Let’s be honest! Term 4 is HARD! It’s getting towards the end of the year, there are lots of after school engagements to attend, summer sports kick in, holidays rapidly descend on everyone, exams mean that “learning” finishes a little earlier than in any other term….. And it can be a bit of a drag!
From the end of yearly exams, especially for High School students, the term drags slowly to the end of Term 4, and throw in stifling heat, and the thoughts that anything after yearly exams “don’t matter”, it can be a recipe for LOST MOTIVATION!
This is also true for Year 12 students, who, although they are starting their new course work, struggle to get themselves into gear and wind themselves up….. When the rest of the school is winding down.
Sound like your house?
It’s not uncommon! You are certainly not alone!
There are a few things that you can do when you are trying to find that motivation for your child to get through the final term of the year.
- Get your child to focus on all of the positive experiences that come with the end of the year! What is coming up at school? What will they be doing during the holidays? Perhaps there are more excursions or camps at the end of the year?
- Work on reflection with your child. Although exams may be done and dusted, working through what they feel they did well in their exams and what things they need to improve on…. Mean that they are using this as a learning tool to create goals for the new year.
- Speaking of goals….. Talk to your child about goals for the new year. What are they going to continue to work towards? How can they continue to work towards these goals now?
- CELEBRATE! Celebrate their successes this year and remember that success is more than just the marks they have received. Work through what they struggled with at the beginning of the year, and what they have achieved on these things now.
- Creating a visual chart for your child that encourages them to mark off specific events and dates as they occur will help them to see that the end of the term is just around the corner.
- Continue to foster positive experiences and behaviours within the home as well as at school. If your child’s behaviour begins to drop when they are bored, begin to give them increasingly complex and challenging activities to work on – even activities which are the next step they will look at in the new year, to continue to challenge them!
- Move away from “busy work” and find meaningful tasks for your children to explore and look upon. This can be on their personal interests, but certainly things that will get them to look closely at something and create something are helpful at this time of the year.
Most of all, remember that the end of the year slide is very real! You are not alone, and it can be hard to continue to motivate our kids when they feel the whole reason for the school term is no longer applicable once the exams are over!
Alysha Griffiths is a passionate educator, owner of Breakaway Education and a mum to June. With over 20 years teaching experience, Alysha’s passion lies in education and helping kids and parents to connect the puzzle pieces of education! With a Masters in Teaching (Secondary) a Bachelor of Arts (History, English) and a Graduate Certificate in Education (Learning Difficulties), Alysha continually works to gain more insight and knowledge across many areas of education.