I didn’t tell you to do it . . . Getting your child to do schoolwork

Most parents of picky eaters will admit that they find ways to hide vegetables in their child’s food. Tons of us have hidden their medicine in jelly, ice cream, or pudding (goodness, one brand even markets theirs as a popsicle). But many of you don’t realize that we homeschoolers hide the teaching / learning of school (we homeschoolers don’t consider it “hiding” it; we just believe that it proves our point that learning isn’t the property of schools and certified teachers). Even my kids would be surprised that one, I/we do this and two, that they comply so easily. The secret is . . . I don’t ask.

Their computer games do - My daughter lover her RP (role playing) games. What does she have to do to participate? Write. What does she have to do to be included well in the RP’s? Write well. This is from the same girl who told me, when she was asked to write something creative, “I can’t write!”

Their Scout projects do – Today as my son works on his Community in the Nation patch, we read Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” and then he had to respond in writing. You can only imagine the response I would get if this was an assignment. Instead, he is begging me to sit down with him.

Their theater classes do – Memorize a poem or speech for lessons – NOT INTERESTED. Memorize a play – She won’t just memorize her part but everyone else’s too (You never know when an understudy might be called in.) When she had to write a monologue for the theater group, she couldn’t get pen to paper fast enough.
Their minister does – Ask them to give an oral report and suddenly they are must, but have an opportunity arise for them to speak in front of the congregation and you would think that they were grand orators.

You get the idea. It is like the difference between chores and a job. The kids hate to mow the lawn but have a few neighbors offer to pay them and they’ll willingly give up a whole day. Some people may call my methods deceitful trickery; I call it using my resources wisely.