Healthy Habits

Adults make around 35 000 choices per day, compared to children who make an average of 300. Most of the choices we make are habits. Parents play a critical role in developing their child’s habits.

Each habit is a small daily discipline, thats either taking us closer to or further from our goals. In your resource kit, you have a weekly planner to help you to set a routine that is going to help your child to achieve their goals.

Making time each day to focus on learning, handwriting and other tasks you want your child to improve with is important for setting them up for success.

Research shows that as little as 5 minutes of practice a day (in early primary school years) will set your child up with the habits they need for success in later life. This particularly important as your child moves through the teenage years and the demands of school increase. So it doesn’t matter how long you spend each day on homework related tasks, it just matters that its happening every day. The repeated exposure is what grows those pathways in the brain, to ensure lasting success. For best results, I recommend that 15-20 minutes of homework each day. Now homework might sound boring to you, but I promise, the way we do it will ensure that kids think its great fun.

Doing it this way will ensure you’re creating an amazing foundation for your child to experience success, not only at school, but in life.

On the resources page, you’ll find these helpful tools:

• Improvement Tracker
• Weekly Calendar
• Daily Schedule

Daily Schedule:

There is a morning, afternoon and evening version so that you can sit down with your family and plan what your routine will look like each day.

By planning out your day, you will be able to workout when these activities will fit. You can also put the schedule up on your fridge.

You will notice that the schedule is broken up into sections. Each section goes for approximately 5 minutes.

Section 1: Big muscles

The first 5 minutes works on core strength and getting your child moving (huffing and puffing). By doing this, you are getting them ready for learning.

There are a lot of fun ways you can incorporate fun activities into these 5 minutes. You can add spelling tasks, maths activities or even writing practice. These activities can include:

– Scooter board activities

– Trampoline activities

Check out our home work and scooter board videos below for ideas.

Scooter Board Activites

Homework Ideas

Section 2: Table skills

The next five minutes can be sitting at the table working on their handwriting skills, their hand strength or any other task that you think is important for them at the time. If your child doesn’t like homework, is tired or finds sitting at the table difficult then they are likely to learn better lying on their tummy on the floor or working on a vertical surface like a window.

Section 3: Reading 

The final 5 minutes can be spent on reading tasks. I recommend snuggling in your lap, laying on their tummy or sitting in a bean bag during ready time as this provides deep pressure into their body which helps them calm and supports learning.

Healthy Habits Recap

Make time every day to practice. 15-20 minutes is great, but aim for a minimum of 5 minutes.

The length of time spent on homework isn’t important – What’s most important is that you are practicing everyday, even if only for 5 minutes.

Consider breaking down your daily practice into 3 sections:

– Big muscles.

– Handwriting/ Hand strength.

– Reading Tasks.

I have included a FREE Chores information sheet and rewards charts to help you begin your healthy habits in readiness for commencing school.

Download the Information Sheet and Charts Below

KAIT1108_TPP Meal Time_FA (1) KAIT1108_TPP Chores Time_FA KAIT1108_TPP Chores Sheet_DD01 (1) KAIT1108_TPP DailyChores_DD01