How I Get My Kids to Focus When Homeschooling
Since school picked back up about a month ago I thought I would share some of my ways that I get my youngsters to focus on their schoolwork. Homeschooling can be really tough when they fight you every step of the way and having homeschooled our 4 kids for the last 8 years (my oldest is now a happy well adjusted and social sophmore in a charter high school) I have picked up a few tricks along the way.
Right now our youngest is in 1st grade and definitely has attention span issues like “hmmm I can’t remember” when he did it yesterday like a rockstar or staring off into space/coloring his pages when he’s supposed to be focusing on his workbook page. Sound familiar? Oh man at this rate it takes forever and you both just get frustrated (I speak from experience on this one)
Who wouldn’t want to be hangin out in full football gear?!
So a couple of easy ways to make the experience more pleasant for both of us;
1. If he’s just pretending to go along and isn’t actually doing the work I will pause and say “Let’s do 20 jumping jacks!” And he thinks it’s a game and of course loves jumping jacks. On the plus side he has to practice his counting! Every now and again we do a few different sets of jumping jacks or a combo of jumping jacks and hopping like a bunny around the couch to get that brain rockin and rollin.
A tired kid body makes a more focused kid brain!
2. Another trick, I will get his attention by making funny faces as I’m talking about something. It makes him giggle and by adding humor it makes it more fun for him. He’s less likely to get frustrated with me or the work.
3. I make all kinds of weird funny noises. For example he was working on a vocab page and getting mad he had to do it. So as he worked and said the words out loud I would randomly surprise him with a weird sound. He started laughing and as we went on it was funnier and funnier. He eventually blew right through the page because he was anxiously waiting for the next sound.
We hang out wherever he is comfortable. And it helps to have our nanny dog listening too.
   4. We’ll switch over to a different subject or activity. If he’s having a hard time reading the little reader book we will set that down and switch to math. (He LOVES math and picks it up very quickly) and it not only helps get the work done but it gives him confidence too. After that he’s more on board with attacking that reading.
5. We’ll talk about something fun we can do once we finish our school work. This gives him something to look forward to after and typically more apt to buckle and down and knock it out.
I’ve got 2 others we’re homeschooling and I have taken these approaches with them too from the early years. (We have homeschooled all but our oldest from Kindergarten on up) They are independent thinkers and workers now. They have a complete online system that is broken down by grade and day which is a LIFESAVER as a mom!
They holler when they have questions on their assignments or need help. They also have learned to focus on their work and that by just doing it, it’s the quickest way to get on to other things afterwards.
I have to give a huge shoutout to my husband, the first several years I did it all on my own. Admittedly a few years ago I hit a wall and couldn’t do it anymore. (homeschooling 3 kids with a baby on my hip, all in different grades with my oldest the most stubborn child on the planet….total burnout and mini breakdown) Thankfully he saw the huge benefits and changes in our kids and stepped up to help me. We continued on and I’m so glad we did because we are both involved in their schooling now which not only benefits the kids but literally saves my sanity too. (Mama’s working too!)
What are your thoughts on homeschooling? How do you handle it when your kiddo/s are just not into it? (ex. post summer break)
I always love to hear your thoughts, questions, experiences, etc.
Please share in the comments!
And don’t forget to hit up the ole subscribe box to keep up with the latest!
