Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Homework

Any tips out there (Debs? Stacey?) for making homework fun? Oh, and also for motivating a distracted seven-year-old? We've apparently lost our homework mojo over the summer.

It's causing her to want to rush through it, she makes silly errors, and stumbles over easy stuff. We've gotta get our groove back! Although knowing Dags it'll come back on it's own...


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I'm not going to be much help. Here, it's ALL "home"work. Some of it fun, some not so much. And I have the ability to modify things if I think it will be helpful...like if we're having one of those days and I think that it would be better not to do so many math problems...and you don't have that freedom. As for motivation, I use a combination of threats and rewards. :P

But you could try reasoning with her..."If you take your time and do it right the first time, you won't have to spend X minutes doing it over and then you'll be done sooner than if you'd rushed and gotten stuff wrong."

Stacey

Debbie said...

It's amazing the variety of homework personalities there are among kids! I have kids that can't wait to do their homework, finish a week's worht in one night, and ask for more and harder stuff. And then I have kids who flat out do not do a night of homework all year. And everything in between. It sounds like Dagny is somewhere in between.

I really think homework boils down to other issues. Some love doing it because it makes them feel successful. They are good at being organized and completing tasks, so they enjoy it. Others struggle with the material and avoid it at all costs. Others enjoy the attention of needing constant help. Some just feel that it is too boring or routine (perhaps this is Ms. Dags "look-what-creative-thing-I-just-invented").

This probably isn't much help, but if you find the root cause, then perhaps you will discover a solution. And you are definitely not alone in the homework plight.