Techniques of Effective Learning. Natalia Kirilina

      ISBN 978-5-0062-7960-5

      Created with Ridero smart publishing system

      Introduction

      A question that concerns many parents is whether or not they should help their children learn and how they can find the time for it.

      In our project “Glad to Learn”, we teach parents how to help their children learn more effectively, delegate homework responsibility, improve memory, and reduce study time.

      Unfortunately, parents are not always able to set aside time in their fast-paced lives to help their children with their schoolwork. Likewise, children do not always listen to their moms or dads without having something to say.

      Some parents think that teaching their children themselves is out of the question for them.

      In this book you will learn whether or not children should be helped with their learning process and how this can be done in a time-efficient manner.

      Ideally, the main goal of an adult is to help the child organize their time and divide their energy.

      Parents should not do their children’s assignments for them, give answers, or hover over them for hours making sure they write each letter correctly.

      However, practice shows that this is what actually happens.

      Parents sit with their children all evening doing homework, explaining the material, learning poems and foreign words, doing crafts and pictures.

      The role which used to be fulfilled by the teacher is now being put on the shoulders of parents.

      This naturally leads to the question, why do we even need school at all?

      Unfortunately, it is not possible to incite quick change on the education system.

      That is why we must accept the rules of the game and play by them.

      Busy parents wonder how they can free up time for themselves instead of spending it all on teaching their children.

      The first option is to find a good school which can be given full responsibility for educating their child, and thus leaving the parents out of the equation.

      This only works well when the child can study in a school where teachers are invested in their students. Schools like this which also offer free tuition are becoming fewer and fewer with every year, while the number of private schools is increasing.

      If you have the ability to send your child to such a school then do your best to send them there. The money that you will put into this kind of education will be paid off by the free time you will gain.

      The advantage of this solution is that the responsibility for the results is taken on by the school.

      The main disadvantage of this solution is the cost.

      The second option is to hire a tutor.

      The advantage of this option is that your child will be taught individually, and the tutor will focus on their specific problems. If you find a good tutor, they will certainly help with most of your problems and save you time.

      However, this option has a few drawbacks of its own relating to the quality of tutors nowadays.

      Furthermore, most tutors are interested in long-term work and will tell you right off the bat that the process will be long and costly.

      The second issue is that once the tutor is removed, results are lost. All of the tutor’s knowledge leaves with them and the child only knows what they know. Without a tutor, students can rarely continue learning the subject further very well.

      The third issue is that the parent must make a choice of which subject to give preference to if the child has problems with a large number of subjects since hiring a tutor for 8—19 subjects at one time is very wasteful.

      The fourth issue is that no one will hire a tutor for subjects the child is doing well in. In the end, the child will only progress in their weak areas, and their most important strong points will practically stop developing.

      The third option is to teach the child how to learn. As one famous cartoon puts it, “Better to learn all day and then fly for only half an hour.”

      The advantages of this approach are:

      The child will get a foundation of knowledge and skills which will allow them to memorize important information from the first try and process it and apply it. Later in the future, they will be able to at least feel like a fish in water in the world of information, and they will be able to understand the things around them.

      Moreover, mental work is always paid several times higher than physical work.

      A tutor simply gives your child a fish while you will be teaching your child how to fish. This way, no matter who the teacher is, your child will be able to easily learn and master any information, prepare for exams, receive scholarships for university, etc., without any interference and without your involvement.

      The biggest disadvantage to this solution is that it requires setting aside additional time for the child to learn, as well as diving into the process yourself and helping your child make the first steps in the beginning.

      There is simply no time or energy left to put in additional learning time into an already full schedule.

      However, herein lies the most insidious problem of teaching children: the use of outdated methods of learning which take up significantly more time than needed.

      It can be compared to chopping a tree with a dull ax or sawing wood with a dull saw. It requires more effort, but produces less of a result.

      What you can do to help your child learn better:

      Use methods for improving concentration

      Use the general to specific approach and special schedule organizers (helpers) for presenting information

      Use image-based principles for memorizing formulas, dates, definitions

      Use techniques of structuring information for presentations, summaries, and recitations

      Use techniques of delegating homework to the children

      Use methods of memorizing foreign words

      Use mnemonic devices

      All of these techniques are taught in the book you hold in your hands.

      You will learn the techniques of effective learning, how to work with information correctly. You will gain skills for quickly taking in new information. You will learn how to effectively help your children learn

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