I received one of the best compliments EVER just a few days ago. One of my kids told me this homeschool year has been FUN! For several years, we’ve (okay, I’ve… It’s been ME) struggled with making learning enjoyable. But this year I determined to be joyful, and one of the ways I’ve made that happen is with Fun Fridays!
What exactly is a Fun Friday?
Well, it could be anything you want it to be really–whatever will bring joy (and break the monotony) of a regular school day.
For us, Fun Fridays are still school days. We’re still learning, but we’re learning different things in different ways. Fridays are the days we explore Artists and Composers and Nature. We spend more time outdoors. We have a drawing lesson or two. Maybe we even take a field trip.
How do you fit in a Fun Friday?
I know what you’re thinking… “We already have SO much to do. I can’t possible squeeze in fun too!”
Believe me. I get it. I’v been there.
We wasted several homeschool years focusing on all the areas in which we were weak. I pushed and I pushed and I pushed for the kids to complete the workbook, do all the math problems, fill in all the blanks… It lead to boredom and apathy… in them and me!
When I began to schedule for the current homeschool year, I purposed to focus on traditional academics four days a week, and leave Fridays for the fun subjects. I was afraid we’d get even more behind in academics, but the opposite has been true. I’ve seen improvements in all subject areas and attitudes too!
What does a Fun Friday look like?
A Fun Friday can and will look different for each individual homeschool. For ours, it usually looks something like this…
8am–Big Kids are working independently and each have 20 minutes of “baby duty”. I work one-on-one with AG7.
9am–We meet together to cover our regular Morning Meeting activities (Bible, Latin, etc). Then we move into the fun part of the day. We spend 10-15 minutes studying an artist (like John James Audubon) and 10-15 minutes studying a composer. We listen to music by that composer and/or imitate the artwork of our chosen artist.
If we have a read-aloud going, we may curl up on the couch and read more than a chapter just because we can. Or maybe we turn on an audio book and build with Legos until lunch time.
11:30 am–We usually break for lunch, and then we head outside or continue reading if we want… Some days, we head to the park and others, we dive in the pool. Either way, we spend the rest of the day doing something enjoyable together.
By shaking things up and making Fridays less structured, my kids and I have found our love of learning again. We’re enjoying exploring new topics in new ways. And the fact that no two Fridays are exactly the same keeps everyone excited and motivated throughout the week.
What about you? What do you do to add “fun” to your homeschool? Do you practice Fun Friday or something similar? Tell us about it in the comments below.