It’s no secret that children can quickly become overwhelmed by their educational requirements, which can lead to a host of problems. This includes having issues studying for tests they need to pass to get to the next level.
If you’re looking for ways to help your child improve and develop good study habits, you’ve come to the right place. Below are some valuable tips and tricks for parents that will ensure their children get the most out of each study session they have to participate in.
Why Kids Have Poor Study Habits
There are several reasons your child might not have the best study habits, with the first being too many distractions. If your child is studying in the living room where a television is present or younger siblings are running around having fun, it can be hard for them to concentrate.
After all, what child wants to study over playing with their friends outside or siblings? Or perhaps a tv show has a new episode they don’t want to miss out on seeing. Another common reason for poor study habits is a lack of interest in the studied subject.
Not everyone will love studying subjects like math or history, which is why, as your child’s parent, you’ve got to step in and find creative ways to help the material jump off the pages and into your child’s brain. Lastly, your child worrying might be another reason for not developing good habits.
Worrying about their ability to remember the information they’ve studied. Or worrying about being able to perform when it comes time to take the test could keep your child from being able to study as effectively as they should. Now that we’ve identified some of the reasons your child’s study habits aren’t where they should be, here are some things you can do as their parent to increase their chances of succeeding.
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Communicate With Your Child
The first tip we have to give you is to communicate openly with your children. If you don’t take the time to communicate with them, it will become challenging to determine when and what subjects your child needs help studying.
By communicating with your children, you’re letting them know that you care about their struggles and will do what it takes to help. One of the most significant difficulties parents encounter is their child not wanting to talk to them.
As long as you have open lines of communication between yourself and your children, there’s no academic struggle you can’t help them to overcome. The sooner you learn about these academic struggles, the better off you’ll be at getting a head start on assisting them in creating better study habits.
Use Sample Study Guides
When studying, your child doesn’t have to start from scratch. In fact, if they type in something like “sample questions for the CAT4,” it should populate a series of study guides your child can use. From there, it will be easy to ensure that all the material that needs to be covered is covered.
Study guides are a great study tool because not only does it encompass potential questions your child may see on the test, but it also has the answers for them to use. Your child should spend time before their test to memorize the material before the test date.
The more time spent studying the material, the easier it will be for your child to recall it when it matters the most.
Introduce Study Breaks
When your child sits down to study, it’s easy to keep going until they’ve burnt themselves out. However, this isn’t as beneficial for them and their education as one might assume; it can have the reverse effect and cause your child to forget everything they’ve worked so hard to retain.
Instead, begin to implement study breaks for your child. You’ll be surprised how much more information your child retains when they give themselves a chance to stop and reboot before they continue studying the testing material.
The study break doesn’t need to be longer than an hour, but a few short fifteen-minute breaks are enough to help your child breathe and return to their studies.
Get Rid of Distractions
The setting is the most critical factor in helping your children develop good study habits. When your child sits down to study, ensure that they are doing so in the optimal environment possible, which means eliminating all distractions.
The place your child studies should be quiet and have the essentials they need to study effectively. For example, when they sit down to study, do they have flashcards and highlighters available if needed? Do they have a charger for their computer if the study material has to be accessed via the Internet?
Whatever your child needs when they begin to study should be available in their designated study area to reduce the chances that they will leave the area, risking the chances of being distracted about something after they’ve left the area. It also helps if there is a timer present in the study area for your child to refer to.
The timer will let your child know when it’s time for them to take a break and when it’s time for them to get back to studying. It’s also crucial for your child to know that the study area is the only place for them to study.
When they’re done studying, they can leave their materials there and leave the area. This serves as a tangible way for them to step in and out of study mode. This can help your child leave their stress at the desk versus carrying it around the house and being unable to relax after studying.
Study Habits: Ensuring Your Child Succeeds Academically
When your child doesn’t have the right study habits, it can set them up to not succeed in the classroom. This is why we’ve provided some useful tips above, such as designating a study area and implementing short study breaks.
All these tips are sure to help your child get on the right page and start acing each test they sit down to take. And it can help reduce their anxiety surrounding academics. Want to know more about studying and related topics?
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