homework jar

We're a month into the school year and the thing that I dread the most is homework. Not because it's difficult. Not because my kids get a ton (yet). But because I always have an issue with homework when it comes to my daughter. You'd think she'd be used to it, that she'd not whine about it and just do it. But I guess that's a lot to ask of a 7 yr old girl. And believe me, her homework is not too hard for her so it's not an issue of difficulty.

Anyway, I've tried punishments, I've tried being calm (Lord knows I constantly try to be calm with her when she takes 3x as long to do homework as it should because the majority of that time is spent whining). Sooooo, I've decided to pay her for her homework.

I know what some of you may be thinking.

But hear me out.

Her "job" right now is to be a good student. And why shouldn't she expected to get paid for doing her job well?? Now, at her school they get ice cream on Friday's which costs 50 cents. Up until this point I've been just giving her the money. But we've changed things up a bit. Now, every day that she does her homework well ~ without whining ~ she gets 25 cents. At the end of the week she'll have $1.25 and she can use 50 cents of that for ice cream and she can keep the rest.

And in this way she earns a treat at the end of the week for a job well done.

So far it's working. And she's very proud of herself for earning her money. And you know what?? There's less whining. Alleluia!!!!

This is the jar I decorated up to hold her money. It sits on the kitchen counter and every day we get to add her quarter. I just grabbed a small mason jar and used some scraps from a Noel Mignon kit from a month or 2 ago. I wanted a smaller jar (and one that's not glass) but I didn't have one around. So this will do for now.

I decorated a clothespin to hold the bingo card on the jar. That way I can put it on a smaller jar if I find one. I wanted it to look cute because, after all, it will be sitting on my kitchen counter for the next 9 mos!

So does anyone else have an issue with homework??