When I first started homeschooling last year, it became clear that I was going to have to be very creative in coming up with different ways to help motivate our boys, Jonathan and Jacob, to want to do their schoolwork each day. I learned about the ‘Token System’ from a friend and thought it would be a fun incentive for them to work towards every day.
I purchased pirate coins from Amazon, a pack of 144 for $6.75, and placed them inside a fun lunchbox (but anything thing to keep them secure will work). Then the boys each have their or jars that they keep their coins in as they are collecting them. Every day after they complete their schoolwork, they will either receive 1 or 2 coins based on how well they did that day or no coins if they did not do well during school. This will usually help motivate them throughout the day if we hit a rough point where they start to push back and not wanting to complete their work. I will remind them that based on how well they do for the day, they can receive zero, one, or two coins. Most of the time this will help them to push past wanting to be difficult where they can self-regulate and get back to doing the task at hand.
Another fun idea you can do is if you have a chest or larger sized drawer, you can purchase some of their favorite toys, candy, clothing, or something they have be wanting for a while, and place them in the drawer along with foam peanuts or something that will fill in all of the empty space. Have your child close their eyes or blindfold them and let them search the drawer until they find something and what they pull out will be a surprise! I might try this in the future, but this requires a little more organization and planning ahead that I don’t have the mental capacity for right now. Ha!
I usually wait until they have a minimum of ten coins before I will let them cash any in. I don’t have any set rules on how much a toy or fun activity will go for but have a ballpark of 10-15 coins for a toy, depending on size, and 15-20 coins for a park day or fun outing.
Overall, I have had a lot of success with this and it is the one thing that has been the most consistent in working a majority of the time.
Lots of Love,
Sarah Talbot