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Introduction
Though the world is changing fast, the education system does not change at the same rate. The majority of capable children experience frustration at school not because they lack the aptitude, but for the reason that they lack adequate study skills not offered in many schools. Due to the large classroom sizes that teachers deal with, they are at times overworked, rendering it very difficult for them to get to every student. This makes it very crucial for the parents to be part and parcel of their childrens learning, by teaching them effective study skills. They should find out how their children study best and consequently work out a revising method that suits their childrens learning styles to maximize comprehension during the study. Here are some universal principles that parents should use to help their children improve their academic performance drastically.
Favorable Study Environment
In case your child needs some basic things, before they commence their studies, always advise them to avail the necessities first. This helps to reduce time wastage. For example, they may require silence, special lighting, privacy, comfortable furniture, among other things. This will help to minimize frustration and time wastage. Children should always pay attention to what works for them best and make it a habit for paramount results.
Help your child Set Reasonable Goals
As a parent, you should help your child to set both long-term and short-term goals which are specific and clearly stated to give direction and focus. The goals should be within the childs skills and ability, should be practical, flexible, measurable, and within their control. Parents should help their children set manageable goals. To the parents, the target may appear to be very easy, but with time children realize them. Little by little, you can then help youre come up with intricate ones. As a parent, you should make your child see the discrepancy between enduring and immediate goals. The intention is to allow them to lay down strategies on working on their dreams, in the long term. Nevertheless, there is a need to ensure that their individual goals in the short term are a reflection of their everyday activities. Encourage them to record their goals and let your expectations towards their accomplishment be known.
Provide a Positive Attitude
Parents should encourage children to perceive academic work as a positive experience and associate it with affection, freedom, enjoyment, and self-discipline. They should be very careful when commenting on academic work. This is because; children unconsciously adopt their parents attitudes. By displaying a negative attitude towards a certain subject, a parent could unknowingly be passing this attitude to his/her child, which can influence their academic performance negatively.
Discourage Procrastination
Discourage your child from procrastinating habits. This is because, when done in excess, deferment of academic work results in guilt feelings and can cause anxiety and poor performance. Too much procrastination can lead to poor personal and school achievement. Motivate your child to learn how to prioritize their tasks and break large tasks into smaller and manageable units to avoid being weighed down, and maintain their concentration while getting rid of distractions that could interfere with successful completion of tasks.
Improving Concentration
Train your children on how to increase their concentration time. At the start, the level of concentration may only be for a short time, such as 20 minutes, or so. Nonetheless, parents have the potential to assist their children to increase their concentration levels, by and by. Advise your child to take a 15-minute break after 45 minutes of study. This minimizes the loss of concentration. Children should be encouraged to space studying over several sessions, as opposed to having one long session that may not be equally productive. According to research, small ruptures of attentiveness recurring regularly are more valuable compared to a single stretched span. Distributing learning is highly efficient. This is because the brain needs recharge time for protein synthesis after which it can assimilate the fresh efforts made. Breaks are a powerful instrument that many tutors do not acknowledge. Studying for long hours is not only monotonous but can also create fatigue, tension, and diversion. In reality, the brain can scarcely absorb any knowledge if distraught. Children should avoid studying when weary, irritated, troubled, or when in a haste. Like a sponge, a relaxed brain will naturally soak up data with less effort. If emotionally stressed, our brain resists information. Studying without concentration is a waste of time. It is like attempting to fill a bucket that has an outlet at the bottom with water.
Efficient memorization methods
While memorization may not be everything that your child needs for effective study, it is necessary at times. Effective memorization can be achieved through the use of flashcards, lists, and acronyms. Memorization should be self-motivated but not inert. Guide your child to make an effort of visualizing in concrete terms creating a picture in their head while saying the words loudly. They can also relate the new information with things that they can identify with. For instance, if they need to remember important years, they should relate them to important years that they know about.
