What is Gameschooling

And why is it a good thing for our family?

Gameschooling could be defined as using games, whether tabletop or electronic, to supplement or replace some or all of your homeschool curriculum. It’s a spectrum. Some gameschoolers completely replace all of their daily curriculum with games of various kinds. Others, like us, use games to supplement and enhance our daily curriculum and family life. Some families are very structured in how they use games and pair them to specific goals or curriculum topics. We take a much looser approach and use games for their own merit to strengthen the areas that they are designed to strengthen.

Let me give you an example – Some families might be doing a unit study on transportation and use Ticket to Ride as a part of their curriculum to support what they are learning about trains and railways. We might do that too, or we might just decide to play and enjoy the strategy and risk management skills that it strengthens. In our family the focus is more on playing games for the game’s sake rather than trying to find a way to make them fit.

Neither way is right or wrong, it’s just a matter of preference. I am sure that as we do more unit studies, I will find games to fit into our subject material, I just never plan the games we play that way.

Why did we start gameschooling?

Our gameschooling journey started very naturally. Hubby and I both grew up playing games of various sorts and enjoyed the friendly competition and family bonding that they encouraged. When we were a young married couple, my sister lived with us and we often had long game nights playing all the various Munchkin games we had collected, at which I am almost undefeated by the way. Haha! We found out that we enjoyed new genres of games that were emerging as tabletop gaming entered a resurgence and we started to collect them.

When our family started to grow and our youngest children began to get to the age that they could play simple games we always had them available and played pretty regularly to where it was just a natural part of what our family did, but it wasn’t until we reached school age when gaming took on an entirely different significance.

When our daughter, Ms. A, was about 8, we were struggling to find the key to unlocking her potential academically. She was extremely bright and articulate, but was struggling with the basics of writing and math. Her Logic Smarts were very strong, and she also had a vivid imagination which made her gravitate toward play as her sole source of expression. The reading curriculum that we currently use for our children has an optional puppet and reading games to supplement the lessons. Ms. A was asking to play these games with Ziggy (the zebra puppet) every day instead of fighting with me about doing a lesson. I knew we were on to something.

That simple connection changed everything. Now, even though book work is still a reality, the focus is on the goals that we want our children to reach and the skills that will help them get there. If a game helps our child practice a skill that will lead to success, then that game is worth playing, over and over again if necessary.