How do you get a 4 year old to do homework?

[tamarind]

dimsum:

My DS (4yo) hates to do repetivite writings too. Since he's not schooling now, it's not of an issue. But I have been wondering, how will he learn how to write the chinese characters if he doesn't do repetitive writings? Able to read and recognise the characters doesn't mean he can write.

dimsum,
It is definitely not too late to start writing at 6 years old.

For Chinese characters, remember that most words are made up of 偏旁, 部首 and the simple characters as the building blocks. Kids can start by practicing to write these simple characters. When learning to write more complex words, tell them to join the building blocks to make a word.

Many parents make the mistake of making their kids write as many Chinese words as possible by remembering the strokes. The fact is that a child may not even remember the word after practicing for many times. What's worst is that this may make the child dislike learning Chinese.

It is more important to teach a child to recognize the words, and to read as many story books as possible. Kids have the ability to take a \"photograph\" of each word and store it in their memory. When they need to write the word, they just pull up the \"file\" in the brain and view it like a powerpoint slide In fact, that is how I remember all those Chinese words.

One day my boy surprised me by showing me that he can write the word 我. I have never let him practice writing it before. I think he has the photograph of the word saved in his memory because he read it many times before

[oscarsem]

why not start with writing by doing some drawings to form animals? Make it interesting.


But i do know some schools do emphasis writing for 4 year old child. Is really a torture to them

[dimsum]

tamarind:

dimsum,
It is definitely not too late to start writing at 6 years old.

.....Kids can start by practicing to write these simple characters.

Thanks for your advice, Tamarind. You will see my SOS in this forum if he still refuses to do chinese writing by end of K1! For english words and numbers, he's ok. Learnt how to write at 3yo.

Perhaps when he goes to school, peer influence and teacher can motivate him.

[Aaronmom]

Thank you all again for your very comforting advice. To "Twins" mom, do you know that the so call homework the teacher gave him is EXACTLY what they are gona do in class!!! That’s what so puzzling to me?! So I have to chase him around and cause world war 3 with him to do a few pages of repetitive writings that he is gona AGAIN do it the following days in classroom! She said they need REPETITIVE practice. Anyways, the last straw for me was when I drop my son in class one morning and heard her say to the children (she is really saying to me) "Children, did you do your homework? If not, there is no recess time." You see, I obviously hasn’t been handing in homework. At that point, i decided to change school. I don’t know if montessori is popular in singapore but i found one that i quite like and I will transfer him this coming monday. I am so glad they have a little swimming pool too so i will tell him i want him to go to the swimming school. I can only pray that he likes the new school otherwise "sway sway" have to go back to this one coz he LOVES his teacher and class. sigh… Am slightly worried about academics and him not able to adapt when he goes Primary one to the real world since montessori method is very "go with the child’s flow". However, bottomline is I want a happy, confident and interested in learning child rather than he knows how to spell, read and write stupid letters by 5 years old.

[Sun_2010]

Aaronmom:

Thank you all again for your very comforting advice. To \"Twins\" mom, do you know that the so call homework the teacher gave him is EXACTLY what they are gona do in class!!!!!!! That's what so puzzling to me?! So I have to chase him around and cause world war 3 with him to do a few pages of repetitive writings that he is gona AGAIN do it the following days in classroom! She said they need REPETITIVE practice. Anyways, the last straw for me was when I drop my son in class one morning and heard her say to the children (she is really saying to me) \"Children, did you do your homework? If not, there is no recess time.\" You see, I obviously hasn't been handing in homework. At that point, i decided to change school. I don't know if montessori is popular in singapore but i found one that i quite like and I will transfer him this coming monday. I am so glad they have a little swimming pool too so i will tell him i want him to go to the swimming school. I can only pray that he likes the new school otherwise \"sway sway\" have to go back to this one coz he LOVES his teacher and class. sigh................ Am slightly worried about academics and him not able to adapt when he goes Primary one to the real world since montessori method is very \"go with the child's flow\". However, bottomline is I want a happy, confident and interested in learning child rather than he knows how to spell, read and write stupid letters by 5 years old.

My opinion is this is one decision that you will not regret.
Montessori does really teach some life skills along with academics and lets them grow without being made to feel they r not good enough as others.

Yes , we need kids who are happy and confidant , next 15-20 years they are going to learn, let them enjoy the process...

[corneyAmber]

Hi Aaronmom,


My DS is 6 and DD is 4, both with very different character. DS doesn’t mind a little pushing in getting homework done, and quite like doing homework. But DS will never let you push her to do anything. If she doesn’t like something, no form of motivation works.

