We’ve had three long weeks of school already this year. My biggest goal this year for homeschooling is to put the love back in the learning. I got pretty stressed out and overwhelmed last year and I’ve been working hard to be more patient and loving with the kids. It’s been a difficult start but I love the “right foot” that we are getting off on.
Positive reinforcement is one tactic I’m trying to use more of and my new Superstar Jar is pure positive reinforcement in a jar. It’s part of a little reading incentive program I’m going to do for the kids this year for part of their home-schooling. But when they go above and beyond in school or at chores or such they may get a Superstar reward too. Most of the rewards are special privileges or activities they really enjoy or coupons for a new book. A few other things contributed to this new idea:
1. Recently I made a Story Jar for my little boy and suddenly I wanted to put everything into jars. This is new for me. Usually I do put everything food into jars, don’t get me wrong. I can and freeze and dry food and store it in jars, but now I’m beginning to realize what else is made more awesome with jars.
2. My kids read like superstars this summer. Inspired by the summer reading program, even my 3 year old wanted me to read to him every day. Even the baby loves books. She has many favorites that get read many times a day. She frequently walks up to us with a book and says, “Boo.” So cute! The 7 year old always reads. It’s getting her to stop that is the trick. Sometimes I feel silly laying down the law that she can’t read until school is done or until she gets her chores done. Sometimes we have to tell her to put down the book and have a little family interaction. But I love that she reads so much and try to give her the time to do so. When we were kids, my sister and I used to walk around the house with our noses in books and only look up when absolutely necessary. Maybe it’s a little bit genetic.
3. We were not so inspired by the library reading program’s prizes this summer. They were mostly buy one get one free coupons to local eateries that we were not fond of. Fail. So we had to make it up to the kids occasionally with our own prizes.
4. We were also not so thrilled with the charter school’s reading log prizes. They were mostly candy and very cheap toys (read: clutter) that break pretty quickly. Plus, they are only for Drew and not Israel. Though she shares, it’s not the same as getting a reading reward for your own reading.
5. A thrift store near me just set up an awesome little used book section with a plethora of gently used kid’s books for about 25 cents each! I will use lots of these for prizes and let the kids go and pick out their own.
So, my new little system works like this: When the kids read (or get read to them for the 3 year old) 15 age appropriate books, they get to pick a slip of paper from the jar. You can see almost all of these are free (and sugar free) but are special things that they love. I printed out multiples of some of these and we reuse the slips. So far the most popular one is the extra 15 minutes at bedtime. I wonder if other kids would think some of these rewards were lame. But I picked out things that I know my kids love and are always asking to do. I am very glad they enjoy all of these things.
Here’s a list of the rewards I used:
play dough
15 extra minutes to stay up at bedtime/nap
finger painting
watercolor painting
play in the sprinklers
play in mud
kisses and hugs
breakfast of choice
bubbles
a new book
a picture colored for you
snuggles
wrestles
game of choice
a candy
30 minutes of craft time
balloons
30 minutes of mama reading to you
a coin ride at the store
game of choice
30 minutes of craft time