{"id":2911,"date":"2015-03-24T15:02:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T15:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-keep-your-kids-motivated-in-school\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:02:12","slug":"how-to-motivate-kids-in-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Keep Your Kids Motivated in School"},"content":{"rendered":"<style><!--\n.outline-box { border: 1px solid #e2e2e2; padding: 20px; margin: 20px 0px; clear: both; } p {     padding: 10px; }\n--><\/style>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 100%; height: auto; margin-bottom: 1em;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/motivate-kids-in-school.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">Ideally, kids\u2019 motivation would come from within (intrinsic motivation) but sometimes it takes some support to get them to that point, and the messages children get at home can play a huge role.<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Here are 5 areas you can focus on to help your child:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"outline-box\">\n<h2>1. Show your child that you value education<\/h2>\n<p>Valuing education starts with making sure your child is present at school &#8211; only legitimate illness is a reason to be absent. Talk about school and ask about your child&#8217;s day. We use the \u201chigh and low\u201d conversation starter around the dinner table, which really helps.\u00a0When your child has an interest, help her research on the internet to learn more, and take educational trips \u2013 library, museum, etc.<br \/>\n<br \/>Make time for learning outside of the classroom as well. Incorporating activities like\u00a0reading into your child&#8217;s schedule doesn&#8217;t have to be hard &#8211; right now for our girls it\u2019s \u201cBed at 7:30, lights out at 8\u201d. \u00a0Also ensure your child has all the supplies that are needed at home to complete school work. I suggest keeping a caddy with all materials that can be moved from room to room.\u00a0\u00a0Model reading and writing yourself, and call attention to real-life math you\u2019re using in everyday life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"outline-box\">\n<h2>2. Reward&#8230;the right way!<\/h2>\n<p>I never recommend cash for report card grades, or buying \u201cstuff\u201d to reward achievements, but there are other ways to condition your child to feel positive about her school accomplishments.\u00a0Praise is best. Verbally reinforce not only final results, but efforts and improvements. I make sure to read nice notes from the teacher out loud to my husband (so the kids can hear) and sometimes we call Grandma and Grandpa to share, too.<br \/>\n<br \/> Your attention and time are valuable commodities to your child. A visit to the park, movie night on the couch, or trip for hot chocolate or ice cream can be surprise celebrations after the fact (not offered as a bribe in advance).\u00a0Make sure that TV\/video games\/social media time come after homework and chores are completed for the night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"outline-box\">\n<h2>3. Support the school\u00a0 &#8211; your child is always listening.<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s always important to speak respectfully about staff and school\/classroom decisions when your children are in earshot.\u00a0Show your child that you&#8217;re going to be involved in the school year by signing their agenda, and follow through by communicating regularly with the teacher throughout the year. Always follow-up with consequences at home when there is an issue at school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"outline-box\">\n<h2>4. Give your child ownership.<\/h2>\n<p>Starting at a young age, model unpacking bag, setting out homework, etc., (this will make life easier for you, too!). Then expect your child to begin taking responsibility for the routine.\u00a0Help your child develop daily\/weekly to-do lists, in order to be ready for school and bed each day, and for older kids to manage assignments.<br \/>\n<br \/> Gradually allow your child to have control over the completion of tasks.\u00a0Allow some choice. Let little ones pick their own bedtime stories (yes, even if it\u2019s the same one every night) and older kids can choose where in the house they want to complete homework.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"outline-box\">\n<h2>5. Be positive<\/h2>\n<p>You want your child to take in more positive messages about school than negative. If she\u2019s struggling (academically or behaviourally) it may seem that every discussion about school is \u201cbad\u201d. Make an effort to give positive feedback. Enlist the teacher\u2019s help for this, so you have material to use. One little boy in my class struggles with focus, and the mom and I have chatted about that a few times. She was thrilled (and so was her son) one day when I wrote a glowing message about his time on task.<br \/>\n<br \/>If work truly seems too difficult or your child seems to have social concerns, speak to the teacher right away so action can be taken to make school the safe, happy and challenging place it should be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\">How do you motivate your child in school? \u00a0Join the conversation in the comments below or on social media!<\/h5>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/kate-winn.png\" width=\"105\" height=\"122\" \/><\/p>\n<h5>About The Author:<\/h5>\n<p>Kate Winn is addicted to being productive in her roles as mom, teacher, writer and TV guest.\u200e Passionate about education, entertainment and travel, you can find her at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thismomloves.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\">This Mom Loves<\/a> and on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/thismomloves\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ideally, kids\u2019 motivation would come from within (intrinsic motivation) but sometimes it takes some support to get them to that point, and the messages children get at home can play a huge role. Here are 5 areas you can focus on to help your child: 1. Show your child that you value education Valuing education [&hellip;] [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1157,1159,1166,1158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-early-learning","category-high-school","category-homework","category-middle-school"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How To Keep Your Kids Motivated in School - Oxford Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Keep Your Kids Motivated in School - Oxford Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ideally, kids\u2019 motivation would come from within (intrinsic motivation) but sometimes it takes some support to get them to that point, and the messages children get at home can play a huge role. Here are 5 areas you can focus on to help your child: 1. Show your child that you value education Valuing education [&hellip;] [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Oxford Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OxfordLearning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-24T15:02:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-02T16:02:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kenneth Mendoza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@oxfordlearning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@oxfordlearning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kenneth Mendoza\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kenneth Mendoza\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/#\/schema\/person\/254830052bfc199c40ed3991e44d1ada\"},\"headline\":\"How To Keep Your Kids Motivated in School\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-24T15:02:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-02T16:02:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/\"},\"wordCount\":721,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Early Learning\",\"High School\",\"Homework\",\"Middle School\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oxfordlearning.com\/how-to-motivate-kids-in-school\/\",\"name\":\"How To Keep Your Kids Motivated in School - 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