Help Your Kids Take Pride In Their Achievements

More and more children are being schooled at home by their parents these days. This comes with a lot of benefits and advantages for the whole family. The quality time we have together is something for us all to treasure forever. Best of all, learning can be tailored to the needs of each child instead of having to suit a wider classroom of kids.

As with anything in life, there can be a few difficulties to overcome. Regular schools use league tables and results charts to grade the children. They are effectively compared to each other. This can be quite competitive and rarely suits every child. Homeschooling avoids these comparisons. But it can fall short in identifying achievements above and beyond curriculum expectation occasionally.

I want my kids to be proud of everything they achieve. We do a lot of learning through craft activities and art. I love using quality frames like those at Best4Frames to highlight and display their work. To me, it doesn’t matter how it compares to other kids’ work. What matters is that the work has been undertaken, nurtured and completed. That’s an achievement that should be applauded, no matter what age or ability your child has reached.

I’m also quite fond of certificates and stars when I feel the kids have put in some extra effort. These too can be framed and displayed as something to be proud of. Sometimes there can be frustration or even boredom with tasks and activities we do. But my kids take pride in what they are doing, and they see it through. I think it’s important to recognise that making a good job of even the mundane things is an achievement. After all, these are skills for life and skills for the workplace that we’re trying to develop.

If you don’t have a lot of wall space to adorn with framed pictures and certificates of achievement, you can use a portfolio folder. These look really good, and can be kept somewhere in the home where everyone can see it. It’s lovely when the kids sit together and flick through their books to remember what they have achieved. There is plenty of praise between them, despite the age differences. This affirmation of a job well done is so important to them.

Motivating the kids requires little effort on my part when they take pride in what they are doing. Like all of us, there are times when they wish they were doing something else. But when you take pride in your work you still get it done, and you do your best to make a good job of it. Part of my role is to further learning that has already taken place. Drawing on activities that have been achieved helps with this a lot. It offers us all a chance to remember that we’ve accomplished a lot already that can help with the next task.

I love it when the kids enjoy the activities we do as part of our homeschooling. It helps me take pride in my role when my children are proud of what we’ve accomplished together. How do you reward good work at home?