5 Ways to help your child study better at home

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected much of the world and our individual lives, but if there’s one upside to it, it’s that it’s made remote learning much more accepted, accessible and even more effective than before.

This means the students of today are no stranger to the concept of home-based learning, but no matter how familiar they are with it, studying at home can sometimes be too distracting even for the most hardworking student.

Worried about your child’s ability to study effectively at home? Here’s a few things you can do to help your child stay productive in their studies.

1: Create A Suitable Environment

It’s said that motivation often comes from within, but external factors - including the environment - do influence one’s enthusiasm for any particular activity. And studying is no different.

A conducive study area is one of the best ways to get your child into a studying mood. Isolated from their devices and other distractions, they’ll naturally begin to focus as soon as they sit down in that special part of their room and pick up their textbooks.

The ideal study area can differ from student to student, depending on their study habits, which means they should have a say in how they want it to be set up. With that said, there are some basic best practices to follow, such as stocking it with good quality stationery and keeping the desk clean and tidy.

Check out this article for more ideas on how to create a conducive environment for studying.

2: Make A Timetable

A consistent routine is one of the best ways for your child to learn. This is obviously enforced in school, with fixed timing and schedules, but it gets harder when they’re left to their own devices at home. Without someone setting and enforcing a timetable, it’s easy for your child to be distracted by activities unrelated to studying.

To help them stay productive while learning at home, it’s worth sitting down with them to create a study schedule. Make time enough for things like online classes, homework, or exam revision.

As tempting as it is to set aside long hours for studying, some flexibility and breathing space is necessary, too. You may need to tweak your child’s schedule as they start using it. If they’re getting distracted before their allotted studying time is up, for example, slot in some breaks in between their sessions. Above all, do encourage your child to contribute to the timetable and make it their own.

3: Make Full Use Of Online Resources

The internet contains a vast amount of knowledge and learning resources - use it! Unlike the 90s when most school concepts are only accessible through textbooks, students are now able to use Google to clarify any questions they may have about their schoolwork or the topics that they’re studying at the moment. And with video tutorials hosted on YouTube being so commonplace nowadays, there’s more ways to gain a deeper understanding than just reading articles about a topic.

In addition, it’s likely that their teachers in school will have provided a list of online sites for your child to view and download additional study material. Ensure that your child takes the time to visit these websites during their study sessions at home to gain a better understanding of their syllabus topics.

Alternatively, your child can also make use of online educational resources to revise what they’ve learned in school. Geniebook is one such example, allowing students to practise with online worksheets (GenieSmart), attend live online lessons (GenieClass) and getting real-time answers to questions from professional teachers (GenieAsk).

4: Check On Progress And Development

It’s important to stay up to date with your child’s progress once in a while. Encourage them to share their recent efforts in their studies with you, whether it’s about a subject they’re struggling with or a topic that they find extra interesting.

Getting your child to open up about how they’re really faring with their studies can help to ensure that they’re staying productive while studying at home. For example, if they’re finding school extra stressful than usual, you’ll want to make sure they get more breaks to maintain their mental health. And if they need more help with a particular topic, you can always ask to see what they’re stuck on and offer suggestions on where they can get their queries answered.

5: Don’t Neglect Playtime And Breaks

Because studying at home seems like such a trivial activity to parents, it’s easy to forget that our children are putting in real effort and that they might be devoting too much time to it, and not getting enough rest in the process. Too much studying can lead to excessive stress and burnout, which can exacerbate into even worse outcomes if left unchecked.

Regular breaks will refresh their minds and allow them to refocus when they get back to studying. Besides that, it’s also important to get them out of the house once in a while for a mood booster, whether for some exercise or just a day out for fun.

Studying at home has its own host of advantages: it’s cheap, convenient, and for some students it’s even the ideal way to revise what they’ve learned in school. But it’s also easy to succumb to the comforts of home and become distracted and unproductive. As parents, we can do our part to make our children’s home learning efforts productive and even fun.

Eager to help your child start studying at home with resources outside of school textbooks? With Geniebook, they’ll be exposed to a whole new way of learning. Learn more about what Geniebook can offer, or dive in right away with a complimentary strengths analysis.