Homeschool World Forum

Hi Everyone,

When you and your children are doing your lessons, how do you keep them interested in what they are doing? Sometimes, it gets to be frustrating when we do not get the result we want. I want to make sure that I am able to give my children the lessons they need to learn and still have fun.

Thanks,
Judy

Depends on the child and the subject. Boys are motivated more by competition, so adding a competitive element may help there. Certain subjects (science, history, etc.) can be spiced up quite a bit by watching documentaries or historical dramas. There's also lots of real-life things you can do, like growing plants (I enjoyed growing peas, tomatoes, corn, etc. when I was younger - turns out burying a fish does in fact make corn grow taller...), visiting the science museum or zoo, etc.

If it's just workbooks, keep the sessions fairly short for the more boring subjects. Attention usually starts to wane after 30-45 minutes, and there's no need to cram if you're homeschooling year-round (which I highly recommend)).

I tend to act silly to keep engaged. While we read lessons or discuss things they seem to appreciate silly voices or odd comments that might be made by the people in the lesson - this especially works well in history.

Here are some ideas that my mom used for me and/or that I or my sister have used with our siblings:

1) When teaching children how to read, make it colorful—you can make your own little stories and/or flash cards using colored markers. Note that this can also be used for math (e.g. multiplication tables).

2) Draw! Children LOVE it when you draw in front of them—you really don’t have to be Leonardo da Vinci—simple little drawings will do.

3) Make puppets and/or little toys that will “talkâ€