Motivation
How do you keep your kids motivated to do school?
What is motivation? Motivation is the reason or motive behind any action. It's what makes you willing to take any action, or have any desire or willingness to do anything. I get asked a lot how I motivate my kids to do school. The short answer is school is never optional, so my kids know they just need to get it done. No one feels motivated all the time, but we get the work done anyway.
Honestly I do not think that motivation becomes a problem once you start homeschooling. This may be an unpopular opinion but if your child struggles with motivation in public school then his motivation problem did not start once he came home. So here are a few quick ideas to kick your student into learning mode and enjoy it!
You obviously decided to homeschool for a reason. Revisit those reasons with your child. Talk about why you are homeschooling and talk about why education is important. I’m not talking about going to college. I’m talking about education at its base. Why is education vital to society? What is the point of education? Can you choose to not be educated and if so what are the consequences? It may seem like overkill or too philosophical but there is no reason why we shouldn’t be having these conversations with our kids.
Lacking motivation is often masking a different problem. For example when I’m not motivated to write my blog post it’s because I’m struggling to figure out what to write about. My desire to take action is lower than the reward I get from completing my blog post at that moment. So when your child doesn’t stay motivated to get their work done what is the real problem? Is it because they do not like the math program they are using? Does it challenge them too little or too much? Is it the right curriculum for their learning style? I know that if I don’t choose the right work out style my motivation to exercise takes a nosedive. It’s no different with school. Sometimes it is an attitude adjustment, but sometimes you just need to tweek the program to make all the difference.
So what happens if it really is just an attitude problem? You fix the attitude by remembering you are the parent. School is not optional. If you have chosen homeschool because you believe it is the best option for your child, then you work to find the best program that fits your child’s needs. The bottom line is that lacking motivation is just an excuse for not getting the work done. I’m not talking about low motivation that is associated with legit health issues. I’m talking about using the excuse of no motivation to choose to not excel at whatever work that is set before you. Why miss the opportunity to be great?
As you are planning this next school year, if you find that lacking motivation is a consistent problem, then I invite you to revisit your programs to determine if the curriculum is killing the desire to learn.
