How to Keep Your Homeschool Kids Motivated

Guest Post by Mary of Growing As They Grow.

Sometimes our kids just don't want to do their homeschool lessons. The key lies in motivation.

How many of you have kids who always eagerly do their school work with no complaining? What? No one?

Okay, then. Let’s talk motivation.

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Give your homeschool kids meaningful work.

No one likes busy work. Ever.

The beauty of homeschooling is that we get to decide what to do. Use that power to eliminate the busy work! Your kids will have to do things they don’t like at some point. That is a fact. But they don’t have to do busy work!

When deciding what to include in your homeschooling, make sure everything has a purpose.

They might have to spend more time on certain subject, and that is okay. That work isn’t busy work, it is needful work. If they have something mastered though? Move on.

All the motivators in the world won’t help you if they are not a good fit for your child. That means you need to get to the core of who your kids are in order to help them succeed.

With that being said, let us explore a couple of personality types and how they find motivation.

Get to know your kids' personality types.

The Obliger

In other words, a people pleaser. This is me to the max! Obligers hate to let people down. Because of this, working as a team and having someone depend on them is important!

If your child falls into this category, then go over deadlines with them, set goals together, find projects you can work on with them. When they feel like what they are doing has outward accountability and expectations are clear, they will work hard to meet those expectations.

The Questioner

These people want to make the best decision possible, which means they always want a lot of information before acting. They may seem unwilling to do work, but it really comes from a place of wanting to understand the purpose of the work.

If your child falls into this category, then you should make sure they understand the bigger picture of what they are doing.

Try to incorporate multiple subjects into one lesson so they can see the benefit of the work in multiple areas of their lives. They will also benefit from knowing how what they are learning will help them in the future with goals they have for their lives.

The Rebel

Rebels are all about self-expression and freedom. They don’t want to feel confined and restricted. They hate being forced into doing things. Rebels do well when they are a part of making the plans.

If your child is able, have them help you make lesson plans and have them set their own goals. They are also usually pretty competitive, so have them race to meet a deadline or compete as much as possible!

The Upholder

Upholders are rule followers. This may seem like you hit the jackpot, but it also means they have a hard time being flexible.

If you tell them to do something, they will want you to outline exactly how to do it, because they don’t want to do it the wrong way. This means they won’t do things sometimes because they don’t know how to move forward.

They thrive with a lot of structure and clear expectations. Make sure you go over any questions they have before they get started.

When you know how your child works and what they need to be successful, you both can stop banging your head against the wall!

Mary Winfield is the media manager and blog editor at SPED Homeschool and blogs about special needs parenting and homeschooling at Growing As They Grow.

She is the mom to 2 rambunctious toddlers who are more dirt than boys most of the time. She is an avid reader and loves to write in many genres. She especially loves connecting to other moms so she can learn from them and maybe even offer a little help in return.