Study Skills

Your homework habits might be affecting your grades. Are you staying on track with your assignments? Feeling tired, achy, or bored when it comes to homework time? Are you arguing with parents about your grades? 1. USE A PLANNER Did you know that poor organization skills can reduce your final scores by a whole letter grade? That's why you should learn to use a day planner the right way. Who can afford to score a big fat "0" on a paper, just because we got lazy and didn't pay attention to the due date? Nobody wants to get an "F" because [...]

How can you learn to read and write better? More to the point here: How can you learn to read and write better by reading web pages such as these? First of all: Reading is primary. One can write only as well as one reads. Consider: Not all readers are writers. Many people read newspapers and novels and never write an original word themselves. They can decipher words and sentences on the page, but do not have a sufficient grasp of spelling and grammar to construct their own sentences. But all writers must be readers! You cannot write without reading as [...]

If you have a son or daughter entering middle or high school this coming fall, you may be feeling apprehensive about the increased workload, the increasing difficulty of the curriculum, and the impending expectation that your student will be able to apply proper study habits. Being able to take good notes, engage in active reading, develop study and memorization techniques, and prepare adequately for upcoming tests and quizzes are all essential skills that students need in order to do well in school. And even though good study habits and proper study and organizational skills are crucial for student success, these important [...]

1. TURN OFF THE TV SET Make a house rule, depending on the location of the set, that when it is study time, it is "No TV" time. A television set that is on will draw youngsters like bees to honey. What about the radio? Should it be on or off? Contrary to what many specialists say, some youngsters do seem to function well with the radio turned on to a favorite music station. (Depending on the layout of your house or apartment, maybe an investment in earphones would be worthy of consideration.) 2. DESIGNATE SPECIFIC AREAS FOR HOMEWORK AND STUDYING [...]

As a parent it is important to recognize, in a timely manner, signs that indicate your child is struggling academically. A first step is to communicate with your child’s school. Your child may also need additional reinforcement to help get back on track. 1. CHANGE IN GRADES & COMMUNICATIONS FROM SCHOOL: Most obvious is a change in subjects in which your child usually likes and does well in. By the time this Red Flag is revealed via the progress report or report card, the struggles have been on-going. An early indicator of developing struggles could be an increase in notes and [...]

School is stressful especially in light of a world-wide pandemic that caused at the very least disruption in schooling. Now students are expected to excel in each subject while keeping up with extracurricular activities while being poorly prepared from the past year. According to a special report by EducationWeek, “Since the pandemic began, children and adolescents have had higher rates of anxiety, depression, and stress, and even more specific issues such as addictive internet behaviors.” Stress adversely affects learning in many different ways. Here are some troubling relationships between stress and learning: Bad Memory, Understanding, and Performance A study published in Nature [...]

This is the perfect time of the year for teaching your children about goal setting! From academic (think: finishing homework on-time and accurate) to athletic (think: making the travel team) to extracurricular (think: practicing your instrument for 30 minutes a day), teaching your kids to set goals at an early age gives them a tool set they can use for the rest of their lives! Here are 5 helpful strategies to help your child set SMART goals this year. SMART is traditionally a mnemonic device which represents criteria for a set of objectives or goals – the letters usually correspond to [...]