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Vern was away for three days, the children and I weren't without our crazy moments, and a few things (the saner ones) afoot with them...
Baby Kait (almost overnight!) finally sprouted her first tooth. She's otherwise occupied with crawling here and there!
Ben had gone ahead to invite his classmates to his party!
"Party, what party?" I had to ask him, since his birthday isn't until May.
"The one you're going to send cards to tell everyone to come," he shot back without missing a beat!
"Erm... (see how carefully this mom treads)... shouldn't we discuss it first?"
"I am discussing it with you NOW..."!
Talk about growing up too fast too soon!
And moving along with a book report due after next weekend, Jon is trying to hurry up and finish reading the book puh-lease -- I begged him oh-so-politely, and I'm the more anxious one as always! So that he can go on to work on the report, and hopefully it'll be one less thing to worry about, what with three tests coming up that same week! This week, the teacher had sprung a surprise Math test on the class. Only, Jon preferred to call it "a SECRET test... because surprises are meant to be nice!"?!
But nice or not nice, fair or not fair, how do you encourage children who'd rather be laidback about homework, (and honestly, I'm trying not to dread it), that keeping up with it day by day is the only way forward? It is (time and again) driving me quite crazy!
8 comments:
I wish I knew the answer about getting my kid to be less laidback about her homework and studies but nothing has sunk in so far. She prefers to surprise us with less than satisfactory results when the tests are over. :(
Believe me - you can scream, shout, nag, cajole, bribe, ask nicely - they will only do it when they "are in the mood" and want to do it. All other else fails ... at least for me ... and with my boy!!
So be prepared. Just dont tear your hair out!!
WTT,
How ah? Leave them to their own devices and they can be so blase, so "boh-chap", and mine will try to get away with doing as little as possible, but only so many times I want to be lecturing about slipshod work vs giving our best!
SAHM,
And believe you me also, I know just what you mean... it's been like this since homework started to matter, and it does more and more. I've done every one of these things, and the bribing and rewarding (and even reward first, not only reward afterwards), but as many as 9 out of 10 times, I just want to tear.my.hair.out! =(
:) How about establishing a routine that includes the self wking component? ... Is it too late for that?
And in reward for that, to do something interesting in exchange.. and if he keeps up for a week, something extra for the weekend? like more TV time, less wk time on weekend?
Now en is interested to do "homework" - thngs he do in school, so I strted to have him doing homework on a certain time.. hopefully it keeps and can avoid it..
And mentally, breathe and tell urself, its ok if they dun excel in school wk.. its ok.. cuz the richest ppl we know are not the smartest or the most academic ones.. heehee.. its true for me anyway :)
Sorry i know ur hubby is pursuing his PHD? academy is but 1 way forwards yah!!
So has Kait started playing hide-n-seek with mommy yet? hehehe
Sigh... I'm so not looking fwd to "serious" h/work days. Altho there's h/w now, I'd say they're vy manageable. H/w not finished, no tv. That does the trick, for now.
Thanks for sharing, and good En, I like his attitude!
For my big boy, and he will tell you, removing TV privileges doesn't work for him, and this mom tends to reward and over-reward in other ways =(
For study methods, we do a combination of things -- leave child to work alone/ send him to room to focus/ sit down together to get it done. But it does not help that he tries to take the easy way out. Some things like multiplication tables and those more difficult spelling words and other things he needs to commit to memory just cannot be avoided. And I just want him to finish each day's homework becoz there is a lot more now and it all accumulates. And when he's super distracted, it just gets ridiculous to drag homework past bedtime, and we have sent him to bed without it getting done 'coz having enough sleep is more important.
Slavemom,
Kait likes peekaboo, but the separation anxiety and stranger anxiety look to have set in!
I like the more "carefree" days when homework does not have to be taken so seriously!
I gotto find some other privileges besides TV/computer to remove, but hate to have to take away things like signing up for sports that I want the children to be able to have to strike a balance with schoolwork. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
will it help if tv/ computer program/ games are teaching related?
So that also aids learning and it is useful time?
I think sport is a gd idea.. and shld not be removed..
does food wk? as a motivator?
It depends if ur kids wks if privileges are removed, or motivators are more powerful..
U may need a combination of adding motivators and removing some privileges.. like maybe some of the things he does on weekends.. if there are some activities that he likes..
Also, thgs like maths tables etc, maybe can also do alongside in life, like when driving from school etc, to sing a song ard it or talk abt it..
Like en practise most of his math numbers "on the go", like i get him to count thgs to distract him, cars on the road, etc..
and when eating cookies, like i ll say, how many do u want, then if u finish this, how much more is left,
or if u have 3, i give u 2 more, how many is that..
then it does not need to always be grilling, I myself struggle with maths and i fear my kids ll inherit this trait, cuz NJ is bad in maths too..
So i try to make it fun from young.. hopefullly it helps..
just some tots, i know u ve a lot to cope with and may not be easy to do, but i think learning, esp for boys,need to be fun and practical, then it is less of a chore..
i myself cant learn by sitting down, i watch movies to learn history, go gallery to learn abt art, travel to learn abt geography.. i find it easier to absorb that way, so maybe we also need to invest time in making learning practical for kids..
I always start with food for a start.. tats easiest :)
Baby En,
Thanks for coming back with your sharing and creative ideas, I appreciate it. We do try and do these things to encourage learning and make it fun, and food treats work for my boys also. And some things still work for Ben, not so anymore for Jon tho' becoz he's older now, and it's true that each stage has its challenges.
I think the problem is discipline, the lack of it... and besides trying to keep to the same routine every day, we have tried a number of things like reward/progress charts and they'll work for awhile, till either I lose steam or the boys lose interest, and I don't like how reward-oriented they become.
And you're right that a lot depends too on each individual's learning style. Jon's latest is playing loud music and he'll be sprawled on the floor doing homework! Whatever works...
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