Being successful in school begins with being organized and focused at home. With some basic guidelines, organization can begin today. Does your student have a place where they can study without interruption? It may be fun to be in the middle of family activities when studying and completing homework assignments, but it is a distraction.
When your student is doing homework, it is not just about getting the assignment completed, it is also about mastering the content being studied. It is about building knowledge on concepts and principles that are the framework for the course of study.
Even in the elementary grades, time alone to study helps to enforce good study habits. An idea I have used is to make good use of time by using flash cards to learn math tables and spelling words. You can get index cards and let them write their words on one side and the meaning on the other. These cards can be placed standing up in a narrow shoebox or plastic container for easy reference. Flash cards can also be purchased for basic subjects. My children carried those cards with them and studied when they had even a few minutes in the car.
You can help them make their own flash cards about facts that they are studying by pasting the picture of the animal, country or even a letter and let the student design the reverse side by writing down facts they need to learn. These can be studied in their time alone and then you can make a fun time of reviewing them together. Learning is not just a chore to be done, it is fun – if you present it that way. Making the cards helps the student organize their thoughts and facts at the same time.
Learning to organize study time is fundamental in those early years. Take a piece of paper and make a list of what needs to be done and the time it should take. As a task is completed, let the student mark it off the list. This gives instant acknowledgement and a feeling of success. It is important that they tally this timetable themselves. As a parent, it is tempting to help and micro manage children and this does not foster self-reliance and a sense of being able to accomplish tasks on their own.
It does not have to be a complicated system, you can just make boxes that your child can label with the task and cross it out when finished. A simple kitchen timer that does not make a distracting noise functions best for this.
Design a study space that contains writing space and a place to store all the supplies that are needed to complete the schoolwork. Keeping this space organized and tidy is important, even if the rest of the room is not tidy and neat. The desk and area around it can be the starting point for beginning an organized student.
