No Book Day-- Homeschooling Without Books

I was debating about taking a day off from school with the boys this past Friday.  We've been spending lots of time at home and doing a lot of book work; which is great but not real inspiring.  I have been feeling pretty blah and thought perhaps we needed a break; or more accurately, I needed a break.  But I knew we were going to have time off next week and wasn't sure I wanted two short weeks in a row.


Then I had an idea: we were going to have a NO BOOK day.  



Of course they could read stories and we did end up reading two chapters in The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw but we weren't going to use any other school books.  No journals, no workbooks, no math books, nothing that we did not find FUN!

I pulled out tons of art and crafts kits-- Aquarelle, Paint a Pet Rock, Paint Sea Life figures, Qixels, Loom bands, Model car kits.

I pulled out games-- Silly Sentences, Gravity Maze, Sudoku Board, Story Cubes, Scategories, 10,000 Yahtzee, American Trivia, History Memory, Brain Box, etc.

I pulled out science kits and equipment-- Our microscope & slides, Snap Circuits, Build your own Wind Powered Car Kit, Remote Control Vehicle kit...

I pulled out blocks and building supplies-- Our Pattern blocks, Keva blocks, Manga Tiles, etc.  

I told the boys we weren't having a day off from school but we were going to have a no book day and they would learn by exploring and playing and getting their hands on as many things as we could possibly have time for.  

They could use some of the ideas I had pulled out or they could look for their own activities but they could not use screens during school hours (since we had a fun screen- day yesterday of doing almost ALL our schoolwork on the computer) and they had to be having fun.  

That was a must! WE MUST HAVE FUN!  

And we did!

As evidenced by the train wreck of a house we had by lunch.  There were messes everywhere, on our table, on the floor, on the couches, it was a mess.

But a good mess:




The boys used our Snap Circuits-- both sets for a good hour building, dismantling and rebuilding.

Evan loved talking into the
speaker and making the lights blink
on and off

Alec and Evan worked together 

Evan read a book about baboons to me (without making a single mistake!)

The boys painted; Ian used his Aquaelle kit while Alec painted his pet rock.


Ian made loom band bracelets.

Alec used his imagination and made a hot dog with mustard out of his Qixel kits.

Ian played with pattern blocks making pictures on the floor.


Alec put together another Block Fun Pokemon character.


Ian and Evan played Battleship helping Evan hone his coordinate grid skills.


"C-4? It's going to blow up!"

Alec and I played Scrambled States of America learning more about the 50 States (I still can not beat him at this game!)

Ian and I played Life; Ian offered to be the banker making change and working on all sorts of math skills.

Evan and I played with his Silly Sentences game.


Ian played with his Legos in his room for a good hour.  He ended up making a  flat bed truck.

It was a great day filled with learning and lots of play and it was just what we needed. 



Comments

  1. How fun! I may use this with my kids every few weeks!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We had a great time and now we're ready to pull out the books again tomorrow.

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  2. I love this idea! It's amazing how much learning can take place without books. Additionally, breaks are so essential in recharging us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's so true and one of the reasons why we tried a traditional school setting versus year round homeschooling this year; I am so bad at taking breaks to recharge!

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  3. I love this idea and it looks like you all had an awesome day of fun and learning! Thanks so much for sharing with #SocialButterflySunday! Hope to see you link up again this week :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying right now... we're still down with our internet over here and my opportunities for using it have been spotty at best!

      Delete

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