Making Learning Fun

Home schooling is proving to be a nerve test for many Australian parents, but before coronavirus there was also the dreaded 'homework wars' so I decided to write a blog about how we overcame this dynamic with my grand children (two of three experienced learning difficulties) for anyone who might be interested in trying something new. It takes a bit of imagination, but the general idea is to make learning fun again to improve the quality of enagement.

Introduction

When I last did this, the age of my grandson (Valinn) was 8-9 and grand daughter (Jett) was 7-8 and I couldn't exclude the littlest (Odin) from the fun, who was only 4, so it wasn't always easy to vary the activities to suit all three. Sometimes we simply had to occupy Odin with his own activities so everyone was learning something new.

On the topic of homework wars, OMG! Valinn was KIMPOSSIBLE! He couldn't pay attention for longer than 5 seconds, complaining, crying, banging his head on the table - the works! Jett was a bit more cooperative but Odin wouldn't leave her be to focus - so that's how every day after school ended. Complete meltdown... followed shortly after by food wars at the dinner table.

I came into the picture a little late as the family had been living interstate but I knew I had to be productive and somehow help my daughter and her partner hold down fulltime jobs. So I hatched a plan and ran it by them and the rest is history.

The Initial Game Plan

First up I wanted to detach any of my plans from what they recognised as schoolwork and get them comfortable with the idea that we were simply playing together so their parents could cook dinner.

I figured improving critical thinking skills was a good place to start so I searched the internet for a suitable computer game that we could sit quietly and play together; finally settling on an old favourite called Monkey Island. It's a traditional point and click adventure game, the main feature (aside of logic) was: it comes in numerous parts so I could stretch it out over a period of weeks.

For one hour every night, we all played Monkey Island together while the parents cooked dinner. Each night they took turns at driving the character while we all hunted for and followed the clues. I don't mind admitting I did need the cheat sheets at various stages to work out what clues we missed when we got stuck. I would then try to give them hints to steer them back to the clues we missed.

As far as improving the quality of engagement goes, Monkey Island was a winner! But it also provided a convenient backdrop for other activities on my radar.

Hopscotch Math

After about day 3 of the Monkey Island / dinner routine, I added another hour in the afternoon to introduce another learning activity. The deal was: if we all played together without arguements then we moved on to Monkey Island that evening, otherwise no Monkey Island.

However Valinn was suspicious right out of the gate and kept wandering off, so I reminded him that Jett would drive the Monkey Island character next because she wanted to play with us, whereas he didn't. This caused him to keep at least one eye on us even though he was feigning disinterest. We were just playing so being forceful or bossy wasn't neccessary.

I drew hopscotch on the concrete in chalk (all the way to 12) and used 2 dice to roll out simple math for Jett to add up. I used a single die for Odin since his task was just to count the dots on the die and recognise the matching numbers on the concrete. Pretty soon the fun was all too much to watch and Valinn wanted to join in.

We varied this game over the next few days by adding hopscotch squares and, specifically to challenge Valinn, multiplying the dice instead of adding. Pretty soon, Odin was adding up two dice and Jett was getting the hang of multiplication, even though she had not learned it in class yet. All this was completely unintended, but I was surprised they actually WANTED to learn by their own choice.

Hangman Spelling

On day 3 I switched out hopscotch for hangman - same rules, no fighting or no Monkey Island later.

For this game we used Odin's chalk board, but you could do it on the concrete or in a notepad. To begin, they had to understand the difference between vowels and consonants first, so that was a bit of extra fun. Otherwise, I didn't vary this game at all from the traditional way it is played.

I used their homework sheets for them to choose their words from. As a follow-on from hopscotch math, I wrote/spelled random numbers for Odin on his own sheet. While he was mostly unable to guess the hangman words of the older two, he still enjoyed calling out the letters (and getting them hung) as well as setting up his own words on the blackboard and learning how to draw letters.

After some time playing hangman, I was also able to add more complex words to the lists just for the sake of familiarity - like a silent K in the word "knife" for example - and so on. I was very surprised how quickly they were able to remember new words when there was no pressure to do so. This would generally not have happened so seamlessly in front of homework sheets.

What's its Name

I cannot remember for the life of me what this game is called, but we enjoyed playing it as kids, so I threw it into the mix to practice adding, spelling and writing. For older kids, you could just make it a rule they have to write theirs in cursive or they lose points. There's a lot of room for variations.

I threw scrabble tiles into a hat (or you could cut up squares and write letters on them) and we each took turns at drawing a letter and playing the game based on that letter. On the blackboard I wrote the things they had to think of beggining with that letter. For example, let's say the letter T was drawn:

Boy's name: Tim

Girl's name: Tanya

Toy: Thomas the Tank Engine

Animal: Tiger

Shape: Triangle

Food: Toasted Sangas

Clothing: T-shirt

... and so on ...

You can add complexity depending on the age of the child, like names of towns and countries for example, if they're familiar with geography. As we got older our list grew significantly and, eventually, it was quite a long round for each letter.

You can score answers however you like but this is how we scored ours.

The first to finish naming all items gets a 10 point lead and waits for everyone else to finish their lists. If you came up with a unique name (ie nobody else wrote the same name) then you score 10 points. If it isn't unique you only score 5 points and if you couldn't think of one at all, you score zero points. And highest score wins, obviously.

You may like to subtract points for incorrect spelling or failing to write in cursive etc. The scoring is totally up to you and how you end the game is your call too. We simply ended it when it was time to go inside and wash up to play Monkey Island.

Role Reversal

It's pretty easy to tell when kids have lost interest in a game or activity, so that's the cue to switch it out with another. Your own kids might be different ages, have different attention spans and different interests so play it by ear.

