Welcome to a BONUS post in our Helpful Hacks series. Over the past 5 years of our homeschool journey I (Wei) have always found the first couple of weeks of the year to be the most challenging as we all get into the ‘groove’ of school again. I hope that these last tips on turning a difficult day around help you energize your week next week!
Earlier posts in our Helpful Hacks series:
- Helpful Hacks: Meals
- Helpful Hacks: Health & Fitness
- Helpful Hacks: Household Chores
- Helpful hacks: Homeschooling
Do you have any tricks or tips for when your student is struggling on a particular day? What do you do to turn the day around?
- Janvi: FOR MATHS — I bring chocolates and other eatables to explain them in a more practical manner how to solve problems or calculate them. Children are rewarded for every correct answer! FOR LITERATURE —- I help them organize a play based on the story line of the chapter.
- Cheryl: No tricks but the best tip I can give is empowering your student by giving them choices! They can choose which subject to do first (or last!). They can choose where to do homeschool if it’s a rough day – move school to their bedroom or the den, maybe go outdoors on the trampoline or at the park or perhaps the beach (if you live close to one).
- Jenny: We go outside, if it is sunny we soak in the sun, if it is raining we jump in some puddles, we enjoy a snack and regroup. If we continue in the same slump after we have done this we usually stop school work for the day.
- Stacey: We just stop what we are doing and get out for an hour or so to the park or a walk. I also try to break up any longer assignments over 2 or more days so we don’t end up with struggles/tears/etc.
- Deena: Go outside and shoot baskets, Finn focuses on what I can do to improve my shot ? Mrs Wallace’s encouragement to do some kind of movement has helped tremendously.
- Sarah: If my student is struggling or showing signs of not enjoying our lesson, we put it down. For 5 minutes, an hour or to be revisited on the next homeschool day.
- Robin: When our student hits a wall with work, I have her walk away from it for a half hour or so. When she comes back she can usually tackle things much better.
- Susan: If the day starts hard we put school off for awhile and go outside, exercise, stretch. Stay calm, make homeschool painless, no deadlines.
- Catherine: Go outside, take a break! Things don’t have to happen on a set schedule. Trampoline time really helps us.
- Stephanie: When a kiddo is struggling, I usually either feed them or turn the struggle into a song.
- Tessa: Get out of the house, but I take the work with us. Math is more fun at the beach!
- Jennifer: Go outside and burn energy by riding bikes, going for a walk, etc.
- Anna: Go outside or stop!
Thank you to all of our guest contributors from our SLOCA community. My personal favorite is using already prepared meals for dinner (either delivered or from the freezer) to allow myself more time the first week. Please share any helpful hacks that you have in the comments below!
