Studying tips for the school holidays (Part Two)

Earlier, we explored strategies for improving your study opportunities when your children are off school. Now we will take it a step further and show you how you can get your family involved.

• Integrate your studies with your other commitments – the great thing about technology is that it now allows you to learn on the go.  From carrying around your laptop, to listening to webinars on your commute (in the car or on the train), to reading through notes on your phone, you can easily bring your studies with you whilst you’re on the go.  This is great news, as you can use these resources to study whilst taking your kids to their clubs, driving to work or are cooking food;
• Find ways to keep your kids occupied – this will ease any guilt you may feel as you’ll know that they are being entertained and aren’t getting bored.

Try these:

• Set them chores or fun activities to do at home – with chores we suggest giving them an incentive e.g. control over the TV, picking the next film at the cinema, choosing where you go on your next outing, etc. Make sure they will be rewarded for completing them;
• Study when your kids are at an activity/club – like we mentioned before, either bring your studies with you or get your partner to take them so you can stay home and study.

• Get your kids involved – this tip is especially true, if your kids are curious about what you’re doing. In this instance, try making it into a game where they can either do their homework at the same time or you get them to help test you.  With the homework idea, this will help to kill two birds with one stone as you won’t have to worry about them getting behind with their reading, projects or worksheets, or doing them last minute. Instead, you can make a group activity where they get to spend time with you as you all work.  Alternatively, if you ask them to quiz you. This will give you the advantage of learning how to answer the questions in layman’s terms (in a way your children will understand) as well as will give your brain another way to absorb the information.

• Create a support network – it is easy to feel alone with online learning courses. With no classroom or physical teacher to guide you, you can get overwhelmed. For this reason, we suggest creating a support network of friends, family and study peers, so you never feel isolated.  In fact, inviting your friends and family into your world, will make it easier for you to study as they will be aware of the pressure you’re under and will be more willing to help out where they can. Likewise, creating a group of peers will ensure you are surrounded by others who known exactly what you’re going through.  Fortunately, a lot of online course providers supply online forums where you can easily communicate with other online learners. The advantage of this is that it allows you to ask questions, exchange ideas and even arrange to meet up.

As you can see, it is possible to achieve a healthy home-study balance, no matter the time of year or what you have got going on in your life. Simply incorporate each of the above tips into your learning and you can ensure that you spend your holidays the right way.

For more information on home learning, visit our website.