They way the grandies played together without an adult involved inspired this activity. They were fond of role playing, often playing Mum's and Dad's with leggo, so I wondered how they'd go with role-playing a teacher.

Valinn (predictably) didn't want a bar of it from the get-go but the same Monkey Island rules applied, and again he at least kept one eye on us while feigning disinterest. I knew there was no way he was letting Jett take his turn to drive the Monkey Island character that evening, so there was no need to pressure him.

Their task as a teacher was to teach the students something they had difficulty learning in class by writing or drawing it on the blackboard. Valinn had an issue remembering his times tables for example and Jett had issues remembering which way some numbers were written, often writing them backwards.

By asking them all manner of silly questions or making suggestions I got them to think of ways to recall that thing they had difficulties remembering. And I allowed Odin to be disruptive, as students often do, to add a bit of fun to the exercise but also to help them overcome distractions and stay focused on what they were trying to achieve.

Of course, Valinn was already chiming in with silly questions and suggestions so getting him to role-play was fairly easy when it was his turn.

Artistically Boring

As I mentioned earlier, two of three grandies experienced learning difficulties commonly called Asperger's Syndrome, on the Austism spectrum. We decided very early on not to use the use word 'Autistic' in front of them since it is generally stigmatised as a negative thing. Instead, we used the word 'Artistic' which has quite the opposite effect - it gives them a fat head! Anyway, that was the inspiration behind these activities.

Valinn and Jett both found writing practice incredibly boring, it was probably the next major cause of homework wars, after math. If at all you could get them to write, it was usually rushed and rather messy. But when it came to arts and crafts, they tended to take their time and write neatly as possible. So this is how I turned writing practise into fun.

We mostly used poster paints and water colours for these activities, but a few times we had to improvise and use food dye for water colours.

The first activity involved completely covering butcher paper in poster paint and using a finger to write letters or messages - then paint over it and start again. While this kept Odin entertained endlessly, it grew old very quickly for the older two.

So we switched it up a notch and I taught them pointillism, where they trace out their message very lightly in pencil then use a cotton tip to dab colours on - much like indigenous paintings. Then they tried tracing over the dots with a clean cotton tip and swiping the colours together.

Then we brainstormed a treasure hunt for their parents to find the artwork we had made for them.

Valinn used a compass to write a story about how to find his treasure. Jett used left and right turns to describe her treasure location and Odin tried to (with grandma's help) draw a map with dots representing the number of steps and in which direction. It was all written/drawn in white crayon (traced from their original designs) and the parents had to use water colours to reveal the secret instructions.

Depending on the ages of your children, you could also intoduce them to chromatography or calligraphy, or you could use cookie dough to bake letters, or whipped cream on toast. Yum!

The general idea is to increase the level of engagement so it feels less like school work and more like art skills.

Evolving Activities

At the end of each day, before going inside to play Monkey Island, I would leave a problem on the chalkboard - mostly to challenge Valinn with other schoolwork that was over the heads of the other two, but it didn't really matter who answered it.

Valinn liked sneaking over there when I wasn't looking to answer the problem and then hiding as if it weren't him who did it. This quickly evolved into him leaving a problem for me to answer by his own volition. It was a great exercise because he was demonstrating that he understood how to, not only answer a problem, but also ask it differently. Sometimes it was a number sentence, other times a multiplication sum etc.

Also, to my surprise, Jett suddenly became a complete sponge! She couldn't STOP learning! She was ever so proud of herself for learning Valinn's level of math and spelling (given a fat head by grandma of course). She took to following us around with a notebook BEGGING me or one of her parents to write math problems for her solve or to say words to spell etc.

And, of course, Odin just liked doing whatever the other two were doing, so he was good to go by the time pre-school came about. He knew his numbers and alphabet and could write a lot more than his own name by then.

A Little Extra Info

I only wish I had thought of this idea back when my son and daughter were waging homework wars with me. This not something many parents can do, it's just meant to be informative.

As a software engineer by trade, I devised an experiment based on knowing first hand how Aspergers and learning dysfunctions impact the child and I really think I hit on something important.

Essentially, I turned the grandies homework sheets into a computer game with a synthesised voice that asked questions where they would type the answer and be informed how they were wrong if they answered incorrectly, or applauded and asked the next question if they were right.

I noted when Valinn was presented with a whole week's worth of homework on a single sheet, his eyes glazed over and his head hit the table - it was just too overwhelming for his little brain to take it all in. But when the very same problems were posed one at a time by the computer (with all others out of view), he was fine, even eager to answer them.

This phenomenom wasn't quite as apparent with Jett (I suspect) because she hasn't been diagnosed with Aspergers.

And I also think that's half the trick with the games and activities too. Besides the fact that they're fun and there's no pressure (only a reward), the games/activities present one concept at a time and doesn't overwhelm the little brain.

This might only be applicable to kids with learning difficulties but it does beg the question: which came first? The overwhelming school worksheets or the dysfunction?

Results

I added this section - not to toot my own horn - but for those who might be wondering how I came to the conclusion that I was on the right path with all this FUN!

First week back at school: Valinn recieved two awards for paying attention and doing well in maths and Jett recieved two awards for being helpful in the classroom and eager to learn. This was a stark contrast to the parents being called in once a month for the teacher to waggle a finger over behavioural issues disrupting the classroom.

Update: Valinn is now in first year high school, a full geek with 2 laptops, a healthy interest in maths and computing and worked out how to program the robots I got them all for Christmas. Jett is in her last year of primary school and is the class monitor as well as a budding artist (just like her uncle). And Odin is cruising along behind them, learning from their trials and tribulations.

So yeah, well done grashoppers!! Grandma might have helped them over the humps but the rest they did themselves!