October 21, 2013

How to Help Your Kids Stay Focused for School

As a parent — helping your kid/s stay focused in school is a major priority. But, you're not there to control the situation. However, you're a great influence on your children. That means that you can teach them GOOD habits to help them stay focused when studying, doing homework and other task needed for school.

There are SO many potential distractions that can interrupt your child's concentration in an instant. Every daykids learn to perfect the art of multitasking more and more. They learn to talk while texting, IM while watching videos online and surf the net while posting on social networks. With SO much going on around them every second of the day, they have yet to master the art of focusing on one thing.

How to Help Your Kids Stay Focused for School

5 Tips to Help Kids Stay Focused for School

This takes self-discipline as well as effective concentration skills. These are skills needed to stay focused in school, later in life and at work. Here are five effective tips to help your kids stay focused in school:

Get rid of the “fidgeties” first. Most kids tend to get fidgety simply by thinking about sitting down (and being still). Oftentimes, they can't HELP this overwhelming urge to move around. So, get it out of the way before they sit down to study or do homework. Chores, a jog, bike ride, walk, practicing sports anything that gets the adrenalin running will help. This will help them move off pinned-up energy before sitting down to concentrate. Plus, moving around gets their brains motivated as well.

 Turn OFF all distractions: Never allow your kids to do homework or study with the television going in earshot or eye's view. The same goes for video games, radios, mp3 players, computers, social networks, and especially cell-phones.

Write-up a "To-Do" list. There are times when your children will have more HOME assignments to complete, or test to study for than others. Combine that with home chores and other responsibilities, as things can get overwhelming. Sit down your kids and write-up their to-do-list for the week. Have them cross off completed task as they move along.

Take BREAKS. Just like when you're at work, or your kids are at school, you need to take BREAKS. The human mind, especially their young ones, can only take so much intense concentration before a break becomes an absolute necessity. After about 15-30 minutes, have him/her get-up stretch a bit, get a drink, have a snack and simply move around. Just make sure that it's only for a few minutes, and never allow him/her to get involved in anything else.

Set your expectations early on. A family operates wonderfully when everyone has responsibilities, and each member knows what his/her are. Make sure that your child knows that you expect his/her number one responsibility right now is to exceed in school. This means staying focused in school, and when doing homework for school. And, reinforce this by helping to establish and maintain routines for studying and completing homework. Everyone in the home who attends school should be doing homework and/or studying for schoolwork according to a schedule.

What are some of your tips for helping children stay focused in school?

33 comments:

  1. It's much easier for me too allow breaks and to-do lists during homework than it is for the teacher to allow them at school, but yes, I agree with these!

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  2. These sound like good tips to help me focus on post-writing too!

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  3. What great idea's on how to help kids stay focused! Thanks for shaing some of these I haven't thought of!

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  4. Those are great tips. Our son has issues staying still - he can usually focus his mind on his work, but he just can't stop fidgeting or glancing away. We find that, as you suggested, getting some energy out before sitting and breaks are really helpful.

    I've also heard that for some kids who really struggle with the need to move, chewing gum or eating a crunchy snack (like carrot sticks) while doing homework can be a big help.

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  5. These are great ideas! My son used to be distracted by the TV, but we nipped that one in the bud the moment we saw it becoming a problem.

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  6. The no distractions is a must for my son.

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  7. Those are some great tips! My daughter gets extremely fidgety during homework time. Drives me nuts!

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  8. Great ideas. I really like the idea of a "to do" list. I do that for myself but I haven't done it for my kids.

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  9. I really wish with my boys I had spent a little more time molding them, they don't apply themselves enough.

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  10. Great ideas/tips! We use most of these when he is at home doing homework. I don't know about staying focused, but we tell our son when he takes any kind of test, to always go back over his answers. Double check.

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  11. My boys are very bright kids but they can get easily distracted. Thanks for the tips.

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  12. I really like the idea of weekly to-do lists. I know it helps me know what I need to do most.

    slehan at juno dot com

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  13. That's a very tough question. It's hard to know what my kids need. They both have done well in school, fortunately.

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  14. These are all great tips that I will keep in mind when my grandson starts elementary school in a few years. I definitely agree with getting rid of distractions like the TV, etc while trying to do homework!

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  15. My son gets the fidgeties, and you are right, that is the first thing that needs to be fixed.

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  16. I think it's a good idea to get rid of distractions. My son often wants to put a toy on the table while he's doing his homework and it's just too distracting.

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  17. These are great tips for myself too! :)
    Thanks for Sharing!

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  18. To be honest, our daughter listens to music a lot when she does school work, it actually helps her focus better than when it is quiet.

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  19. My daughter is having issues getting adjusted to her sophomore classes, thanks for these helpful tips!

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  20. my daughter is not in school yet but these are good tips! thanks
    -Stephanie J

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  21. I like the idea of turning off all distractions. We do that during homework time each day and it really helps!

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  22. Such a great list! I find that getting the wiggles out, and taking breaks, make homework time battle-free. I am still amazed by how much homework little kids have...geeez louise!

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  23. Great Ideas thanks for sharing. I will try them with my daughter.

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  24. Great tips. I will definitely use these.

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  25. He is in Prek now, but we are trying to help foster a love of learning in our son.

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  26. My dude's just in preschool so he's definitely still learning to stay focused.

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  27. What great tips. I think its really hard for kids to stay focused with all the distractions, these days.

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  28. Never mind my daughter I have to do these things. I have a harder time staying attentive than I used to to these days.

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  29. M isn't in school yet - I really hope she does well in school. I often worry since all her allergies but need to remember these things too!

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  30. These are great tips! Even homeschooling I find myself having to do a lot of these for some of my boys.

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  31. I think removing all distractions is a great tip. I can't imagine trying to get any work done with a tv on, or a radio playing.

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  32. Gosh, my middle child is definitely a fidgeter. It drives me batty.

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