In trying to maintain a schedule for your homeschool, it’s easy to over-emphasize the traditional academics - and do a disservice to you and your children in the process.

My first year of homeschooling (4th Grade) my parents tried Seton Home Study’s curriculum. We only used it one year. It’s a great curriculum (in fact, we use some of the books for our kids) but there is so much scripted the course load can be smothering, particularly if you are intending to take advantage of  the flexibility homeschooling offers it can get in the way.

In fact, it is almost crucial that when making out your homeschooling schedule you include some time for play. It doesn’t have to be educational, or lesson oriented, just play time. Homeschooling parents know that a “typical” school day can be anywhere from a few hours to a 10 hour marathon depending on factors such as distractions, errands, housework, stubbornness, daydreaming, corrections, or those particularly difficult lessons to learn. Scheduling some time for play each day preserves that time despite the fact the school day might go until after dinner.

It seems that with the plethora of entertainment available to children these days there is little room for creative play - video games are, like movies and TV, incarnations of a designer’s imagination and they leave little for the player. And with stores like Wal-mart scaling back their toy sections to enhance their video game and electronics section it seems creative play is even more an endangered activity.

If it’s a nice day, get the kids outside. You never know when the next week-long wet-and-muddy spell will induce you all with cabin fever. Besides, observations made by your children can lead to good questions and inquisitive thinking. After all, Philo Farnsworth invented the television at age 15 while plowing his family’s field. Not exactly playing, but proof that you never know when nature will inspire innovative thinking.

On indoor days, try a free-form craft time. Just give the kids scrap paper, crayons, scissors, clue, popsicle sticks (or whatever you are willing to clean up afterward) and let them do whatever they want. If they are paralyzed with uncertainty of what to make or do, you might want to do this more often.

Board games - again not just educational ones - or puzzles are more structured play options. Even simple classic games can encourage thinking ahead, organizational skills, and basic math concepts.

Learning will come with the play - and not just textbook lessons, but important life lessons.

Thanks to the All About Parenting Blog Carnival for the inspiration for this post.