Friday Fun Days
Do you enjoy a good routine Monday through Thursday but find you want Friday to be a little more relaxed? Well, Fridays can be “Friday Fun Days” without derailing your Heart of Dakota (HOD) homeschooling! I ran into a cousin of mine one day and asked how she was doing. She told me, “Not good.”
When I asked why, she told me she didn’t have enough smiley faces on her calendar. She went on to explain she put smiley faces on her calendar on days she had something extra happy to look forward to. She was down because she had no smiley faces on her calendar. That thought stuck with me long after we went our separate ways. I thought to myself, Well, I love to have ‘smiley face days’ to look forward to too! However, I don’t love to get off-track with my HOD homeschooling.’ Skipping an entire day of homeschooling isn’t really fun to us anyway because we do enjoy our homeschooling.
I talked to my mom about ‘smiley face days.’ Her face lit up and she told me ‘smiley face days’ were just like ‘Friday Fun Days!’ She went on to explain that during her 30 years of teaching first grade she always had ‘Friday Fun Days.’ Of course she still taught school on Fridays, but she planned for Fridays to be a little more relaxed. She wore jeans, had special snacks, turned on some happy music, etc. I thought to myself, Well, I’d love Friday Fun Days too! However, how do I do that in the homeschool setting? That question sparked this post!
Friday Fun Days keep homeschooling on track if they happen in the home setting.
There are ways to have Friday Fun Days that don’t get your homeschooling off-track! Let me preface these Friday Fun Days’ ideas by making mention that what one mom or child finds ‘fun’ is not necessarily what another mom or child finds ‘fun.’ Ages and stages of life also impact a person’s idea of ‘fun.’ For example, I find it ‘fun’ at this age and stage as a mom not to do dishes and not to make breakfast. So, one Friday Fun Day idea I love is to get donuts for breakfast and have them on paper plates on a picnic blanket on the living room floor. My sons also love this, as we don’t often have donuts and they don’t love doing the dishes either. In general, our Friday Fun Days through the years have been things we do in the home setting. This way, our homeschooling still happily and successfully happens.
Possible Friday Fun Days’ Ideas in the Home Setting
The following are some Friday Fun Days’ ideas that can easily happen in the home setting:
- Homeschool in your pajamas and fuzzy slippers.
- Put a blanket over your kitchen or dining table to make a ‘fort.’ Eat breakfast or lunch in your fort. Or, use a flashlight to read aloud your Storytime book in your fort. This works especially well if your book is a mystery!
- Get donuts or special pop tarts the day/night before and have them for breakfast.
- Light scented candles and put them on your tables, desks, work areas.
- Order pizza to be delivered for lunch.
- Gift wrap a few dollar store games, art supplies, toys. After homeschooling hide the gifts around the house. When the children find the gifts, they can open them and use them for free time/play time.
- After homeschooling is done, make popcorn and watch a movie together. We love stovetop homemade Whirlipop popcorn the best!
- For snack or break time, make hot cocoa and put sprayed whipped cream and sprinkles on top.
- Choose a different Little Debbie box to have as special treats each Friday Fun Day. Hide them around the house to be found for extra fun!
- Do “King” or “Queen” for the day! Each Friday Fun Day alternate the king or queen, so every son and daughter gets a turn. On their appointed “King for a Day” or “Queen for a Day,” they get to choose whatever you let them choose. For example, they could choose what to have for a snack, what board game to play, what toys to play with, what movie to watch, what outdoor activity to play, etc. They should know about this ahead of time, so they can plan accordingly.
- Make root beer floats and play a board game together.
- Invite cousins or a friend or two over for the afternoon just to play and have fun.
- Put together a puzzle that takes some real time and teamwork.
- Play a card game and set out some fun munchies you don’t usually have.
- Fondue together! Chocolate makes everything more fun!
In Closing
I hope this gives some ideas for Friday Fun Days! If Fridays don’t work, maybe you can have Marvelous Mondays, Terrific Tuesdays, Wonderful Wednesdays, or Thankful Thursdays! Maybe once a week is too often; this can be the case with busy teenagers. Once or twice a month can be fun too! Remember, one idea for Friday Fun Day is often sufficient. That way, you have more Friday Fun Days to choose from ahead! Keep it fresh, varied, and simple. If it’s easy and fun to do, it will get done and all (including mom) will enjoy it!
In Christ,
Julie
