Janina Illustrates Attainable Growth

This is a picture of what I'm doing today to keep my youngest girls motivated to stay on task with their school work (it matters to me that they're motivated, rather than forced, otherwise it's miserable for all of us!) This has been the best strategy so far. You don't have to be an artist to create these simple traced-hand charts to help kids track & visualize tasks. You don't have to have a fancy print-off, just trace their hands and be clear about which actions earn a stic...ker (or just have them color each finger or fingernail as they earn, if you don't have stickers). You can be super specific or not. Just keep it fun! The girls don't have 10 jobs each, we are just breaking bigger tasks into several smaller tasks here. I threw in a little bonus for Lydia when she earned 5 stickers for the first hand, and the girls will earn a manicure from Mommy once they've adorned all 10 fingers. This system is better than what we were doing before, because it visually displays how much they're progressing overall, rather than receiving micro-rewards for each step in the right direction (or enduring the push-pull cycle!) Traditional weekly fill-in-the blank charts were doing nothing for us, because they proved to be too abstract. Of course, a chart will never "do" anything for us. We have to refer back to it frequently, we are the ones to do the "work". Strategies fail quickly when we don't apply any effort. Having a visual strategy can really enhance those efforts, though! My kids are self-paced, which has its own challenges, but I imagine visualizing a "countdown" could also be useful for those children who seem to have endless Zoom meetings. I have a bonus tip which I've shared with some of my younger clients: Make tally marks as you listen to online lectures. Use two categories, label them something like, "Stuff I already know" and "Stuff I didn't know before" ~or~ "New" and "Review". This gives your brain something to scan for, and scanning requires a lot less effort (and motivation) than active listening does. Think of it like when you're in an environment with a lot of background noise and you hear your name; suddenly you're at attention! Your name is something your brain is programmed to scan for, without conscious effort. Depending on the subject, your brain can be somewhat casually scanning for "novel information or application" in order to try to add up tally marks, which may be used to gauge how well you were listening. Extra credit if you actually write down what the new information IS!! Have a better day! Love, Janina Find the original post here: http://innovising.com//16/how-i-get-my-kids-to-do-homesch/ http://innovising.com//16/how-i-get-my-kids-to-do-homesch/

Today I want to share a very entertaining video with you! The name of the creator's YouTube channel is "Editing is Everything" and I agree with that statement! She uses her editing skills to showcase how the same story can be retold in ways that give a completely different impression of its style or even overall purpose. The concept is more than entertaining; it illustrates a new angle to take when interpreting things that happen in life! [ 533 more words ] http://innovising.com/2020/10/11/youre-the-editor/