STUDY HABITS

STUDY HABITS

9 PRINCIPLES FOR HELPING YOUR CHILD IMPROVE THEIR SCHOOL WORK

[ This material was originally presented as a brochure I composed after seeing many children in therapy who were doing poorly in school. What I discovered in doing therapy with these children was that they had no study habits, did not really understand the concept of studying, had no structure around studying and doing homework. I also found that parents did not understand how to impose structure around school and study habits].

Your child's success in school is a direct result of developing a disciplined routine of study. Schools do not teach study habits. School staff are far too busy simply trying to get the information to your child to teach study habits. Below are 9 principles designed to help you help your child with their school work.

1. YOUR CHILD NEEDS A SET TIME FOR STUDY

School is your child's job. In the same way you have a set work schedule, your child needs a set study schedule. By having a set schedule, your child learns discipline and focus. Competing interests and activities are eliminated with a set time for study.

2. THE BEST TIME FOR YOUR CHILD TO STUDY IS AFTER DINNER

Many children try to do their homework as soon as they get home from school, before dinner. By this time of day however, your child has been working hard for many hours and needs a break, just as you do when you come home from work. When children try to do their homework after school, they often rush to finish it, doing less then an adequate job, because they are tired. They hope by finishing before dinner they can have the rest of the night off. Even if your child can finish all of their homework before dinner now, as they get into the higher grades there will simply be too much work to complete in the time after school and before dinner.

3. YOUR CHILD NEEDS A SET PLACE AT WHICH TO DO THEIR WORK

Part of the discipline of study is having a set place at which your child studies. This should include a desk, lamp, dictionary, paper, pens, pencils and a ruler. This desk and associated supplies should be used only for the purpose of studying, producing a no nonsense atmosphere for work. If possible, the desk and supplies should be in your child's room.

4. HELP YOUR CHILD UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOMEWORK AND STUDYING

Most children believe all the work they have to do outside of school is homework. This is not true. Homework represents the new information which you child learned in school today. It is given to reinforce the original presentation of this information in school. If your child does not review this information beyond their homework, they will quickly forget a lot of it. Your child's job each night is to do their homework (new information) homework and then to study (review outlines) material they have already learned. Today's homework is tomorrow's study material. When your child learns to do both their homework and study nightly, their grades will improve and their school work will become easier.

5. HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN HOW TO OUTLINE MATERIALS

In the same way that schools do not have time to teach study habits, they also do not formally teach children how to outline the materials they read. Outlining books, information presented in class, articles and other materials they read for classes and papers is one of the most important skills your child can learn. Each chapter of each book and each article read should be outlined by your child. These outlines form the material with they need to study and prepare for exams. Sit with your child and have them read a page and outline it as a way to find out if your child knows this skill. If he/she does not know this skill you need to teach it to them.

6. BE INTERESTED IN YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL WORK FROM THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

Most families today have two working parents. With both parents employed, it is easy to not pay attention to children's school work. It is also easy for children to interpret this as a lack of interest on the part of their parent(s) or even a suggestion that their parents do not value school. In this case the child will stop valuing school as highly.

7. STAY IN CONTACT WITH YOUR CHILD'S TEACHER FROM THE START OF SCHOOL

Because we are all so busy, most of us tend not to have contact with our children's teacher until the first parent-teacher meeting or the first report card. If our child is having academic problems, this is often the first we know of it, however it means that our child is already behind academically and will need to struggle to catch up. By keeping in touch with our child's teacher from the first, we can be aware as soon as our child has academic problems and intervene in a more timely manner. Further, by introducing ourselves to our children's teacher(s) early, we reinforce our children's teacher's understanding that we are interested in our children's education. Remember, since your children's teachers have many students and associated parents, it is easier for you to make early contact with the teacher(s) then for the teachers to make contact with you.

8. HELP YOUR CHILD PLAN THEIR WORK

From the early grades on, your child will receive long term assignments and projects. It is easy for your child to put these assignments off since they are not due immediately, and then try to do them at the last minute. Not only does this tend to result in a poor grade for the project, but it often means that your child will ask for your help on a complicated project at the last minute, when you least expect it. This lead to great child-parent tensions. By keeping involved with your child's school work and with her/his teacher(s), you will know about these assignments early and will help teach your child not to put this work off until it is due.

9. TEACH YOUR CHILD TO TAKE STUDY BREAKS

Many parents want their children to sit down to their work and studies and not get up until their work is complete. This is a bad practice. In the same way you get periodic breaks at work, your child should take breaks during homework and studying. These should take place every 45 - 50 minutes, should involve walking around and focusing the sight on objects at a greater distance then the focus length involved between when they are sitting and studying.