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Gameschooling Without a Collection

Gameschooling is fun and highly beneficial, but it can get expensive quick! If you want to gameschool without a collection, it is possible. here are some options for adding games to your homeschool without maintaining a collection.

Board Game Cafes

This is a low cost choice with many gaming options. Our local cafe costs $3 per person and have over 500 games to choose from. We went last week and had a chance to play some games we were considering, some games we couldn't find, and some that we were just curious about. They were all fun, but we took all of them off of our buy list because they are not quite what we want. It was great to get the chance to play them before buying them. Plus we get to use them for learning without having to store them or maintain them.

Local Game Stores

Our favorite local game stores have demo games to try. Their collection of playable games is considerably smaller than the game cafe, but it is FREE! Even with our large collection at home, we still go play games at the game store. It is fun to try something new that we don't have. We have built a great relationship with our favorite game store (The Dice Owl in Montreal) and they always do what they can to keep us updated with upcoming games, events, and finding games they don't have in stock.

Library

Some libraries have board games to either play or check out. The library we had in Michigan had some for kids to play within the library. All the libraries we have been to in Quebec have had a collection for check out. This is a great free option to play games without laying down cash or finding a place to store them.

Gaming Friends

Borrowing, trading, and playing together are all great ways to play more games with less cost. Doing game trades with other people does require that you have games in which to trade, but the other two are completely free. What is better than bringing two or more homeschool families together to learn and play? Knowing that the other families have got the games covered. If you have good friends with a great game collection or even a small one, playing together builds that relationship stronger and fills your gameschooling needs. If they are willing to borrow games to you that can be helpful too.

Gameschooling does not have to break the bank. We hope these tips will help you get more gaming into your homeschool experience. 

Have fun learning!

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What is game schooling

So, what is gameschooling? It is pretty simple. It is taking games and using them with intentionality to teach your kids. That was quick and easy, wasn’t it? Now, we can get into the why of gameschooling. There are many amazing reasons for teaching in this way. They are all very linked together, but I will break them up for you in bite sized portions.

Experiential learning

Games give you the opportunity to simulate a concept or topic in a way they couldn’t experience otherwise. For example, you can learn about terraforming a planet, but you can’t really do it. However, if you play Terraforming Mars, you can simulate the experience.

Games give you the opportunity to simulate a concept or topic in a way they couldn’t experience otherwise. Click to Tweet

Abstract Concepts into Concrete

Board games can turn abstract concepts that they are learning into more concrete ideas. It helps student to better understand material that would otherwise seem distant or unrelatable.

Relation to Material

Subjects from other times and places can sometimes be hard to relate to. How do they affect my life now? Games covering these topics bring those times and places to the present and allows the players to experience them in a different way.

Drive to Learn More

The game brings interest to the kids and they may develop a desire to learn more. You don’t have to push hard for continued learning, because they want to learn more about what they have been experiencing first hand.

Knowledge Retention

Games reinforce the learning that is taking place in your school day. Your kids read a book, do a project, watch a documentary, and then pull it all together with a game. You are reaching all those types of learning and the knowledge will really stick.

Build Problem Solving Skills

Getting your kids to think out of the box while problem solving can be hard. Games build creativity in problem solving. They must use trial and error to get the best outcome and be successful in the game.

Learn from Mistakes

When kids feel like there is a possibility of failure, they can sometimes freeze up. Games help them practice making mistakes in a positive way. The game is only so long, and they can make loads of mistakes, without real life consequences. When it is over, they can see what will work better next time. They get to practice learning from mistakes instead of feeling disabled by them.

Student Engagement

Some kids fight the whole learning process. They don’t want to engage and are very negative about it. Bringing out a game can help them to enjoy the process of learning more. It may even spark that drive to learn more that I mentioned up above.

There are so many ways to gameschool! Some people use games as the curriculum itself and some use games to supplement and reinforce their more structured school day. We are somewhere in the middle. Do you use games for school? Leave a comment and let us know your favorites and how you use them.