Many of our children can spend hours sitting in front of notes or doing their homework. They end up tired, they get distracted in the process and even that doesn’t mean they learned what they were supposed to learn that day. In this article we will see some strategies for our children to be more efficient when studying.
Study technique: Pomodoro Method
The pomodoro method is one of the best-known study techniques, since it was invented a few years ago by Francis Cyril. Has the name of pomodoro because he used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to represent the passing of time. The objective of this technique is to be aware of how much effort a task takes us and, of course, to focus our attention through short periods of study and rest.
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How the pomodoro method works
It can be used in many scenarios, including adults, but for the study it would be the following dynamic:
- Choose the topic or subject to which the time will be devoted.
- We use a timerin the case of our children, an hourglass or a kitchen timer is better, and we put it for 25 minutes. During that time they must concentrate and do the task they had planned, without stopping.
- Once time is upwe set the timer again, but this time for 5 minutes and they should invest it in resting. In the course of that time our children can get up, drink, move, play little games like bouncing a ball, etc. But the fundamental thing is that they do not dedicate it to being with the mobile or other electronic device.
- We repeat these cycles of 25 minutes + 5 minutes 3 more timesthat is, until we have completed 4 cycles in total or what is the same, two hours. after that time the break should be longer, about 30 minutes. And again, our children cannot be with the phone or the Tablet.
The study time varies depending on the age of our children. A teenager who can focus his attention for 25 minutes and who needs more time to study is not the same as our 7 or 8-year-old son who is starting to study. In the latter case, the times and the total duration may be limited.
Strategies for my son to study better
The pedagogue Maite Vallet, in her video on the Educar es Todo platform “how to organize free and study time“ mentions the importance of our children acquiring study habits, even when they are too young and do not have homework. The expert proposes that our children dedicate part of their time to tasks that serve as intellectual inspiration, such as painting, reading, listening to a podcast on a topic that interests them…
Other strategies that we can carry out with our children are:
- Study in a public place inside the house. It can be the living room or the kitchen, but where we can be close.
- Avoid having electronic devices with which they can be distracted. Even we must educate by example and leave that moment to make the shopping list, finish a project, read, etc.
- Avoid telling them where they went wrong. In this way we are depriving them of the opportunity to learn from the mistake and for the teacher to know where they have doubts.
- We help them when they ask us and looking for solutions among all. We cannot continually be our children’s agendas, they must be as autonomous as possible.
- Organize a schedule where they are more concentrated. Some children need it to be after lunch, others before dinner or even first thing in the morning.
With respect to our attitude towards failuresthe psychologist Maribel Martínez, proposes in her book How many times do I have to tell you? some guidelines:
- Ask about the problem instead of lecturing. Let’s avoid phrases like “how come you failed?” and let’s replace it with “have you presented all the works?, When did you study? & rdquor ;.
- Ask for solutions. This is the best tool of all, since we do not allow them to install themselves in the complaint. We accept that there has been a failure, but we activate them to commit to the change. We can ask “What are you going to do from now on to pass?”
- Rely. It is the hardest part of all, since it is waiting for something that we have no guarantees will happen. We tend to focus our attention when something goes wrong, especially when it comes to studies. Let’s try to do it, let’s use phrases like “I totally trust you & rdquor; and “I know you can” and let us accompany it with coherent actions.