Many students who attend elementary school will admit readily that they don’t have any idea how to study properly. It is particularly true when they are in math classes. Here are parents can do to improve the performance of their child at schools:
- Encourage them. We should make sure that children feel that they have the real confidence in the ability to full master, even the most difficult material. Likewise, parents should provide a safe haven, when children occasionally fail. By knowing that they have a place to fall back when things begin to feel overwhelming, children will feel more confident that parents will provide support and help them. Take care, though, we should make children understand that any homework and paper are their responsibility, not ours!
- Set up a comfortable study area: This study area should not be in the child’s bedroom and it should be the place where children have a very consistent study time. Children should have a space for them to study well or an effective tutor who could work with their child. An effective study session could be limited to just about 15-45 minutes depending on the age. We could then allow our children to have a snack or TV break for about 10-15 minutes. We could repeat this pattern until children finish their homework or studying session. We should check over any of their completed homework each day. We shouldn’t emphasize too much whether the homework is correct and free of mistakes. For the start, we could just check for neatness and try to build up their motivation. Math teachers sometimes require that students properly show details of their work, not just the answers.
- Don’t accept negative self-talks: We should remind our children if they can memorize complex storylines in video games or dozens of newest songs. If our children can do these things, then they have the mental and intellectual capacity to study well.
- Tell them to read out loud: We could do this to force children memorize details of material. Then we should have children to explain about things that they have just read. If children can’t clearly explain it then we should ask them to re-read the topics and find more details. In some cases, parents don’t really understand all the material themselves. It would be a good idea to become a learning partner and study the material together with children, so at least children feel comfortable that they are being accompanied during the study.
- Studying should mean repeatedly re-reading specific material, especially if it is difficult to understand. A successful study session should allow children to verbalize concepts. Good parents should also have the willingness to review all previous lessons and studying with their children. They don’t need to memorize everything, but at least they have an understanding on how a math equation should be completed and how timelines progress in history-related topics. If a study session should end with multiple practice tests, parents should know whether children could do it properly.