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The school holidays are over, and it’s back to the usual daily routine for families – breakfast, packed lunches, school, work, homework, dinner, downtime, bedtime, repeat.
For many parents, it’s easy to get bogged down in your own work and admin. It’s hard work doing it all, and then ensuring your child is getting it all done too. And it becomes especially difficult as they get older and their studies become more intense, so it’s best to get good habits started early on.
Effective studying skills are key to your child’s academic success. Here’s how you, as a parent, can help them along the way:
1. Pay attention to your child’s skills:
They may not be good at everything, so don’t push them too hard when they really don’t enjoy something or they’re not getting top marks in a certain subject.
Don’t just push them to be better at the subjects they’re not excelling at. Their best might not result in A’s in some subjects, but as long as they are still working at it and passing (and not giving up!) then let them know that’s OK.
Rather push them harder at what they’re really good at. Teach them to know their strengths, and to put even more effort in so that they really excel and feel great about themselves in the process. This means that when it comes to study time, it’ll be a far less pressured scenario.
2. Learn something new for yourself:
Teach your child that learning continues throughout life, and show them your ongoing thirst for knowledge to inspire them to do the same.
What have you always wanted to learn? Learn a new language or instrument, take up cooking classes, get that skill you’ve always dreamed of having – whatever it is, it’s never too late to learn. Your child won’t have any excuse not to work hard to achieve success if they can see you’re doing exactly the same. You can even set scheduled study time together so you're both in the same boat.
3. Learn something for them:
If there is a specific subject that your child struggles with, consider looking at extra lessons or tailored online courses, such as Educate24’s “6 weeks to Maths Success For Your Child”.
Some digital learning platforms such as TED Talks and Educate24 offers talks and courses to help you, help your child study better. You can do the courses in your own time on a smartphone, tablet or laptop, and it’s broken down into manageable chunks so as not to take up too much time in any one day.
4. Read, read, read:
Read everything. Read to your children, read with your children, encourage them to read in their own time, let them see you reading in your free time.
It doesn’t matter too much what they’re reading – be it fantasy novels, magazines, comic books, classic fiction, short stories, or poetry, as long as they are reading. If your child is permanently glued to their phone, then go digital. Educational publisher Via Afrika’s “Let’s Read” app has quality literature in all eleven official South African languages, available on feature phones so a smart phone isn’t a necessity.
Encourage this habit and your child will benefit for a lifetime as it will improve their vocabulary and help them with all their academic writing. And when the time comes to open the text books, it won’t seem like such a chore.
Does your child know how to study? What kind of difficulties are they having? Send us your emails to chatback@parent24.com
