Holiday Game School

Does Christmas break have you worried about brain drain and video game stupor of your homeschool students? How can one homeschool and break at the same time? Let me introduce you to Game-Schooling.

Christmas break offers solace for students. This midyear recharge comes at a much needed time.  The first semester is wrapped up, for better or worse, and the second is yet to peek around the corner. However, for students in higher grades, the break often is accompanied by homework and projects. With groans and grunts and remembrances of past years and the freedom, December used to offer students and parent/teachers often plug away and ignore the needling necessity of rest.

Can mom save the season? How does one homeschool and break at the same time?

As our children age up into grades, we tend to forget the importance of play.  What once was work is now a frivolity.  With lesson plans to follow, and credits to count playtime can easily fall in the cracks.  However, as it plummets it can take family laughter, family closeness, and family relationships with it.

My High School student still has books to read and projects to complete.  My younger student has remediation exercises and daily literature. These jobs take up two hours of each vacation day.  During these slower days, it’s simple to allow television and video games to take over the remaining minutes. The freedom of the day can be exchanged for the slavery of flashing boxes of light and imaginary battles. Brain rot and Mom guilt can ruin a happy holiday season and toss the second semester three steps back. Sure, a break is a wonderful time to revitalize quiet time and follow our individual delights.  But it’s also the perfect time to reunite a busy family and make memories to carry us through the rest of the year.

Students wake and begin their day with devotions and then sweep quickly into their shortened school days.  Mom helps them along and they end the day before lunch.  Then during a round of chores, Mom sets up a board game on a card table and sweetens the deal with seasonal snacks.  Students and Instructor play the chosen game for one to two hours before separating and following their own pursuits.

I can think of no better season to reintroduce play time than Christmas!

Why Games?  So many reasons, let’s talk about 4.

Increased Relationship Skills

According to the Arizona State University research team, led by Elisabeth Hayes, “games can involve families and collaborative problem solving, giving them a chance to work together to solve an issue.” Games create a safe space for families to battle a united foe, together, and also learn how to win or lose with grace.

Reminds us that Learning is Fun

Learning the skills of a new game and how to play it together revives the enjoyment of learning itself.  I find my kids talking over game strategy, pouring over the rulebook, and creating games of their own in their free time.

Games Improve Overall Learning

www.game-learn.com offers these stats:

An increase of up to a 20% in self-confidence of the student.

An 11% increase in conceptual knowledge.

A 90% increase in retention when learning.

A 20% increase in practical knowledge.

Up to a 300% increase in completed tasks

Say goodbye to seasonal brain rot and vacation backsliding.  Your kids will be honing their learning skills as they play.

Social Self-Confidence Boost

Curricula can offer only so much training and information. You can only lead a student to knowledge but gaming can give them a reason to use knowledge. Board games, when played together, can teach empathy, executive functioning, ethics, teamwork, and reasoning skills better than any book learning, oral reports, or unit study. They also help students that struggle with executive function disorder.

All in all,  games are great!  They feed the brain while nourishing relationships.  They encourage community while building individual strengths.  They teach strategy while releasing the imagination.  Game Schooling offers recreation to the weary student and teacher while keeping the spirit of education alive.

What games rekindle your family relationships and keep learning alive?