Teach your child how to learn!

I teach a teen and a ten year old.  My goal is for them to learn how to teach themselves.  The teen sets her goals based on a curriculum.  With a year under her belt, she is evaluating assignments, estimating time to finish, and allotting time each day to achieve her,goals.

How do we get there?  With younger kids, start with a schedule.  Get the child in the habit of taking out materials and working on the next assignment.  Here’s an example.  Paul, ten, is memorizing about 50 elements on the Periodic Table.  This week, he is learning 1-36.  He writes out the names and studies.  We have a system.  I add a few more elements each week.  Paul studies the Table in the book, closes it, and takes out the blank copy for the test.  

Each day, sit down and give your kids the list of tasks for the day.  Start with the hardest or least liked subject.  We have materials in bins to make it easier to pull out materials.  If you assign one page or short assignment for each book, your child should be able to move from task to task independently.  Try it!  Below is a photo of our bin system.  I bought felt bins from Five Below.