With all the homework, projects, and tests, school can be hectic for children. No matter how busy school is, parents should always motivate their kids to do well and not lose motivation to study and be in school. But how do you motivate your child to do well in school? As a parent, you can make learning fun and a happy experience for them. Take a look at these home-study tips to help encourage your children to learn better at school.
Make learning a happy experience for your kids
A study by The Conversation revealed that students who reported being happy had higher grades. The students also reported that the feeling of happiness or positive feelings like enjoyment or fun supported their schoolwork. If happiness is what motivates your child to succeed, then, by all means, find ways to make them happy by doing fun activities like singing, dancing or incorporating play time with study time, which you can do by using various props.
Help them organize schoolwork
Preparing your kids for going back to school is hard enough, but you also need to help them organize their school works too. Unorganized schoolwork might overwhelm your children. If you don’t know how to teach your child to study, you can start by helping organize their school work. Teach them to organize their daily homework and projects from easiest to hardest so they can move from one task to another faster.
Alternatively, you can set up their own study area in your family condo unit. Add labeled bins and baskets for each subject to make it easier for them to backtrack through their notes, papers, and books. Color coding by subject is also an excellent way to organize files and school materials.
Celebrate milestones and achievements
Positive physical or emotional reinforcement, which was first introduced by psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner, will give your children more motivation to complete all their schoolwork.
Reward their work with simple treats or words of affirmation to make them feel good. According to Positive Psychology, the use of positive reinforcement can lead to heightened enthusiasm in students, thus motivating them to study better.
Praise good work and effort
Celebrating milestones and praising good work and effort are different things. The former celebrates the outcome while the latter focuses on the process. If you want to know how to motivate a child who is unmotivated, you need to praise the good work and effort of your children no matter the outcome. The fact that they tried doing things means that your child is willing to study. Give them some praise for their effort.
Encourage questions, suggestions, and critical thinking
Encouraging children to be inquisitive and analytical will ignite their interest in their schoolwork and give them the confidence to ask the important questions. Also, asking questions and offering ideas are great ways to promote, motivate, and improve interactive learning between teacher (or parent) and student.
Allow mistakes to happen
Unless your child is a genius, you probably know more than them. Don’t scold them for making mistakes, instead work together to find solutions to correct what’s wrong. It’s a great way to encourage them to try again and study harder for everything they do in school.
Read aloud with them
Reading with your children is essential in how to get your child interested in school. According to Bilingualkidspot, reading together encourages children’s thirst for knowledge. It leads to your children asking more questions about the information read to them. It can even spark interest in other cultures and/or languages.
Another benefit of reading various books together is that it increases their vocabulary, making them better writers, enhancing their imagination, and improving their concentration. Moreover, it will be a good chance for you and your child to go over school assignments and help them catch up with their lessons.
Listen to music
According to Northcentral University, the right kind of music can help your child study better and improve focus. It’s said that both the right and left brain are activated at the same time with music, maximizing learning and improving memory.
The idea is for the child to drown out background noise and other distractions to concentrate on their study time. Classical music with 60 to 70 beats per minute is the suggested genre and tempo to help children study longer and retain information.
Do schoolwork with your children
Although some parents would like to learn how to make their child study independently, it would also be wise to set aside a few moments in your day to do schoolwork with them. It’s your chance to see how well your child is performing at school based on their homework and projects through simple inquiry and encouragement. You can ask them what they have learned from their schoolwork or explain a few lessons for you to “understand.”
Limit TV and gadget time
One way on how to help your child succeed in school is by limiting distractions such as TV and gadgets. Researchers in JAMA Pediatrics says that more screen time can have negative effects on your children’s development, such as issues with memory, as well as attention and language skills. Moreover, extended screen time can result in slower progress in developing communication skills, problem-solving, and social interactions. To lessen their screen time, whether it’s TV or gadgets, set some methods in handling hyper kids in your condo.
Encourage them to pursue their passion
Not every child can be good at math, science or other academic subjects. Don’t be sad or too worried about this. Your child might be good at something else, and you’ve been overlooking it. Find out what your kids’ passions are, and support them in developing their talents. As previously mentioned, your child will perform better at school if they are happy. That’s why you should show how much you love and support them by helping them develop their skills.
Turn everyday moments into learning opportunities
In case you are wondering how to motivate a child who doesn't care, why not use the world as their study room. You can start by turning common chores and tasks into learning opportunities, like asking them to help you add and subtract the prices of grocery items. Talking about a book they recently read can also be a good activity for language learning. There are plenty of chances to turn everyday moments into learning opportunities and spark their interest and motivate them.
With these tips, they’ll be enjoying their time learning in school. Just be patient, show them unconditional love, and support them as they go through school life.