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eLearning Series: Learning Disabilities
The Bottom Line On Learning Disabilities
( 50 articles in this series )
Boost
Academic Performance:
Changing Schools and Home Habits
It
is always good to have appropriate habits for your children
to follow at home and take with them to school. Make sure your child has plenty of rest. A good nights sleep
is key to proper function during the day. Give your child a
nutritious breakfast before school and snack after school.
Eating healthy not only gives your child’s body the energy
it needs to move, but the fuel to think, as well. You will
also want to make sure that your child gets plenty of exercise.
This will allow them to get rid of anxiety and frustration
so they will be better able to concentrate. Children have more
energy and need to move around after sitting for long periods
of time. It will also help keep their metabolism healthy. Make
sure your child’s school allows children to get up to stretch
and move other than recess or lunch. This will promote better
concentration and boost their academic performance.
Unfortunately, parents don’t have much control over the school
system and every teacher runs their class, as they feel fit.
But there are things parents can do at home to help their children
excel in school and be better learners. Besides feeding your
kids well and making sure they get plenty of rest and exercise
make sure they do their homework. There is a powerful link
between homework and increased academic achievement. The more
homework a child does, the better they understand the material
and process the information. It teaches kids how to work independently
and learn good study habits. They are better able to focus
on the task at hand and get things accomplished with a reasonable
time. By helping your children do their homework you know what
is going on at school and what is expected of them. You will
be able to help prepare your child for a test or help answer
any questions that might have them stuck.
Having
children do homework also helps them to remember and
revisit what went on in class that day and prepare for the
next. They will be able to talk about what lessons were given
and what they are about. That way the parents and children
can communicate about what is important. Children also need
to realize that work is also expected outside the classroom.
Many kids think once out of school they don’t have to think
anymore. They need to realize that even adults have to prepare
for work the next day. There are valuable lessons to be learned
about taking your work home and excelling. It gives children
a sense of organization and time management. They need to accomplish
their academic goals first to be able to enjoy down and leisure
time. As children get older and the work becomes harder, they
may not be so eager to want to sit down and do it. Make sure
that homework is not a chore or punishment and that the amount
of time spent is age appropriate.
For
young children from kindergarten to second grade, homework
exceeding over 20-30 minutes per day is not effective. Children
in this age group have a difficult time sitting still and concentrating
for too long. This is especially true when they have been confined
all day in a classroom. This amount of time will set the tone
for the future. It gives young kids a way to tell their parents
what happened at school that day and what would be happening
the next day. It is never too early to develop good study habits.
Students from third to sixth grade have maximum benefit from
30-60 minutes per day of homework. The focus should be on practicing
new skills they have just learned. This will enable them to
apply the concepts of learned material and allow for parents
and teachers to see any problems a child has with any new lesson.
The proper support can then be given so the child can understand
the concept and be able to apply it. For junior and high school
students there is no true time frame for homework. For some
kids it can take many hours. It will depend on the subject
and difficulty of the material. At this point kids should be
refining skills, making up their own ideas, and feeling more
confident when working independently. Homework will set kids
up for a better academic and real world future.
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by SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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