TO TEACH YOUR KIDS HOW TO FOCUS, TRY “BRAINWORK”

Just because it’s summer, learning doesn’t need to stop

By: Danielle Lepe   |   July 8, 2021

Like any muscle, our kids’ brains need exercise. Here, one mom shares how she guides her kids with daily brain workouts—even during summer holidays.

When I was growing up, I remember getting really excited on Thursdays because the weekend was approaching.

 

Each May, I felt giddy with the promise of a homework-free summer.

 

Fast forward to college, when I was shell-shocked at the amount of coursework required to manage 21+ units a semester.

 

When I entered the workforce, I was surprised when I was asked to work on the weekends.

 

Why do we condition our children to think of the promise of weekends and summers to be this everlasting utopia of downtime?

 

My husband and I both are self-admitted workaholics and start our days around 4:00am. Our daily schedules begin with coffee, email, a workout and a few meetings—all before our children wake up. We both work well into the evenings and love sharing a glass of wine while brainstorming work ideas together. We have found that constant stimulation, dedication, and self-motivation have made us successful. When we had children, we agreed on the importance of establishing self-direction and rigor early on.

 

Substantial research echoes this approach.

 

One of my favorites is an article from The Economist circa 2018 that highlights findings that long summer breaks often set back a child’s learning.

 

I advocate for daily "brain work" and to our children, we do not frame weekends or summer as "fun pauses" during which all learning stops. Instead, we re-branded “homework” as “brain work”.

 

For our children, we started teaching this at age 2. At first it was very simple and we used a 3-minute timer as a way to add structure to the work session.

 

What “Brain Work” looks like in practice

We began by drawing a circle, triangle and square. After giving them a lesson, we asked them to color each with primary colors. The real "key" here is after you explain the brain work, they must sit at a table or in their rooms and focus quietly.

 

Here are a few examples from this morning:

• Grey (age 2): Practiced drawing straight lines and cutting for 10 minutes

• Roth (age 4): I drew 18 circles on a long sheet of butcher paper and asked him to separate mini M&Ms in sets of 5 and 10 by color. Then, he had to establish 3 patterns that repeated 3 times. This took him 33 minutes.

• Thatcher (age 6): She was asked to make an 8-10 page book about something in nature. She cut the paper, made lines to write and illustrated each page. After that, she stapled it. Next, I had 8 numbers written out on a paper (all greater than 30) and she had to use Montessori counting units to establish groupings. This work took her 85 minutes.

 

There is something magical about the entire family working together! In our family, we have a few mantras but one of my favorites is when we ask them, “What are you committed to?” and they unanimously reply, “EXCELLENCE”.

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We also underscore the importance of daily activity and say, “Healthy body, healthy mind” as a key component for performing well.

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This summer, the kids will do brain work from 7:30–9:00am every day. Every evening, we have each child do a presentation, in which they present their work and allow us to direct a rapid-fire question round at them. We end our evenings with a “Moment of Gratitude” and often, they will reflect on something they learned from their brain work. I believe our children are incredibly capable and eager to learn!

 

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My husband and I also want to instill an entrepreneurial spirit and that is only possible when you remove the constructs of “a work day” and “weekends”.

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I look forward to hearing about your ideas and brain work that your family enjoys!

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