Hello again you helpful women!
My son started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. Starting this week, his teacher is asking us to work on some specific things at home. Specifically for my son, we need to practice fine motor work and writing/identifying numbers and letters.
I asked my son what time of day he'd like to work on this (he picked right after his sister goes down for a nap) and then of course at that time he didn't want to work on anything. I told him that I wanted him to do a 1 page worksheet his teacher had sent home, and that I would work on dishes while he did it so I was right near him to help if he needed it. Seriously, it was like pulling teeth to get him to finish. Whining, complaining, and on and on. Then, when he actually did it, it only took 5 minutes and he was so proud of himself.
I struggled to keep myself from getting annoyed because he was being SO had to motivate!!! I also told him if he worked on it until he was either finished or until I finished my work, then later he could watch a movie he picked out the other day at the library. My request was that he do his best work, and to do it quietly just like at school (so he wasn't distracted by talking to me).
My question is, how do you motivate your new students to get some of that practice in? We do well with reading (he loves books) but sitting down to write or do a project is (and has always been) kind of a battle. I've often just skipped it before because I didn't want him to have a negative experience with home work but now we really do need to do some of this stuff at home, as he is in 1/2 day K. I do not want to be the nagging Mom when it comes to homework, we just started school!
Your help, as always, is appreciated.
Thanks!
Jessica
We do homework after school~Always. This way they have the rest of the night to do what they want and chores also.
Updated
We do homework after school~Always. This way they have the rest of the night to do what they want and chores also.
Susan is correct. Give him a snack and then sit down next to him and first work on the fine motor skills..
Rolling out as many little balls of clay between his thumb and fore finger. (both hands) Once they are all made, have him stack them on top of each other to make a tower using forefinger and thumb..
Then use his forefinger to crush the tower.
Another day give him a box of large paper clips and have him make one long chain out of them.
Another day give him 2 clothes pins.. one for each hand and have him go around the room and see what he can pick up and carry with the clothes pins and return it to the original place.
Now give him a box of small paper clips to make another chain.
Get a piggy bank and have him empty out all of the coins. Have him divide them up into piles of pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters. Have him count each stack into piles of 10. Have him place them on a piece of paper and write down how many piles of 10 he made.
Get a jar of buttons and have him separate them by colors or sizes.
On a large piece of paper have him Draw lines to make roads. Then have him drive toy cars and trucks using only his forefinger on all of the lines. Have him keep the front tire of the car on the line..
Get a "Wheres Waldo" book and work on a page every once in a while.. (this is a good car or restaurant thing to have)
Have him put together a pretty easy puzzle. Then flip it over and have him put it together on the plain side. Then get 2 puzzles and have him work on 2 puzzles at the same time.. then 3 puzzles.. Have him place the puzzle pieces in Ziploc bags and have him zip them closed..
Give him safety scissors and have him cut out shapes.. Leaves, this month, pumpkins, next month, turkeys, in Nov.. Have him write his name on them and mail them to grandparents, Aunts, Uncles each month. He can write the return addresses on the back of the envelopes.
Pick one of this activities at a time. Then have him work on the worksheet the teacher brought home..
Everyday things that he can do and will not even realize it ts "homework".. Have him button all of the buttons on the shirts when they come out of the dryer. Have him hang pants, skirts etc.. with clothes pins on hangers so they can air dry.. Teach him how to fold all of the towels.. Have him make pairs of socks and teach him how to "ball" them together.. Have him tie all of the shoes laces into bows on all of the different pairs of shoes in the house.
All of these activities work on the fine motor skills. and observation (paying attention, longer and longer)..
Hi Jessica,
I know that the teacher is asking you to practice on her worksheets but their are so many more ways to work on his fine motor control/ numbers or letters.
If you get a chalkboard or a whiteboard, the resistance of the chalkboard is actually very helpful for a child working on this skill. While he is making the letter, have him say how he is writing it. For instance for the lowercase letter 'a', you can say, "start in the middle, around, touch, and down.
You can also get a bucket of water and a paintbrush and have him write his letters and numbers on the side of the house. You can also use shaving cream (make sure you put this on a surface that won't get damaged) spread it out and have him use his finger to write his letters/numbers. Make each session short and fun.
Tell him if he does one worksheet, you have an activity that will be fun for him to do like what I mentioned before.
