Boys and schoolwork, how many of you moms shudder when you think about it. If you are a homeschooler, is it like pulling teeth to get your boys to complete their work? And you moms whose boys are in traditional schools, is homework the “bewitching hour”?
When I was Director of our local homeschool co-op, this inevitably came up. The girls were thriving, but the boys,oh the boys! Almost all of the classroom issues the teachers had were with boys.
Generally girls can sit still for longer periods of time.
But boys are squirmy; they need to move.
Generally girls can sit quietly for longer periods of time.
But boys need to make noise. They don’t talk more, they just make noise. Whether it’s moving their chairs, tapping their feet, humming, or making weird noises, boys just make noise.
We women have a tendency to teach the way we learn. We want to teach using pen and pencil and lecture methods. We like quiet; noises get on our nerves. And sometimes we don’t recognize the differences in the learning styles of boys and girls.
In a study in the Journal of Experimental School Psychology, boys underperformed girls when a task was presented as a reading task, yet when the same task was taught as a game, boys outperformed girls. INTERESTING!
When I taught my son how to read, we sat on the kitchen floor, not at the table. I used Batman action figures and we learned beginning sounds with Batman characters. “B-bbb” Batman, “R-rrr” Robin, “J-jjj” Joker, and so on.
So moms, when your boy gives you a hard time about getting his school work done or finishing his homework, consider making it a game. Turn it into a competition, see how much he can get done in five minutes and then give him a break. Let him stand on one foot or bounce a ball while completing his homework. Consider letting him write on a white board instead of paper. Play scrabble with his spelling words.
Think outside the box and let me know how he does!
Today, pray for your child’s intellect. Pray that he will perform well in school. Pray that she will remember the things she has studied.
God is concerned about every area of your child’s life. And he wants you child to excel.
Deuteronomy 31:3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills.
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This is great advice! We are working on multiplication facts… I need to think of more games!
I’m glad this helped you. I so often think of you when I write. I have not forgotten the suggestions you made when I asked for topic ideas. And math facts are the hardest. It is so boring for the kids to memorize, yet so necessary.