School is Fun
Okay everyone, repeat after me, “School is fun, school is fun, school is fun.” It seems like right about now the newness has worn off and we are in our school routine. And sometimes our routines are boring. I am a workbook gal, but my kids are not, each year I try to find a middle ground using workbooks for some things and a more hands on approach for others.
Regardless of what type of approach you use there might be some area where your child struggles. For my six year old it is reading. He struggles with reading because he struggles to stay in his seat for more than 3 seconds. As he sounds out his little three letter words he flips, flops, wiggles, fidgets, dances, and bounces. I figure it must be hard to read a word if your eyes are looking at 20 different things in 15 seconds.
I had to figure out a way to motivate this child to sit still long enough to read the words dog, or pig, or hot. Yesterday as we were going through the wiggle routine I had an idea. After he read a word he was able to move to the rug and act out his word. There were a few words he couldn’t act out (like Ann), but for the most part he was able to act most of the words. The only rule was he could only use his body, no outside props.
He flew through his reading words, excitedly sounding them out so he could then act it out. It took him less time to read his 30 words using my new technique than using the old technique of; “sit still, sit on your bum, look at the word, where am I pointing, sit down, stop jumping, okay next word.”
Sometimes, in our school day, we get so focused on doing the next thing, we forget about making school a little more fun for our kids. What small changes can you make to help your child learn better? Sure, we could throw out the book and try another one (I’ve been there, done that), but perhaps a different approach would work just as well. Sometimes a little change can make a big difference.
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AUTHOR | Toni
Toni, one of the original 3 Moms, is a military wife and stay-at-home(schooling) mom of six, soon to be seven great kids. On her personal blog, The Happy Housewife, she writes about saving money, healthy eating, recycling, homeschooling, life as a mom, and crafting.
That’s a great idea! I’m totally not creative like that, but I’m going to need all the ideas I can get b/c I’m sure my little boy is going to be a lot different than my little girl. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea! I’m going to share this with a friend of mine whose daughter is just starting to read.
What a great idea! This would be fun just to mix up the routine a little
Popped over from WFMW…
Blessings!
Hello - Thanks for this wonderful idea…. I’ll try it out tomorrow! My friend Sherry was thoughtful enough to share it with me. I’m blessed to have her as a friend.
I remember my first semester of homeschooling, and how I struggled with my son for weeks over Saxon math, which he really didn’t like because of its spiral approach. One day I woke up and realized…I was in charge!!…I could (gasp) change math books!! It worked wonders.
Thanks for sharing this great tip - it’s excellent on its own, but also a reminder that we have so many possibilities available to us as homeschoolers. We can really and truly play to our child’s strengths and help him or her discover God-given gifts and talents. What a blessing!