Teaching Children to Organize Their Study Time
One of the keys to making the most of study time is knowing how to organize the time spent with books and notes. For this reason, in the following article, we’re going to propose some ideas to teach children this good habit for their academic life.
In the first years of primary school, children don’t have much homework to do at home. However, as they progress and pass from one educational level to another, the responsibilities and academic obligations increase. When this happens, it’s time to sit down with the children and give them some advice so that they can work with each of their subjects successfully.
“Well-organized time is the clearest sign of a well-organized mind.”
– Sir Isaac Pitmanpic –
Teaching children to organize their study time
To get young children to perform well academically, it’s important to teach them how to organize their study time. Here are some useful guidelines to achieve this.
At first, the parents should help and supervise them, until the children are able to do it on their own and it becomes a habit. At this point, the child will be able to organize their time autonomously and effectively.
1. Develop a schedule or calendar to organize study time
It’s important to draw up a study schedule or calendar so that it’s clear what plan they should follow. Everyone can then consult it whenever required. The schedule must be realistic and constant.
To do so, the first thing to do is to identify all the activities the child has throughout the day (meals, classes, extracurricular activities, sports, etc.). Once you know how much time is available on a daily basis, you need to decide how much time you’re going to dedicate to the study sessions and how you’re going to organize them.
2. Establish specific study objectives
In each study session, you should set specific objectives according to the activities the child needs to carry out and what they need to study or look over. You’ll need to consult their homework diary and study schedule to be clear about what your child needs to do that day.
“Planning without objectives ends up being an endless list.”
– Anonymous –
3. Distributing the study time according to subjects
In order to organize the study sessions effectively, you need to establish priorities. In this way, you’ll use the time effectively according to upcoming exams and assignments that need to be handed in. Another factor here is the difficulty or demands of each subject.
4. Taking breaks between studying
When organizing study time, you’ll need to take breaks into account. These will help to increase concentration and performance. The ideal thing here is to take short breaks, of about five minutes, for every half hour of study.
Importance of teaching children to organize their study time
Teaching children to organize their study time can benefit them not only academically, but also personally. This is because, thanks to this habit, they develop values such as responsibility, perseverance, commitment, and effort.
These children grow up with the benefits of knowing how to take advantage of their time, which is even a challenge for many adults. In fact, as the American politician, inventor and scientist Benjamin Franklin said:
“The three most difficult things in this world are keeping a secret, forgiving a wrong, and using your time well.”
– Benjamin Franklin –
In addition to this, by learning to invest and manage their time well, they’ll gain self-confidence. They’ll be able to better handle situations that involve spending hours on end working, or persevering with an activity that requires a lot of attention.
So, what are you waiting for? Try to put these tips about how to organize your child’s study time into practice. You’ll help your children become great students from an early age!
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- Serrate, R. (2008). Ayúdale a estudiar. Las claves del éxito escolar. España: Ediciones del Laberinto.