School has started for many kids! Children will be studying for tests and completing school assignments. Many parents tell me, “My child has trouble completing homework?” If you are this parent then watch the video below. This tip may be the life saver you need!
We have more focus and concentration tips here!
If your child has trouble completing homework, I hope this helps!
Try this experiment with your kids!
You will see them become better learners overnight.
Watch the video below to find out how…
For 3 tips to 10x your child’s memory for school go to www.SoyLearning.com
Every week, I post fun accelerated learning activities and tips in a Facebook mom’s group. One particular week, a mom requested that I post Effective and Fun Study tips for Kids/Tweens/Teens.
After fulfilling this mom’s requests, I got a lot positive feedback from parents. They requested even more tips for how their children can make better grades along with improved study habits.
I was excited about this because I LOVE LEARNING about the brain and it’s capacity to store information. My goal is to make learning fun, efficient, and effective for kids.
Many kids spend a lot time in school so why not make learning a positive experience for them? One way this can be done is by using their creativity, imagination, and the real world to trigger their memory.
I will show you an example.
It gives you strategies that will help children learn facts for school in less than 10 minutes. Also you learn a great tip to keep your child’s focus while they are studying. They will retain more information in less time.
Please Note: This information is great for parents of homeschoolers as well!
The great thing about this strategy is that it can be used for WHATEVER SUBJECT OR TOPIC your child is learning.
You will want to implement these tips and tricks right away!!!
I have parents approach me asking how to keep their child focused when learning something new or doing school work. This is something that we all face from time to time as parents.
Children can lose their focus for a number of reasons including…
Below are some tips that have helped in our household. Please share your tips in the comments below.
Our brains start to lose optimal focus after 25 minutes. Therefore in order to have optimal concentration, try to break tasks into 25 minutes of focused blocks of time. This is also called the Pomodoro Technique and will help your child focus on the task at hand. After 25 minutes has ended, have your child take a break. After the break, they can come back to the task for another 25 minutes.
When reading a book, we tend to remember the beginning and ending for longer periods of time. Also, when we watch movies, it seems like the start and end of the story sticks in our brain. The proper terms for these occurrences are the primacy and recency effect. Primacy Effect is when you remember things at the beginning of the list because it happened first. The Recency Effect is when you remember the end of the list or an occurrence.
Remember we said the brain starts to lose optimal focus after 25 minutes. When you combine your knowledge of the Pomodoro Technique, Primacy, and Recency Effects, it makes sense to create more beginnings and endings. You may accomplish this by taking more breaks. Your child will remember more because there are more “firsts and lasts” bits of information that will stick in their brain.
Many of us want to put ALL the blame on our children for NOT having better focus when it comes to school or learning something new. However, I think we have to look at our role in the matter as well.
For example, I wanted my son to have better focus in the morning while getting dressed for school. We were always rushing to get ready for school. The problem was I often got out of bed late causing him to rush. He is the type of child that gets the tasks done but likes to takes his time to do it.
Once I started getting up earlier in the morning, he seems to have more focus.
For the days when he needs to move a little faster, I created some games/activities to make our morning routine efficient and effective.
As far as studying, it is effective to make the information more relevant to your child and break it up into smaller tasks. We will talk about this in the next point.
Sometimes children find a task so daunting that it is difficult for them to sit for 25 minutes. This is where Shaping can help save the day. Shaping is a technique many counselors use to teach kids new behaviors. It allows you to build a desired behavior in children using small steps. Once the child has mastered a step then you move to the next one.
If it is difficult for your child to focus for 10 minutes, have them try five minutes. If they are successful next time, add one or two minutes to the next session. Keep doing this until you have reached the desired 25 minutes. Also, give your child small rewards for completing a task. It will help keep them motivated.
I remember being in school thinking to myself, “Why do I have to learn this?” Some of the information we learned as children have never been used in our adult lives. However, learning something new strengthens your brain and puts you in better mental shape to be creative and work on your passion. When your child does not see the point in what they are learning, request that they be creative and make it relevant by using the Chain Linking technique. Chain linking is a memory technique that allows your child to use their imagination and creativity to link facts to pictures and stories.
Chain linking is a great way for your child to take charge of their learning because they are creating the factual links to pictures and stories. When they create ways to remember information, they have more of connection to it. It also helps them learn information faster in a fun way.
When your child tells you a task is too hard, talk to them about the Power of Mistakes and its importance in learning.
I hope you find this helpful!
Shaping is a technique many counselors use to teach kids new behaviors. It allows you to build a desired behavior in children using small steps. Once the child has mastered a step then you move to the next one.
This technique also requires the adult to provide a reward as the child completes each step to encourage them to go to the next task. An example of a reward could be a praise specific statement such as “Good job at putting all your stuffed animals in the toy box.” Another example of a reward is telling a child they can play outside once a step is complete or attempted.
Shaping provides a great way to set goals as you and your child are learning something new. Also, it requires you to adjust if you see that a child is stuck on one step. Adjusting means you may have to take a break or divide the steps into smaller increments.
Another important point is to BE PATIENT. Some children learn new behaviors quickly while others move a little slower.
A mother has a child that won’t sit during reading time. The child thinks reading is boring. She would like for her child to sit through a whole book while she reads. The book she picks has ten pages. Below is how shaping can be used…
A boy has a fear of dogs. He will not go outside to play because his neighbors are constantly walking their dogs. His parents want him to be comfortable walking pass dogs on his way to the play ground. Below is how shaping can be used…
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