1) Notice when your child works best.

Try to structure meals and other activities around them having the time to study when they’re likely to work best. This might be straight after school, or before you sit down for a meal, or once they’ve had time to relax in the evening.

2) Create a space to learn.

If your child works in the kitchen notice if they need you to be around to provide support, encouragement or a reminder to focus! Or whether they appear to get frustrated with the noise and disturbance. Don’t forget you can use facilities like a library or a school to provide you with workspace for your child too.

3) Provide them with the materials they need to learn.

Books, practice papers, broadband connection, pens, paper, folders, subject dividers etc. Having equipment that they enjoy using can have a powerful motivating effect on some children.

4) Try and instil the responsibility on them.

Ask them how much they think they need to do, when they need to do it and whether they need any help. It might be difficult to do this because they aren’t always naturally good at ‘knowing’ these sorts of things, but give them a chance to learn how to take responsibility and you’ll be impressed!

5) Provide them with the encouragement they need to feel good.

Tell your child that you’re proud of the work they’ve done, even if they shrug off the compliment, it will make a difference. It’s been shown that confident children do well at school.

6) Make it sound fun!

If you use doing homework or revision as a punishment or simply present it in a way that makes it sound like and arduous task, they’re hardly likely to feel so joyous about it themselves! Put a positive spin on it and they’ll feel more motivated to sit down in the first place.

7) Remember; your child might be very different to you!

You might work best in the morning and prefer to write everything down and memorise it, but they might rather work in the evening and use a different approach for revision. Help them find a way that works for them.

8) Consider the use of rewards.

Depending on the age and inclination of your child it might be helpful to offer them some motivation in a more material form!

9) When you feel frustrated, worried or disappointed, explain it to them.

If you can explain to your child how you feel they will develop an understanding of how their actions (or lack of) can affect other people. Discussing feelings with your child will help them understand themselves better and can dispel the need for an argument, creating a positive space in which to work and learn.

10) Encourage ‘the balance’.

It’s so simple it’s often overlooked by children and parents but make sure that they’ve eaten enough and drunk enough water to be able to concentrate when they do their work. For homework and revision ‘little and often’ is a good routine to create for them.

If you would value some time to discuss these ideas more, then you would benefit from a coaching session to help you find the best way forward for you and your family. ‘Contact me’ for more information.

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