3 Games That Can be Adapted for 2-3 Year-olds

3 Games for Studying World Culture

3 Games for Studying World Geography

3 Games for Studying Animals

How to Use Pandemic in Your School or Homeschool Setting

How to Use Plague Inc. the Board Game in Your School or Homeschool Setting

How to Use Dice Hospital in Your School or Homeschool Setting

3 games for studying health

How to use Catan in your school or homeschool setting

How to use Dinosaur Tea party in your school or homeschool setting

How to use Flashpoint in your school or homeschool setting

3 Games for Practicing a Foreign Language

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.

Isaiah's Daughter: A Book Review

I was so excited for the opportunity to review Isaiah's Daughter! Mesu Andrews did an incredible job with this book. I love historical fiction and the biblical theme of this book really intrigued me. We follow an orphaned girl, Ishma, as she grows up with Prince Hezekiah. She grows up, is adopted by Isaiah under the name Hephzibah, and marries her childhood friend, becoming queen. The overarching theme of this book is determining God's calling in your life. The topic was very relevant for me.

This book is fiction, of course, but It felt real. It was interesting to see the human side of people we hear so little about in the Bible. They stumble and ask questions that most of us wonder about too. The first person writing of Ishma's chapters were a little weird to me, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I will be recommending it to others and look forward to reading more of Mesu Andrew's books.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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Picturing Heaven Coloring Book Review

I love a good coloring book! Picturing Heaven is a beautiful book. At first I was a little put off by the fact that all the pictures have some filled sections of gold. I am finding that I don't mind the pre-filled sections as much as I thought I would. The artwork is gorgeous. I like all the tiny details to color. The devotions are short and simple. They are well written and definitely inspire the artwork. While it is a beautiful coloring book, it doesn't stand out from others that I have. I am enjoying coloring in it and my sons are too. If you are looking for an adult coloring book, this one is great.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

The Comic Book Story of Video Games Review

I love gaming (board and video) and I love non-fiction comic books like Maus, so I was excited to have the chance to review this book. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into. I hoped for good artwork and well written information. I was very pleasantly given both! My favorite part of this book was how the video game characters are plugged in throughout the whole history. It keeps a lighthearted view on some of what could be fairly boring bits of information. I love this book and would love to see a comic book history of board gaming from them...just a suggestion.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Tora Fright Patches Things Up Review

While the writing style is not my favorite, I really like this little picture book. The artwork is beautiful and fairly similar to my style. The quality of the book is very high. The shining star is the message of the story though. Tora's baby brother breaks her prize winning sculpture. She has to learn to forgive and does so in the sweetest way. I am not sure I would pick up another in the Prayer Monsters series. If there is another with an issue that pertains to my family, I would certainly consider it as the subject is presented in such an understandable way.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book

Carve: a Book Review

Carve A Simple Guide to Whittling is absolutely gorgeous. I fell in love with it the moment I looked at it. The cover is stunning. The paper within is very high quality and is full color from beginning to end! Melanie Abrantes does a phenomenal job of writing. The instructions are clearly written and are also shared through photographs. I had hoped I would enjoy this book, but I was blown away instead. I don't have a lot to say except that it would make a lovely gift and will look great on your coffee table resting on top of your newly carved tray.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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The Box of Awesome Things Memory Game Review

Wee Society has made a cute little game. My son and I set it up without looking at the tiles to start with and it was so much fun being surprised by the awesome things that popped up. The box is of great quality. The one thing I would say I dislike about it is the fact that the lid is just a flap. It has nothing to help it stay closed. I do like to store my board games vertically, but this one will have to stay flat unless I rubber band it. The tiles are high quality and have a very nice matte finish. The artwork is modern and fun. My favorite picture was lightning. My son really liked the s'mores. A couple of the pictures seemed overly simplistic, but overall the illustrations were very nice. 

I have been wanting a memory game for our family for a while now, so I hopped at the opportunity to review this one. I am glad I did. It is a high quality board game and the pictures are great for all ages, not just small children, i.e. cartoon characters. I would definitely recommend this one, especially if Wee Society can come up with a solution to take care of that box flap in future prints.

I received this game from Blogging for Books for this review.

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Cats in Paris: a Book Review

In Montreal adult coloring books are everywhere. When we came back to the states a couple of months ago I found they were popular here too. I really enjoy them and am very particular about what I pick. I like a lot of fine details mixed with whimsy.

Cats in Paris by Won-Sun Jang is simply beautiful. It begins with a sort of tour of Paris, with cats of course. There is a bit of narrative in this portion as well. The art is beautiful but not quite the page covering design work I personally love. The rest of the book makes up for it though. There are patterns and intri'cat' designs. The artwork throughout is beautifully done and a joy to fill in. I am so happy to be able to while away my quiet moments with this book.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review