Postby Legomummy » Mon Feb 03, 2014 11:09 pm
Have a think what he really loves in life, what motivates him and use that as a way of learning or a reward for once homework done. Eg we will build that model together after the maths puzzle/ watch that program once homework done or "Let's get our light sabers and say each letter in the word as our light sabres touch!"
Think what type of learner he is: visual, or auditory, kinaesthetic etc.
Does he need more down time after a busy day in class, rather than racing off to gym and other clubs? School day can be exhausting...maybe some of those activities could be saved for weekend?
Has he had a good snack- does he have the energy to focus on homework?
Be creative and have fun eg let's pretend we are making a tv show and read the story in a funny voice / be an alien / sing as you read / whisper it / see if you can read that page before I have done 10 star jumps ....almost like the pressure is off the reading and about making it fun.
We start spellings with word recognition and this week did a snowball game. I wrote each of the words on blank sheets then we read them together, my son scrunched them into "snowball" and got to throw them across the room. Then we did treasure hunt for the 10 snowballs, and he had to read each one as he Un scrunched them . You can then extend it to your son copying writing the words and hiding snowballs the next night for you to find. By the end of the week he should write them independently. Some children prefer to hear the words rather than learn by sight, others to rewrite them or trace them in sand with their fingers or make the words with toy letters in the bath. It sounds like a lot of effort but probably less time than the current Hour long battle to start.
There are some great blogs out there from mums who homeschool and seem to make learning fun. I have been inspired by them and find myself seeing learning as fun rather than a chore. This one has lovely ideas for up to year one and things you can definitely adapt to older kids: imagination tree.com
Good luck!