Friday, October 4, 2013

Daily Challenge


As part of our homeschool curriculum, I've implemented what I call, the Daily Challenge. It's a simple task that they can accomplish on their own, but it's usually one that has a difficulty that must be overcome. A Challenge, if you will.

The first thing that they usually say is "I don't think I can", and it gives me an opportunity to cheer them on, tell them I think they can, tell them to think hard or be creative, and then I get to say, "See? You did it! You CAN do it!" once the task is completed.

Some of our Daily Challenge activities have been:
-Color in an entire piece of paper (they BOTH color in their art projects much better now)
-Tape 3X5 cards up from the floor of a door frame, to the top of the door frame (they had to figure out how to reach the top which was pretty high for them)
-Collect all items from a nature scavenger hunt (they love being out in nature, but this made them more thorough and picky about the leaves and other things that they gathered)

We were having incidents of "I can't" far too often. I have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of positive behavior the Daily Challenge has promoted. It's given my daughter more confidence, and it gives my son a place to put his problem-solving mind to use. It may sound cheesy, but it really gives them more self-confidence. It gives them one more opportunity to feel good about themselves.

Wednesday's Daily Challenge was very simple.  I grabbed a puzzle that they don't pull out very often.  I believe this is because it is more difficult and takes them more time than some of their other puzzles.  I set them up, told them that they needed to work together on it, and then I told them that I would time them doing it and they needed to go as fast as they could.  They did a great job, accomplished the task together, and I was able to give them a "You did it!" cheer.  The next time we use it for our Daily Challenge, we'll see if they can beat their time.


Of course, my Little Gal understands some of the concepts a little easier than my Little Lad, but they both understand the feeling of accomplishment.

Do you have any Daily Challenge ideas?  Do you have activities that encourage self confidence?


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