What does the study area look like?

 Desk – disorganized students tend to have disorganized spaces. Organizing the space can go a long way toward organizing the child. o Task – help your child clear everything off his desk and organize in piles on the bed. Everything he doesn’t use at lease weekly can be stored in bins. IKEA in Shanghai has fabric covered bins that fold up when not in use. o Everything left should be sorted by how often he uses them. Infrequent – top shelf and so on down to; o Daily – that stuff needs to be at arms reach. Have him sit at his desk, close his eyes and imagine where say the stapler ought to be. Place it there; and so on until the bed is cleared. o Reinforce the notion that there is a place for everything and everything is in it’s place when he studies. o Students often resist this exercise. They imagine it will take weeks and is probably not even possible. Use the timer. Say you will work with him for 30 minutes and then stop and take a break, or break the task down into smaller tasks and work on just one. . Try this exercise to help you child develop time consciousness. Ask him how long he thinks it will take to pack his backpack, or make the bed. Then time him and compare the time to the estimate. Usually students overestimate how long something will take. Practicing this prediction exercise will help him develop this ability.

 The locker – If your child is messy at home, their locker probably reflects that. It’s not uncommon to find loose paper stuffed in random books piled on the bottom of the locker under a mound of garbage and dirty laundry. It shouldn’t surprise us when they swear they did their homework but they can’t find it. That won’t happen until June unless they do a thorough cleaning and organization just like they did with their desk at home. o SCIS lockers have one shelf about 15 cm above the bottom of the locker. They are about 45 cm wide and have open space about 70 cm high. o Students store jackets, snacks, books they are not using that day, journals for classes etc. o An extra shelf might help some students keep their lockers more organized. One way to do that would be to place a box, smaller than 45cm X 45cm on the shelf with the opening facing forward. All books and journals go in the box. Then jackets on top and food on the bottom shelf.  Music? The jury is still out on this. Some research suggests that music without lyrics can act as “white noise” that mask the distractions that she hears while she studies. Other research says learning occurs best in silence. It’s clear though that TV, Skyping, music with lyrics they follow along with in their heads, anything that distracts the brain from the main task at hand reduces learning effectiveness and homework takes longer. o A number of SCIS parents have placed parental controls on their child’s laptop to prevent interruptions during study time and remove the temptation to “multitask” by playing games, Skyping with their friends, and watching a movie with music on in the background. Students swear they can do all this simultaneously and learn just as well. They believe it, but the evidence isn’t there. o If you want to place parental controls on your child’s computer go to the website http://hq.scisdragons.net/, select the campus technology tab and go to the “technology wiki”. This has step by step instructions along with a video.

 Should all students study at a desk? o No. Not necessarily. Some students prefer the kitchen table because that’s where they did homework in Elementary school so a parent could help them as questions arose. If they want to continue that in mid-school and it’s not disruptive to the family and they are able to concentrate, why not? Other students like to lie on the bed or floor. Just make sure the bed is made so they are not losing stuff in the blankets or getting distracted by the Lego’s under the bed.

 The Goal; o Visual learners are sensitive to clutter. Lot’s of visual distraction will make study more difficult. “Out of sight, out of mind” is the motto for visual learners. Studying at a desk is often the best option for these students. o Spatial/Cozy style learners need to feel comfortable. A snack, soft lighting, and all the essentials with arms reach will help her stay focused. These students are often the ones who like to study on the bed or the floor. o Chronological/sequential style learners need lots of space to spread out and be able to find everything they need. A large table or an L shaped desk could be ideal.

 The trick – If you ask your child if organization is important, they will likely say yes. They likely already know a lot about how to be organized. The trick is putting into practice what they already know. The key is checking. Ask to see the locker next time you are at school. If the locker looks like a bio- hazard then let them know you will be making a habit of it.