My fondest memories of homeschooling are the activities we did together. When I ask my older children about their most memorable homeschooling moments they will site any number of fun activities we did. Things such as: acting historical events out, building famous monuments with clay, scavenger hunts, archaeological digging in the sandbox to find things I’d buried, and dissecting animals.
A picture is worth a 1000 words in my opinion. You can tell me all day about your activities but if I can’t see pictures of it, I don’t know how to picture the activity and my creative juices will never flow. Therefore, here are a bunch of pictures showing the actives we’ve done in hopes that it will help your brain take off with great ideas of creating memorable homeschool activities for your children.
Memorable History Activities
These two pictures are from a time we were studying George Washington at Valley Forge. We hiked all through our woods and pastures and hills until we were tired. The two boys didn’t bring coats (they have one coat they share between then and neither decided to wear it.) One boy didn’t bring a hat or gloves and was wearing holey shoes with no socks. So it made it even more real! They got a good taste of being cold and not having adequate clothing. What they didn’t taste was their shoes. We learned that the soldiers were so hungry they ate the leather from their shoes. I carried a pot of beans the whole way along with a gauze blanket with some hardtack, dried beef, and dried apples. We sat in the snow and were happy to eat it, knowing we were faring better than most of the soldiers. Then we practiced some military maneuvers of Von Steuben we’d learned. Back at home we wrote letters home to our loved ones with feather pens. It was a very memorable history day indeed!
Memorable Geography Activities
We took 2 years studying all the countries and states in the world. As often as possible I invited someone over who was from one of those countries or states to teach us about it. We had people from Brazil, Chile, Armenia, Hawaii and others. Below are pictures of Alexis dressing up in Hawaiian clothing and the kids making sushi. It was so neat to have actual clothing, objects and food from their home place.
When we studied Vietnam these 4 kids wanted to learn about water puppetry. They made plastic cup puppets, took a bath with swimsuits on, and performed a Vietnamese water puppet show. It was so funny!
Memorable Science Activities
Watching a bar of soap explode in the microwave. I can’t remember what we were supposed to learn from it, but somehow it went with the lesson and was really fun.
Memorable Art Activities
Memorable Music Activities
And lastly, some fun PE moments
Sorry, I was going to put a lot of pictures but it’s taking me too long. I have to find them and the computer is super slow to upload and post. I’ve always felt like a slacker homeschool mom when it comes to fun activities because I was pregnant and tired or busy with babies and toddlers. So my activities are not nearly as impressive as other homeschooling families. But that’s ok! I did the best I could with the energy I had. And looking through the pictures I realize I did enough. We stayed home a lot and have sweet memories of learning together. Also, with the kids still at home I can start now and create more memorable homeschooling activities that we’ll all talk about in the future with fondness.
Create Your Own!
Like I explain in writing your own lesson plans, history is my main subject I plan. I read the textbook and decide on some fun activities that go along with it so I’m not just reading it every day. This way it also incorporates many other subjects. If you do pick history to focus on, here’s a quick list of things to do:
- act it out (theater)
- do any type of art/craft project (art)
- write a song (music)
- learn about a historical scientist (science)
- learn about a historical mathematician (math)
- study the culture and society and language of the place and time (social studies and geography)
- write a report about a historical person (writing)
- read historical fiction and non-fiction books about the place or time period (reading)
As always, I’m not sharing to show you I’m a good mom because I certainly struggle to be. Instead I’m hoping to inspire you to keep being the amazing mom you are. For those thinking you’re not getting enough done in your homeschool, just do one fun activity and call it a day. That’s what they’re going to remember the most anyway. Furthermore, they’re learning more from it than you think. It likely covers many subjects and just incorporating so many senses makes it a great assignment. So forget the spelling test, but do a fun activity instead and create some long lasting memories!
PS Since writing this post in 2020 I have listed several curricula for sale that include lots of activity ideas.
20th Century US History. Full curriculum. Encompasses all subjects. Grades K-12.
20 Century US History Music (just the music portion. It’s included in the full curriculum.)
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Book Study and Activities. So many fun activities for each chapter! Great place to get started if you’re new to homeschooling or trying to do more group subjects and activities.