Home schooling moms: What kinds of rewards and incentives do you offer to your kids as students? (read on)?

Question

For example, so many days of work gets a field trip?, etc. We are starting on Thurs. and I could use some ideas to make my son's year of Kindergarten at home as fun and educational as possible.

p.s. I am so excited to start teaching...please share as much as you like.

Answer 1

I do not use incentives, since all that does is instill an attitude of, when I do this, I'll get that, or if I do not comply I get punished by having something taken away.

Natural consequences can become an effective learning experience for most children.

If we do not get finished with something that needs to get done, than we will have to pass on something else.

However there are many times when we can drop what we are doing, go skating, swimming, or something else, and pick up where we left off after we return.

Children should never be made to feel that learning anything depends on, or should be motivated by rewards, and punishments.

Stick with the normal boundaries you, and your husband have set to raise him, and simply add the academics as he is capable of handling them, but do not use "school" as a carrot, and stick; it will back fire.

Days off are scheduled when we need them, and field trips are an educational opportunity that should be part of learning, not a reward for learning.

For a real eye opener on this subject read Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn.

He also wrote several other books that are great resources for anyone who wants to learn more about the educational world; the one I like to is, The Homework Myth.

http://www.unschooling.com/

Answer 2

I don't use incentives. I have a daughter who is 5 1/2 and don't do busy work right now. She will get enough of that later on in life and in the later years of schooling.

We are always going somewhere on a trip. I make every trip count as a learning experience even if it is just going to the grocery store. My daughter even makes a grocery lists with me and writes her own, she helps load the cart and picks out things for her and I to cook together or bake. It is important part of living and learning. We count things along the way in the car and play I spy games. we talk about things we see and hear along the way and even in the store. Talk about picking out a new food and planning on how to prepare it, what it might taste like, describing it, etc.

When we go to the park we sit and just do a listening game- talk about what do we hear when we close our eyes- what can I make out of the clouds in the sky? What does she see when she looks to the sky? These games get them going into different directions and soon we are off and learning things new everyday.

Lots and lots of art so she can express herself. I live all art open ended because that is what art is all about- An expression of oneself. I don't believe in premade art activites unless she truly wants to paint a paint by number thing or window cling. It is her choice.

I live a big book of Kindy skills out that she can grab up whenever she feels the urge to practice writing, reading, math, etc. It is on her terms. I had to leave it out for almost 2 weeks before she would even look at it and now she has completed half the book in a couple of months time.

Lost of reading of books. I leave them out for her to look at- we read together for as long as she feels fit and satisfied or until my voice gives out-haha.

Child this age need lost of time to explore the world around them, to teach them skills they will need later on in life besides only focusing on academics. Yes they need the 3 R's. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic are vital and all else is just extra.

Just breath and take your time. Children have more time to learn at home than in a school setting- half the time in a Kindy class is spent getting everyone settled, doing the basic needs, learning rules, etc. If you really sit down and count the time spent on academics you would find it is a lot less time then they would get at home.

Let him be himself- go with the flow- don't worry if you have a bad day and all you do is veg in front of the television or letting him play with toys most of the day. He is still learning thru these experiences.

have a ton of patience. Let the learning be fun and exciting so it sets up a lifetime of wanting to learn. If you make reading or writing a tedious task how can you expect him to like it later on in life.

Give him opportunities to dig in the dirt and mud, explore bigs and animals, help you plants a garden, help you with chores, helping you cook in the kitchen, get messy with paints and even paint a few items that he isn't suppose to to see the effects. I let me daughter pick up rocks in the backyard and paint them. I figure they can be washed off and repainted later-ha.

Let them play in the water. Let them explore and do science projects to see what happens if you do so and so and see what the outcome is. yes it may be messy, but most everything can be cleaned.

Always encourage him to not be afraid and try new things though respect him if he truly doesn't want to try it. Don't push to do things before he is ready.

Most of all fill your day with joy, love, and lots of laughter. Take the time to take off your shoes and run with him hand in hand thru the wet grass. Talk about the joyeous things you did as a child. Children love to hear about the crazy things you tried as child.

Just enjoy your time because you only get one shot at this. The housework can wait because that will always be there. No time like the present to spend with your son. Spoil him with attention and love!!

Answer 3

I plan his work schedule for 2-3 weeks at a time.  I plan 'easy' days in the schedule for catching up.  If there is no reason to catch up, all work is done, then there is an easy day.  If he goofs off during that time, then there is a built in day for catching up.  My son is old enough to understand this concept.  You may need to adapt for the younger age.

I also 'skip' work if  a concept is understood.  There is no reason to keep going over parts of speech if they are understood.  This is not reward or punishment, it is just the beauty of home school.   That is one reason I only schedule for 2-3 weeks at a  time.  I never know how fast or slow a particular concept will go, so there is no reason to plan months ahead only to need to go into book and change everything.

