10 Educational Activities for Your First Week of Homeschooling

First week jitters for new homeschooling families is pretty common. A lot of parents preparing for that great leap into this new lifestyle are nervous about how they should begin, what type of learning materials they should have, or if the kids are going to be getting anything out of it.

Some of us do go a bit overboard looking for a safety net, and feel pressured to go out and purchase a pre-packaged curricula for every subject, write out a schedule and try to implement a mini-school on the dining room table. This might seem like a good idea, but it's actually putting your cart before your horse.

If you haven't started working with your child yet, you can only guess what kind of curriculum and schedule will be conducive to your child's learning style and your homeschooling needs. You may find a lot of plans and purchases you have invested time and money in are a source of frustration, or just lying on the shelves gathering dust after a few weeks, as you scrap it all and start from square one again.

Instead of jumping into the deep end head-first, try easing into it a little at a time. Allow the family to adapt slowly, and just get used to spending time together and think "outside the box" when it comes to educational activities. The best thing about homeschooling is that you can custom fit it to your family and child's specific needs.

Try some of these great, educational activities that can help you and your children relax and transition into homeschooling.

1) Read Together. Find a great book, or even better- a book series- and read it together. It doesn't have to be a literary classic by Dickens or Chaucer (unless you want it to be). Just find something fun that you and your child can get into- Harry Potter, Magic Treehouse, American Girls novels, or even a comic book series.

Read aloud to your child, or, if your child can read already, take turns reading aloud to each other. If your child is starting homeschooling as an older child and prefers reading alone, you can each read the same book independently and then discuss it as a family. Just find a story you can both get into, and enjoy talking about it.

2) Write Together. Like reading, writing is something that is educational in just about any way you approach it. You don't have to be writing poetry, essays or compositions on dry subjects (though, of course, if this is your thing, you can). Some other options are to write letters: find pen-pals, write a letter to a newspaper, send fan mail, or write a letter of praise or complaint about your favorite product.

Another option is to collaborate. Try making up a story together, or write a script for a play or puppet show you can put on for family and friends.

Let your child write something pertinent to your his/her interests. If he likes video games, let him write a walk-through for his favorite one, or video game reports, or make up a script to his own video game. If he likes cooking, help him write his own cook book, scripts for his own cooking "tv" special, or restaurant and product reviews.

3) Start a Homeschooling Scrapbook. Make it part of your portfolio. Take a picture on your first day, or just a nice recent photo of your child, and make a nice cover or front page. Start lists, such as goals, reading lists, or a list of resources you are starting with. Scrapbook your activities. You can revisit this project again and again throughout the year, adding to it as you do new and exciting things together.

Lots of great homeschooling scrapbook ideas can be found here: www.associatedcontent.com/article/1000920/homeschooling_ideas_educational_scrapbooking.html

4) Visit a Museum. Find one that you've never been to in your area and take a trip. Look online and through the yellow pages for small, obscure museums you didn't even know were there. Video tape the event, or take a notebook along to take notes and draw pictures of the things you see.

See what interests your child and use the visit as a jumping off point for further study and research.

5) Hang Out at the Library. Libraries are the homeschooler's Mecca. Try to find one with a great children's section. Introduce yourself to the children's librarian and get to know this person- they will be able to help you a lot in finding anything you are looking for, from a book or article, to activities in the community.

See what kind of free programs the library offers, or if there are any groups or workshops you can get involved in. Explore the reference section, and learn about and how to use all the different kinds of resources. Ask for a tour.

6) Play Board Games. Board games can be very educational and a fun way to learn. They can help kids learn to count, recognize letters, numbers and colors, and develop strategy.

There are lots of great games that can be educational: Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, Candyland, Trivial Pursuit, Chess, Checkers, even cards. You probably have a closet full of great educational resources gathering dust, and you didn't even know it.

7) Watch Educational TV. TV has gotten a bad reputation over the years, and there is no doubt that too many hours of mindless shows can be a waste of time. But televisions can also be an excellent educational tool.

There are lots of educational shows for all ages out there. Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues. DVDs with the old 70's educational shows like "The Electric Company" and "Schoolhouse Rock" are now available to rent or purchase. For older children, there are shows like Mythbusters, History's Mysteries, and Good Eats.

8) Create a Website. Not only good for learning computer skills, but making a website also encourages writing and research. You don't have to be a master of HTML (though you might take this opportunity to learn it). Sites like www.Squidoo.com and geocities.yahoo.com/ offer free space and easy-to-use tools for basic page design.

Your page can be on anything that interests your child-- their favorite video game or book, dinosaurs, stamp collecting, Pokemon, or cookie recipes, for example. Help your child write content, find pictures, and gather resources, then create your own page together.

9) Make an Exhibit. If you prefer to go low tech, you can make an exhibit of your own, such as you would find in a museum. Ever go to a museum and see a beautiful display case that looks like a scene from another time and place? That's simply a giant-sized diorama. Ever look at a wall full of great information, charts, and pictures? That's a huge project display board.

Create a display, such as a large diorama, or a display board, exhibiting something your child is interested in. You might even find some kind of fair to exhibit it in.

10) Join a Homeschooling Group. Homeschooling groups can be a great source of support and comradery for new homeschoolers. Some groups just meet once in a while for play dates in the park, giving kids and parents the opportunity to socialize and make friends. Others plan educational field trips and activities together. Some groups are co-ops, or cooperatives, in which parents work together to offer classes for the children involved.

Some homeschooling groups have swap-meets or exchanges for educational materials, some attend homeschooling fairs and conferences together, some get involved in community or social activism.

Look for a homeschooling group your area and get involved with it, or find one online, and you will learn from others hundreds of other activities you and your children can do together.