A Light Homeschool Day.
Teacher Mommy had very little sleep last night and had an early meeting this morning so we decided to take it lightly today. We just played around with the measuring tape -- measuring almost anything we could lay our hands on, then some reading. After a while, I heard Little Man take the Scrabble set out and said he wanted to play. The next thing I knew, he and Little Miss were already playing.
Growing up, Scrabble was one of my favorite board games. I did not get us a set until a few months ago when I am confident that the all kids can already participate in the game. Little Man is now 7, Little Miss is 8, and Kuya will be 14 in a month. I bought the cheap set because I still wanted to see if they would enjoy the game. So far, they all do.
Learning With Scrabble
For today, we substituted our Language Arts lesson with a round of Scrabble. Scrabble, a board game where players create words using letter tiles, is a fantastic way to expand a child's vocabulary. As they play, they'll come across unfamiliar words or can even make up some words.
"Is "yeat" a word?", Little Miss would ask (and a lot of other words) and they'll start to check the dictionary and learn the meanings and spellings of those words (if at all valid).
Scrabble can also test critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Oh no! What word can you make without vowels?
Apart from creating words with their tiles, the challenge is to get the most point at the end of the game. They'll need to strategize and plan ahead to make the most of their letter tiles and earn the most points possible. This kind of problem-solving is great for their cognitive development and will serve them well in many areas of life.
Atta boy! Great job, Little Man! He was able to snag a few more double word scores as well. Honestly, I would have to say that this round went in favor of Little Man.
I am more convinced that he is really more inclined to words and stories. Little Miss, on the other hand, is more of a logical child. She is fantastic with Math. I do not have trouble explaining Math concepts to her.
If we were tracking the scores, then it would have been a Math lesson, too but we decided to take it easy today. It was a long round because there were just the two of them since Kuya was busy with his own tasks. Next time, I will make sure we get more competitive and get all the scores written down.
I am glad the day still turned out to be productive and fun despite my hectic morning. Now I am so drained that I really need to take a nap before I take on another day at work.
How about you, what activities do you love to do when things get a little out of hand in your homeschool?
All photos are owned by the author.