Academic Gameschooling: How to Homeschool with Amazing Games

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Academic gameschooling is an actual thing.

What if I told you that homeschooling could be almost all fun and games? Would you believe me if I told you that we often over-complicate things? What if I told you that children learn through play and that you could be having a lot more fun in your homeschool if you took some time to gather around a game board?

It’s true, I promise!

Today, I am chatting about academic gameschooling. I’m sharing the best resources for homeschooling those core academic subjects.

When you’ve finished reading about academic gameschooling, I’d love if you could leave a comment with your best tips, tricks, and resources for covering those core academic must-dos!

Table of Contents

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How to add more gameschooling to your homeschool routine

When it comes to gameschooling, the sky is the limit. There are absolutely no hard and fast rules. You can make gameschooling work for your unique family!

Here are some ways that gameschoolers use games in their homeschool:

Use games as a supplement for your existing curriculum choices
Homeschool traditionally but for four weekdays, gameschooling on Fridays
As a way to practice social skills
Use gameschooling as part of a larger unit study.
Focus on one particular game and play it repeatedly to work on certain skills
Gameschool as a way to occupy one or more students while you work 1:1 with another
To have a day off from a particular subject
As a way to connect with a child or teen
Gameschool during school breaks and summer vacation
As part of a co-op or gameschooling group
To start or end your homeschool day

Academic Gameschooling: Geography

Gameschooling geography is a great way to make those facts stick. Gameschooling has helped my children to learn world geography and to identify states and capitals here in the U.S.

Scrambled States: An Incredibly Fun Way to Learn Geography | My Little Poppies

The Scrambled States of America Game is a quirky storybook and game and it helps kids learn U.S. geography!

Geography resources for younger children:

Looking to make your geography study more delicious and engaging for your tween or teen? Check out Universal Yums as a supplement. Not a game, necessarily, but it’s completely playful and fun!

Geography resources for tweens and teens:

Academic Gameschooling: History

Gameschooling can help to bring history to life in your homeschool!

Election Night! is one of the best games we’ve added to our homeschool this year. It’s perfect for homeschooling history and it works those math muscles! You can play with two players or in teams and you can choose to use either the addition version or the multiplication version!

History resources for younger children:

History resources for tweens and teens:

Academic Gameschooling: Math

For many homeschoolers, math can be a pain point at times. If you have a kiddo crying over his math book, gameschooling can change the entire atmosphere for the better!

Check the Fridge: A Giggle-Inducing Math Game! | My Little Poppies

I love the card games by Melon Rind. Clumsy Thief is our absolute favorite but we also love Check the Fridge!

Math resources for young children:

Math resources for tweens and teens:

Academic Gameschooling: Reading, Writing, and Language Arts

One of my favorite ways to use gameschooling is for stealth writing. Do you have a kiddo who avoids writing? I am raising my hand over here.

But guess what? Gameschooling helps!

Yes, there are spelling and grammatical errors here. And, yes, it’s potty humor. But do you see that smile and thumbs-up? He doesn’t realize he’s practicing writing as he plays! Thank you, Apples to Apples Freestyle!

Need another example? I’ll give you two more, but I could go on and on!

On the left, you have Listography. In this game, you are given a prompt and a set of rules and you have to make the best list. Sometimes, you want items on your list to match another player, and sometimes you want to think out of the box. It’s a great party game and always has lots of giggles! On the right, you have the classic bluffing game, Balderdash. It’s another great party game. Players are given a prompt (example: Who was Frank Silver?) and you need to make up a believable answer and write it down. The player who is reading the question writes down the actual answer (copywork!!). Just look at all of that writing and we weren’t even done yet!

Reading, writing, and language arts resources for young children:

Reading, writing, and language arts resources for tweens and teens:

Academic Gameschooling: Science and STEM

One of our family’s favorite things to do is to go for a long, leisurely nature walk or hike and then come home and play a science-y game. It’s become a tradition of sorts!