Seton Magazine Catholic Homeschool Articles, Advice & Resources
Summary
Abby Sasscer’s favorite childhood memories were Field Trip Days. As a homeschool mom of 3, here are 3 ways that she nurtures her kids love for learning!Part 2 of Abby’s Simple Homeschooling Series
One of the best memories I have of my Catholic school in the Philippines is Field Trip Day.
I still remember hopping onto a charter bus, driving miles and miles around different tourist and educational sites, enjoying our packed snacks and lunches and learning tremendous amounts of information without even stepping inside a classroom.
It was a whole day affair but despite my exhaustion, I retained so much more information from our Field Trip Day and wondered why we didn’t have more of it throughout the year.
When I began homeschooling my little ones, I try my best to keep things as engaging as Field Trip Day, not just to have fun, but to help retain information and continually nurture their love for learning.
Below are three simple ways to make homeschooling more fun and engaging:
1. Follow your children’s interests
When my son was beginning to read, he would get very frustrated when he encountered long and difficult words. He would try to divide the word up in smaller sections but would get discouraged very quickly when he couldn’t read the word right away.
When we encouraged him to take breaks, we noticed he was drawn to looking at insects in our flower and vegetable garden.
We borrowed plenty of library books about insects and was happy to see him eager to learn his topic of interest. He devoured these library books and when he encountered difficult words, he made himself read them out of a deep desire to find out what was going on in the pictures.
His interest in insects grew throughout the year as did his interest in reading. At the end of the school year, we celebrated this milestone by going to a vineyard that provided plenty of homes for his newfound insect friends.
Visiting insect friends at the vineyards
Looking for butterflies and moths hovering over St. Francis’ Butterfly Garden
Little Mister spotting an insect friend on a rosebush
2. Engage their senses
Engaging children’s sense of sight, sound, touch, smell and even taste is a very powerful way to remember and retain information. An easy way to do this is by taking them on field trips. We love fieldtrips so much, we even start the school year with one!
We try to schedule at least one field trip per month and have discovered many educational sites that don’t require any entrance fees on certain days of the week. If your children fancy animals, visit a local farm or a petting zoo.
If they are interested in the Civil War Era, try visiting a Civil War Trail, camp, shop or museum.
Mimi and Little Mister at a Civil War Camp Site
Civil War Cooking
Let’s go fishing!
Another way to keep children’s senses engaged is do some hands-on learning. Science experiments are a fun way to see scientific concepts in action.
Kitchen Math helps children visualize fractions and introduce them to the concept of multiplying and dividing when doubling or reducing recipe ingredients.
Knead cups of flour for the dough
Plus 1 ½ cups of pizza sauce
Plus 2 cups of Mozzarella Cheese
Equals Quarter Slices of Pure Bliss!
3. Just sing! Sing a song!
One of our favorite ways to memorize facts is to listen to it in song. These songs can be sung anytime during the day, while doing chores, or running errands.
I’ve even heard the children singing these songs as they go through their night time routine before heading to bed!
We’ve memorized many a facts through the joy of song. These include: Nations of the World, States and Capitals, Books of the Bible, Presidents of the United States, The Seven Sacraments, The Corporal Works of Mercy, and even The Ten Commandments.
Ready. Set. Sing!
Here’s one you can try out today. It’s very easy and you can sing it to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Okay. Ready. Set. Sing!
Baptism
Penance or Reconciliation
Holy Eucharist and Confirmation
Holy Orders
Holy Marriage
Anointing of the Sick or Extreme Unction
Thank you for singing The Sacraments with me.
I’m so blessed you sang with me!
Until next time, my friends!
Happy Learning!
