Learning Strategies Made Easy

We all could use a little help in making learning a little easier. With simple strategies, you can help yourself or your child learn to perfect test taking and improve study skills.

Studies have shown that from late elementary school into college, studying and test taking is often a major hurdle for children. And if your child already has a learning disability, the difficulty can be even more pronounced. If your child’s test scores have fallen during this time period and their stress level has increased, there are a handful of ways you can help. Questions to ask include:

1. Does your child know what to study? If your child appears to have difficulty discerning what to remember during a lecture or in reading a textbook, ask them these few questions: a) Have they checked in with the teacher about the content of the test? b) Has the teacher provided a study guide or practice test? c) Does your child have a plan for studying?

Helping your child recognize verbal cues the teacher may give that will signal the information’s importance is also important. If the teacher says, “Write this down”, “Let Me Summarize”, “This Is Important” or “I’ll write this on the board”, the student should make note of the information. Review information in your child’s textbook with them as well, going over chapter and section headings, words, phrases or sentences that appear in bold, sidebar information and questions at the end of each chapter.

2. Does your child know how to study? – Show your child strategies in organizing, remembering, and prioritizing information. Make sure your child is also doing nightly reading assignments and using a system to record information. Have your child summarize to you what they have learned and help your child organize their materials by cleaning out binders and folders, or setting up sections with tabs. Showing your child tricks in remembering information through sentences or acronyms, rhymes or relating information known to something unknown, can be helpful. Drawing pictures or cartoons is also helpful to many students, especially if they are a visual learner.

3. Does your child know how to monitor their work?– As a student, you need to have necessary skills to check your work. Ask your child to look through graded homework assignments and previous tests to find patterns of mistakes. Another solution is to help your child make a personalized checklist of test taking techniques, looking back to see if any questions were missed or if the answer to the problem was properly spelled out and answered accordingly.


4. Does your child know how to set goals and pace their work?– Does your child rush through studies? You can help your child set goals and pace their work. Ask them to create and review a study plan, setting a timer for a certain study period. Make sure your child builds short breaks into their schedule. Encourage your child to focus on their strengths and emphasize their efforts and that you are proud of them.

Practice these four strategies with your child or even with yourself and you will find that such practices will follow you through a lifetime and reward you over and over again.

Kara Lilly, a Librarian for over 15 years in College Park, creates the Eduology for schoolwork.org, a leading provider of homework help, college directories with satellite maps and a comprehensive breakdown of student loans. For more information, please visit www.schoolwork.org.

Financing your student’s education

So your child is ready to go off to college and you are perplexed over how you will pay for their education? If you are like most parents, you have heard of scholarships and loans but when it comes to the details, here is where you get hung up. If this is the case, here is a short synopsis of how to interpret college finance terminology.

Scholarships: There are two types of scholarships, undergraduate and graduate fellowships. A scholarship is a gift in that it does not have to be repaid like a student loan. Schools, individuals and various sponsors help fund such scholarships so that students who qualify can be rewarded or students who can’t afford to pay for school out of their pocket can attend college. Because the money is a gift, the funds are generally reserved for students with specific qualifications such as academic, athletic and so on. Some scholarships are set up for students who are interested in a particular field of study or are just plain need of financial assistance.

Student Loans: Student loans are like any type of loan in that it must be paid back. Education loans are broke down into three categories – Student Loans (Stafford and Perkins Loans), Parent Loans and Private Student Loans. Federal laws set the maximum interest rates and fees that can be charged. Many student loans offer flexible repayment terms. In some cases there are loan forgiveness programs in which a student pays off the loan in exchange for volunteer work or military service. Private student loans can help you fill the gap between federal, state or school assistance loans or scholarships. Private loans are often called alternative student loans and are based on your credit. These loans must be used for specific educational expenses. Many websites offer financial calculators so that you can estimate your monthly payments and what your debt will be.

Military Student Aid: For students who are interested in pursuing careers in the military, there is military student aid. Aid such as the Montgomery GI Bill covers about three-fifths of your college education and is good for up to ten years from the date of your last discharge or release from active duty or training. The Montgomery GI Bill is for those who are enrolled in the Select Reserve of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and the Army and Air National Guard. If you are in active duty, you accept a pay reduction of $100 per month for twelve months; when you use your benefits you can receive $1,101 monthly for a maximum of 36 months of educational benefits. This benefit may be used for degree and certificate programs, flight training, apprenticeship/on-the-job-training and correspondence courses – if the veteran is enrolled full-time. Part-time students receive less but can stretch out their funds longer. Reserve veterans have their own unique benefits.

Kara Lilly, a Librarian for over 15 years in College Park, creates the Eduology for schoolwork.org, a leading provider of homework help, college directories with satellite maps and a comprehensive breakdown of student loans. For more information, please visit www.schoolwork.org.

College Housing

The next most important step after you’ve been accepted by a college and have secured your finances, through financial aid, grants, student loans or your trust fund is to find a perfect roommate and place to stay. If you decide to live on campus, you’ll probably have to fill the infamous housing questionnaires. This is where you answer a swath of questions ranging from your choice of music to your religious views and food preferences. Even though the questionnaire is very detailed, most colleges are only capable of matching your basic needs: do you smoke, are you willing to live with one?, do you want to share a room or not. This is a very important decision as the perfect roommate can make or break freshman year; so its important to make the most of the options available to you.

Most colleges have different housing facilities available based upon your needs. Some of these choices may be single-sex dorms, co-ed dorms, honors dorms, quiet dorms, all-freshman dorms, graduate dorms, etc. Most freshman prefer living in an all-freshman dorm for the simple reason that most people on the dorm floor are pretty close to your age group and are craving the same college experience. You’ll find people “chilling” in the common areas, gossiping, working on homework, and trading life stories with their new friends. The benefit of an upperclassman dorm is that you’ll probably get more information on professors, classes and the college in general. They also may tend to be a little more aloof due to old friendships, commitments and generally more schoolwork.

The next order of business is to choose whether you would like to have roommates or not; and if so how many? You can always choose the privacy of a single room, but the costs involved in that could be prohibitive. If you have student loans you might have to consider the cost more closely than those who have grants or parents or other sources of funding. The twin sharing room is the most commonly available and economically viable choice. In most colleges today twin rooms are big enough to give both people enough living as well as working space. Some roommates get creative and set up bunk-beds to create more “living” space in their rooms! Another popular choice is the Quad; where four or more students share a larger living space. This living arrangement is sometimes only available in fraternity or sorority houses, but there are some colleges that do offer quads. These are fabulous for meeting new people and bonding. And you also have a one in three chance of finding someone you can connect with and not be stuck with a roommate you can't get along with.

With admission, finances (including grants, financial aid and student loans) and your roommate situation taken care of, the next order of business would be course selection and academic advising.

About the Author: Kara Lilly, a Librarian for over 15 years in College Park, creates the Eduology for schoolwork.org, a leading provider of homework help, college directories with satellite maps and a comprehensive breakdown of student loans. For more information, please visit http://www.schoolwork.org