Perhaps the most common mistake a homeschooling teacher makes is over scheduling activities in the homeschool classroom. Each minute of time in the class room has to count for some productive work or else it is considered wasted. Are you one of these homeschooling parents who tend to over do things with time management? In a bid to ensure that the children are always engaged in a gainful activity, some homeschool parents tends to forget that children need some play time as well.
“Organized Sports” are not the answer
When we speak of play time, it is not the kind spent in playing tennis with you, shooting hoops with the basketball or indulging in a game of baseball with other children. It is not about organized sports events at all. It is about giving them time off to indulge in free play. The kind where you put down a cardboard box and it becomes a space ship that is just waiting to refuel before soaring off into outer space. The kind of play where the imagination is the most exercised tool.
It can be more than just play
If you feel that they need to get something more out of free play than merely being happy for the couple of hours that they indulge in the story, you can structure their free play. Have them come up with a theater performance all on their own. They can make their own costumes by tying up bedsheets and scarves, their own sets by shifting around the furniture in the room, their own ticket booklets to have you pay to see the show and more.
Its only free play if its fun for them
The idea is to ensure that your involvement is to a minimum and that the homeschool students are handling the show. The pirate battles, the princess balls, the cartoon characters hanging around as imaginary friends, its all part of their ability to imagine more than what already exists. It also gives them a good, well deserved break from the “reality” of homeschooling. This unscheduled play allows them to dive into their own selves and come back richer for the experience.
