Praise your child liberally when he is successful, and encourage him when unsuccessful. Maintain a healthy positivity, encouraging your child that it can be done, that they can get this, and that they are making progress every day. Remind yourself of these facts, as well.
Reward your child with breaks, or even on-the-fly recess, especially during stressful moments or times of tough learning. Encourage your strong-willed child to run, even if it is only to the other side of the yard. A small amount of brisk exercise outdoors can go a long way during indoor learning.
Place music practice between two mentally taxing classes. Younger children need more small breaks than older children. Sometimes an elective class, such as the daily practicing of piano or another musical instrument, can be a good break between two challenging classes. Other elective classes such as physical education, chess, art or hobbies are appropriate, especially when the elective class enables a change of pace from rote school work.
Employ a "treat bag" that is filled with inexpensive trinkets the child looks forward to receiving, such as small plastic animals, stickers and special pages for coloring. When the child makes a breakthrough in learning, or an improvement, invite her to select a treat from the "treat bag," and set a rule that the bag only can be accessed once or twice a day.
Begin each school day with a small, quiet time in the morning. It could be a "prayer time."
For those who do not include any form of religion in their homeschooling, a quiet time that student and teacher spend together---before class time---with questions and answers is good, and does not have to be longer than five or 10 minutes.
Play soothing classical music during classes---or other gentle music that does not distract the attention, and can be listened to subconsciously rather than actively---especially music that includes the sounds of nature, such as waves, animal and bird noises, pattering rain and storms. Recordings pairing classical music with nature sounds are very common, and are available at most school-supply outlets.
Teach strong-willed children consistently with firmness, but patience and love always should be foremost. When a child refuses to cooperate and discipline is in order, have the child sit in "time out," demonstratively, turning off any soothing music during the disciplinary time. Also, inform the disciplined child that this time-out period is a time in which outside time could have been enjoyed, and that the "time out" cancels access to the "treat bag." Relegate "time outs" to five-minute intervals.