During one of my education classes at the University of Nebraska we were discussing resumes, what to add and what to leave out. The question came up as to whether or not we should include our ACT scores. The professor replied that if your scores were very high it would be good to include them. I raised my hand and said I received a 21 (at least I think that’s what it was). “Oh, definitely leave that out!” he responded. Ha ha! Maybe I should have looked into ACT Tutoring.
The fact of the matter is, I was not the best high school student. In fact my motto was “Why kill myself to get an A when with very little effort I had a guaranteed B?” I was very happy with this mindset until my senior year when the head master of the school began offering incentives for grades. Now that got my attention. Keep in mind I was at boarding school. Every student who received all A’s in a quarter was presented with a booklet of coupons including the following: 1 free breakfast in bed, 1 day of skipping classes, and several for free food at the student lounge. My B average very quickly became all A’s!
At that age I suppose I didn’t understand the value of studying and learning, but given a goal that I could reach for, I rose to the occasion. My own experience is probably a big reason why I use incentives in home schooling.
While I try to instill the value of being well educated, I can see that my children don’t really understand why all this will be important some day. And although I do try to show them the relevance of, for instance, math in their lives right now, that doesn’t always connect with why they need to sit and complete a math paper. So I do offer incentives at home such as candy, Silly bands, Wii or TV time. I try to vary things and keep them fun. Do you use incentives? How do you motivate your children to get through the more tedious assignments?
We have a prize basket that the kids can choose from once a week. I fill it with things like gum, tic tacs, bracelets, nail polish, frappicino (you can buy a 4 pack of bottles), stickers, calculator, chopsticks, cups, and anything else I can find for CHEAP that might be interesting to them!
While I’m not homeschooling, I still have a relavent example. Our kids work weekly to learn a certain Bible Verse, each week they have to recite it. Every 4th week or so, they have to say the last 3 weeks worth of verses at one time… If they accomplish that (approximately once a month) I have a list of about 5 prizes they can choose from. Such as: choosing a movie from Redbox, choosing a carton of ice cream- all their own, a snack and drink from Quicktrip, extra Wii time, or $5 in cash for Wal-mart… They know its important to learn the verses, but they enjoy it a lot more when an ‘incentive’ is there!
I like the idea of what works for you. So glad you saw the need for ‘A’s. Your kids will too, we always do hope 🙂
I think its great that you are giving your kids some extra motivation to learn! My only motivation was not getting my butt kicked when I got home, and let me tell you it worked a lot less than you’d think!
Since we aren’t to schooling age yet, I’m soaking in others ideas and storing them away to pull out when we need them! 🙂
I wish there was Internet when my kids were still in school. I could have learned so much — but you prolly were still in diapers back then. 😉
I don’t homeschool but I do often use incentives. Particularly with chores. Pierce can’t get out a special toy until x,y, and z are picked up. That sort of stuff.
My kids aren’t allowed to do anything until they’ve finished their math. Apparently that’s enough incentive to have my kids work hard on their math first thing in the morning, to get it over with. LOL
Well, I don’t homeschool, but I do use incentives for good report cards. Also, Wii/TV time isn’t until after homework is finished daily. I totally believe in incentives. My nine year old is too young to understand how important good grades are to his future, ubt a short term incentive makes him work tht much harder.
This is a great reminder for me… I owe some incentives!
Blessings!
LIB
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We don’t use incentives regularly, but we try to reward the kids when the right opportunity arises. Like today, my homeschooling son got all his work done with a great attitude (so far) this week, so he’s off golfing with dad. My older son, who attends public high school, brought his grades up significantly this past grading period (he shared your B’s are good enough philosophy), so I surprised him with a new shirt the last time I went shopping.
There’s no rhyme or reason to the rewards. Kind of like life, you never know when someone will notice all your hard work, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give your best!
Col. 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as though serving God and not for man.”
@karen dawkins: i like to remind myself of that verse as it applies to motherhood, too! 🙂
How did I not know you were homeschooling?! So, I have a question for you: Do you use a particular textbook to teach reading? Kaia’s showing a lot of signs of being ready, so I’m looking for ideas.
Carla, I use Abeka to teach Phonics. I don’t blog about homeschooling often I guess. 🙂
Thanks! I probably just miss all the homeschooling posts… 😉
Great idea! My son is only 2 so we’re not homedchooling yet but I plan on establishing some sort of reward system.
I have four sons, two teenagers and two are grammar school age. The two teens had no incentives other than authority and spiritual training. The younger two I have realized that understanding comes with age therefore I am using incentives. Complicated plans get lost on younger kids. For spelling I gave 3 cents for every word spelled correctly. We have a coin jar that he immediately rushes to get his total change. Walmarts self check out has been fun!