Motivation in school: how to help a child not "burn out" at the end of the year

In May, schoolchildren's motivation to study drops rapidly. The desire to have everything in time for the holidays is combined with fatigue, decreased concentration, and indifference. Parents are worried: a little more and the child will "burn out", lose interest in learning, and grades will drop. How to preserve a child's inner resource and support it in the last weeks of the school year?

Why does the motivation in learning decrease at the end of the year?

• Emotional exhaustion. The school year is a marathon. Daily lessons, tests, homework — all this accumulates. Fatigue leads to loss of interest, apathy, even tears and refusal to go to school.

• Absence of quick results. Training is a long process. It is difficult for my children to see the meaning in one more homework or test.

• Weather change and focus on recreation. Spring means walks, dreams of summer vacations, internal transition to "solar mode".

Motivation in school: how to support it without pressure?

Change the focus from ratings to meaning

Don't ask: "What grade did you get?", but better:

• What did you learn?
• What was interesting today?
• What do you want to understand more deeply?

Such an approach reduces anxiety and returns motivation to learning as a cognitive process, not as a race for points.

Source: freepik

Emphasize progress, not mistakes

Remind the child how he grew up in an hour:

• remember how he was afraid to speak in front of the class, and now he freely presents projects;
• how once he did not know how to write essays, but now he does it with his own thoughts.

This forms internal support.

Maintain the rhythm, but without overloading

Mode is important, but the ego should be tempered. For example:

• leave one day without a home at all;

• agree: one task — and a walk;

• give an opportunity to prepare for the tests at a comfortable pace.

It creates a sense of balance without turning studying into hard labor.

Create a space for inspiration

Maintaining motivation in training requires sources of energy. It can be:

• new interest — from drawing to playing the ukulele;

• joint project — make a poster, experiment, prepare an interview for the school blog;

• permission to "pause" without reproaches.

Source: freepik

Do not be afraid of a temporary decline - it is natural

The biggest mistake is to press even harder when the child is exhausted. Try instead:

• together determine the minimum that must be observed by the end of the year — for example, close topics in mathematics and pass all essays;

• recognize fatigue as normal — to say: "I see that it is difficult for you. Let's take a break and think about how to be";

• to give the right to make mistakes without punishment — the fear of grades defeats even the most persistent.

Motivation in education is not about ideal students, but about living children

Your child has the right to be tired. He has the right to support, trust and not to live up to someone's expectations. Education is not only about knowledge, but also about the experience of cooperation, internal organization, and mutual respect. And the best motivation is the feeling that you are accepted and respected as you are.