Time It! Motivate Your Child

Finding ways to motivate children to get their schoolwork finished in a timely manner is sometimes challenging. Try these activities with a simple timer and get those lessons done.

Sometimes a child can get stuck on one page or problem in a lesson and waste precious time getting nothing done. Before trying these time-it activities, be sure the child understands the lesson. One reason for not doing the work maybe that she doesn't know how to do it.

When using time-it activities, be sure your child does not give up quality for quantity. Make sure she does a good job. If it's not her best work, it's not acceptable and the timer keeps going. You know what your child can do and what her best work is because you've seen it before.

Beat Your own Time Time your child to see how long it takes to complete the lesson. Write it down and post it somewhere where it can be seen easily. Each time you do another lesson in that same subject, write it below the last time. Encourage your child to beat her own time.

Five Minute Page Turn This activity has given some humorous results. It works well on a lesson that has multiple workbook pages.

First, think back to a good day when the child completed this type of lesson in fairly good time. How long did it take to complete? This is how long you will set the timer. Look over each page and determine if it will need more or less time. A more difficult page will need more time. Explain to the child how much time he will have complete each page and be sure he understands all the instructions on each page. Determine a prize or reward to give if he beats the timer.

Now set the timer for the first page. When the timer goes off you turn the page. If he did not complete the page, he turns it anyway. The time for that page is over, and the timer is set for the next page with no break. When the timer rings again, you move on to the next page. If the child finishes a page before the timer goes off he can turn back to a page that he did not complete and work on it until time is up. When the timer goes off for the final page, the lesson is over.

Time One Problem This activity works well when a child is just plain bored with a page of the same thing like addition problems. Time how long it takes the child to solve one problem. Write down the time. Time the next problem and write down the time. Encourage the child to do each problem faster than the one before

Time's Up This activity will help the child increase her attention span. Set the amount of time for the lesson. Start with a small amount of time, 5 or 10 minutes. Explain to the child that you will study this lesson for the set time and when the time's up she can do an activity of her choice. Be sure to set the time to go back to the rest of her lessons.

Set your timer and begin the lesson. No matter how much or how little you feel she has accomplished, when time's up the lesson is over. After the first week or two, you will notice that she can stay focused for a longer amount of time.

Consistancy is Vital to Successful Homeschooling

Routine is one of the most important factors in a successful homeschool. Homeschooling cannot be considered a matter of convenience. It will not be easier than sending the child to school. A successful homeschooling parent must be dedicated enough to be up and ready on time everyday. Every day is the key.

A daily schedule is essential. Rather than including set time limits for everything, a good schedule should focus on order of events. For example:
Opening exercises-song, prayer, calendar, memory gem, journal
Lessons- math, english, grammar, handwriting
Break- snack, go outside
More lessons- spelling, phonics, reading, science
A start time is important. Start at the same time every day.An ending time will set a goal for school to be finished and keep it from dragging out into the rest of the day.

Now that a workable schedule or routine has been determined, the school can begin at the top of the list and go down to the end and end.

Persistence in the routine is so important. The same thing happens every day. Then the child knows what is expected of him on any given day because he knows which subjects, what order, and how much of each one. If he's a self-motivated child, he can go through his lessons on his own and go in the right direction. If he's a child that is not self-motivated or doesn't especially like to do school work, there is a goal to work toward. He can have this much done before recess, and then get this much done before lunch. He knows he can't visit friends, play with toys, watch TV, or go any where or do anything else until school work is done. Best of all, he knows where the end of the list is.

Consistency in the daily routine of the homeschool will help the child perform better because he knows what to expect.

Successful Homeschooling, Be Ahead

Get up early. If a mother expects to have any kind of success she should be up before the children. The earlier, within reason, the better. If she is up at least an hour before she expects the children to get up she can be dressed and have her personal needs taken care of. Then when the children get up, she's ready to tackle the day.

Why is this important to homeschool success? If the children are up first, the mother usually ends up just following them around all day cleaning up messes. she needs to be prepared so she can direct the children's activities and be in charge of the morning routine. Then she can focus them on their school work, and they don't get hung up on doing their own thing before school. This will save much of the battle of trying to get them to mind.

Plan the lessons ahead. The lessons should be planned before school starts. Using a curriculum that follows the same format each day will help. If special materials are required for that days lesson, they should be gathered up before school time. The lessons should come one right after the other with no time for messing around in between.

