Ideas to encourage working at home

I know from first-hand experience how very hard it was to persuade reluctant children to work from home.

My son was forever saying how hard he found schoolwork hard and it wasn't his fault he wasn't good at it, so why was I punishing him by making him do more in the evening. He didn't say this calmly he scream at me through tears of rage.

To be honest, I could see his point, and it broke my heart, but I knew I had to push him in the right direction.  I really wished I’d had somebody outside the family motivating him..  That’s why I start each Elevate club by rewarding work done at home, to try to take pressure off parents.

The solutions used are mostly totally unlike any work they do at school. They are more like computer games, so it really isn’t more of the same.  They won’t admit it but often once they start they quite enjoy them.

I found the bribery far more successful than punishment. Not only was it more positive it stopped the atmosphere of the home being miserable.

What worked best in our house was a daily reward on completion. It might be a doughnuts, sweets, cake, favourite fruit or watching a particular TV programme (not very politically correct I know).

On top of this, if work was done consistently over a period of time we would reward with a bigger prize, something that was wanted badly that couldn’t be obtained any other way. For example an Xbox game or trip to a favourite place.

Good luck. If you find something that works please let me know so I can share it with other parents.