Vanilla Joy - Family * Motherhood * Me

CODENAMES Language Arts Team Word Guessing Game

Words games are a great gameschooling resource – in our homeschool, language arts consists of reading, narrating, copywork/handwriting. Beyond that I just try to make writing and words and vocabulary and language fun and relevant and interesting, and games are the best way I’ve found to do it. Codenames is a spy-themed clue-giving-word-guessing-game that is […]

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RHINO HERO Tactile Building Challenge Card Game

Card Games

Boys love competitive physical challenges, and I like game that incorporate these characteristics because while they suit that boyish need to conquer and dominate, they’re still fairly mild and safe. Life with boys is always interesting! Rhino Hero is a fun way to develop tactile/manual precision skills in a competitive, suspense-filled way. The game consists […]

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SCABS’N’GUTS Human Body Board Game

Games

If you haven’t been here before, I am a homeschool mama to six boys. It’s wild and crazy around here, and games are one of the best tools I have to help my boys learn with their whole hearts, minds, and bodies. Kids love hands-on learning, and games are the easiest way I’ve found to […]

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MIYABI Japanese Garden Puzzle-y Tetris Math Game

Board Games

I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in the era of the original Nintendo, but games that resemble Tetris in any way really call to me. Our whole family loves puzzles and Tetris, and Miyabi is a really fun and beautiful game with similar shape-manipulation elements. What it also has is a beautiful […]

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CATAN HISTORIES: RISE OF THE INKAS Civilization Building Strategy Board Game

Board Games

We are long-time Catan fans. Catan was actually the first strategy game I ever remember playing as a college student. Before that, all I ever played were card games, and I loved the strategy and social nature of Catan! We played it for years and enjoyed many of the expansions, and I was thrilled to […]

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DRAGON’S BREATH Early Math Estimation Counting Game

Board Games

We love dragon everything – books, action figures, costumes… It was high time we found a favorite dragon game! Haba has been one of our favorite game makers of all time, especially for preschool/early elementary games. They are so colorful, have lovable themes, high quality components, and are so fun to play! In Dragon’s […]

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BOSK Majestic Trees, Falling Leaves Strategy Board Game

Board Games

Nature themed games are some of my favorites for gameschooling. They are a wonderful supplement to a holistic, curiosity led, interest driven way of studying science out in the natural world through observation and experience. Bosk is a beautiful game about trees, our favorite element of nature. I’m a native Oregonian and am also a […]

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MONZA Color Matching-Counting-Preschool-Simple Strategy Game

Card Games

My twins are 4 and LOVE LOVE LOVE to play games. Santa brought them something special this Christmas: a race-car themed, color matching, early strategy game called Monza. Players choose one of the 6 colored wooden car playing pieces to race each other around the track. The cars line up on the starting line, and […]

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ECOLOGIES BIZARRE BIOMES Food Chain Science Card Game

Card Games

We are getting A LOT of Gameschooling in this holiday season, which has been so much fun. It’s really nice to take a break during the holidays and still learn (of course!) but not worry about lessons or curriculum or deadlines. There’s enough going on during the holidays, who needs normal school?!? Ecologies has a […]

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HARRY POTTER HOGWARTS BATTLE Cooperative Deck Building Card/Board Game

Board Games

We’re a bunch of Harry Potter fanatics around here…we’ve all taken the Pottermore Sorting and Patronus Quizzes, read the books independently and together, listened on audio, watched the movies, dressed up as its characters for Halloween…so it was high time we played a Harry Potter board game! Battle for the Castle is superbly congruous with […]

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