I've often had problems getting my kids to sit down and do bookwork. Consequently, I worry about the development of their handwriting and written expression. What's more, I hate the effort of having to argue with them to get them up to the table. It makes us all crabby and tired. So, as I think the secret of "Natural Learning" is to get them working without realising that they are actually doing work, I've tried to come up with some "fun homeschooling" ideas to make them want to work. These few have been big hits with my family. I doubt if you could find another boy who hates doing bookwork more than my 11 y.o. son, so as he enjoys them, I'm sure others would too. I'll write them down in case anybody else would like to try them. (If your kids are like Logan, just don't call it "bookwork")

1) Whose diary?

Once, Logan had borrowed a huge "Star Wars" comic book from the library, and in it was an extract from Darth Vadar's diary. It went something like, "I can't make up my mind whether or not to tell Luke that I'm his father. I think I will. I wonder how he'll take it." I forget most other details except that it was very funny and we all had a good laugh. So we had the idea to get the kids to write diary entries. It went over so well that they both keep asking to do the "diary" thing again. Here's how it goes.

Write several well-known names on slips of paper to place in a hat. They can be musicians, scientists, fictional characters, Biblical characters, people you've studied, the sky is the limit. Each person takes a slip of paper and has to write a fictional diary entry by the person whose name they draw out. It's always fun when we read them out. The funny thing is, Logan always used to hate it when anyone would ask him to write anything about himself or what he did over the weekend, yet if he's writing the diary of Guy Sebastian or Neil Armstrong or King Saul, he has a fantastic time. So what's the difference? "Writing about myself is boring," he says.

2) Once upon a time...

This is a game about the beginning of books and if you've ever played the game "Balderdash" it's just a homemade adaptation.

Select several books from your shelf. Then every player makes up what they think sounds like a good first paragraph and writes it on a piece of paper. One person writes down the real one. Then he/she reads each one out randomly, including the real beginning. The others vote on which one they think sounds like the real beginning. You get one point if you guess the correct one and two points if somebody guesses yours and the game lasts for as long as you like. This was also a big hit with my children.

3) A strange meeting

We tried this one in a larger group that comprised Logan, Emma, my two nephews and two of their friends. It's excellent in large groups but would also work in smaller groups. Each person writes the names of two people on separate slips of paper and they are all placed in a hat and mixed up. Then each person randomly selects two from the hat. They they have to write a little story or dialogue about what happens when these two people meet each other.

We ended up with some really strange combinations. One of the older boys ended up with Harry Potter meets Little Miss Muffet (Emma's contribution). Frodo Baggins meets the Queen was another one. There was quite an age range of players from Emma, aged 7, to Jarrad, aged 16, and it was a hit with all of them. I don't know of many other games that would fit them all so well.  

By the way, I'd love to hear any others, if anybody has any good ones. One of the great things about blogging is the pool of ideas I come up with at times.