Helping Our Children with Their Study Time

We are always being admonished to assist our students and children learn better and improve their study time for greater and excellent academic results. Both parents and teachers are often called upon to help students do better, but friends and neighbors can also help. Managing children learning environment is a team effort by the students, parent, teachers and anyone who can assist in a real improvement oriented manner. Some of the more understandable principles by which to assist include the following.

Organizing and Planning a specific and definite time and distraction free place to study daily is essential. The main reason and emphasis here is to avoid postponements and/or undue delays in doing and completing very necessary school-related tasks. The elimination of huge amount of undone school "home assignments" will also be tackled when this feature is consistently applied. Children will then be able to prevent the need to desperately try and do too much in too little time, especially before an examination or class test. So planning and organizing will definitely help.

At home and at school, students must be trained and encouraged to bring all the necessary materials for better learning and studying at the required time. The forgotten project or assignment will not be helpful in a situation, for example, where a practical lab test is to be done in Biology or Chemistry, but the needed basic materials were not taken for this to be done. The forgotten practiced presentation material is another example. Preparation is a key to success at school and at home. Before studying, a complete checklist and overview of the basic and necessary things needed of effective studying is advisable.

To better manage large and/or difficult tasks, our children are to be trained and encouraged to work on smaller easier tasks before attempting the more difficult and larger assignments. At home, for example, if the student is aware of harder arithmetic that must be done, parents can counsel and encourage him/her to do the easier ones first, rest and then do the harder assignments (with the help of parents, but without the parents doing the entire tasks for the student). This approach should be encouraged to be done each day to build confidence and a good school completion assignment habit.

Knowing, in a reasonable manner, the amount of time needed to complete a specific task can be helpful. This should assist the child with personal concentration and enhance his/her ability to do the homework, for example, in the designated time and without becoming tired or distracted. Sometimes students are told or encouraged by teachers to complete an assignment at home in 15 or 30 minutes, for example, so as to gradually develop a disciplined sense of time management and a higher rate of completed tasks. Reading of test books "Chapters" or pages as assigned by teachers, is another example. So time management is good to learn from a reasonably age unto the high school and college levels.

One of the best ways educators say children learn is by use of charts and diagrams. They are feasible shortcuts to functional understanding. This is true because we often remember what we saw in class than what was written in words, at least sometimes. The memory of a diagram is in fact very helpful, for example, in learning the alphabet, counting of numbers, geometry, and such alike. So to use a graph, chart, or diagram is a good idea for teachers and parents alike, who are both concerned about a child's better learning skills.

Review past assignments to better understand current tasks is another important point. Reviewing is important to better long-term retention of information and materials learned earlier. Study techniques or strategies will help children memories recall teachings faster and quicker. Constant and consistent reviews will help children better prepare for and reduce the time needed (in many cases) to prepare for tests and examinations. This is usually more encouraged to be done during the day (than at nights, if possible) because our children maybe too tired during the night effectively carryout this principle. Remember that, children must also get sufficient sleep and rest for this principle to work as expected.

Therefore, these are some of the main principles parents, teachers, family members, friends and neighbors can apply in assisting and encouraging children to do better in school and at studying, especially at home. They are not exclusive because each parent can think of other relevant characteristics applicable to their children special circumstances. In reality, they work, and they do so very effectively when applied correctly and consistently.