Have you ever made a pie or a casserole that was so beautiful that you almost hated to cut into it and serve it? The satisfaction of simply looking at your masterpiece and hearing the praise of your family felt equal to the joy of devouring it.
Every homeschooling mother longs for her child to have that same sense of satisfaction in looking back at thoughtfully done school work. Furthermore, that feeling of accomplishment is a vital foundation for a strong work ethic. I believe that displaying our children’s work is one way we can help promote the joy of a job well done.
You can always slap a paper on the refrigerator with a handy magnet, but I’m talking about giving select pieces of school work a special honor.
Try one of these ideas. (Personalizing and decorating the display method also gives you a great family craft opportunity.)
- Hang a rod or dowel with pretty ribbon and use clothespins to attach papers.
- Create a “clothesline” with a ribbon tied between two hooks.
- Choose an empty frame and hang it on the wall. Then tape the schoolwork directly onto the press board backing.
- Apply magnetic paint on a portion of a wall and use pretty magnets so showcase special assignments.
- Use small bulletin boards – one for each child in the family.
- Place a clear acrylic frame in a prominent place on a table or shelf. Just slide the work in the slot.
Your criteria for featuring various pieces will be up to you. You may want to choose one excellent piece each day or each week or just whenever you think an assignment should be featured. Consider allowing your children to choose their own pieces occasionally.
You may be surprised at what they consider their best work.
Showcasing your child’s work is not just about art. Any well done school work qualifies – a notebooking page, a well written poem or paragraph, a math activity that was especially challenging, a spelling test, a nature journal page, pretty copywork, etc.
Displaying your child’s artwork sends a strong message to your child:
- “I value what you do.”
- “You are creative, smart, or hard-working.”
- “Work done well is beautiful.”
When visitors come to your home, they can see the schoolwork too and have the chance to ask questions or praise your child again.
Share the ways you display your children’s schoolwork. How often do you change the work? What is your criteria? How does it make your children feel?
Jimmie is a former public school teacher turned homeschooling stay-at-home-mom. A sense of humor, faith, and creativity keep her “pressing on” in her unique situation — living and traveling abroad with an only child in a bilingual environment. Visit her blog at Jimmie’s Collage.
I took 4 empty wooden picture frames of different designs and spray painted them silver. I hung them on our dining room wall and you could see the painted wall behind them. This is where I would use a clear thumbtack to tack the kids’ pictures inside the frame. Not only did it make it seem more like “real” art, it was very easy to change out. They loved having their talents displayed.
Marsha´s last blog ..I Heart Faces: Hands-On Fun
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Great idea! I display art but the other stuff deserves a space too.
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These are all really good ideas.
If you happen to be lucky enough to live close to grandparents or other family members, you can make it a habit to have them over for dinner or coffee once a month and let the kids display and explain their projects. This gives them a chance to be proud of what they’ve learned AND helps reinforce the what they’ve learned.
Christina S.
LessonPathways.com Team Member
Christina S.´s last blog ..BIG News for LessonPathways.com!
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Lovely ideas. I like the idea of a weekly rotation. So far we have a few favourites that are framed on the wall. The rest (my daughter is an avid artist!) is scanned and put onto her website. We have galleries from the past 5 years or so and we gather up her pictures during the year to put up a new gallery at the end of the year. There is no way I could keep all her art as she does at least one piece every day!!
I love your idea, Christine S – of having family over for the kids to have a captive audience
VsMum´s last blog ..Signs of spring
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Thanks Jimmie. I really need to think about this. We display a LOT of the kids art, but not so much their school projects and I think you’re right that is important also.
We do have the children read their compositions or papers to the whole family at meal time and they enjoy that, but for those other school assignments…
Kimberly @ Raising Olives´s last blog ..Hide and Seek: Wordless
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Hi,
I laminate my children’s favourtie pieces of work. We have a dedicated wall in our school room where we proudly display some of their terrific work. I also have their lapbooks in magazine holders in the lounge room so people can pick them up anytime to have a look. And of course there is our blog where our family and friends can always pop over to have a look at what the children are doing. Thanks for sharing
Helen
Helen´s last blog ..Handprint butterfly & caterpillar fingerprints
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Hi Jimmie:
Displaying your child’s work is fun and gives a boost to their self-esteem. I have started a group on Flickr for that purpose. The purpose is to display art work and photography of K – 12 homeschool children. The group has just been created. The only requirement to join is to subscribe to my blog. Anyway, in the future, I have plans for themed shows, awards and placing the winning pieces on my blog. So, spread the word. I think this could be fun!
Terry Holliday´s last blog ..Let’s Do a Blind Contour Drawing
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Thanks for the great ideas! My son doesn’t do much arts & crafts type stuff, so we don’t have much displayed around the house. I love the idea of displaying some of his school work. Maybe knowing that it might be displayed will encourage even better work (especially handwriting!). I’ll have to think about the best way to display it at our house!
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Hi Jimmie, I loved reading this! My kids love it when I display their work on my blog. My criteria for “publishing” their work online is that they write nice and put their best effort into their work. Since I have 3 boys doing the same thing often, I usually pick the best effort (which is not always the best paper though!).
Michelle ´s last blog ..Grades?
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