A former teacher's advice-

Some of the problems with at-home learning happen in cycles, and in our house it’s been a constant struggle to make sure assignments are completed and up to date. When the list of incomplete work rises to more than 5, it causes stress and anxiety on even the youngest of students… and for the parent. Checking in I often find out that “I’m done” hasn’t necessarily meant either child has stayed caught up with the assignments handed out during the week. I found out the hard way that my kids just meant THEY were done being in school and doing work for the day.

Of course when I caught on to this, I started checking in (okay, it was a gradual ramp up, but I’m pretty consistent now). A pattern emerged: the fun assignments were submitted, but the others put off so that by Friday, there was an overwhelming back up of work they still needed to do. Left to their own devices, they would move on from school to group chats and I’d never know the difference if I didn’t investigate by signing into their accounts and checking my daily emails from their teachers.

My older child’s teacher recently started making rewards via scheduling social groups that the kids get to participate in if they are done with their work for the week, on Friday. My oldest child was so excited that they have stayed caught up for 2 weeks in a row, even submitting all their assignments before the end of the school day each day they are assigned. I’ve been astonished at the difference.

So I put my finger to my chin and thought a bit, and then grabbed some marbles, a jar and a cup. I went to my youngest child (who informed me this morning that she had 22 assignments to catch up on…. yes TWENTY-TWO), dropped a marble in the jar and the cup and asked which sound she liked best. She liked the “loud sound” which was the glass jar. I counted out 22 marbles and put them in the cup. I asked her to transfer over a marble to the jar each time she completed an assignment. As an additional reward, since I am working from home, each time I heard the glass tink of a marble hitting the bottom of the jar, I shouted, “yay, good job!”

By lunch she had completed all but 4. These are 4th grade assignments, so they are short and sweet for the most part, but I was astonished at her progress. Here’s why I think it worked:

Tangible results

There’s something about a tactile process that wakes up our neurons and satisfies our desire to see progress. Working via phone all day, I make tick marks and number challenges for myself in order to keep my motivation up. If I think about the fact that I will make 200 calls in 8 hours, I will lose faith and become overwhelmed. By breaking down the task hour by hour, I can focus and get a lot of calls made. Similarly, when my child put each marble in the jar, she had a great sense of satisfaction and the sound, sight and feel of each glass sphere hitting the bottom of the jar.

Emotional support

As much as anything, she needed to know that I cared, and that I was watching to see her create a process and succeed. She made a big show of finding materials as she completed various tasks, hoping I would notice and give praise. Just a simple “I see that you have your art supplies out” was enough to bring a grin. She had the satisfaction of doing the project, but being seen and noticed was important to her.

Control

Everyone wants to be in control of their own body, work, destiny. Letting her choose the cup or jar seems so small but having a choice made it a real reward. She smiled jubilantly every time she dropped a marble.

Consistency

Great systems develop over time, with gradual change and adjustments. It has taken me many months to develop my habit of checking both kids’ assignments, and now we are adding in ways for the kids to independently monitor their progress. My older child has learned to create a checklist of their various tasks, and enjoy the feeling of checking each and every one off.

Regardless of whether in-person learning begins again before the end of the school year, we’re finally levelling out in our house and keeping up with school without a big fuss. The most important part of learning is to love the process, so it’s a relief that today, at least, we have a system supporting that.