Checkmate: Transform Your Homeschool With Gameschooling

Incorporating board and card games into kids' education helps to refine their thinking

(Sergey Maksienko/Shutterstock)

As parents, you already know the power of playing games—they teach patience, reinforce how to take turns, help kids practice winning and losing with grace, and strengthen family bonds.

Many homeschoolers have tapped into the power of playing games during school. And, guess what? Gameschooling—using games as a learning tool—is one of the best ways to motivate kids to learn and to help them retain more of what they’ve learned, for longer periods of time.

What is Gameschooling?

Simply put, gameschooling is the act of incorporating board and card games into your lesson plans on a regular basis.

Games are the ultimate go-to supplement for teaching many different subjects. For example, play the science-themed game, Ecosystem, and learn how to create unique ecosystems for animals to thrive. Or, gain geographic know-how with the game Ticket to Ride, in which players work to build railroad lines to connect important cities throughout North America.

Why Gameschool?

Gameschooling can revolutionize your homeschool. It reinforces the basics, strengthens weaknesses, and is an ideal way to introduce new concepts. Not only that, but it also transforms attitudes. I know that it might feel a little bit like goofing off, but the proof is in the results. Indifferent and uninspired kids become fascinated, energized kids who want to learn, are passionate about school, and do well as a result.

Board and card games are a great workout for your kids’ brains, too. Games are vitalizing, challenging, and stimulate the areas in their brains where memory is formed and stored. Also, strategic games such as chess, Stratego, and backgammon teach problem-solving and prediction skills, improve concentration and sharpen focus, help develop strong critical thinking skills, and more.

Games tickle your funny bones, so laugh it up; laughter greatly benefits your mind and body. We know it reduces stress and anxiety, but you may not realize that laughter also boosts your immune system, burns calories, relieves pain, and strengthens your cardiovascular system.

Which Games to Play

Introduce games into your homeschool by playing cooperative board or card games. Everyone works together to accomplish the goal of the game. We love playing the card game Mille Borne (French for “a thousand milestones”), an auto racing game. We play as teams, and mix them up each time—sometimes playing boys versus girls, kids versus parents, or dad and daughter versus mom and son. We even play every racer for him or herself and, believe me, we get rowdy, competitive, and laugh a lot.

Some other cooperative board games are Wildcraft, Castle Panic, and Spirit Island. In Wildcraft, players work together to harvest and collect plants and herbs and hike to Grandma’s house before dark. Castle Panic players team up against monsters who want to attack their castle. Spirit Island is magical; players, acting as various spirits of the island, use their different powers to protect their home from colonists wanting to seize their land.

You can eventually progress to what board game aficionados refer to as “gateway games,” or games that are easy in general but have that “wow” factor which prompts your kids to want to play again and again. One such game, Masterpiece, is a high-stakes art game in which players collect famous paintings to create the most expensive private gallery. Settlers of Catan is another popular game in which settlers work to build settlements, armies, cities, and roads using available resources.

If you’re going to gameschool, be sure to bring your A game to the table with these tried-and-true homeschooler favorites: Apples to Apples, Upwords, The Scrambled States of America, Election Night, Rummicube, The Farming Game, and Dragonwood, just to name a few.

Different Ways to Gameschool

There are different ways to approach gameschooling in your homeschool.

Some homeschoolers have a game day once a week, while others play one game per day. Still others really dive into gameschooling with gusto, and use games as their main learning tool.

Or, make it a family affair: Play fun, educational games in the evenings after dinner. When your kids come to you bored and looking for something to do, suggest a game that reinforces basic skills. There are tons of games, including classics like Monopoly and Yahtzee, that boost basic math skills such as computation, counting money and making change, pattern recognition, multi-step problem solving, and more.

For More Information

My Little Poppies courses: Academic Gameschooling: How to Homeschool With Amazing Games

The Mulberry Journal: Free eBook download of “The Ultimate Guide to Gameschooling“