Taking care of basics...

What has carried me through many tough situations in teaching is to keep going back to the basics. I call it changing the oil and spark plugs. If a car doesn’t run right, you don’t worry about major repair costs until you have done all the basic things of engine maintenance. Many times the problem turns out to be something simple you can handle yourself and not have to pay the expensive mechanic. It’s the same with kids. If you have provided basics like motivation and enthusiasm, you will not only get good results eventually, but also fix many other problems along the way.

However, it’s interesting to note that many of the parents I have worked with over the years did not want to reward children for doing schoolwork. They felt their child "should be doing it anyway, and if they didn’t, they were going to get a swat from dad." The truth is, the swat just doesn’t work the same way. Although it may discourage certain behaviors, it does not encourage others. Motivation and modeled enthusiasm does.

Dave