Preventing Home Learning Burnout: 4 Strategies to Keep Your Child Engaged

Having trouble keeping your child motivated to learn, or feeling a bit of burnout yourself? Teachers often refer to this as the "midyear slump," a time when motivation and energy levels are low. With the excitement of the holidays wearing off, the general midwinter blues, and the pandemic taking a toll on all of us by bringing the additional changes and challenges of learning at home, keeping your child engaged in learning during this time of year can feel like an uphill battle.

Here are some strategies to help cure the midyear learning doldrums and keep your child (and you too!) focused and motivated while learning at home.

 Reestablish routines, and clear away the clutter

After the holidays, it's easy to get out of the routine you built in the fall. Reestablish or begin establishing a new schedule to set aside time for studying, breaks, and consistent bedtime and morning routines. Check out this article for some tips and sample schedules that you can use to help you plan your child’s day.

Once you’ve started working on refreshing your daily routines, it’s time to slip on the cleaning gloves! Now that we're midway through the school year, your child's learning space might be getting a bit cluttered. A disorganized space can be a major cause of distraction for children. Creating an organized, dedicated learning space, such as a desk or table with only the items your child needs for the day, can help cut down on distractions. Watch this short video for tips on setting up your child's learning space at home.

Engage your child in learning outside of lessons

Connecting lesson topics and concepts outside of your child’s online lessons and classrooms with real-world experiences and interests makes learning more relatable and fun. Ideas can be as simple as helping your child identify and apply concepts learned, such as fractions, while baking some treats for the family or encouraging independent research on a topic of personal interest and discussing what was found. Join your child on the fun by taking a virtual field trip together or playing some fun, educational games like the Edmentum Brain Game as a family.

Take some time out for creativity 

Whether your child prefers music, drawing, writing, or dance, a quick 30-minute break for self-expression and creativity can help learners break up the monotony, relieve stress, improve focus, and increase productivity. Check out Pinterest for some fun, art-focused, brain break ideas to get the creative ideas flowing.

Get physical

Simple exercise like taking a walk, kicking a ball, or taking a quick bike ride can help clear the mental cobwebs. In addition to all of the physical benefits, aerobic exercise has been proven to have many cognitive and behavioral benefits for children, including improved executive function, focus, and creative-thinking skills. Weather not cooperating? Take the fun indoors with a quick dance-off or yoga, or try out some these active, indoor game ideas to help burn off some of that extra energy.

For more resources and tips on keeping your child engaged in learning at home, check out the Edmentum podcast minisodes for families. These brief episodes tackle some common home-learning topics, such as getting your child to concentrate, getting the wiggles out, ways to boost memory and impulse control, working-from-home tips, and more.