I think with a child like your describing, making learning experiences at home short (ten minutes at a time) is important. Better to get something done while it is 'fun' than to struggle through it. This may mean setting a timer so he knows when he is done. Unfortunately for you, it will mean starting projects right away so it can get done in time. As he ages, you can increase the time for this work.
Kids, get tired after school.
They are also hungry and need a snack. Before homework.
Otherwise, they cannot concentrate.
For me, I always have my daughter do homework right after school after she'd had her snack. Otherwise, it gets procrastinated.
Also, at this age, a child DOES need 'help' with homework... they are young, to be totally self-sufficient about it. Even if that means, you sitting right there next to him as he does it. They need to be encouraged.....
Don't let HIM decide, 'when' to do homework... it is up to you to decide and have a regular EVERYDAY routine about it, after coming home from school.
If a child feels they are doing it all alone as well, they often get too overwhelmed... and that alone, can make them 'not' feel like doing it. Make it a joint effort. Not 'you' doing the work of course, but you next to him... as company and help with it.
That is what I did... when my daughter was that age and grade.
When a child is that young, they do need 'help' with homework and supervision. For me, that meant, me sitting right next to my daughter, while she worked on it. Cuing her.
Kids, can feel overwhelmed with it all... and they cannot, do time-management either. They don't have that concept down pat yet. So you need to delineate that. They are not yet totally self-sufficient about homework yet.
When they are in 2nd grade... THAT is when, a child is more 'able' to do homework independently... with you, also still supervising of course. But at this grade level, it is 'taught' that they can do it, on their own. But you STILL have to review it/look at it/help them, if they ask.
all the best,
Susan
I homeschool all of my children and I always say that Kindergarten is the hardest because of this reason. My youngest homeschooler (I have a baby too) is in 2nd grade and I still have this trouble. The thing that helps us is for me to tell him way ahead of time what to expect. You can say "Remember, tomorrow when sissy goes down for a nap, I'm going to have you practice your letters. I want you to work hard on them without whining or crying, okay?" Then give him high fives. Then remind him right before also. That always works for me. There are those occasions that I forget to remind him and I have issues but it seems that if I remind him ahead of time, it is better. Good luck!!!
Sounds to me that he is used to getting out of it by whining. It may take him a few days to learn that it no longer works, and that he now has to do his work, but if you stick to your guns, he will get it.
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My daughter just started kinder as well. we do her work after school so she has the rest of the evening to play. My son is 4, so I work with him at home & I just let him know that there is no tv until school work is done. I do things like the other posted stated about doing other projects too. My son loves our noodle activity. I buy plain egg noodles, rice, etc for cooking and I take a few and have him glue them to a piece of paper. I then have him cut them out. then I have him paint each one a different color with a tiny paint brush and then i have him tell me what color is what and count how many in all. Hope this helps...
In the car! This is a great time to talk and practice. Play the letter "game" by starting with A and you come up with a word that starts with a and then have him give you one. Then onto b and so on. As for identifying, start with the STOP sign. Cutting is also a great fine motor exercise and they have cutting books that are pretty fun (barnes and noble). Also, using a eyedropper to transfer water from one cup to another.
Have him do things that are fine motor skills in other ways also.
Putting a puzzle together.
Doing word search with you.(he finds the letters you say you are looking for, you circle words real or not, and he is concentrating on the paper)
paint something, make a birthday card for a friend, work on his own scrapbook
things that require him to focus, use his fingers, and enjoy
It took a lot of days like you experienced to develop the habit of sitting down and doing homework. My son was (and still can be) the champ of whining, inventive delay tactics, etc. But stay consistent. With that in mind, however, don't try to start with worksheets. As many other parents noted there are lots of fine motor activities. Mazes, cutting with scissors, clay, painting at an easel (also builds the core muscles needed for fine motor work), Legos, drawing with stencils, coloring. My son also loved writing on white boards much more than with pencil and paper.
My son has terrible fine motor skills and never wants to color or draw or paint. We've tried a lot of the great suggestions here. what helped us is if he does a page of work he gets an M & M. He chooses one or more or zero pages and thats how many M&Ms he gets. He doesnt get much candy so it seems to motivate him some. We vary it with pretzel m&ms, peanut ones etc
