Guest Post by Children's Author, Molly Nero

Topic: Studying Tips for Parents/Kids

Take a moment to think about something.  You have been working at your job for 8 hours when finally you arrive home.  Tired and hungry, you’re ready for a relaxing evening.  But no, you don’t get to relax and leave work at work.  No, you must do more work at home.  How would you feel?  This is what we ask our kids to do every day of the school week.  We send them off in the morning.   They work all day in their various classrooms.  They arrive home lugging heavy backpacks loaded with homework. Now instead of being able to just stop for the day, they must go back into that school mind-set and try to work on classroom assignments, out of the classroom environment.  Who wouldn’t be grouchy?

Why not look at studying with your kids as quality time spent together?  I know it’s not a baseball game or a movie, but you have the ability to make it a drag or a positive time together.  Be patient.  Kids are just learning what you and I have known for so long that we don’t even have to think about it.  They should have already been taught the skill that is represented on the homework paper.  If they don’t understand, try to find a way to relate what they are learning to a real-life situation.  This validates why they need to learn it in the first place.  It will also challenge you to think about your every-day life a little differently.

Math skills are all around your home.  If your child is learning measurement, have them measure the ingredients for the recipe you’re making for dinner.  Ordering out?  Have your kid determine what is affordable or how much of each item you will need.  In Smarty Pig, money is brought to life by creating a grocery store in the kitchen. How do you use math at work?  Do you schedule appointments, measure for decorating, deal with accounting, manage people or work construction?  Share it with your child.  These things help your student understand how you use the skill they are working on.  It gives their learning purpose.

Reading skills are needed for game directions, TV schedules, or even when renting movies.   Have your child sounding out items in your pantry needed to make dinner.  Show them a report that you are required to read at work.  Let them see the directions you follow as you cook dinner.  Validate their learning.  Practice spelling in a different way by using a tray covered with pudding, so they can write their word on the tray IN the pudding.  A sweep across the top clears it for the next word and lets them lick dessert off their hands!  How fun is that once and a while?

So let’s go back to the homework.  Look at it as an opportunity to spend some quality time with your child.  Patience is vital, so do things to make you both laugh.  Change where you work together to keep it fun; maybe sitting UNDER the table with a tray for a desk.  Break out of the old thinking of homework as being a drag, and look at it as a great time to spend with your kids learning together what is right in front of you.  Time with you smiling and sharing with your kids will make studying fun and create enthusiastic learners.