It’s the start of a New Year and your kids are probably all coming down off an epic sugar high and are adjusting to the routine of getting back in to school. New presents litter the house and, with so many fun distractions at home, it can be difficult for kids to stop and shut out the noise to get the dreaded homework done. Here are some handy tips for How To Get Your Child to Pay Attention for Homework:

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We know that getting the routine and focus back into the regime can be hard…..so here are our 5 tips to help improve your little ones focus to adjust for a new year of learning.

How To Get Your Child to Pay Attention for Homework

#1. Bye-Bye Distractions

We LOVE gadgets, but when it comes to homework time, the phones, tablets, radio and TV need to go. Who can focus on study when One Direction are telling you that ‘you light up their world’?

Lay the law down of having no technology turned on until ALL study has been completed. Impossible, you say? If you try leading by example and reducing your own phone use at this time then it will be easier for the kids to adapt the same behaviour.

Harry and Co. will be there waiting for them when they are done.. there may be initial withdrawals adjusting to the new routing but they will eventually pass!

#2. Train them young

Learning new habits takes time and focus and quality study time is important. The sooner you get your kids to come round to this way of thinking then the simpler it is to maintain that habit. Get them trained young.

A great way to do this is to get the younger kids sitting down alongside the older siblings when the elders are studying – the younger ones can read or colour or do some other learning activity during ‘study time’ to establish it as a fixed time to study and learn. They might not last the whole study time while little but it’s a great starting point.

#3. Bitesize chunks

Big projects can be overwhelming to young children in those early days when they haven’t mastered how to tackle enormous tasks. A great strategy to help increase your child’s concentration is to split that big task at hand up into smaller pieces.

Breaking the task down into bitesize chunks will give your child a sense of progress and achievement as the chunks are finally completed.

They also get the buzz out of completing each small piece of work.

#4. Goals are Gold

Goals are a fantastic way to increase your child’s ability to focus – and healthy incentives can do no harm as long as it is rewarding and not bribery :)! When your child makes his own goals (when guided by you with rewards set in place for reaching them) then they can become a great motivation for learning.

Star charts are a great way to monitor progress. Maybe agree with your child something that you can both do together as a quality reward for goals reached. Just make sure that the goals you set are manageable for your child’s ability and age so they don’t lose interest or get frustrated.

#5. Set a fixed homework space

Designate a space in your home for the children to do their homework at. Ideally, this space should have a table or desk with plenty of room for your children schoolbooks, pens and papers with anything else they need close at hand.

This is most effective when this space is located in a quieter area of your home where distractions are minimised.

You might also enjoy reading How to Keep Your Kids Focused With a Homework Station

Over to you now. Any other tips for how to get your child to pay attention for homework? Share them with us in the comments below.