Create a Study Habit
More often than not, if your child plans to study at regular times during each day, they will make it habitual for more accomplishment. An effective way to do this is to mark it down on their diary. On the other hand, if they just fix anything to study at any time during the day, chances are that they will not achieve much. Parents should use homework to train organization proficiency and check them off when completed.
Color and Sign System for Texts and Notes
During study time, teach your child to underline, star, or mark the main ideas, dates supporting facts or items warned to be common mistakes at school. While doing this, advise the child to use different colors. Improving your childs study habits (Anon., Para. 5); is a good way to boost their memory.
Significant Writing Skills
Parents ought to persuade their children to organize their thoughts before attempting any task, after which they should write at least two drafts. They should also emphasize the importance of proofreading and checking for tidiness, punctuation errors, legibility, appropriate paragraphing, and spelling. Successful essay writing cannot be achieved overnight. The ability of a child to discuss a topic in-depth, and organize his/her thoughts in an essay effectively requires thorough practice. Parent must encourage their children to practice writing a lot of essays while giving positive criticism where necessary. According to study skills: a guide for parents (Anon., Para. 6), parents should help their children to see tests as a means to showcase what they have learned but not something to be dreaded.
Effective Study Habits
Help your child acquire effective reading techniques. While doing this, consider the SQ3R technique. This is where the child surveys or looks over the material before beginning to read. He/ she then questions the material before beginning to read, reads through the material in the normal way, recites and writes down the answers, and finally reviews the information and additional details, highlighting the key points, and making corrections. If the child takes longer to review his/her work early enough, the information learned will appear to be less familiar. However, daily reviews of classwork tend to reinforce the information in the childs brain. When dealing with comprehension homework, advise your child to review the headings, pictures, subtitles, grids, and tables before attempting the task. They can also achieve this through reading the introduction, and scanning through the opening quarter to determine the plot, setting, and characters, especially when dealing with a narrative. It is usual for the brain to forget. The brain should be perceived to be putting down layers of data. The more we add new information, the harder it becomes to remember previous material. The most crucial thing for the child to do is to review their work frequently. In most cases, a quick overview is enough. Occasionally, a comprehensive study session of older information is necessary. Encourage your child to summarize what they have read for a deeper grasp. To achieve this, the child can represent the learned information in a tree diagram. This forms visual support that boosts association and comprehension.
Effective Spelling Techniques
Guide your child on how to use exaggeration especially while studying spelling. They can exaggerate the sound of the letters to help them remember how certain words are spelled. For instance, for studying purposes, the word naive should be exaggerated and pronounced as NAY-IVY. By getting used to this exaggerated pronunciation, the accurate spelling seems obvious to the child.
Motivation
Demonstrate genuine admiration for homework completion and good study habits. Reward your child for excellent grades and for improving while taking into account their preferences. The rewards need not be very pricey. Going out with your child for ice cream, or a visit to the grandparents are superb examples of inexpensive but efficient rewards.
Conclusion
A child needs to develop effective study skills, at an early age. When they are exposed to effective study methods early enough, children gain a feeling of competence, develop a positive attitude and realize that they have control over their performance at school and in the real world. As a parent, you should start guiding your child in the application of the above study skills and witness the radical results!
Reference
Laura. R., 2004.Helping Your Child Develop Study Skills that Will Benefit Him for Life. Web.
Lauren, C.B & Barbara, A.L.2004. How to maximize your childs learning ability: a complete guide to using best computer games, activities, learning aids, toys and tactics for your child. [E-book]. New York: Square One Publishers. Web.
Math and Reading Help. 2009. Improving Your Childs Study Habits.(On-line). Web.
Mark, E. 2001. Improving your Childs School organization.(On-line) Arkansas, US: Center for effective parenting. Web.
Rosemond. J., 1990. Ending the homework hassle: Understanding, preventing and solving school performance problems. [E-book]. Kansas City, Missouri: Universal Press Syndicate Company. Web.
WETA. 1998. Study skills: a handout for parents. (On-line). Web.
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