Good study habits won’t win you popularity contests or friends (except maybe a few posers who want you to do their homework). But research shows that the more homework kids do, the better they do in school. Doing homework helps sharpen the concentration and problem-solving skills you’ll need to succeed in college and in the workplace.
You say you need a good reason for studying now? Well, here it is: Learning good study habits can reduce the time you have to spend doing homework.
So what are the ABCs of studying?
First, pay attention in class, says Susan Eisenberg. She’s a middle-school learning consultant at the University of Chicago.
“It’s difficult to do a homework assignment if you didn’t listen when the teacher assigned it,” Eisenberg says.
Robert Waldron is president of Score! Kaplan Educational Centers, which run K-12 study centers nationwide. He says “creating your own study space – quiet, with lots of light” is key to good study habits.
Waldron suggests treating study time as “part of a daily routine, like soccer or band practice. If you get in the habit of studying every night at the same time, then it becomes automatic.”
It’s also important to make effective use of study time. “Break up the time by working on several subjects, including your favorite and least favorite,” Waldron says. Include a break between assignments or after studying for a while. “When you complete an assignment, reward yourself with a snack or activity break.”
Eisenberg agrees that taking a study break is a good idea. Studying for hours on end “fries” the brain. She suggests kids experiment to find out what their personal limits are. “Some kids can focus for 25 minutes, others for 45.”
Eisenberg recommends that kids experiment in other ways as well. When it comes to memorizing, for example, “some kids memorize easier by repeating things out loud, while others do better by visualizing material.”
Waldron suggests using a highlighter pen to mark key points regardless of how you memorize material.
What won’t help you memorize is loud music or a fave TV show. They’re “too engaging, too distracting,” Eisenberg says.
That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to lock yourself in a sound-proof room. “Background noise is OK,” Eisenberg says.
And sometimes necessary. Playing soft music, for example, can help drown out distracting household noises like a barking dog or bickering siblings.
If finding the peace and quiet to study is a problem in your house, let your family know how important it is that you have not only a place to study, but also a quiet time during which to study.
NEED SOME HOMEWORK HELP?
On the Net, try these sites:
www.yahooligans.com
www.infolink.org/homewrk.htm
www.refdesk.com/homework.html
And try these homework hotline numbers:
847-347-7882
(Sunday – Thursday, 5 – 9 p.m., the District 211 homework hotline will field calls, even from outside the district.)
312-645-5555
(NBC-Ch. 5 homework hotline, open Monday – Thursday, 5 – 8 p.m.)
