Empower: Study Skills and Habits Why are study skills important?   Study skills improve the way that students approach, tackle, and gain knowledge. Learning requires work, effort, and often self-discipline. Practicing and mastering basic study skills develops a platform of habits that frees up our mind-energy for more learning. For example, when we master the skill of “active listening”, we are able to quickly focus and be receptive. When active listening becomes a habit–we don’t have to give a thought to the process, we are ready to immediately hear, intentionally. What age is suggested for my child to develop good study skills and habits? The child who develops good study habits from an early age will find it easier to adjust to increasing academic rigor. How do study skills become habits? It begins with parent-modeling: Demonstrate what the study skill looks like. Demonstrate what it doesn’t look like. Teach when it is a good time or situation to use the skill. Children need to see, review, and practice these skills many times before being expected to do them on their own. Over time, they will perform the skill without thinking about it. What are some study skills my children can work on to improve their daily learning experience?  A general overview of some Elementary study skills and strategies, coinciding with developmental age and attention span is helpful. Attention spans guide the length of a learning session-that can be interspersed with movement breaks and transition activities. You will notice that a few of these study strategies will always be parent/teacher-guided, until the student is able to be more independent. For a list of these study skills, please open and review this.pdf  link: Elementary Study Skills, by Age .pdf   (*missing from .pdf= Attention. span for age  5-7 is 8-15 minutes) Here are some additional resources: Video: Study Skills – 7 Study Habits of Successful Home-Schooled and Online learning Students  Extending a Child’s Attention Span.pdf  31 Study Skills for Elementary Students That Make the Learning Stick  4th and Up: 6 Study Habits to Teach Homeschool Children Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear How to Encourage Good Study Habits in a Child  10 Study habits of successful students Improving Concentration Managing Your Study Time Identify and Minimize distractions HOW TO Minimize distractions 20+ Tips to Help You Homeschool the Distracted Child ~Kim Goates   Executive Director