The Ultimate Guide to Strewing in Your Homeschool

Strewing is something that can revolutionize your homeschool, but what is it? This is everything you need to know about strewing to help your kids learn, all in one place.

Strewing works so well in our homeschool. It’s a fantastic way to create learning opportunities where your children can be in the driver’s seat. 

The kinds of activities and learning opportunities presented by strewing don’t require you to conduct or participate. Instead, you can watch as your children discover and learn all on their own with carefully chosen items, activities, and resources.

Strewing is something that can revolutionize your homeschool, but what is it? This is everything you need to know about strewing to help your kids learn, all in one place.

What Is Strewing?

It’s all about leaving things around your home that encourage your children to interact with and learn from the items. Popular strewing items include things like blocks, magnets, rocks, and seashells. It’s important to switch out the items you’re using for strewing to maintain your child’s interest and excitement.

“I just strew their paths with interesting things.” –Sandra Dodd

Strewing is really an art. It’s all about casually leaving items that encourage creativity and learning for your kids to discover around your home. You don’t have to recreate a toy store or children’s museum in your home, strewing is more subtle. 

Let the items serve as invitations, don’t formally invite your kids to participate in a new project of craft. These little invitations to engage should be irresistible for your kids. Strewing things they’re interested in will be a big help when you’re getting started. 

How Does Strewing Actually Work In Our Homeschool

First, I choose what I will use for strewing. I have three criteria for the items I choose:

  • Items that match the topic we are studying
  • Things I would like to introduce
  • Items based on my daughter’s interests

When strewing, it’s important to allow your child to discover and explore the item(s), but that doesn’t equal creating a giant mess. Limiting the number of things you strew each day will help cut down on the messes. In fact, clutter actually makes strewing more challenging.

Remember not to be too strict on time limits with strewing. It’s important to allow your children space and time to interact with the items. Give them time to let their imagination take off as they explore what you have prepared. 

Speaking of preparation, here at the Waldock Way I don’t like to spend a ton of time planning and preparing for strewing. Spending lots of time planning for strewing kind of defeats the point for me. I use a mix of items we have on hand and things I can get quickly for strewing in our homeschool. 

Strewing isn’t something you need to do every day. It’s valuable and amazing to watch our children engage with new things and learn independently through play. However, don’t feel like you need to strew items every day. I try to set up opportunities for strewing activities 3 to 4 times a week. Also, don’t feel that you need to immediately swap out items. If your child is really enjoying a particular item, it’s ok to leave it out for a few days.

Strewing is something that can revolutionize your homeschool, but what is it? This is everything you need to know about strewing to help your kids learn, all in one place.

Favorite Strewing Resources

If you’re looking for some fun strewing resources to get you started, you’ll definitely want to check out our favorite strewing resources. There are lots of great places to read more about strewing and how to make it happen in your homeschool.

Then, check out these articles and videos from The Waldock Way for more help strewing:

Having trouble thinking of items for your first time strewing? Check out some of our favorites here:

The Power of Strewing In Your Homeschool

I’m not a morning person. I struggle to wake up and get started in the mornings, so we usually do our lessons later in the day. However, my daughter is definitely an early riser. When she wakes up, she’s ready to begin. How do kids do that?

The secret to success in our morning routine is definitely strewing. It gives my daughter something to do in the morning while I wake up, have my coffee, and get breakfast started. Strewing items the night before gives Emily something to dive right into first thing in the morning. 

Plus, I know she’s learning and discovering new things along the way. It’s important for us to teach our daughter to take charge of her learning. As she gets older, we are finding new ways to make this happen in our interest-led homeschool. It’s amazing to see how much she’s learning!

Do you think strewing will work for your kids? What ideas do you have for strewing in your homeschool? Share your questions and ideas in the comment section. I’ll do my best to answer your questions and I can’t wait to read all your fantastic strewing ideas!

One Comment

  1. I need to learn how to do this. This year I’ll be working on weaning my kiddos off of so much tv and wanting to start in the mornings. When the eczema covered toddler was sleeping late & so was tired mama, it made sense for my older daughter to watch some shows, but now that they’re both up and raring to go, it just doesn’t. And tv is so addictive. I wonder what will work for them 🤔

Comments are closed.