Are you having some trouble helping your kid with their homework? Try using gamification – a learning method that turns tasks into games.
On this blog, I’ve talked about a lot of learning and productivity hacks. But the one I’m about to share may be the most effective.
Here’s the scenario: your kid brings home an assignment from school and asks you to help her.
She says that this topic is confusing and she can’t seem to figure it out. She also shows you a quiz that she did horribly on.
You look over the quiz and homework assignment. As you do, you try to see where she went wrong.
You ask your daughter:
“So what’s confusing about this? What don’t you understand?”
She replies, “I just can’t figure out how to solve these types of equations.”
You ask her to try doing one question so you can see her process.
As she’s working on it, you realize that she’s missing a couple of crucial steps, hence the bad mark.
So, you stop her and show her how to do it correctly. She’s able to correctly fix her mistakes on the quiz and do the homework assignment.
She thanks you and leaves. You feel proud that you were able to help your kid with homework.
The next day, feeling curious, you decide to quiz her, you know, just to see if she still remembers the steps you showed her.
You tell her to solve 2 questions from a workbook. She takes a few minutes to do them and then hands it to you.
You look over it and well, she botched both questions.
You’re now sitting beside her, wondering, “What the expletive? Did she even hear a single thing I said yesterday?”
So, you show her the steps again and hope she pays attention and remembers them.
But deep down in your subconscious, you know she won’t.
And you have every right to think this. Kids are manipulative and evil. Never trust them.
How to Help Kids with Homework
When I was a kid (maybe in the second grade), I had trouble doing basic subtraction.
I would do horribly on quizzes. But it wasn’t because I didn’t understand subtraction, I just didn’t know the process.
I also didn’t practice enough, which was why I didn’t remember the steps. I’d rather go outside and play or play video games.
Recognizing this, my dad found me a subtraction video game on the computer (this was a thing in the 90s) and told me to play it.
At first, I had trouble and kept losing -remember, I didn’t know the right steps.
So, he showed me how to subtract and some tips and tricks for solving these math problems. Then, I applied these steps to the challenges in the game.
I immediately did better, albeit slowly. But as I continued to play the game consistently, I got quicker and quicker.
I was also answering more correctly, which helped me beat the levels. And defeating each level boosted my self-esteem.
This led to me understanding the process and improving my grade in school.
And this method that my dad used to teach me math is called gamification.
What is Gamification?
Gamification is a productivity (or learning) hack that gets you to turn any task into a game.
It helps a lot of people accomplish tasks and meet goals because it allows them to, in a way, stack up points to win challenges.
This creates a sense of accomplishment because as they complete assignments, for instance, it feels like they are winning a game (or defeating a level).
How to use Gamification to Help Kids with Homework
There are many ways to use this method to encourage your kid to do homework (and to do it properly).
You can use education apps, workbooks (which you can find here), or create your own learning games.
For example, you can get your kid to do a math worksheet and for every question he gets right that would equal one point.
If he scores a certain amount of points, let him know that he just won the prize of fulfillment and knowledge.
And this is important.
Make sure you don’t give an actual gift. This will lead to your kid learning for the sake of receiving material things and not for the sake of being more knowledgeable.
Other than that, make sure that the games are fun and encouraging.
This is the only way that your kid will continue to participate.
Give gamification a try and see how it helps your kid in school.