My Top Ten Lists of our Favorite Unschooling Fun in 2011

Frequent readers of this site know that I love lists. I guess it’s just the way my mind works, but I love the way lists summarize things and present them in a simple, easy way to read.

I’ve spent some time thinking about our past year. I feel blessed beyond anything I could have hoped or dreamed for this year. I feel like pinching myself sometimes that I’m able to stay home with my kids and learn with them in a way that embraces life and freedom.

We love learning those things that interest us, and even though my kids are still young, it’s amazing to see how much they learn when they can concentrate for hours on those things that hold their attention.

To celebrate our year and remember all the learning and fun that took place, I’ve put together a top ten list of the top ten categories of things we’ve done this year. I’ve included links (not affiliate) so you can check out resources or places if you’d like.

Books Read

1. A Street Through Time

2. The Tempest for Kids (Shakespeare Can be Fun series)

3. The Elephant Dancer: A Story of Ancient India

4.Rikki-tikki-tavi

5. The Scrambled States of America

6. Archaeologists Dig for Clues

7.Around the World in 80 Tales

8.Adventures with the Vikings

9.The Captain Underpants series

10. Vacation Under the Volcano (A Magic Treehouse book)

Computer Games/Websites

1. Starfall.com

2. Pbskids.org

3. Travel the World with Timmy

4. History Explorer (DK)

5. World Explorer (DK)

6. Explorapedia

7. Angry Birds

8. Google Earth (this is pretty huge at our house)

9. Wikipedia

10. VRBO.com (Alexa likes looking up vacation houses in other countries)

TV Shows/Movies

1. Spiderman and his Amazing Friends

2. The Harry Potter Series

3. The Indiana Jones Series

4. BBC Animated Shakespeare Series

5. Liberty’s Kids Series

6. Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Greek Myths series

7. Scooby Doo Seasons 1-3

8. Pompeii: The Last Day

9. Around the World in 80 Days

10. Swiss Family Robinson

Places We’ve Visited

1. Mojave Desert in Nevada

2. Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan

3. Conner’s Prairie (A Living History Park) in Indiana

4. Point Loma in San Diego, CA

5. Laguna Beach in CA

6. The Magic House (a children’s museum) in St. Louis, MO

7. Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, NV

8. Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO

9. Our vacation house by the lake in San Marcos, CA

10. Hiking around the pond outside the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center in Kansas City, MO

Sciencey Stuff

1. Magic School Bus Human Body Kit

2. Magic School Bus Germs Kit

3. Density Experiments at homeschool co-op

4. Petting a skunk, field mice and a bald eagle at a nature center programs

5. Watching the dolphin show at the zoo

6. Magic School Bus Volcano Kit

7. Visiting the Whale exhibit at the Field Museum

8. Watching the IMAX Tornado Alley at the Museum of Science & Industry

9. Nature hikes in the woods

10. Science Arts

Around the House Play

1. Building with Legos

2. Swimming in the next door neighbors’ pool

3. Playing the ant goo game (it’s pretty complicated, but it involves Jared being Spiderman, me being Venom, and spreading dough filled with biting ants all over Spiderman, which is him trying to withstand me tickling him)

4. Hide-and-seek

5. Board games

6. Drawing

7. Painting

8. Reading

9. Singing

10. Horse Land (another complicated, on-going pretend game)

Favorite Games

1. Candyland

2. Scooby Doo Make a Match Game

3. Wrestling

4. Cariboo Island