Problem: Your child is a lazy writer who’s not willing to take time planning, writing, and revising.
Solution: Offer structure, rewards, more consistent supervision, and opportunities for immediate success.
Let’s look at a different kind of stumbling block: writing laziness. More than any of the previous writing hurdles, laziness tends to be a character issue, making it a little more challenging to deal with.
- As a rule, the trait of laziness is global, affecting many facets of home and school life. So if your homeschool child is a lazy writer, there’s a good chance laziness manifests in other areas too.
- Laziness robs kids of a sense of accomplishment and motivation to improve themselves. How can they learn anything or pick up a new skill or develop a talent if they’re too lazy to get up and do something?
- Some kids, especially perfectionists, use laziness to skirt around their fear of failure. By not completing assignments, for example, they avoid those feelings of inadequacy: If I don’t do my work at all, there’s no writing for Mom to criticize.
- They may also have learned that if they don’t finish (or even start) an assignment, you’ll eventually forget about it or simply let it slide. This proves to them that laziness works—and unfortunately, they win.
LAZINESS … OR EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION
Before addressing laziness head on, consider the possibility there’s something else going on beneath the surface. Learning challenges such as ADHD and executive dysfunction can manifest as laziness because planning, organizing, and time management require skills your child may not yet have in place. Most of the strategies listed below will help, but you may need to seek additional support.
HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR LAZY CHILD?
Consistently Address Your Child’s Laziness
☑️ Determine whether it’s laziness or procrastination. The procrastinator will—eventually—get the assignment done, but the lazy student may never do the task.
☑️ Supervise your child. As inconvenient as this may be, direct supervision is really the main way to deal with this behavior. So first and foremost, make your lazy student work! This may mean you need to sit together until each task is finished, but stick it out and don’t give up on your child.
☑️ Learn what motivates or helps your lazy student. For instance:
- Does your child thrive on approval? Then don’t save all your praise for a final draft that may or may not materialize. Instead, make sure you give kudos for small steps of progress along the way.
- Is self-doubt at the root? Lazy students may not believe they have any strengths, writing included! To encourage success, help them find a hobby or sport where they show interest and aptitude (baking, computer coding, photography, tennis, etc.).
Try Some New Strategies
Here’s an assortment of tools and strategies that benefit lazy students.
1. Choices
Unmotivated students benefit from having choices, such as what topic to write about or whether to do a writing assignment at their desk or the kitchen table.
2. Predictable plan
A lazy writer needs to know exactly what to do each day—and when homeschool assignments are due.
3. Structure
Whether they’re 7 or 17, students who struggle to stay on task do better with short, bite-size lessons where they can experience immediate success.
To guarantee your slothful student actually does the work, make sure the steps of the writing process are built into your writing program so there’s no escaping the responsibility. A curriculum like WriteShop ensures, for example, that your kids have to brainstorm before they write and can’t get a grade without editing and revising their work.
4. Time limits
Just as it’s good to break down the writing process into manageable steps, it’s also important to set a time limit for each day’s writing activity. If it helps, use a timer.
As a young teen, one of my daughters developed a habit of not getting her work done. I started giving her time limits and due dates, meaning she had to complete a certain amount of work in a set amount of time. These parameters made her tasks seem doable, and over time she was able to work independently again.
5. Clear lesson expectations
Fuzzy lesson assignments can frustrate the best of students, so make sure your kids understand the assignment. Although everyone does better with clear goals and instructions, specific and detailed directions are especially vital for the child who’s lazy about writing.
6. Increased responsibility
All homeschool students, but especially teens, should learn to take responsibility for following directions, completing assignments, and revising their own work. By providing supervision, encouragement, structure, and deadlines, you’ll guide your child toward becoming more responsible and diligent.
7. Writing checklists
Proofreading is an important lifelong skill. Self-editing is one way students can take responsibility for their progress as they learn (and take time) to look for their own writing mistakes. Kids who are lazy about writing need some sort of checklist as a guide to help them identify errors in content, style, and mechanics.
- A checklist (such as the ones in WriteShop Junior and WriteShop I & II) reminds students of all the things they need to look for. As they compare the rough draft to the checklist, they can make corrections and improvements.
- A lazy writer is inclined to check the boxes willy-nilly with eyes glazed over, but an observant homeschool mom will recognize this behavior. If your teen in particular is careless about self-editing, work through the writing assignment together to develop qualities of diligence, discipline, and initiative. Eventually, through your perseverance, your child will learn that writing is a process—and editing and revising are as much a part of that process as the actual writing.
8. Rewards for accomplishments
Depending on your kids’ ages, consider using a progress chart, marble jar, or other reward system where they can earn rewards (such as going out for ice cream) or free-time privileges (such as minutes to play video games).
Still not sure if laziness is the issue with your child’s writing? Laziness has a cousin in procrastination. The problems—and solutions—are similar and will help both types of students finish those writing assignments!
RELATED: 5 Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination in Your Homeschool
If these tips sound like a lot to juggle, rest easy! WriteShop integrates the tools and strategies listed above into the curriculum.
With clear lesson expectations, step-by-step instructions, and daily schedules, WriteShop makes it easier for you to set a lazy writer on course for homeschool writing success—from kindergarten to high school.