Like your son, my DD started out hating to write a full page of letters, compared to DS who could write them at 2 yrs old. I used to feel angry over DD’s ‘attitude’, and eventually learned that THEY ARE JUST DIFFERENT. After a few failed attempts, I chucked those workbooks aside.

One day, we came across a set of Kumon letter cards at Popular, one that you can use as flashcards and for writing with a white-board marker. I asked if she would like to try practicing on those and she agreed. That was the starting point of letter-writing for her. Faced with only ONE letter to tackle at a time, she didn’t see how much she’s actually writing. She eventually overcame her resistance and is now able to cope with her homework of letter-writing. METHOD OF LEARNING MATTERS.

I used to bring the set of cards with me to occupy her boredom when we were traveling, and during those long banquets. Change of learning environment matters.

I also tried not to be too fussy over her strokes and allowed her time to make mistakes. She has improved over time - although still refusing to write them the conventional way sometimes.

[cheehoe]

Aaronmom:

Hello all,

My 4 year old does not have alot of homework but once a week teacher will send home a few pages of writing to do at home. I cannot for the life of me get him to do it. He hates writing letters or numbers repeatedly. I don't want to start screaming and timing him out for not doing homework at 4!!!!!!! Any insights anyone???? HELP.

Sandra

My wife and I have no problem getting my kids to do their homework. We sit with them (at least one of us) and do our work while they are doing theirs. We also give attention to them when they ask question or praise them if they write the letters properly. We do not penalise them for errors but correct them on the spot. We also give incentives such as going to play room after they finish their homework.

You may test out some of the methods we used.

[jedamum]

jedamum:

his teachers had feedback that his colouring is horrendous; i have not done anything for this yet cos how to make him colour if he does not like to? de ja vu, cos ds1 did not like colouring when he was a toddler and he turn out fine too, save for some very untidy handwriting. :roll:

Quick update...
my ds2 now can colour beautifully when he is in the mood! i found this very affordable 'sticker-colouring' book at Popular (managed to get 2 out of the 4 books in the same series; but since on, couldn't find the rest in the other Popular bookshops. :(); i used 'twisty' crayons for his colourings and sometimes writing assignment; he tried to write/colour as much so that he gets to twist the 'worn out' crayon tip to lengthen it
i am pressing on for doing daily colouring and writing (i bought the 'assessment books' that is fully coloured and a variety of others so that ds2 gets to choose what he wants to do) cos i blame myself for ds1's ugly handwriting (you see, i choose knowledge acquiring over practicing of motorskills when he was a preschooler; should have balanced out both! ). :stupid:

[art_n_i]

jedamum:

jedamum:

his teachers had feedback that his colouring is horrendous; i have not done anything for this yet cos how to make him colour if he does not like to? de ja vu, cos ds1 did not like colouring when he was a toddler and he turn out fine too, save for some very untidy handwriting. :roll:

Quick update...
my ds2 now can colour beautifully when he is in the mood! i found this very affordable 'sticker-colouring' book at Popular (managed to get 2 out of the 4 books in the same series; but since on, couldn't find the rest in the other Popular bookshops. :(); i used 'twisty' crayons for his colourings and sometimes writing assignment; he tried to write/colour as much so that he gets to twist the 'worn out' crayon tip to lengthen it
i am pressing on for doing daily colouring and writing (i bought the 'assessment books' that is fully coloured and a variety of others so that ds2 gets to choose what he wants to do) cos i blame myself for ds1's ugly handwriting (you see, i choose knowledge acquiring over practicing of motorskills when he was a preschooler; should have balanced out both! ). :stupid:

Mummy, you are right! Do more art and the issue will slowly diminish and disappear. My own child has never been trained to write religiously but she can just write because of her art training. I am running an art school because I am pledging what I believe and hope to share the joy of bringing up children with more parents.

[cherrygal]

My son’s childcare and kindergarten do not make them do homework at all. So far, we only had to help him study for his tingxie and spelling. That’s all. My niece’s childcare gives them a lot of homework and I heard some parents like that. Well, I don’t like having to coach my son after work so I prefer my son’s school.


His Chinese enrichment class has homework sometimes and he does it immediately after returning home. Occasionally, I will get him to do a few pages in his assessment books and he usually does them very quickly and willingly. He’s quite competitive at school so he loves doing his work quickly. At home, we build up his competitive streak by telling him how Dh and I loved doing assessment books last time (it’s true!).

We made a deal with him that when he gets to P1, he would need to complete all his homework before we can spend quality time together like baking, visiting interesting places etc. So the longer he takes, the less quality time we have. It’s his loss and this makes him responsible for his own work.

I also told him I would only remind him to do his homework for the 1st 3 months of school. After that, he must remember to do his own homework. If he forgets, he has to be prepared for his teacher’s scolding. I think that will wake him up.