The morning has been going great. You’re right on schedule. The kids are all quiet, seated nicely, doing their schoolwork…..except for that One.
What are you going to do with him?
He’s just not able to keep his mind on his work. If only he’d quit looking around , he’d be able to get something done.
Does this sound familiar? It does to me. I’ve had to deal with these types of problems with all of my kids, and here are some tips to help your child concentrate and stay focused to the task at hand.
If you’d like to have a printable sheet with these tips already typed up, just click here for your free printable.
- If your child tends to procrastinate on project and paper due dates, try setting a kitchen or cell phone timer. In this way, your child will know that as soon as the timer goes off, he/she can move on to something else.
- If your children are easily distracted by noise and people, try having them use earplugs when they do their work. Also, remove or turn off the tv, radio, computer, notifications, phone, etc. Avoid windows and people if they must see what others are doing.
- If your children can’t concentrate because it’s just too quiet, then try some background white noise, turn on a fan, have instrumental music playing softly in the background. Also, there are plenty of YouTube videos that have hours of library noises, coffee shop noises, etc., that help with having mundane sounds in the background
4. If your child is tired of sitting in one spot to study in, try moving to a different location in the house, or go to a public place altogether, like the library. Sometimes just being out of the house can give renewed energy and focus to the task at hand. It could be something as easy as just going out to sit in the car to do your work.
- If your child can’t complete tasks, try a check off list. Sometimes, just the satisfaction of getting to check something off a list is enough incentive for a child to get something done. Also, a school schedule of what subjects to be working on at what time, can help to focus a child so there are not any extra decisions to be made that will slow him/her up.
- If your child gets bored with the same old thing all the time, try using different colors of paper, pens, and highlighters to keep focused and add interest. Who doesn’t love a colorful organized paper to look at? Also, train your child that he/she will do better if they break up a big task into smaller chunks and let them take a five-minute break to get up and stretch.
Longer assignments can be broken up into different times of the day. For instance, do all the odd problems in the morning, and the even ones after lunch. Or, divide it by the front and back of a worksheet.
When trying to focus and learn textbook information, do a little reading, then summarize out loud. Have your child write out their own quiz questions on index cards, for added interest. To make a game of it, challenge your child to see how many questions and index cards he can come up with.
If you would like these tips already typed up for you, just click here for your free printable.
