Studying is important, especially for areas in which the student is
struggling, but too much studying is a bad thing. Cramming, for example, is one of the most
inefficient and unproductive study methods around, and it creates a great deal
of stress in your child that can cause them to perform poorly at school,
especially during tests and exams. Teach
your child to spend 30-60 minutes a day reviewing materials from the previous
weeks and months; by doing this, your child will develop efficient study habits
and avoid last-minute preparations, like cramming for tests.
The process to cement
information into your brain is simple!
1.
Maintain
a positive attitude no matter how challenging it seems to be. NEVER say destructive things like “It’s too
difficult!”, “I can’t understand this!” or “I’m not smart enough!” Expressions of frustration have a nasty way
of becoming hindrances to learning, so keep it constructive (“With time and
effort, I will succeed!”)
2.
Immediately
review what you learned. This sends a
signal to your brain saying “This is important!”
3.
Rewrite
it. This is very effective because it
stimulates different parts of the brain than reading and listening, and makes
it “personal”.
4.
It is best if your child reviews materials
learned after 1-2 days, again after a week, and once more after a month. Infrequent reviews after that can’t hurt.
5.
Creative
memorization techniques can be used to make memorizing interesting and easier,
and most schools don’t teach this. Here are some tips on that: http://www.wikihow.com/Memorize
or search www.TED.com or YouTube for “Memory Masters” videos so you can learn
more.
It is not how much time they spend on this that is important – it is
the refreshing of the memories of what they’ve learned and most especially what
they’re struggling with that does the trick.
If your child develops the habit of a small amount of review each day,
s/he will be able to cope with the increasing demands of school as s/he gets
older. Read more details here:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_05.htm
The same rule applies to long-term projects. Often, large projects (or so they seem!)
appear very daunting to children and they will put them off as long as they
possibly can because they cannot process the scope of it or how to accomplish
it. Teach them how to analyze and
identify the discrete tasks of the project so that the mountainous task becomes
a series of little ones, and then show them how to prioritize and schedule
everything over the time they have. They
should be given a goal of a certain amount of time spent each day on the
project, a date by which the first
draft of the project will be finished, followed by a period of editing
and improvement before handing it in. As
they get older, they should be encouraged to set their own goals for studying
and projects so that they can learn to accurately gauge their needs. Goal-setting, deconstructing large tasks into
a series of smaller ones, and scheduling are critical skills that every child
must learn in order to be effective in school and life.
Another important aspect of studying is to take breaks so that your
brain gets time to relax and process what you learned. Feeling tired, dizzy or having a headache are
indications that you’ve added a lot of information and also used up a lot
energy and nutrients in the process of increasing your knowledge and expanding
your neural network. Take a 5-10 minute
break, have a snack to give yourself energy and relax your mind, then get back
to it. It is probably best for a child
to have a break every 30 minutes and a teen or adult every hour. However, if you feel excited about what
you’re learning and/or are “in the zone/flow”, it’s okay if you wait a bit longer to take a
break. Sometimes however, because of
excitement or flow the learner will completely lose track of time, so you’ll
need to tell your child to stop if it’s been a long time, or they’re clearly struggling.
In addition, it is critical that your child is never forced to stay up
late to complete work or study. If they
didn’t finish, they need to finish it in the morning before they leave (without
getting up early or skipping breakfast) or at school. If that is not possible, they will simply
have to accept the consequences; but, remember, you are the parent and you are
also responsible. In addition, forcing
your child can result in undue stress, which has a deleterious effect on both
the body and the brain. Studying all
night for a test is not only a bad habit to develop, it can lead to poor
results and problems in the future.
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