Tricks to Get Work Done

Three Tricks I use to help Scholar do his schoolwork.

Trick 1 - Use a snack.

Sometimes Scholar gets really wiggly and hungry and just can't work.

Especially on long pages.

One trick up my sleeve,

is to put his snack on the page that is giving him trouble.

Each time he finishes a problem,

he gets to eat that snack.

He thinks this is a LOT of fun.

Cheese Nips are a very rare treat,

so they worked especially well.

Here is a glimpse of his 1st Grade

Rod and Staff workbook.

Smaller treats work better if he is struggling with

Phonics and Reading.

Meanwhile, Sunshine

busily does her own clipboard.

She even dutifully tells me to

"fwip my page ober, peas!".

Trick 2 - Let one child teach another child

One of my nieces has learning disabilities.

Concepts like addition and subtraction elude her.

Scholar doesn't like flashcards.

BUT  I can get him to sit and help 

"Pony" with her lessons.

He is so patient while

he carefully counts out her

problems with her.

I also used this trick while Song struggled with reading.

I let HER listen to Scholar and do his

Phonics lessons with him.

And suddenly, we saw a 2 year jump in her

reading ability.

Trick 3 - Art Projects

Set up an art project to the side,

set a timer,

and IF the assignments are completed on time,

Then the child gets to do the art project.

Scholar has a LOT of imagination,

and regularly turns anything he finds into a project.

Here he is cutting out donuts for his birthday party.

But by a landslide,

Scholar's favorite Trick is the 

SNACK.

These tricks can also be creatively used for older children

and adults (including yourself!)

1.  Fix a snack 

(popcorn, nuts, raisins, veggie sticks)

 to munch on every time you complete a task.

Do you want to clean the kitchen shelves?

Count the number of shelves you have to clean

BE REALISTIC!

Let's say you have 8 shelves...

So you fix 8 celery sticks with peanut butter.

Then each time you finish a shelf,

you get to eat one of your treats!

2.  Work WITH somebody else.

There is nothing quite like Teamwork.

So find a best friend to work with and give them a call.

Clean your kitchens together while you chat.

Or teach a child how to do a task.

Or get all the kids involved with you.

Sing and dance and tell jokes.

Have Fun

and pretty soon the job will be done!

3.  Art Project

Any project or book will work.

What do you LIKE to do?

Set a timer for a set amount of time

Let's say you have 2 hours to do your project.

So set the timer for 1 hour, 

work hard,

Then pull out the project that you enjoy working on

and do that for your second hour.

You will feel better about working on 

the fun project 

IF

You feel like you accomplished what you wanted to do first.

Also, this gives you a better perspective of your project.

So often I find myself completely done with

"that horrid project" 

in well under my time limit.

And just as often,

the "it won't take long"

project is barely started

before my timer runs out.

4.  Never underestimate the POWER of 

JUST 15 MINUTES

I learned that from Flylady.

And it is so true,

In fact, in college,

I found that I could accomplish a lot

in just 5 minutes.

If I applied myself.

I had so much homework and reading assigned,

but I was always amazed at how much 

I was able to get done in "just 5 minutes" 

before I had to be in my next location.

It made all the difference between 

my Freshman and Sophomore years of college.