Now that school is over and kids are at home, how do you keep them from losing all the learning that has happened in the last year? Sure, there are lots of materials at teacher stores, but it’s pretty likely that you will get eye rolls and groans from your kids.

How do you keep their skills up without it feeling like they are doing work? Here are some sneaky ideas:

Jenga with Words

The blocks on the game Jenga can have specific questions or requests. Each time a player moves a Jenga block, she reads the block and do what it says. Examples could be as simple as “What is your favorite president” or more complex such as “If you could talk to one president, who would it be and what would you ask him.”

  • Do. Make the questions age appropriate and make them fun. Your goal is to foster curiosity.
  • Don’t. Don’t make the questions similar to a quiz. Kids will see right through it.
  • School Skills. History, Critical Thinking, Taking Turns

Don’t Break The Chain!

One person begins a story by writing down the first paragraph, and hands it to the next family member. He then reads it and adds another paragraph that relates to the first paragraph, and then hands it to the next person, and so on. It can go around and around a number of times. For example:

Once upon a time there was a small village named Messyville. It was a nice village, and it had lots of nice people in it, but it had one major problem.

The big problem was that everyone was very messy. They never cleaned up after themselves and there was trash everywhere. But since everybody was messy, it didn’t really matter. Nobody really had a problem with it, until a new family moved in. The parent’s names were Patty and Peter Particular. Their kids were named Paul and Penny. If you haven’t figured it out yet, they were very neat and particular during their first walk around their new neighborhood.

  • Do. Talk with your kids about story structure. Start by setting the scene, then add characters, then add the villain, etc.
  • Don’t. Don’t let family members take the story way off track. Once a certain story line has been started, don’t start a new one. Add to the story, don’t change it.
  • Don’t. Don’t correct for grammar and spelling. This is supposed to be fun!
  • School Skill. Story writing, imagination, Taking Turns,

Mad Libs

This is a great, fun way to increase grammar skills of kids from about 3rd grade to adult. Mad Libs is a series of fill-in-the blank stories. One person asks the group for the required type of word (noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, etc.) and fills in the word for the story. After all the blanks are filled, she then reads the whole story. This is lots of fun, always hilarious, and really helps with grammar skills.

  • Do – Keep a few Mad Libs in the car. They are great for trips.
  • Don’t – don’t allow it to get inappropriate. Remind your kids to keep it clean!
  • School Skills – Grammar, Taking Turns

Travel Related Ideas

Travel Related Ideas

Family Trip Accountant

Have one child keep a running tab of all the expenses during the trip, adding the expenses up each day. The ‘accountant’ can also separate the expenses into different categories.

  • School Skills – Math, Categorization, Budgeting

Spy Family

On your next vacation, make believe that you are a spy family and have to develop a new identity and history for everyone. Spend some time answering these questions about your new spy family: Where do you live? What are your names? What skill does each person have? What is your mission? What languages do you speak?

  • School Skill – Geography, Imagination, Story Telling

Alphabet Games

These are the simple games families can play in the car. Try to find the letters of the alphabet on road signs or on license plates. These games are best played as a team since the younger kids will feel left out.

  • School Skill – Letter identification, Observation

License Plate States

Have one child make a list of all fifty states and see how many state plates you can find during your trip. This increase geography and awareness. After each state is found, ask if the kids remember the capital of that state and add it to the list.
o School Skill – Geography, Observation, Data Collection

A Way To Help With Homework That Works!

About the Author

Neil McNerney has been working with students and their parents for twenty years. He has developed a parenting plan that increases student performance while decreasing emotional reactivity. In addition his counseling practice, Neil serves on the faculty of the Virginia Tech Graduate School of Marriage & Family Therapy. As a father of two school-age children, Neil knows the challenges of academics these days and uses his techniques on a daily basis.