Literacy through PLAY

Did you know that children learn through play? It’s pretty fascinating if you sit and watch all that magic happen.

Recently, I was on a clubhouse chat where we talked about this very topic, and I’m not one to speak in front of people (“in front“ of people- as its an audio app). One of my favorite podcast hosts asked me to say something about how my boys learned how to read before the chat started- I took notes so I wouldn’t get all nervous and forget what I was even on stage for (“on stage”... I really hope you guys know what clubhouse is lol! If not, ask me for more info down below in the comments).

They had some pretty amazing speakers on stage, and I was about ready to talk myself out of speaking of our experience “I’ll let the pros handle this”. But do you know what I didn’t hear about play? Digital play, game play, video game play. And as of this year, I finally see my boys as gameschoolers.

** Definition of gameschooling ** —> people who learn through gaming. They can learn; math, reading, geography geometry etc.

My youngest recently surprised me by reading something his friend typed into their game chat. And I asked him again what he said and walked to the screen in complete disbelief! He showed that he could also type to his friend to call him- honestly, watching this magic happen right under my nose just gives me goosebumps! My husband and I ended up high giving each other that day as I told him what happened. Watching our children learn through their passions is exactly why we walk this journey together. They LOVE Minecraft! What a magical learning tool.

My youngest and oldests experience as unschoolers is pretty different, because my husband and I were still unwrapping our brains from beliefs that children needed to be taught to learn anything at all. So, I sat with my oldest when he was 5 (after we pulled him out of kindergarten) and I pushed him to learn how to read through Bob books. I thought they were so cute, and because I did so much research into the best ways to learn how to read, Bob books seemed the easiest way to teach him. He cried, I was frustrated. I just wanted to get him up to his grade reading level (by the time we got through all the kindergarten reading levels, his old class was already in grade 1- I felt like I was failing). We stopped over time. Less time was sat with me “teaching”. Honestly, he just wasn’t ready! And at 9, he’s reading comic chapter books with ease, and I sit with him- helping him with the bigger words. The base of his internal motivation to learn how to read was to be able to understand what was happening in Minecraft This is how he’s learning- through joy!

And my youngest? He’s learning purely through gaming. He branches out to board games, and card games with me sometimes too.

Some of the ways my boys learn I’ll list below to give you an idea of what to look for with your kids;

• Read aloud books together before bed

• Store signs

• Playing Minecraft (also, helping them spell things to communicate helps them understand the language better)

• ”Pretending” to read- my youngest does this when his brother and I are quietly reading. He may not know the words yet, but you bet his brain is working hard to understand it!

• Buying (or borrowing) books per their individual interests

• A new one I’m beginning again is strewing (I did this when they were younger) with books

These are just some of the ways kids learn through play (from our personal family experience).

Do you home/ unschool? Are you thinking about it? I’d love to know in the comments below :)