Practicing is Hard.
I know I get to to see your child for a completely different 30 minutes than you see him or her at home and in an effort to lend encouragement as well as organize my thoughts I wanted to share some of the ideas that have been working in lessons along with some that have not.
My recommendation for this week is to find what makes your child tick. And use it. If may be different this week than it was last week and what worked last week will probably not work again so you have to roll with it.
My example: I have a student who loves loves football. At least right now that is what he loves. The idea of having the puffy man (the cheek of his left hand) stand tall doesn’t work for him.
So we renamed his puffy man Matt Ryan (the Falcons Quarterback…did I know that before this lesson…no way. When asked to think of someone tall that is who my student came up with…) Now, when Matt Ryan (the puffy man) collapses or touches the wood of the neck, he gets “sacked”–which in the eyes of this seven-year-old is the worst possible thing ever. And it’s been working like a charm. Instead of constantly reminding him to stand his hand up tall, all I have to do is say–Matt’s getting sacked…and we have immediate good form.
Victory with with no nagging.