TEACHING MANNERS

from homeschool free stuff:

Mixing In Some Manners

I know that a lot of homeschoolers out there also have younger children so I have a few tips for the little ones(some of the things can also be applied to older children,too).

As parents not only do we want to teach reading and writing, but we also want to teach our children good manners, when my daughter was younger we played "The Manners Game". I would take a piece of paper( either regular or construction) and cut it in half, then I would make a line horizontally down the middle and then draw a few lines vertically so to make about eight boxes for a chart. At the top I would write Manners Game and then we would hang it on the fridge. Whenever I saw my daughter having good manners ( saying thank you or please, picking up her toys after she played with them, etc.), I would give her a sticker to put in one of the boxes on the chart. When all eight boxes were filled up she was then able to pick out of The Treasure Box ( a box I made that had little goodies in it). She loved playing this game and it really helped her learn to have good manners.

Something all of us deal with when we have little ones is potty training. My daughter loved when everytime she went potty on the "Big Girl Potty" she was able to pick out a sticker and display it on the fridge( I don't know what it is about little ones and stickers, but they just get so excited about them), she would be so excited to put her sticker on the fridge and then when Daddy came home she would be so proud to show him all of the stickers that she had earned. This idea really motivated her to go on the "Big Girl Potty".

An idea that really motivates my daughter is when I take a 12x12 piece of paper(cardstock works great) and at the top I write "When Heavenly (my daughter's name) is a good girl she gets to go to the park (or sometimes I put she gets to go somewhere fun). I then make a chart of several boxes on the paper, maybe 20 or 30 and then I leave a spot on the paper at the bottom open because she loves to draw a picture of us going to the park or somewhere fun at the bottom ( this also reminds her of what she is looking forward to when she sees the picture she drew). When she has good manners or picks up her toys or obeys right away, etc., she gets a sticker to put on the chart and when it is all filled up we then plan a day to go to the park or the museum or library or somewhere fun. She really enjoys this ( you can also use the chart the other way, if she doesn't obey, sometimes she gets a sticker taken off the chart, so she really tries to keep her stickers on her chart). This idea can also be used with older children as incentive for doing their schoolwork.

Happy Homeschooling,
Jaime Hughes