Answer 4

I agree with the general posts on this. I say the "school work" itself should be fun. At this age it doesn't even have to be formal at all. My first grader still doesn't have a lot of formal work time. We read a lot and map what we read about, write letters to friends and family and do a math program. We use the Sonlight program as our guide and go off on side trips when we want to dive deeper into a subject. My children end the day asking for more or want me to read "school" books for bed time stories! Keep it fun and when you feel burned out take a break. Even if that break doesn't jive with the rest of the school system. This is the beauty of home school. Keep yourself informed by your on-line and local community. You will do great and your child will soar!

Answer 5

For the field trip, send him to public school for the day.

Give your kid a break, send your son to real school.  Do you have a college degree in teaching?  Do you live so far from other people that this is necessary?  Why did you decide to home school your son?  Do you not have any adult friends and feel that this will keep you entertained?

Answer 6

I have three that I homeschool, ages 10,6 and 4. I use rewar coupons. ie. working well, staying quiet, my best pennmanship etc. We will probably have  a field trip once a month, but also do things such as going to the Library or Barnes and Nobles to look at books or go to Chuck E Cheese to play ( you can for free & you don't have to buy anything!) Call some local resturants or firehouses and let them know you homeschool and you can get filed trips that way. With resturants you get the field trip and most times they will give you food. Round TAble Pizza gives you a tour and the lets the kids make a pizza. SO much fun.

I am going to implement a Monopoloy Money reward incentive. If I see them working well and behaving, being kind, showing respect anything really, I'll reward them with the fake money and I want to have a little " store" box that has items from suckers to paints and books. Of course all with a price tag for their fake money. So, your student is working well, give them $100.00(in small bills too), and if they are being bad, you take a little money from them. That way they see that there is a consequence for being good and also a consequence for being bad. Then at the end of the day, week or month they can buy what they want( obviously have items for $5.00 and big items for $100.00 to $500.00 dollars. Make it fun. Go to the Dollar Store or Wal*Mart in your area and look for fun stuff. Use homemade coupons ei. no kitchen duties for one week, or get out of trash duty card, or a coupon for a frosty or an ice cream cone on $1.00 nights at your local icecream place, stay up and have a movie night with mom etc. There really are so many great ideas to play around with.

There is nothing wrong with incentives at school. When you work outside the home you get incentives such as a bonus or a raise or even a gift certificate to a resturant. Why not in school?

Let me know what you come up with. Enjoy your school year.Make it fun and spend lots of cuddle reading time, that will be the best reward.

Jeanna homeschool mom to 3:)

Answer 7

Umm..every one or two weeks you should have a field trip to a museum or somthing on what he is learning.  Don't give him to much written work, instead, give him some activities and projects.  DO NOT LOSE PAITENCE WITH HIM IF HE IS HAVING TROUBLE! HE WILL BE DISCOURAGED.  If you need anymore help e-Mail me at [e-mail].

Answer 8

I don't use our field trips as rewards.  It's just part of our curriculum.

With kindergarten I'd say make sure to relax and enjoy it.   Don't try to do a whole bunch of bookwork.   Kindergarten is all about exploring with your hands.  Playing in sand and water.   Discovering things about the world around us - plants, animals, bugs, etc.

Take lots of nature walks, plant lots of differents seeds to see how they grow, go to museums, science centres, zoos, etc if you have them around you.     Music is a great learning tool as well.

Most of all HAVE FUN!!  :)

Answer 9

I don't do rewards and incentives. I've read "Punished by Rewards" and already felt that away about rewards, but was grateful the book could support my feelings and could verbalize what was wrong with them. (And let me tell you, I grew up being the one in the class who received the most awards/rewards, so it's not like I have these feelings due to jealousy!)

That doesn't mean we don't do fun stuff. But we do fun stuff because it's fun, because the kids deserve it just because they're kids and deserve to have fun. Just like my kids don't have to earn a hug or a kiss, they don't have to earn fun.

We have a set routine that is still flexible, allowing for field trips or other activities that would cut into our normal school time. We have a set time every week for fun time (Friday afternoons) and also make it to a homeschooling park day most weeks (one afternoon a week). They don't follow the routine because they'll be rewarded for following the routine; they follow the routine because that's the routine. If I set it up so that they only worked because of the reward, they would not be learning to love learning and to learn for the sake of learning, they'd be learning just so they could earn the reward.

This doesn't mean that I won't do things now and then like, "You know, we've been working really hard lately and I can see our energy's fizzling a bit. Let's do something different today." Then we might go out to some great place to have fun and re-energize.

I will also say that I try to include fun and interest as part of our school time. My son loves playing addition bingo. Who am I going to say, "You can play that after you've done a page in your workbook"? He's practising his addition facts and enjoying it. What could be better than that?

If you want to make your son's year as fun and as educational as possible, then do it. You don't need to have a day set aside here and there to have fun. Make learning fun, make it interesting. Have a good routine where you make sure to do things like you read to him, you practice (or play games for) phonics and numbers. Let him draw and colour and paint and do seasonal crafts and all that. Go to the park regularly. Find other homeschoolers to do things with. Go on field trips. Life is full of great stuff that we can do and learn with!