One of the unfortunate mainstays of the homeschooling industry is inspirational books and magazine articles describing fun things to do with your kids that are also educational. This notion that we have to make learning fun by dressing it up as games or other enjoyable activities is nonsense…and, more often than not, our kids know that. And that knowledge lessens both the fun and the learning.

Learning is not difficult, boring, or unpleasant. What happens in school is often difficult, boring, and unpleasant, but that’s forced memorization/regurgitation, not real learning. Real learning is either not even noticed because it’s a side effect of being deeply engaged in an activity or it’s jumping up and down, joyful discovery.

So let’s relax and let fun family activities be fun without staging them for a purpose or dissecting the learning that may have happened as a result. Fun is a valid outcome on its own, and there is no need to feel guilty about having fun with no hidden agenda. In fact, telling kids that something will be fun when we really want to sneak in some “serious” education is every bit as manipulative as what goes on in school.

When my kids were young and learning from life, we loved playing board games, we traveled a lot, and we often went on hikes and visits to the science museum, the zoo, and art galleries (among many other activities). Heidi and Melanie undoubtedly learned some science, math, spelling, and other academic “subjects” while engaging in those activities (as did their father and I). But that wasn’t the purpose. The purpose was to enjoy life – to have fun…laughing, exploring, and enjoying each other’s company. While we were living life and having fun, we also got an education – in that order.