If today’s children have one thing in common I would venture to say it is resistance at home work time. Home work was such a chore in our house…fighting, punishments and lots of empty threats were starting to creep into the busiest part of my day…5:00 - 6:30. Sit down, stay still, concentrate, NO you can’t play wii or go ride your bike until home work is finished! BUT MOMMMM… I don’t want to do it… All the while I am trying to get dinner on the table, throw in a load of laundry, answer that ringing phone and maintain that quickly fading smile on my face.
I was at my wits end with no light at the end of the tunnel. Then, one night while chatting with a close friend on the phone we discovered our children had the same thing in common and put our heads together. We came up with an easy to follow plan that has worked wonders and now 5:00 - 6:30 has quickly gone from dreadful to delightful! So, without further ado … I present to you, The Home Work Game!
All you need to play this game is a piece of paper, some thing to write with and a hat or a bowl. We use a Pittsburgh Steelers hat, we’re BIG fans! When my son arrives home from school we don’t even give his home work a fleeting glance, he has a snack and goes out to play as daylight is starting to wane.
While he is out I write each assignment he has on a small piece of paper, I then fold up each one and put them in the home work hat. When he comes in the game begins. He sets up his home work spot with pencils, pens and books. Then he picks one of the assignments out of the hat. When we find out what it is I set a time limit and put it on the kitchen timer or the microwave timer. For instance I will set a time limit of 10 minutes to write 10 spelling words. If he finishes the task before the time is up he gets a choice, to have free play until time is up or go right to the next assignment. This game has worked wonders. He loves to beat the clock and feels good about getting his assignments done on time. Home work used to span 2 1/2 to 3 hours on a really bad night and now we are spending between 40 and 50 minutes each night! This improved shower and bed time and gave us the opportunity to start playing some games at night and just spend additional family time!! If he beats the clock every night for the week he gets to rent a movie of his choice, buy a new Magic Treehouse book at the store or perhaps pick a favorite dessert on Friday night. Sometimes he is so excited he asks to start right away after school!
Here is to happier home work time…Good Luck!