Why is this important to homeschool success? So often mother is busy getting the lesson ready when she should be teaching the lesson and the children all wonder off. She loses their attention and a lot of time is wasted trying to get them focused again.

Don't hurry. A homeschool schedule should be planned carefully leaving enough time for everything to be done. If it's not working, a new schedule is in order. One that either includes more time or less work in a day should be used.

Why is this important to homeschool success? How well can a child learn if she's always being pressured to hurry? She needs time to do her best work. Quality should never be given up for quantity.

Successful Homeschooling, Think "I Love You"

Why are you doing homeschool? For most of us it is because we love our children. We want the best for them. We want them to get a good education so they can be successful. We are doing this for them because of our love for them.

The power of positive thinking in "I Love You" will get you through the worse days when everything goes wrong, and it will make the best days perfect. When working with your child, Keep these positive thoughts in mind."I love you if you make a mistake." "I love you if you are not happy or cooperative today. I am here to help you find happiness." "I love you when you stubbornly want your own way. I will help you see a better way." "I love you when you are good." "I love you when you get to school on time." "I love you. I want your success." Think up your own "I love you"phrases and use them in your every day problem solving.

This positive thought pattern will help you come up with effective solutions to any problem, whether it be a bad behavior that your child has or just helping her to understand her school lessons. It is impossible to become angry or out patience when you remember "I love you." You are here for the child. You are giving yourself for her success.

"I love you" does not mean "I let you do whatever you want." "I love you" means that you help the child make the right decisions. See to it that she obeys you and follows the rules of the home. This will help her to be a law-abiding citizen when she grows up. See that she treats others well and takes care of her responsibilities. In this way you can help her to have friends and to be a good friend to others. Show her the true path to happiness is through loving others.

"I love you," Let this positive mind frame be the motive for every action and you will have a far greater success in your homeschool than you ever thought possible. Think "I love you."

Successful Homeschooling, Give It Time and Diligence

You will need to do some serious thinking and planning to make your homeschool a success. It is going to take much of your time. Be prepared to give up some recreation, hobby, or working outside the home to give your time for homeschooling. What you put into your homeschool effort is what your child will get out of it.

Besides taking a good deal of your time, Homeschooling also takes a lot of thought. Your mind has to be into it. It takes dedication and consistency. It takes planning. It takes perseverance even on the worse days. It takes creativity and a tremendous amount of patience on your part.
You have to teach everything, including good study skills, habits of organization, and cleanliness. You have to be the motivator, the rewarder, the punisher, the loving kind understanding mother, and the big fat mean boss.

You are the one that has to get the child out of bed, get him into his clothes, get him to the breakfast table, and into school on time. You have to figure out how to get his mind on his school work and get it done. All these things take time and diligence. It isn't going to happen in one day.

It will take diligence day after day the whole year. If your child fails, it's your fault. If he succeeds, it's your fault. The success of your homeschool depends on you and the time and energy that you put into it. If you get up and make it happen, it will. If you don't, won't.

Sucessful Homeschooling, It Depends On You

Be cheerful and enthusiastic about school. The children will take on your attitude. The way you feel shows in youractions, your voice, and the look in your eyes. You can't hide it. Children will quickly pick up on the way you feel. You can't head into the school day in a bad mood feeling grumpy and impatient then expect your child to be a good student. Even if you have the best curriculum in the world,it won't take the place of a patient, kind teacher. You will need to present the lessons in a cheerful, happy manner that makes learning enjoyable.

Demand of yourself what you expect of your child. You can't get lazy. You must take it seriously for your child to take it seriously. You be strict with yourself first. Get yourself to school on time. Let your actions show thechild that you care and that you are serious about doing homeschool. If you lie in bed two hours late not especiallyfeeling like doing school today, what is you child going to think? You are sending a suddle message that, "school is not important. We don't really have to do this." Then the child will act it our ten times worse. Next day when you try to wake him up, you'll have a battle on your hands with no ground to stand on. Be stricter on yourself. Show him the good example. Let you actions send the positive message,"School is important. We can do this. We will do this. School is wonderful so let's get learning."

You, the parent and teacher, get your homework done. Have your lessons ready. Have yourself ready on time. The Success of your homeschool depends on you.