Learning in the Car

Car Schooling Ideas | Our Journey Westward

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No Guilt Required

Do you find your family to be in the car more often than you care to admit? Whether you’re on the way to co-op, ballet, music lessons, ball practice, chess club or doctor’s appointments, all this car time can make a mom feel quite guilty about the seemingly wasted minutes or hours.

Did you know this car time doesn’t have to be “down” time? It most certainly can be down time if you like, but there are lots of wonderful school or enrichment activities that can keep your children educationally engaged, too. Below is a nice list of ideas for you.

Learning in the Car

Bible Memory Work

Recite Bible verses

Recite the books of the Bible

Skills

Math drills – any number of mental math drills

Spelling drills

Sign reading

Vocabulary words

Drills of important dates to remember

Drills of important people or events and their significance

Narration

Poetry recitation

Buy skill workbooks from the dollar store

Buy fun books of mazes, crosswords, word finds, etc.

Run off a blank US map and ask kids to color in each state when they see a license plate from that state

Games

Play ABC I Spy – either with objects or words on signs

Name things you see outside that were mentioned in the Bible

Buy little travel games and keep in a plastic tote

“Bugs and Cruisers” – Assign point values to certain types of cars and have the kids keep a point tally as you drive.  Example: VW Bugs and PT Cruisers are each worth 1 point.  Hummers might be worth 10 points.  Jeeps might be worth 5 points.  You get to make up the rules and values according to your child’s abilities.

Play color or shape I Spy

Storytelling

Storytelling where one person stops a story at the climax and another person continues the story

Grammar guess – Mom says a sentence and asks child to repeat a part of speech.Example:Mom says, “Name the prepositional phrase, ‘Look for the ball under the bush.’ ”  The child then repeats the prepositional phrase.

Hum or whistle tunes and see who is the first to guess correctly

Play 20 questions

Play an oral ABC Scattergories – Think of a topic and the first person names something that fits in the topic starting with “a”, the next person thinks of a “b” word, and so on

Play word memory –  The first person says a word that fits in a certain topic.The next person says that word and adds another word.The third person says the first two words and adds another word.You keep going until someone messes up.  Example:  Topic=animals, first persons says ‘dog’, second person says ‘dog, cat’, third person says ‘dog, cat, frog’

Educational CD Ideas

Adventures in Odyssey

Jonathan Park Adventures

Foreign languages

Bible verse CD’s

Bible song CD’s

Any “living” book on CD

CD of music or stories that go along with a unit you’re studying

Story of the World CD’s

Any historical fiction book on CD

Lyrical Life Science CD’s

Other Ideas

Keep a lap desk or clip board in your car, along with a supply of pencils, crayons, etc. and bring the school books along on a trip

On a familiar drive, ask your child to create a travel brochure of the sights you see

Stop at a rest stop or hotel in an unfamiliar area and pick up a few brochures.  Let your child be the “tour guide” of attractions in the area as you drive.You never know when an unexpected field trip might turn up.

Listen to a preacher on the radio and discuss the sermon

Turn up the music and practice singing harmonies

For more ideas, you might enjoy:

Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities to Turn Travel Time into Learning Time - For Kids Ages 4 to 17

 

Tell me about your learning in the car activities!

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