Music is the language of God. The more I study it, the more I’m convinced it’s a fact. As an adult it’s easy for me to spout the benefits of music study….especially when it comes to brain development in the language and mathematic areas. You would think these lofty truths would motivate my kids to practice. What they hear is, “Wa wa wa wa wa wa.” (Read in an adult Peanuts voice.)
They want to play music for the self-expression and the opportunity to play in a group. But they do NOT want to practice. Lessons are expensive and going unprepared is a complete waste of money and time. This pains me in my frugal organ.
So, a few weeks ago I told my kids that they were going to start paying for their own music lessons. I offered them $3 a day for a good session of practice. If they fit 5 practice sessions into their week, they’d have the money to pay for their lesson. If they practiced more than that, they could pocket a little extra. If not, the lesson money came out of their piggy bank.
It was motivating! It worked! With a little problem. The kids would practice and I would be too busy to hand them the $3 right then. Getting the money right away is a very good behavioral reinforcement and we were missing that. A few days would go by and I’d forget exactly how many times they practiced, and they would too. We were sloppy.
So I made a little clipboard to keep track of it for us. It cost $3 a board. $1 for the clothespins and $2 per board (Dollar Tree sells these for $1….but ours are never in stock.)
I hung them upstairs near their practice spaces (their bedrooms.) They practice. I hear them. I give them permission to get their money. They put it in their cash envelope labeled “Violin Lessons” which is kept in their cases. They are too smart to steal the money off their board when I’m not looking. I trust but verify.
The little clothespins came from the dollar section at Target (I bought them November 1st, 2014–so depending on when you are reading this, they probably still have them.) Before I saw those pins already decorated, I was shopping for printed paper tape to jazz up some regular sized wooden clothespins. The tape cost the same as these pins already done….so I took the easy route.
I used a ruler to line them up.
Then hot glued them in place.
The name tags are 6 x 3 inch squares printed onto card stock. I just typed something up in Powerpoint.
If you wanted to get all fancy, decoupage and scrapbook or wrapping paper would be fun. I’m spending my spare moments building stuff in the garage, so decided the natural board was GORGEOUS.
I’m not sure how long this will motivate the kids, but for now is the most genius thing I have thought of in my life. I really like watching them hand their hard earned money to their teachers at lesson time. I think it sends the kids a message about what things really cost.
How do you motivate your kids to practice? I’d love to hear.