The word ‘homework’ is enough to bring on a huge yawn on your child’s face. After spending a long day at school, children come home, and when being parents, you ask them to finish their homework first. Have you ever imagined under what stress your child will be? Trust me; it is really a kind of torture for them. After an hour and hours of staring at the boards, listening to lectures, and being surrounded by books and quizzes, there are enormous possibilities that kids will throw a petty tantrum when you ask them to complete their homework. Only one thing that will help you to overcome this is to make homework fun.
Why Make Homework Fun?
It is a huge responsibility for parents to understand the mental condition of their kids and provide them with relaxation so that they will be able to complete their work happily. Parents should provide their children some time for rest and fun; this encourages them to do homework with a relaxed and active mind. Giving time to relax and play helps in keeping kids mentally and physically fit. Here are some easy and playful ways for parents to engage their kids to make homework fun.
How To Homework Less Boring? – Homework Hacks
1. A Funky Timer AND Smart Snack
Monday is challenging for everyone after an adventurous weekend; it can be hard to settle back into your old routine. So it is important to have a fixed schedule. Follow time table even on the weekend, don’t go completely relax and try to set some time apart for school work. After coming back from school, give your children some space, let them take some rest and play after lunch. When they are relaxed, with their evening snacks, gently push to begin their homework. Place a colourful and funky timer on their desk, set the time, and go! Children love their little things, and a cutesy timer may motivate them to finish their homework quickly, even allow them to reset the time if needed at least once. A hungry child just can not focus on work. Stick with some easy and quick snacks. Snacks packed with protein will keep your kid from grumbling while they work.
2. Productive and Beneficial Rewards
Some productive and beneficial rewards can be helpful to motivate children to complete their homework. When I was a kid, I was fond of math at all. It was literally exhausting for me to solve all the math problems, fractions or equations. My mom would tell me I could play scrabble with her once I finish my mathematics homework, and voila, it worked! I loved scrabbled and loved playing it with my mom even more. It is the best trick to get your kid down to homework. If your child is fond of food, try making his favourite evening snacks or dinner, negotiate with his homework timings. Being parents, we have to seek ways to make complicated things easier for our children and what could be better than bargaining it with rewards or favourite meals to make homework fun.
3. Creativity is Magic
It is too difficult for children to understand most things. Get creative! Drawing and labelling can solve many issues. During science lectures, I could not understand a thing about different parts of plants. But when I saw the pictures, it was far more comfortable for me to understand the apical and axillary buds. Sitting like a statue and going line by line through books is not going to help because it is entirely boring. Creativity can make homework fun and easier for children; as a parent, you have to seek ways as no one can know your child better than you. If you are not creative, take the help of educational videos and books with illustrations. You can try various science experiments or make some models or charts to make them understand things clearly.
4. Provide More Freedom
If the homework session is inflexible or strict, children get easily stressed. They will be anxiously waiting for it to be finished instead of paying attention to what they are writing or reading. To avoid such a situation, try to accommodate them where your children can feel more relaxed to do their homework. Give a ten to fifteen minutes break where your kids can do what that they want to do.
5. Group Study
To motivate your children to complete homework happily, you can plan a group study for them. Invite your kid’s classmates or friends to read, write and do math equations together. A younger kid needs more help to organize things. But teenagers are quite old enough to handle and manage their studies, yet group study is good for any project or assignment. You can motivate them for group studies, so for grown-up ones, all you need to do is just take your step back and let your child take on a leadership role but do keep an eye on his activities.
6. Try Different Learning Apps
If your child prefers to read online, you will get many educational online apps around. Learning through them will make studies and homework funds for your children. Although many sites give free worksheets and lectures online, if you are confused about what apps or websites to refer to, take the help of your kid’s teacher. Learning through apps is different from the conventional teaching platform and can make homework fun for your kids.
7. Design Communal Workspace
Like every room is specified, a study room is a must for your child. If you are a ‘work from home mommy’, you can design a workplace where you and your kid can work together. In this way, you can pay attention to your kid’s homework; if he needs any help with his studies, you can assist him.
It will increase his productivity and yours as well. Well, these were seven tips that I explored with my kid to make homework fun; it worked on and off many times. But we must remember our children’s mental and physical fitness is most important than anything. There are ‘N’ numbers of things that are important than getting higher grades or giving deadlines for homework. Pushing hard for studies may harm your child’s interest in studies and can devalue your relationship with him. Focus on his upbringing by inculcating values in your kids, instil the importance of social life, help them in their studies. Take steps gradually; it will help you to understand your child in a better way.