Wondering how to generate real homeschool motivation in your children? Helping kids to get and stay excited about learning at home can be a challenge. We asked parents: ‘How do you motivate your homeschooled child?’ — and about the challenges and successes they’ve experienced.
We held a Twitter chat with Premiership Rugby to talk about their new #LearnWithUs videos — online interactive sessions that aim to reach ALL children with health and numeracy lessons. They’re fun, engaging and help make homeschooling easier for everyone! Watch all of them on the Premiership Rugby #LearnWithUs YouTube playlist.
You don’t have to love rugby to have fun with the #LearnWithUs sessions from @PremRugby – the goal is to inspire ALL kids with fun interactive learning. Check them out! https://t.co/xkSfdGEq39 #ad
@BritMums
Discover tips for homeschooling motivation and get inspired from fellow families below!
Is it hard to keep kids motivated?
We asked parents if motivation is a problem for their children (and themselves). Er, yes,
Splitting myself in 2 is a challenge! Hard to give both my full attention @hannahbjm
Trying to work from home at the same time. @radders2012
Yes some days can be hard, sometimes for my kids it has to be a subject that they are interested in. @AmyDoyl387
#learnwithus Having to help with the actual work!!! pic.twitter.com/Cj3ilBaiml
— 🌼⭐️Hayley Cooper⭐️🌼 (@hhardy88) January 22, 2021
My challenge is trying get my eldest to do school work without my 1-year-old trying to get involved! He scribbles all over the paper my eldest is using. Giving him his own paper isn’t as fun apparently! @vickydoo
Why it’s hard to keep kids motivated for homeschooling
There has been an awful lot of shouting at times.
@angep1969
My challenges are keeping the children still for 5 minutes! I have a 9 year old and 5 year old and they always love to be moving!
We have only limited rooms in the house wifi reaches, so with 3 of us online, daughter does ‘school’ from my bedroom. I’m terrified I’m going to walk out the shower one morning and find her class on Teams! @missielizzieb
We just had online parent’s evening. Funny how teachers’ comments bear little resemblance to our experience of our little learner!
@missielizzieb
Ways you create homeschool motivation in your kids
- Praise their efforts – Lots of praise and encouragement works well. I also find that focusing on one lesson at a time instead of the full days’ work is better for them. @TSFblogger
- Stick to a schedule – So difficult to keep my son motivated, with all the usual distractions of home life. We’ve definitely made more of an effort to stick to the school timetable during lockdown 3 @KyraCooper7
- Get some fresh air – Fresh air wakes us up after lots of school work. We’ve been going for a scoot around the village in the afternoons @pippyhunt
- Don’t forget downtime – We have clear times for school work and homework then plenty of fun times and quiet times is what works for us @vodkawitch88
- Switch it up – I think breaking it down helps, when I see they are frustrated or I have a meeting I try to get them doing something else, this is where online stuff is great as they can choose something that interests them @Rennie1811
- Give plenty of feedback – 3 kids, 3 schools, all doing it slightly differently but all have some form of interaction and giving feedback so that helps a lot. @TheBeesleyBuzz
- Adapt to their pace – For my 9-year-old, when we first began, I was quite strict and wanted to rigidly stick to the time table. In the end, we were both stressed and upset so I had to relax and take it at his pace @Louiseyrollins
- Be available for questions – Being able to check in with any questions regularly has helped my daughter not to worry about not getting things done @Tantrums2Smiles
- Variety is the spice of life – I home educate my children all the time (6 years now) and variety is massively important. Lots of hands on learning and fun! @Sebsmummy. I find we have to do 10/15 min short bursts (my son is in reception) and keep mixing up the activities. @summerfun110
- Reassure them they are not alone – Seeing their friends obviously and even hearing others struggling to understand gives some reassurance that they’re not the only one. @hannahmarytoo
Fact: physical activity helps with learning
- Dance – We get up and do some dancing in between but still it’s a lot to expect of them. @claugirl77
- Walk the dog or go out with pets – Just about take my son out with me to walk the dog, just to break up the day and get his ‘PE’ in. @lauislucky
- Keep it simple with walks – Lack of fresh air and particularly sunshine is hard to come by with short days #LearnWithUs We try to take a break at lunchtime and go for a walk @missielizzieb
- Do the rugby-style warm-up with #LearnWithUs sessions – I think this would definitely appeal to both my boys. One already loves rugby the other is more football mad but it could still work. Interactive sessions are so much more engaging than just work sheets. @TSFblogger
- Get creative with older kids – Trying to think of new activities for our teenager is a challenge. We have tried zumba, learning Bollywood dancing and salsa etc. @Lizzie1234x
Homeschool motivation and parents
While there are challenges to homeschooling, there are also triumphs and successes. Emphasising the benefits helps you and your children. Here’s what it looks like when it works, parents say.
- Learn yourself – We have more family time and I finally understand fractions! @Rennie1811
- Get to know one another better – We have more understanding of each other. @goriami
- Acknowledge that everyone is getting better at it – The children are more accountable with online lessons, the interaction is more encouraging and the work quality is definitely improving. We’re nailing this home schooling this time round, but will be pleased when they’re back at school. @LouiseOCarroll
- The school’s preparedness helps – The school have been more prepared this time and having live lessons at 9am and 1pm have helped us stick to a much more structured schedule which was hard to start with but has really helped in the long run. @Tantrums2Smiles
- School staff are a valuable resource – I was really pleased when I mentioned to DD’s teacher that she wasn’t reading as much this time, she’s asking the librarian to compile a reading list so I can buy get books for her. How great is that? @missielizzieb
- Non-school online lessons can be great! – Some of the teaching online is to such a high standard. The presenters I have seen can be so passionate about their subjects and it rubs off on the children @CharlotBurton
- Kids can learn with Premiership Rugby – Check out the fun short interactive #LearnWithUs sessions with Premiership Rugby. It’s a way to get kids engaged, having fun and learning in a fresh way! — One mum says: Love that you can watch live and on demand so they can easily be fitted into any schedule! Well done to them and thank you to them too for providing a provision that kids will love! #LearnWithUs @Tantrums2Smiles
More homeschooling tips and ideas
Homeschool humour 2021: Then funniest memes and TikToks for 2021
The 5 funniest homeschooling videos and memes
Teaching tips for parents working from home
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