Skip to main content

Who Loves Lego? Homeschoolers do!

 
We love lego in our homeschooling household!

This creation took two of my boys over an hour to construct. I'm not entirely sure what it is but hey, it looks great!

Lego is a brilliant teaching tool whether it be megabloks (as pictured), duplo, lego or any other imitation lego brand. It teaches skills that overlap every curriculum area and can be used in hundreds of different ways.


Here are some of the ways we use lego with our kids aged 0 - 6.

Lego for maths

  • Sorting & classifying (e.g colour, shape, size)
  • Measurement (e.g line up or stack different sized blocks, measure & record results)
  • Words such as length, width, tall, short, wide, 
  • Patterning
  • Counting and ordering (e.g groups to find the largest group)
  • Addition and Subtraction
I also discovered these lego worksheets for simple addition and subtraction.


 Lego for creativity & art
  • With normal lego bricks the creative possibilities are endless
  • Creativity and allowing creative expression is ALWAYS educational 
  • Add some lego figurines or little people or extra doors and windows pieces to extend options
  • Lego can also be used as stampers for art - dip in paint and stamp away!


 Lego for physics (and structural engineering)
  • Ask questions: How can you balance this? Will it tip over? Why do think it might tip over?  

Lego for literacy
  •  If the lego is getting a good workout and the kids are being particularly enthusiastic and creative I get them to write a few sentences about their creation encouraging lots of describing words.
  • I may also get them to illustrate their sentences 


These are just some of the ways that we use lego for homeschooling. There are hundreds of different ways lego can be used for learning so this is merely the tip of the iceberg.


So.....How do you use lego for homeschooling?


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Inspiring Character That Lasts - We Choose Virtues Giveaway!

One of the benefits of homeschooling is the opportunity to help shape our children's character. In fact, one of the points from our own homeschooling mission statement is that I desire....     To build strong character in my children believing that good character is more important than academic success        Children are not born with a set of values and beliefs about the world - they are taught. This means they do not always naturally become kind, patient, content and diligent - they need to be guided, gently corrected and encouraged to embrace the kind of virtues that God desires within us. I find this a challenge with my incredibly spirited, strong-willed children (yes, all of them fit this description). I have often allowed myself to feel discouraged and disappointed in their behavior rather than see it as an opportunity to teach and shape their character.  Another benefit of homeschooling is that we can encourage these virtues all day - not just for a

Why I Chose Skwirk For Homeschooling

Over the years we've used a few different online learning resources but I'm particularly excited about trying something NEW for 2015. Skwirk has had a make-over and quite frankly, it's awesome. There is nothing quite like it around at the moment and it has some great functions that work well with homeschooling. It provides animation based lessons for younger ones as well as great options for independent learning for older kids all the way up to year 10. As an educational tool it is aligned with the Australian curriculum so if that's important to you, or you just like to occasionally see where your kids sit in relation to their peers (like I do) this is a good thing. The subjects it includes are maths, English, science, geography and history. My plan was to use this for my 5 year old who is 'technically' in his first year of school next year. However, once I learnt all the features of the program I'm thinking it will be a great resource for encour

Homeschooling On The Rise in South Australia - Article In The Media

This is my family as pictured in an article on homeschooling in the Adelaide Advertiser. We look happy don't we? Laughing with joy as we learn together. It's true. We are happy. In fact, very happy to have the opportunity to be homeschooling. However, this recent article pointed out that the current rise in home education is not due to parents recognising homeschooling as a valid way to educate a child but because so many troubled children are being kicked out of school. Apparently, there are hoards of unhappy parents being forced to homeschool their children because the department of education no longer wants them in their system. My response is this: I've met lots of homeschoolers and interact with many online and I have never once encountered one who homeschools because the department kicked their child out of school - not even one. I'm not denying these families exist but they are clearly the minority. Many troubled children display troubled behaviors b