Alternative LearningAre you a homeschooling mama? or maybe you unschool... or maybe you are interested in another alternative learning style? or maybe you don't have any idea what i am referring to?? this forum might just be for you! share your thoughts and ideas
What kind of rewards or awards do you give out for achievement?
I remember in Elementary school we would get candy lipsticks, plastic fingernails *lol*, smelly stickers and so on as well as award certificates.
Do you give your homeschooled children any rewards for their success in learning? Has anyone ever had a mini Awards Ceremony?
Nico has been doing *so* well with her reading and writing, and I am thinking I'd like to do something special for her. Of course, she gets plenty of praise and she knows how proud we are of her.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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How Time Flies ~ Luna Blue is Two!
Tree hugging, vegetarian, breastfeeding, cloth-diapering, home schooling, drum playing Step-Mama to my sweet Nico Sage and Mama to my curly Kaya Jade and wee Luna Blue. Lovin my hottie ~ J. Blogging From the Boonies My Etsy Shop
Austin loves hugs and thumbs up when he does a good job. But, in our house it really isn't about what he has learned, it's more about attitude. Because if he 'gets' something but gave me a hard time the entier tiem we were doing it (like reading a story or doing an experiment), it doesn't make any sense to me to give him a reward because he understood the concept. When he started reading better I got him a couple of new books. When Adam learns a new letter sound he puts a sticker on the letter sound he learned. but if they were grumpy, it doesn't get anything at all.
We never have, not because we have anything against it, I suppose it just never occurred to us.
Learning more skills always seamed to be it’s own reward, as each time you learn, it is a stepping stone, it enables you to learn more…so it never occurred to me to reward the boys, maybe I should.
I am not help for ideas, huh? I suppose you could make her a certificate of some sort…or if you just want to give her a gift, anything you deem appropriate would be fine. I suppose as she is learning she is becoming more responsible, so giving her more “grown-up” freedom might be nice…or even giving her something that seams more “grown up”…I have no idea what, though. Maybe a journal for her writing/drawing, that is her own private place…one with a lock, or make a lovely wooden box for it with a lock ( the locks always seam to break off when I have them ON books).
This is all a very wonderful and sweet idea. I am sure she will love whatever you do!
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"The night sky was bright with anticipation."
Max started asking for stickers on his papers this week...
so we do that now.
I am not yet organized enough to chart anything for prizes or rewards and I have one foot in the "learn it for the sake of learning" camp and one foot in the "stickers nad sparlies were the FUN part of school" camp.
I also waffle on an allowance -- aren't I a load of help?!
I think Jan Brett's website has some really pretty printable certificates -- woodsy little animals and such.
I don't do stickers or stuff like that. I generally reward hard work with the opportunity to do more. For example, when Sam started reading really well independently, I 'rewarded' him with more quality books that he could read on his own. When he started showing major progress in writing letters, he was rewarded with a chalkboard to do more of it.
We have a reading chart that the kids get rewards for, when they have read a set amount of books. I have a ds who hates to read, so offering a reward for reading, gets him reading more. For that, when the kids get to 25 books on their reading chart, we bake a treat and everyone enjoys it. When they get to 50 books, I give them something I have previously picked up from a garage sale (like pokemon cards, or pokemon stickers, or whatever small things I can find at garage sales that they will like).
Sometimes I will plan certain educational games or competetions to test what they know, and for that I will offer rewards (usually treats, movie rentals, or small garage sale trinkets).
I tell my kids if they get good grades all year, I will take them to Chuck E Cheese at the end of the school year. Plus our local video store offers free rentals for kids with good report cards, so that motivates them too.
For everyday learning, I just praise, and sometimes put "good job" stickers on their papers.
Part of me also thinks the reward for learning is *learning*, but on the other hand I have really seen Nico put in extra effort instead of becoming frustrated at things. She used to have a problem with that, she would give up or become frustrated if she couldn't get something right away. Now, she is able to keep her attitude postive and give it another try, which has really helped her readinf and writing among other things.
I decided we're going to have a little Awards ceremony when she comes home on Thursday from her Mom's house. I made her a bendy mermaid and baby, and I am going to print out a certificate to give to her as well.
I don't plan on making a big stink about every little thing, but I do feel like I want to celebrate the "big steps" along the way.
We used to do rewards with my stepson, but stopped when I suggested a book I knew he'd like and his response was "what do I get if I read it?"
That said, I do have sticker charts up for some of the kids but only as a visual reminder. There's no prize for filling the chart, it's just something to help us remember to do what I want them to get done.
And I do bribe them to learn the multiplication tables. I downloaded "Mathtest" - a free (fun!) computer game for all kinds of math. I let them work for 1 prize to be awarded when they are able to complete all the mult tables from 1-12 with the game set to the "More" time setting, which is about 5 seconds per Q I think.
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Candace: Mama to Mollusc, Sluggie, Fishy, and the homebirthed Prawn!
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What kind of rewards or awards do you give out for achievement?
Military wife of a deployed soldier. 
For example, when Sam started reading really well independently, I 'rewarded' him with more quality books that he could read on his own. When he started showing major progress in writing letters, he was rewarded with a chalkboard to do more of it.
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