Back To School: Supporting Learning & Keeping Your Child Motivated
In this article, Anne-Marie Harrison, Education Director from Ideas Afresh, discusses the strategies you can use to support your child’s learning, encourage motivation, and prepare them for the upcoming school term.
Ready-made motivators
Observe what your child enjoys and follow their lead to identify ready-made motivators. For instance, if they are interested in cars, try to incorporate cars into their learning. You could practice maths by getting your child to line their toy cars up and count them.
Catering to interests
Choose colours and pictures that interest your child to help organise their school equipment. For example, if they like the colour green, try to co-ordinate your child's school supplies to all be green. This will help your child look forward to the return to school, as they will be excited to use their equipment, and will associate the return to school with something positive.
Visual and fun reminders
To prepare your child for learning at home, try using fun reminders as a signal that you are building up to a positive activity together. For example, a physical reminder like a piece of Jenga or chess in their school bag is a fun prompt about the upcoming after-school activity.
Reward systems
If you are using a rewards system to help promote motivation, try to think outside the box: cater the reward to your child's interests. Use a toy car or a doll as a reward instead of a points system.
Involve school
Share with your child's school why you find an approach helpful and why you think your child might. Getting your child’s school involved with strategies that you are using at home, will mean that your child has continuous support throughout the day. For example, if you've noticed that visual schedules help your child stay organised, communicate this to their teacher.