like one extra thing. Adding another activity to your busy homeschool day can feel overwhelming. However, I’d love to encourage you to give it a try.

Why should you try adding games to your homeschool routine? Gameschooling, using games in an intentional way as a part of your homeschool lessons, is more than just fun. It’s a whole lot of fun for the whole family! 

We all want our children to love school and love learning. We hope that they will become lifelong learners who study and pursue their interests with passion. Incorporating games into your homeschool on a regular basis is one way you can help make that goal a reality.

Plus, there are tons of amazing benefits to gameschooling or incorporating more gameplay in your homeschool lessons:

  • Increase vocabulary
  • Develop communication skills
  • Practice following directions
  • Learn good sportsmanship
  • Practice taking turns
  • Bring a subject to life
  • Learn together as a family
  • Make lasting memories
  • Practice new concepts
  • Hands-on learning
  • Build fluency
  • Check for comprehension
We all want our children to love school and love learning. We hope that they will become lifelong learners who study and pursue their interests with passion. Incorporating games into your homeschool on a regular basis is one way you can help make that goal a reality.

Practical Ways to Add More Games to Your Homeschool Day

Are you convinced to give gameschooling a try yet? If so, you’ll definitely want to check out my favorite practical tips for adding more games to your homeschool schedule this year. Here’s how to get started playing more games:

Play a Game For One Subject Each Day 

This is a great way to get started incorporating games into your homeschool on a daily basis. With this method, you won’t feel like playing games is “one more thing” you need to check off each day. Instead, you’ll be replacing one subject each day with a related game. 

For example, perhaps you’ll play Scrabble instead of teaching a language arts lesson or try a math game instead of your usual math lesson for the day. In this way, you can add the fun and whimsy of gameschooling to your homeschool without putting one more thing on your plate.

Plus, your kids will feel like they got out of school work assignments because they got to play a game. However, if you carefully choose your games, they’ll still be practicing and mastering the concepts you’ve been studying as much or more.

Fun Friday Game Day

If replacing one subject a day with a game isn’t something you feel comfortable with, don’t worry. There are still ways you can work gameplay into your regular homeschool routine too. Try setting aside one day of the week for games.

For example, follow your usual curriculum plan four days of the week, whichever days you choose. Then, designate one day as a Fun Game Day. On this day, play a game for every subject. A Friday game day is a great way to review what you have been learning and check for comprehension before the start of a new week too.

Strewing Games

If you’re looking for ways to incorporate more games in your homeschool while still following your regular homeschool schedule without deviation, you’ll love strewing.

Strewing is all about carefully choosing items and placing them in your child’s path to explore and interact with at their own pace. You give no instructions and you don’t need to play with them during this time. 

Single-player games are perfect for strewing. Check out some of my favorite single-player games for homeschoolers to get ideas.

Want to learn more about strewing? I’ve put together a FREE Strewing Guide just for you with helpful tips to get you started and lots of ideas for items you can use for strewing in your homeschool this year too.

Have you chosen to play more games with your homeschoolers this year? What practical tips can you share from your own experiences in the comment section? I’d love to read about your own adventures with gameschooling and playing more games in your homeschool so don’t forget to share.