i thought i'd share a handful of homemade games,

that we've used in our homeschool. for the past several

years, i've made learning wrap-ups (above). depending on

what needs to be learned and/or age level... i make them accordingly.

to give you an idea, i made: abbreviations, presidents in order, multiplication, addition, subtraction, division, state capitals and states, and now, exponents.

another huge hit, was this clothes pin game. a problem is written on a clothes pin and the answers are on a piece of recycled cardboard i had. i remove all the clothes pins and require tommie to clip the problem to the right answer. we used this for all of our multiplication and division... with much success. and it sure beats the heck out of drill and kill workbook pages!

(upside down example of the problem written on a clothespin.)

*note clothespins available at dollar tree. cheap.

speaking of dollar tree... you just can't beat their heavy poster board! the thick kind. for a home-school class i taught, i had all the students design a board game about theodore roosevelt. beforehand, i printed out a stack of facts for them to write on their boards. the kids were over-the-moon, designing and learning. i promise you, if you play this game a few times, you can't help but know a couple of dozen facts about someone or something famous. don't limit yourself... you could cover the dust bowl, industrial revolution, or any other historical event.


i gathered a bunch of odds and ends up.... like the picture below. you can do so much with them! if you're teaching adjectives... have your student select 5 props and describe them. or have your student write a short story using any 5 props. how about teaching similes or metaphors in this way?

and lastly, not pictured... but something that worked out wonderfully in our homeschool was... i bought paper cups at dollar tree... my how i love dollar tree for supplies! on the bottom of the cups, i made words using a-z. apple, bat, etc. then, when my son was learning how to alphabetize, i just set the stack of cups on the floor and let him put them in order. you could use this hand's-on approach for a bazillion different lessons. months, days of the week, phone numbers and even in higher grades.