Want to learn how to teach a child to study independently? This article shares great tips to help your child with how to learn independently!
Since you are reading this, it’s likely that your child enjoys attending classes and interacting with their fellow students. It’s also likely that they do their homework every day. However, the effort and enthusiasm aren’t translating to the kind of grades that you want. If you want to teach your child to study independently, you need to help them build effective study skills.
Good performance in school isn’t caused by one thing. It’s about having the right attitude and forming the right habits. Strong study skills play an integral role in promoting good grades. The best part is that they are learned behaviors. Every student is capable of getting the grades they want without stress. As a working parent, here are a few amazing tips that you can use to help your child develop the study skills that they need to be successful.
How to Teach a Child to Study Independently?
1. Create a study space for your children
Your child needs to have their workspace or desk at home to focus on their studies. Look at the space and ensure that it is well-lit and distraction-free. Keep important study supplies such as a wide range of pencils and pens, colorful post-itscolorful post-its, scratch papers, and highlighters. Encourage your child to own the area. Allow them to decorate and organize their desk every night so that they can use it immediately during their next study session.
2. Invest in a planner
Effective time management is one of the most important aspects of studying. You need to ensure that your child knows how to keep a planner. Let them write down important deadlines for projects and homework especially if their teachers or tutors notify them in advance. You can help your child break down big assignments into manageable chunks. By doing this with your child, you’ll help them avoid procrastination and cramming by making the workload feel lighter and manageable.
3. Encourage them to take notes
How do I teach my child to study? You need to encourage your child to take notes in class to help them process information and retain important concepts. Various research studies have shown that writing notes by hand increases retention rates than taking notes using a laptop or tablet. Teaching your child to read actively will pay off in spades in the long run.
4. Encourage them to practice for tests
Most learners start reviewing the day before a test, but this is not the best method to prepare for a test. If you’re wondering how to make a child study at home and successfully prepare for a test? You need to encourage your child to test their comprehension regularly by completing practice tests. Ask your child to review questions and answer them aloud so that you can ensure that they’ve understood the material.
5. Help them avoid cramming
Studying a subject for a few minutes every day is better in the long run than studying the day before all night while cramming. You need to assist your child in structuring their study schedule so that they can space out evenly the sessions for different subjects. After their study sessions, encourage them to take short breaks to avoid fatigue and burnout. Taking a twenty-minute break after every hour can help them stay productive all day long.
6. Encourage your child to ask for help
If your child struggles with a specific subject or doesn’t understand the guidelines of a specific assignment, do you need to encourage them to seek help? How do you do this? You need to be open with your child and let them know that they can come to you whenever they need assistance. Also, encourage them to ask their teachers questions as much as they can. By doing this, your child will easily build great relationships with their tutors and peers. Plus, they’ll get good grades in the end.
7. Eliminate distractions
You need to encourage your child to avoid distractions when it is time to study. They need to put their devices away, turn off notifications on their computers and inform their friends about their plans in advance to avoid interruptions. Another habit that they should avoid is multitasking. The human mind has been conditioned to focus on one thing at a time. This means that focusing on two or more activities at the same time will lead to low productivity and poor performance.
8. Allow your child to struggle to answer
If you are sitting next to your child and they are doing a test, you should only answer a few questions when they need help from you. However, ensure that they answer other questions themselves. You need to see if they are learning and retaining information. Even if they answer incorrectly, it’s okay. All you have to do is encourage them to answer the questions. You should not help them all the time. By sticking to this rule, you’ll help your child study independently.
9. Create amazing opportunities for them
To motivate your child to study on their own, you need to use this strategy. You should create opportunities for your child to feel like they are in control of their studies. For instance, when you visit the library, always encourage them to take and read their favorite books. They will look for their favorite books without seeking help from anyone. Giving them such responsibilities ensures that they never depend on anyone when it comes to studying. This also helps them gain confidence in their ability to make decisions. Try as much as you can to allow your child to make decisions.
10. Reward progress and self-study
Back in the day, parents used to reward their children when they got good grades. However, this has been changing over the years because it conveys the wrong message. For a long time, improvement has been overlooked. Since your child is an independent learner, you should praise them for their daily performance and when they perform well. Your child will be motivated to learn and they’ll enjoy doing it independently.
Conclusion
How to make child study independently? While parental involvement is an excellent idea, it’s not always good especially if you are encouraging your child to study independently. By using the tips that we’ve discussed in this post, you’ll help your child become an independent learner and a responsible adult. We hope you enjoyed these tips for helping your child to become an independent learner.
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