Hearing the word homework or even thinking about it brings about atruckload of pain in a student’s mind. Homework is a secondary option for many students and many house holds literally have a stare down between the student and the parent to complete their homework. Let’s be honest. Doing homework on your own is not easy, nor is it fun. It’s boring and tedious and involves a lot of concentration. But you can’t completely ignore it right out context. It contributes to the academic growth of your child and also helps them pick up certain useful skills along the way. So how can one make homework a fun thing and get over with it like really quickly. That is exactly what we will explore in this blog.
10 fast and simple techniques to make homework time fun time!
- Create a fun space
A child needs to be properly inspired to study and focus and complete their homework. Thus, they need a separate area to work on their homework. However, it has been observed that simply setting aside an area to study doesn’t help. You need to jazz up space a little so that they do not lose their focus and daydream about something else. How to do so you wonder? Well here’s how:
- Ensure that the area is well away from the noise and free from all sorts of distractions like phone, door, window, etc.
- Make the area or room cozy by including ideas from your child.
- Keep the essentialstationery and book in an organized fashion around that area.
- Incorporate the colours that your child likes into that place. You can do this by painting the walls or buying a desk of that colour.
- Paste inspirational quotes or images near their study area.
‘Never ever underestimate the importance of having fun.’
- Incorporate games
Children or even older students are always enthusiastic about games. So include such games to help them learn better so that they can complete their homework without any hassle. You can use flash cards to learn or remember points for a certain topic. If your child has read a book and had to write answers on it, then play the guess who game. You can pretend to be characters from that book and ask your child to guess the characters and also name their traits. You can again play a game of bingo and scrabble before your child sits down to study.
- Shower rewards and praises
You need to encourage your child fully and guard them to finish their homework. Oftentimes, it is seen that students give up midway to completing their assignments. This is because they lose interest after acertain time. You re-engage them by complimenting them periodically. If they get something right praise them or even reward them. Chocolates always work. Like for example, tell them that if they could complete a certain math problem within a specified time limit, then they can get some extra chocolates too.
- Work together
What many parents forget when monitoring their child’s academic progress is working together. Homework is not only assigned to the child but is also a means to get the parent and the child working together to solve the problems. It is nearly impossible for a child to work on a problem on their own and thus, needs the encouragement, guidance and cooperation of their parents as well. Support the student and don’t leave them alone to study on their own while the whole family relaxes. Sit beside them, if you have to work on your own and just give them some company.
- Offer incentives
Offering some kind of incentive also helps the children. It can be in the form of anything. It can be chocolates, a break or just allowing them to play some video game. However, do restrict the time and limit it. Like for example, if your child works on their homework for hours, give them a 30-minute break to do anything. After 30 minutes, switch off any game or television or phone, and get them back to their study area.
- Include physical activities
Many children just cannot sit at one place for a long time. They are unusually active and restless. For them, it is necessary to include certain physical activities to make homework interesting. Allow them to run, jump, or even dance or do yoga for a while after completing an assignment on one particular topic. You can give them some company too. This freshens them up and allows them to work fast just to get those breaks back.
- Play pretend
Pretending is one of the best ways to make your child have fun while doing their homework. Children love to pretend. Whether it is about having an imaginary friend or pretending to be something they want to be when they grow up. Get the necessary tools like a board where you can write. You can pretend to be a teacher and assign them work and also teach them that a particular topic. This will help them to learn better and fast, especially if your child learns better visually.
- Food helps!
Everything is incomplete without food. So include food into the schedule. You can use it as a reward. Like for example, make a sandwich that your child likes the most and keep it in front of them. Tell them that they could only have it if they get the problem right. So each time they get the problem right, allow them to take a bite from the sandwich.
- Look for a partner
For older kids, study partners are a great way to learn and finish homework. However, it is necessary that you choose the correct partner, or it will be unfruitful. Also, do not choose their best friend, as they would be talking only about mundane stuff and not getting any work done. Choose someone who is serious about getting the work done and that too fast.
- Get some help
There are always going to be areas where you can’t help your child or even won’t have certain knowledge about particular subjects. For that reason, it is necessary to get some help. You can ask their teachers at school to help them out by conducting some extra classes or you can simply hire a tutor to help them study better.
Be prepared to help out your kids and you will find that most of the problems will get resolved on their own. We hope that the suggestions were hopeful and would love to hear back from you. Feel free to drop a comment below.
‘Creativity is intelligence having fun.’