8 Tips for Keeping Children Motivated when Learning Online

I've had lots of questions from parents regarding how to best motivate students for learning at home. I'm well aware that motivating your own children at home is much harder than motivating students in a school setting so I've compiled a list of ideas for parents to try. Certain ideas might work better for some children than others- you might need to try a couple or a combination of these ideas.

1. Timing and Support 

Try to tackle the task they like the least or need the most help with at a time when you can help them and as early in the day as possible. But don't let on that this is your strategy or it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For one of my daughters writing is a challenge, so when I can I've been making myself available when she is completing writing tasks.

What I'm noticing is that her confidence in writing is growing and although I'm still available she doesn't need my support as much.

2. Autonomy

Where possible allow children to choose which tasks they complete and when. Or use a trade off- ‘okay I know you really want to do the PE lesson now but we can't get outside for that until you have finished your other tasks’.

3. Snacks and Brain Breaks

Other trade-offs that work for us include postponing a task until after a snack or a brain break. The joy of lockdown is that there really is no where to go so why not make a smoothie together and then get back to the learning task?

4. Keep the Language Positive

Don’t get me wrong I know first hand that this is not always possible, especially when you have the pressure of your own work commitments hanging over you but it is certainly the most effective way to keep children motivated. Children do not learn when under emotional stress- so their motivation is going to be minimal if they are not feeling the love from you.

5. Use the Teacher Connection

Connection to the teacher is one of the ways you can support your students to complete their tasks. How you do this will depend on your school set up- you could arrange a phone call, get your child to message their teacher or simply remind you child that their teacher will be so proud of their work. Basically if your child feels that their teacher values them and the work they are completing they will be more likely to complete it.

6. Reward Charts

My main guidance regarding reward charts is to keep them manageable- if they are too complicated, it will be too hard for everyone to follow and it wont be easy to tap into to get the desired motivation. With my daughters I simply use a piece of paper and give them a smile each time they complete a task (and an extra smile if they are particularly independent or they put in extra effort). We call these ‘home dojos’ and when we get to the end of the day we tally them up and then add them to the running total for the week. They are planning to convert them to Aussie dollars at the end of lockdown- we are yet to decide on the exchange rate of ‘home dojos’ to Aussie dollars but this doesn’t deter them from being motivated by them.

The fact that I am recognising their efforts is what really motivates them.

7. Break a task into Manageable Chunks 

This strategy applies to all ages- children and adolescents can become completely overwhelmed when a task seems bigger than Ben Hur or their overdue tasks have stacked up and there seem to be so many to tackle. Support your child to work out how they can break these tasks into manageable chunks and reward them as they complete one of the chunks of their tasks.

8. Share Their Work

Have you ever seen the look on your child’s face when they proudly point out their work on the classroom wall? Sharing your child’s work is one way to keep them motivated- particularly younger children. They are just so proud to share which is one of the reasons why us teachers love to display student work. Even at 8 and 10 years old my daughters are still proud to share their work with our friends and family and I’ve proudly displayed some of their creative pieces on the wall at home.

Hopefully these ideas give you something to lean into if things are getting a little fraught and remember everyone’s emotional and mental health is much more important than the completion of the task. Every. Single. Time.