Experts recommend maintaining work routines to develop skills. Recommendations include practicing reading as a family and reviewing mathematics in the daily routine.
The mid-year vacations have arrived, which for most means closing the notebooks and putting away the supplies for at least 15 days. However, for the experts, even in this period, one should not lower their guard. Carrying out small daily routines brings many benefits to students, not only for the current year, but also for the development of different skills that will serve them throughout life.
Not to lose mental agility
MelaniaBaltodano, counselor at the KumonEscazú Center explains that “it is very characteristic of our culture that we completely forget about academic activities on vacation, but we must remember that even at that time you must keep your mind in shapeso as not to lose mental agility and be prepared to continue facing educational challenges”.
Ella Baltodano adds that during holidays, the children’s work routine is broken and if the fulfillment of small tasks is not encouraged, when they return to the classroom it will be more difficult to recover the rhythm they had before.
Through the daily study habit, it is possible to develop concentration and make students more responsible, organized and more committed to their homework, which little by little will result in independent work that does not require the constant supervision of their parents.
Likewise, compliance with study habits forms competent people, based on discipline and the exponential improvement of their academic performance. “Study and learning depend on the abilities and skills that can be stimulated from when our children are very young, for example attention, memory or perseverance. Taking care of their development from childhood will help them acquire a solid foundation to continue growing in the following school stages”, added the expert.
Some recommendations to promote study habits on the upcoming holidays are:
• Establish fixed hours to carry out small assignments, which can start as little as 10 minutes a day, preferably in the morning.
• Create a pleasant study environment with all the material at hand where they enjoy learning.
• Avoid distractions, keeping the television turned off and mobile phones and video games away so that they can focus on homework and promote their ability to concentrate.
• Practicing math every day is a fun routine that helps keep your mind sharp. You can practice them at different times of the day, for example, adding the vehicles when you go for a walk, asking them to help do the accounts of the products in the supermarket, etc.
• Encouraging reading will help increase creativity and imagination and learn new words and concepts, in addition to helping to strengthen bonds between parents or relatives. Reading helps stimulate the ability to concentrate, and this in turn favors mental agility to tackle a task.
• Supervise without intervening unless necessary. At first they will need more supervision until they internalize the study habit and it becomes a routine, so you have to show them that you trust them and let them evolve at their own pace and with autonomy so that they can take charge of their learning.
Baltodano concludes by recalling the importance of motivating students, using positive phrases and congratulations in a way that shows value for daily effort. “We do things because they make us feel good. When our children finish their homework, they have to feel that personal satisfaction of having accomplished something for themselves. We can reinforce this joy as parents through praise, giving value to that attitude and that perseverance that they have shown during the resolution of the exercises”, she concluded.
