Tips to get a child interested in reading/basic school work?

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zeldapsychology
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27 Aug 2009, 6:13 pm

Hello parents. :-) I have a 7 year old little sister and from the beginning of school (end August-beginning June!!) (in FL anyway) She would whine EVERYDAY about not wanting to read/do homework. It's annoying IMO since it's ALL YEAR EVERYDAY!! !! Today it was about reading and she finally chose a story she wanted but when you make her she usually speaks softly and she finally gets the work done. My issue is the WHOLE YEAR thing! (one day,week,after summer or holiday break SURE BUT EVERYDAY THE WHOLE YEAR SHEESH!! !! !! !! ! She's had speech and tutoring to help with her reading so that's good (oh and BTW she was the one who wanted to go back to school over the summer they just started back the 24th.) :-) Any tips would be appreciated thinks. :-) (I like a good book Harry Potter,Twilight,Goosebumps just some of the series I've read and I'd usually read a chapter ahead when I was in College in my textbooks LOL!) YA LEARNING!



picklejah
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27 Aug 2009, 8:34 pm

My son would whine about doing his homework up until 3rd grade.

I made a checklist for him.
It was the same every day.

He could do whatever he wanted for one hour after school.

Then homework. (we listed his daily homework while he ate his snack)

If he didn't whine, he got to watch his favorite science show later in the day (or some other fun thing that he likes).

It took a bit of time, but the checklist helped immensely.

Now he just automatically does it without the checklist.
We just need one for our morning routine.

Does your sister get to pick out what she reads?? If so, maybe she could make a list of the books she wants to read. After she reads X amount of books, she could get a special treat.


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epril
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27 Aug 2009, 10:51 pm

zeldapsychology wrote:
Hello parents. :-) I have a 7 year old little sister and from the beginning of school (end August-beginning June!!) (in FL anyway) She would whine EVERYDAY about not wanting to read/do homework. It's annoying IMO since it's ALL YEAR EVERYDAY!! !! Today it was about reading and she finally chose a story she wanted but when you make her she usually speaks softly and she finally gets the work done. My issue is the WHOLE YEAR thing! (one day,week,after summer or holiday break SURE BUT EVERYDAY THE WHOLE YEAR SHEESH!! !! !! !! ! She's had speech and tutoring to help with her reading so that's good (oh and BTW she was the one who wanted to go back to school over the summer they just started back the 24th.) :-) Any tips would be appreciated thinks. :-) (I like a good book Harry Potter,Twilight,Goosebumps just some of the series I've read and I'd usually read a chapter ahead when I was in College in my textbooks LOL!) YA LEARNING!


When my daughter started getting homework, in about 3rd grade or so, she cried, whined, dozed, fiddled with her pencil, broke her pencil, lost her paper, on and on..she did this every night for a few years, for hours each night. Finally, after a long time of sitting in one spot for homework, at the same time every day, consistently, she started doing her homework. Thank God. Now she's in 11th grade and usually does it without any problem. I do check her agenda still.



DW_a_mom
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28 Aug 2009, 11:44 am

Many kids have trouble sitting down to do homework. Honestly, I wish they didn't give it, or at least not so much. My son has said many times he would happilly go to school 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, if that meant home could be free of homework. He just wants school to be keep in its little box.

So, tips ...

First off, realize that reading is going to be frustrating until her ability to read has caught up with her interest level. When my son was your sister's age, the materials he was interested in were long books like Harry Potter, but he lacked the fluency to read them effectively. One the deals we made was to read to him those big long books, in exchange for his reading something more his level to us first. Or alternating the reading of the big book, with him reading anything Harry says out loud, for example; playing the part, so to speak. Either way, the idea being that the child has access to the material that interests them in exchange for practice. When it takes off, she'll never look back, but neither of my kids acheived the level of fluency they needed to really enjoy reading until the summer before 4th grade. You'll have to be patient.

It also helps if the CHILD makes the decision on when, where and how to do homework. Write it down; remind her of all the reasons she choose the plan.

Breaking the assignments down into manageable pieces with rewards following each also helps.

For some children, however, it will always be a struggle. You just deal with it.


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braiden
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29 Aug 2009, 4:57 pm

What's hard is getting them interested in doing it WELL, usually my son (9) doesn't even read the instructions, and not doing well isn't a concern of his, if we try to help it often results in tantrums, or takes all night to do 1 page, yeah it isn't fun!...Books without visuals aren't able to keep his interest either...Also if it isn't about his "focus" he doesn't enjoy it...And add on to that his constant yelling at his sister for breathing too loud, humming, chewing ETC
Hopefully subject matter may become more interesting to him when hes older, like algebra, how it relates to computer programming (his interest) may encourage him...
Wish we had the money for montessorri, or they had charter schools in WA, then maybe he would have some passion about school. OK I guess this subject could go on forever !



mamamo
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29 Aug 2009, 5:07 pm

OK that last reply was accidentally done signed into my son's account braiden, too ironic, so this is me: mamamo
braiden says he doesn't have aby tips on how to encourage kids to do homework either :?