5 Tips to Helping your Child Study at Home

Studying is one of the hardest habits to instill in children, but it is something crucial to their academic and professional formation. You as a parent should also study up on how to be able to help them to get and improve these qualities. The encouragement that you give to studying habits and the techniques that you will be using to do it are things you should think long and hard about. Not sure where to start? The following tips may be of much help to helping your young student:


1. Set the proper environment: Having the perfect ambiance for studying is very important. Just like you, kids perform better with the proper motivation and environment. Try to either turn the TV off or, if it isn't too distracting, you can play some classical or subject-related music at low volume. This will not only make them happy but you can use techniques to relate the music to the study. For example, if your kid is learning another language, you can play songs in that language. They will feel motivated to translate and try to sing and will be studying and learning at the same time and won’t notice it. Another technique is using scents, as they can be relaxing and may help your child focus and relieve stress.

2. Provide the proper tools: Make sure that your children have everything they need for their homework and studying. Missing one of the things they need can be stressful and they will lose their commitment and motivation. This is your responsibility, so get involved with the school and ask them daily what they need for homework. If possible keep in contact with their teachers so you can be told by them directly. Studying generally isn't fun but this will make it easier for your child. You can also let them use online tools, like on Writing samurai, where they can find blogs and discussions related to their homework.

3. Ask for daily summaries: Again, get involved. Show your child that you are interested in what they are doing. When you sit down to help them, ask them for a quick summary of what they have learned that day. You don’t want them to feel overwhelmed but a good answer is an indication that your child is paying attention in class. They should be able to talk to you about the subject and have basic knowledge of what went on that day. You may want to throw out some question and find out how well they did on their previous days homework. You will hit two birds with one stone. You will be making them to truly learn (not just memorize) and you will be showing them a different way to study. As a bonus, you may refresh something you may have forgotten.

4. Study in doses: This may work better the night before a test but you can also use it when you notice that the subject or theme related is difficult for your child. Dividing up study time with educational activities that your kids like will help them to concentrate better. Remember that the activities you pick should be short and not overly distracting, that they forget what they were learning.

5. Offer goals or rewards: Kids are proven to work by incentives. Set goals for projects large and small and when they achieve them, offer a small reward. You can even set bigger rewards when the expected results are exceeded or especially hard to obtain. Kids are just like us; we work for money and if the reward is large, we tend to work harder!