Today, I’d like to chat about gameschooling and gifted children. Yes, gameschooling really works for gifted children and teens! I’m permitting you to add more gameschool to your homeschool routine! Playing educational board games with your gifted/twice-exceptional kids can help to fuel learning and boost connection.
Gameschooling and Gifted Children
As a school psychologist and homeschool mom, I rely heavily on interest-based learning and gameschooling. I’ve witnessed gameschooling work for my own gifted/2e kiddos.
Can You Really Homeschool Gifted Children with Games?
Yes, you can homeschool gifted kids with educational games. I know it feels like cheating, but it’s not. Gameschooling is play-based learning at its best and you can quantify your gameschooling for homeschool assessments.
I know you feel like you need to provide your gifted child with a rigorous education, but you have to remember that gifted kids learn at an astounding rate. It’s tough to keep up with gifted children. Their thirst for knowledge is insatiable!
I often joke that I learn more in our homeschool than our children do and it’s because gifted kiddos are knowledge sponges. Leaky knowledge sponges because they love to share what they have learned!
Gameschooling works well for gifted kids because it provides them with an opportunity for hands-on exploration and creative, outside-the-box thinking.
What is your gifted child interested in right now? Guess what? There’s a game for that! Whether your kiddo is obsessed with evolution, prime numbers, astronomy, chemistry, or WWII, there is a game for everything.
Gameschooling is a wonderful way to learn and it can be an excellent supplement for a more traditional approach.
The Benefits of Learning with Games for Gifted Kids
Gameschooling provides many benefits for gifted children including:
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Gameschooling helps gifted children explore their current interests and can help fuel additional rabbit holes.
Gifted children have a thirst for knowledge and games are a fun way to embrace a current interest. This time spent playing will often lead to additional rabbit holes and learning. Bonus? Interest-based learning helps with retention. This just makes sense! If you’re interested in a topic, you will naturally retain more than if you were forced to memorize the information for a quiz!
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Board games can help perfectionists learn to fail.
Many gifted kids struggle with perfectionism. Games provide children with a safe space to try, to fail, and to try again. This can help perfectionists learn to step outside of their comfort zone.
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Adding more educational board games to your homeschool routine can help to keep gifted kids challenged and engaged.
It can be tricky to keep gifted kids engaged and challenges. Games, especially one-player logic games, are a fantastic way to challenge children and keep them engaged and learning!
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Playing board games as a family can help children learn healthy competition.
When you play a board game with your children, you are practicing social skills. You are also serving as a model. You can help to “coach” your children throughout the game. By doing so, you can help your children learn to win and to lose with grace.
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Gameschooling can help gifted children learn to collaborate and work on a team.
If your gifted kiddo is super competitive, try playing more cooperative games together. Cooperative games can help children learn to collaborate and work on a team.
During a recent Live Q & A in the Never Board Learning Community, I discussed the value of cooperative games.
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Many board games provide a way for active gifted children to learn and move.
Gifted children sometimes struggle with overexcitabilities. If you have a kiddo who needs to move, games are a wonderful way to include movement while learning. There are also some fantastic movement games on the market today.
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Playing board games can be a wonderful and welcome distraction for gifted kids who struggle with anxiety.
Many gifted children struggle with worry and anxiety. Playing more games together can help to distract your child. Playing together also helps to boost connection.
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At some point, your gifted kiddo may surpass you academically and games can help.
Games are a great way to encourage children to pursue delight and interest and to dive down rabbit holes. Teaching our children how to learn is hugely important, especially for gifted kiddos!
Gameschooling Gifted Children: How it Works in My Homeschool
Play and gameschooling are incredibly important to me as a parent and educator. I consider play to be just as important as math, science, language arts, history, and geography.
In our homeschool, we play daily. Some days, we only manage to play one game. Other days, we play all day. Our gameschool routine ebbs and flows and changes with the seasons.
Games have taught one or more of my children to:
- read
- tell time
- identify coins and learn to make change
- handle frustration
- add, subtract, multiply, and divide
and so much more!
Easy Ways to Incorporate Games into Your Gifted Child’s Learning
A playful mindset can transform not only your homeschool routine but also the atmosphere of your home. Play boosts connection and makes family memories. By playing more, you are building a family culture of playfulness, curiosity, and lifelong learning.
There’s no one way to gameschool your gifted child. You could gameschool exclusively, or you could set your own schedule. Some homeschoolers aim to play one game a day, while others pick one day to gameschool exclusively. You could also take breaks from more traditional homeschooling and have a week of gameschooling.
Here are some easy ways to add gameschooling to your homeschool routine:
- Play a game first thing in the morning.
Play boosts connection and is a great way to start the day. And guess what? Connected kiddos tend to be more cooperative and content when it comes to homeschool – and household- tasks! - Play a game at lunch.
We call this lunchtime learning. Some of our favorite games to play over lunch include Boggle and Professor Noggins trivia decks. - Incorporate more one-player games into your routine.
One-player games are homeschool gold. They are a wonderful way to occupy one child while you’re working with another. Single-player games are great ways to keep kids occupied and quiet during quiet time. They also work well while running errands, on the soccer sidelines, in restaurants, and waiting rooms. - Running errands? Pack a game in your purse.
You never know when the opportunity to play will pop up. I keep a deck of cards in my glove compartment and will often toss a small game in my purse. This has saved my bacon on more than one occasion, including waiting for AAA to come to fix our car! - Play a game at the end of the day.
Games are a great way to connect after a busy day. Creating an afternoon or evening game routine is a wonderful way to unwind and reset before bed.
Add more gameschooling to your daily routine by joining Never Board Learning
Never Board Learning is a private online community for creative parents and educators who love play-based learning and gameschooling.
With a private community forum, guest speakers, Q&As, day-in-the-life family spotlights, exclusive promos and giveaways from some of your favorite companies, and an ever-growing printable resource library including documentation resources, challenges, and print-and-play activities and games.
Join Never Board Learning today and have more fun tomorrow!
In the Never Board Learning Community, we have monthly Day-in-the-Life Family Spotlight events so that we can all learn from each other !
Are you looking for more resources for parenting and homeschooling gifted children?
- Gifted and Twice Exceptional Resource Page
- Homeschooling A Gifted Child: When Your Child Is Smarter Than You Are!
- Academic Acceleration and Gifted Children
- Gifted Voices: A Series of Personal Stories
- Asynchronous Development and The Gifted Child
