Have you ever had an important task that you needed to do at home but just could never find the time or the right moment where you could focus all your undivided attention?
Finally, that moment arrives, and you are fully prepared, but just as you are about to start, your child moans loudly that she cannot find her tablet and she needs it urgently.
Then the doorbell rings unexpectedly and to cap it all, your neighbour decides now would be a great time to turn his home stereo on full blast.
Your brain is overloaded with sensory distractions and the task which you had built yourself up towards is suddenly no longer a priority or even doable.
That is exactly how your child feels when he or she is trying to study with endless distractions going on around them.
The manner in which your child studies, what they study, how they study, and for how long, are all critically important factors in the academic performance of your child.
That is why creating a suitable study environment is so important.
Aiden Delport is a blogger for Worksheets. He lists the following steps to create the best study environment.
Step 1:
The location, in an ideal world, you’d be able to dedicate an entire room to study.
If this isn’t possible, you should try to find a spot away from the noisiest parts of your home.
If your child has a clean corner of their room with a desk, this can work, but be mindful of distractions.
Remove all possible objects that could cause a distraction, and ensure that their desk/study surface is clean and organised.
The goal is to choose a clean, clutter, and distraction-free space that your child can focus on insufficiently.
Step 2:
The lighting, as a follow up to step 1, it almost goes without saying that your child won’t be able to study effectively in a dark, dingy room.
It is super important that their study space has efficient lighting, conducive to reading and writing with ease.
Step 3:
The Sound, as mentioned earlier, distractions are the biggest concentration killer, and what is one of the biggest distractions you can think of?
NOISE! This step often requires a bit of team effort.
We all know that busy household is generally also noisy ones, and so finding a spot in your house that is 100% quiet is sometimes impossible, especially at certain times of the day.
This is something that you can work around though. Look at your child’s study schedule and make their study time the new “quiet time” in your house.
Get everyone at home on the same page about it, and work together to allow for some peace and quiet in the household for your child to study during that time.
No loud volumes on the TV, no loud talking.
30 mins of peaceful studying are better than 2 hours of distraction.