How to Make Home Education Fun for Everyone

Most of the time, learning is really fun, especially when it’s something new and exciting. The problem that families might run into when home educating, however, is keeping their children engaged and motivated whilst also enjoying the process themselves. 

You likely don’t want to feel like you’re having to take on the role of ‘teacher’ and, of course, you don’t want to force anything onto your children or make learning seem like a chore. The way I see it is there should be at least an equal balance between learning and fun. If your children are enjoying what they’re doing, then learning is inevitable. 

But how exactly do you make home education fun for both you and your children? Let’s dive into some tips and activities to make home education fun for everyone!

10 Tips For Making Home Education More Fun

Make it interactive and hands-on

Not every child likes to sit at a table and complete worksheets or go through a curriculum. Often the easiest way of getting your child motivated about something is to make it interactive and do something hands-on.

If you’re learning about volcanoes, for example, instead of simply reading about them and doing a worksheet, create your own volcano and do a volcano experiment! If you’re worldschooling, you might even be lucky enough to visit a volcano!

Hands-on activities are a lot more engaging for children, and they’re often fun for adults too. It brings out our inner child!

Let your child decide

If you want to make home education fun, especially for your children, let them take the reins and make the decisions for the day. When given the choice to learn what they’d like and how, it keeps things exciting for them and gives them control. It’s always more fun when you get to make decisions for yourself rather than following the decisions of others. 

Have fun learning nights

Instead of a movie night, why not create a fun learning night? It’s something that the whole family can look forward to and can include things like fun trivia quizzes, board games, watching documentaries, and reading books! Oh, and don’t forget the snacks!

Create a jar of learning ideas and activities

If you struggle to decide what to do for the day and want to make things more fun and engaging for your children, then a great idea is to create a jar filled with learning ideas and activities. Together you can write down all the activities you’d like to do and all the learning ideas you can think of (or use our learning checklists!), then put them in a jar and pick them out as and when you need to. 

Get outside

There’s no better place to have fun and learn than outside. A change of scenery is always good for the brain and, as we know, learning can happen anywhere, at any time. So, embrace the weather and try more outdoor activities such as nature walks, scavenger hunts, or gardening.

Related: 8 Amazing Reasons to Educate Your Child Outside

Always have something exciting planned

In the same way that you look forward to seeing a family member you haven’t seen in ages or a holiday abroad, always have something fun and exciting planned for home education too. It builds up excitement and increases motivation until the actual event, and it can be anything you can think of! Just make sure it’s something unique and different from what you usually do. 

Prioritise fun

The number one way you’re going to have fun when home educating is by prioritising it. Plan to have every day filled with fun activities and things that you enjoy doing as a family because learning can always be incorporated into anything that you do. 

Have themed learning weeks

Make learning exciting by dedicating each week to a fun theme, such as dinosaurs, space exploration, or world cultures. The fun part is getting to explore different themes each week and, like with the learning jar, you can create a theme jar and have your children pick out a new theme each week.

Mix up learning methods

Not every child learns the same way. To keep things interesting, try different teaching methods like storytelling, role-playing, or hands-on projects to find what works best for your child. Variety always keeps learning fresh and engaging.

Think outside the box

To make home education fun for everyone, sometimes you just need to think outside the box. You don’t always have to follow traditional learning methods or approaches that you are used to. Instead, get creative and be spontaneous. Do things a little differently and don’t be afraid to experiment!

10 Activities to Make Home Education Fun

Go on a virtual field trip 

If you can’t go on an actual field trip, virtual field trips are the next best thing! They allow you and your child to visit places that you might not get the chance to see and provide immersive educational experiences.

Get cooking

Cooking isn’t just great for making yummy food—it’s a valuable life skill that’s hands-on, and it can easily become a maths or science lesson. Whether it goes right or wrong, cooking is a fun experience for everyone. 

Pursue a hobby together

One of the best ways to enjoy home education and make it fun is to pursue a hobby together. Not only will it bring you closer as a family but your child will cherish the memories of sharing experiences and learning something new together. 

Document your home education experience

A fun activity for home education is actually documenting your experience because it’s something you can look back on and realise just how much fun you all had. Some ideas include documenting your journey in a scrapbook or journal, or starting your own family podcast or YouTube channel. 

Pick an idea from your activity jar

Picking ideas from your activity or learning jar is something that your child can look forward to every day. And the best thing is you can always add more ideas to your jar!

Have a home education picnic

A simple yet fun and memorable activity for home education is having a home education picnic. You can bring your favourite foods, read books together, and have engaging chats about any topic. 

Do more crafts

An easy way to make home education fun is to do more crafts. You may or may not be a crafty family but you’ll be sure to keep your children engaged and happy simply by giving them something to create. The best thing about crafts is that there are so many things to choose from and you’ll never run out of ideas. You can also make crafts based on certain topics that you’re already learning about. 

Read together

Whether you’re avid bookworms or not, there’s always something enjoyable about reading together. It could just be the simplicity of sitting in silence together, immersed in your own worlds, or the cosy atmosphere, but it’s definitely worth making reading a daily habit. 

Nature walks

There’s nothing better than a peaceful nature walk. To keep your children engaged, bring along a notebook for sketching or a journal to make observations and identify different plants, animals, and insects along the way.

Travel

Whenever and wherever you get the chance, make travel part of your home education experience. Not only does travel provide immersive educational experiences but it brings learning to life. When you give your children the chance to see and experience the world, fun will always follow. 

What do you do to make home education fun? Let us know in the comments!