Micro Economies
Keeping my kids on task and motivated can be challenging day after day. Encouraging them to focus on the small tasks during school, especially at home - enter the MICRO-ECONOMY system of motivation!
My kids are doing math. They each have an small empty jar in front of them. They also have tiny chocolate chips in a small cup next to it. Every time they finish a problem, they add a tiny chocolate chip to the jar. When they are done with math, they bring it to me to correct. For every correct answer, they get 2 more chocolate chips. If they get the problem wrong, but they calmly work to fix it, they get another chocolate chip. At the end of math, they can either eat the chocolate chips they have earned or save them for the end of the day after they have earned chocolate chips for all of their subjects.
Micro-economies provide a way for kids to EARN rewards for completing multiple tasks.
You decide (with their help) what they earn for what task:
for each problem,
for each page completed,
for each subject completed,
for each correction that they take will and with a good attitude….
The possibilities are endless.
I would NOT TAKE things for failures. The whole concept is that they are motivated by earning, not motivated by the risk of losing. If they are consistently failing to complete the tasks necessary for earning, you may need to change the goal. For example, if you set the goal for your child to get a page of math done and they are struggling to get that done, allow them to earn a reward for each problem they complete.
It is also IMPORTANT to give them something more if they do the work CORRECTLY or if they are willing to correct it with a good attitude. Otherwise, they may be motivated to “finish” their work quickly without paying attention to accuracy!
What to earn:
Crafting puffy balls that can “buy” things (5 puff balls for a piece of gum, 20 for a hot chocolate, 100 for a TV show…)
Mini-chocolate chips - they can earn them over time and eat them at the end
Pennies - they can earn pennies and exchange them for nickles, dimes, quarters to spend - this is a great way to learn about money as well
Tallies - the tallies earn things like minutes on a device