What do you say to your kids to justify "more school" after school?

[Writerdaddy]

Today in our afterschool writing activity, for the first time I had to justify doing more school after school to my 3rd graders, who are very obedient. I talked a bit about college. My daughter countered that "Doctors don't have to know how to write," and my son, "Do builders need to write?"

 

Of course I came up with answers, and they seemed to think college was important. My son also offered, "Will this make writing easier?" And he seemed motivated by this. I said, "It will make 4th grade easier too," which got him to sit down at the table.

 

So that went well, but what about next time?

 

How do you do it? How do you get your kids to buy into afterschooling?

I imagine it's not a problem with some eager kids, but mine are not like that.

 

Thanks for your suggestions and reports! I need all the tricks up my sleeve I can get.

 

 

ps

 

I have obedient kids, twin boy and girl in 3rd grade accelerated class, which makes PS barely tolerable. The math is so-so state standards, too simple for my kids (but they're not complaining about easy-- they like easy). The language arts is challenging for my boy and I kind of forced the district to put him in the class, along with a lot of secret training him in taking cognitive abilities tests.

 

In any case, the education is not stellar, but better than the awful general class, and I still want to supplement, currently working only on writing a few days a week, especially weekends, breaks, etc. because the writing is probably the worst in terms of how it is taught (or not taught), and I have a belief or sense that writing is the road to language arts success for my boy who is not great at reading or verbal expression.

[aly9712]

I tell my girls in situations where I need them to do "something" whether it be additional chores, academics, personal responsibilities, etc..

 

We do what we HAVE to do, so we can do what we WANT to do.

 

It's seems to work so far.

[jennynd]

It might help to set a goal. DS wants to go Stanford for pre-vet and Cornell for vet school. (Now Mommy, Daddy school made to BCS championship game this year, he might loosen up to consider his parents alma mater for pre-vet) He had vet school in mind since he was 3 and never for a sec changes his mind. So when he asking why other kids don't do after school. I told him because others do not want to go to Cornell for vet school. That works so far...

[Uff Da!]

nm

[SKL]

Right now, my kids don't need convincing. Probably because they are too young to realize that lots of kids are completely free in the hours after school (other than school homework). Also, they appreciate the time I spend with them. And they are getting motivated by the grade thing. Why, this morning I convinced my kid to eat her eggs and banana by telling her it would help her get a better score on her Social Studies test.

 

As they get older, I assume it will be a matter of habit. However, I also expect to back off or provide more creative, independent work as they get old enough to navigate learning themselves.

[two2homeschool]

Well, I must say I get this from time to time. As they get older (entering the logic stage!) this happens more often. But I certainly liked what Aly said and I am going to use that next time! Concise and to the point. Basically, explaining the reasons (i.e.: you need to know this for university, etc) are important from time to time. But often, in my children's case, it is their "try" at procrastinating. So what I say to them when they start is, "It is your choice, be a garbageman (or woman) if you want. Life is full of choices."

 

Just my 2 cents.

[windmillmarie]

I've been telling the kids for a long time that learning happens everywhere. Sometimes it means it's in a traditional school setting, sometimes it's at an outside activity or sport, sometimes it's in the living room, sometimes it's at the museum. It is a bit of a balancing act since I don't want to overload them. I make use of days off and weekends and summer as well as some evenings.

 

It does help the argument to have a parent doing this too. Before, it was the kids watching my husband take his classes and do his homework for a masters degree. For me, they saw me boning up on math - I am not ashamed to say that I use Saxon for myself too- and learning things.

 

I have not afterschooled any sort of writing outside of some narrations at all, but I think it might help if the kids saw you write a letter to the editor or heck, even handwriting out a response to a post here that you could type out later. Don't make a big production out of it, but make it visible and accessible so they can come up and ask what you are doing. Let them see you read a DK or Eyewitness book on a subject you aren't familiar with. They have big pictures that might draw their eye but more advanced text than they'd think. If they see their parents 'learning' outside the traditional school box, they will think it's normal even if it's annoying sometimes.

[EKS]

My 10yo wants to go to school and loves the school he's in. Me--not so much. He knows that we have a deal--he can go to school, but he has to cheerfully do any afterschooling that I think is necessary.

 

That said, I try very hard to use the assigned schoolwork to teach skills that the school is neglecting. So when (if) he has a writing assignment, I use the opportunity to talk about writing in a structured way and I make sure that he does the work to the very best of his ability. Same with math. In fact, last night he didn't have any math homework, so we used that opportunity to do some extra word problems on a topic he was having some trouble with the day before.

 

As for stuff they don't teach at all, I try to do things that are more conversational and cuddle on the couch than schoolish. For example, we read the Human Odyssey aloud because the school doesn't get that world history is important. Similarily, we're reading classic literature aloud because the school doesn't assign it. Later on, I intend to do some sort of integrated science thing because the school's science program is spotty.

 

The school also doesn't teach grammar (sounds like a great school, huh?). For several years they were using MCT, but this year they decided to replace MCT with...nothing! So we did a run through of Grammar Voyage (cuddling on the couch). I was going to do the practice book the same way, but an opportunity arose that was too good to pass up. My son is desperate for an X Box. So I told him he'd have to work for it. Once he finishes the Hake (Saxon) Grammar book, he can get the X Box. So for the one workbooky schoolish thing, I'm giving an incentive.

[Mabelen]

My philosophy is that learning takes place everywhere, including home. Also, in our district afterschooling of some sort is extremely common, it's a given to keep up with your peers in high performing schools. Our formal Spanish Language Arts group is made up of students from dd's own school and she has plenty of class mates that do Saturday Chinese, Japanese, German, Tamil etc school too. It gives my younger dd comfort to know at least she doesn't get homework to do for her Spanish class, unlike kids attending other Heritage language schools.

[MidwesternMom]

My guy doesn't complain. He's not itching to do handwriting, but has never questioned it. Geography and history, mythology, etc. he loves to do, but then again we do it in pleasant ways--reading together, making a game of finding things on the globe, making maps, etc. instead of 'lesson, lesson, lesson, test'.