Self-motivation is an important skill that everyone needs to learn in order to function in the working world. In 2021, most families are educating their children at home due to the pandemic. As online classes and digital homework assignments pile up, many parents wonder how to help their child get everything done on time. These strategies will make it easy to communicate a steady workflow to your at-home students.
Keep a Schedule
Classrooms normally provide a streamlined schedule that helps students know what to do at which time of day. Self-motivation is a lot easier when your world helps you with it, so work as a family to maintain a relatively streamlined lifestyle – especially on schooldays. Remember that since you’re not actually reporting in at the office, there’s nothing wrong with being 15 minutes late for something. However, you should still help the kids recognize that when you respect your own schedule, you’re showing respect for your own time and efforts.
Take Breaks
Regular rest periods are a good way to help break up activities and keep the day moving forward. Young kids should take a break from activities at least once every 45 minutes. Older students can have their class times stretch to an hour and a half or even two hours. In the middle of the day, encourage a one- or even two-hour break in which the family cooks lunch together.
During breaks, give your class 20 minutes to drink water, go to the bathroom, and check their phones. Without other students in the classroom, your kids will be relying on digital communication to make up their social interactions. Making a standard of using their phone on breaks instead of during study time will encourage healthy texting habits for their adult lives.
Encourage Autonomous Action
One of the core features of Montessori school is that students are expected to choose their own learning materials, set up their own workspace, and pick up after their own activities. Teachers are always around to guide students and help whenever there’s trouble; however, even kids as young as 3 or 4 have no problem maintaining this basic workflow if they are given permission to work on their own. Because kids have low attention spans, work cycles are punctuated by breaks in which the teacher checks in and encourages everyone to clean up.
In the same way, you can encourage your kids to handle their own homework and turn in their digital assignments. As the teacher, you’ll dictate when different types of work are done, but your students will take the individual actions.
One of the most important tenants of Montessori education is that students take after their teachers. You need to be the kind of person that you want your kids to be. If you show attentive and self-motivated teaching skills, your students will have no problem picking up those same habits in their daily lives.
