Tag Archives: Stress and Study

February 4, 2015 · 8:08 am

TUITION TIPS – CREATIVE WRITING WITH WORD GAMES

If your child hates to write, try this.

Ask them to write a simple sentence about a cat: “My cat is fat.” Don’t worry about spelling unless you cannot work out what they meant to write.  In that case ask them to rewrite it with the spelling corrected.

Then ask them to make that sentence one word longer: “My cat is very fat.”

  • Try again, “My cat Biffy is very fat.”
  • Try again, “My old cat Biffy is very fat.”

Then use another word for fat.

  • “My old cat Biffy is very large.”

Now for a prize …. extend this sentence using the word ‘and’ somewhere.

  • “My old cat Biffy is very large and lazy.”

There you are – from four words to nine.

Do it just before dinner, make the prize “You decide what we are having for desert” and it’s all fun.

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December 18, 2014 · 1:14 am

Tuition Tip – Did You Know…

Tuition Logo…that most learners will forget the last four weeks of learning over the six weeks of Christmas break?  Pretty much everything learned in November is lost by the time they go back to school in January/February.

Six weeks is a long time to have a break from learning and I doubt young minds require so much recovery time.  As I come from a sports training background I know that such a break from training for a sports person would be detrimental to their abilities and performance.  That is why professional sports people do not take a break, they alter how they train.

I have witnessed the downfalls in people achieving weight loss because they cannot gain any momentum on their weight loss program.  There was always something preventing them getting up a full head of steam on their weight loss project; birthdays, work functions, anniversaries, weddings, parties, etc..  It may be the same for our students in the education system.  There appears to be so many things that prevent our students building up momentum in their learning progress; public holidays (about 12 days per year), school holidays (about 12 weeks per year), student free days (at least one after every school break), athletics sports day, swimming day, excursions to …., school camps (1 or 2 weeks per year), …

That is why we run holiday programs for our clients.  To us learning is so important to the development of the child that we give tuition hours away to ensure our students return to school not having forgot what they learned in the last month and a half of school but are advanced on what they know.

OUR 342 HOLIDAY PROGRAM 

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February 3, 2014 · 1:22 am

Early Steps to Avoid Stressed Students

Daily Diary Does the Deed

The year is going to progress whether we become involved with it or not.  It has been my experience with students, particularly at secondary school level, that those who do not take control of time will have time controlling them.  It is these students that display symptoms of stress as the year progresses.

Students who learn how to use a diary and planner at the beginning of the year are more likely to feel relaxed as the year progresses.  Keeping a written diary/planner appears to be almost a lost science.  Everything today seems to be electronic with touch pads for keying entries and apps that help to link all the diaries together and co-ordinate your appointments.  This is all very impressive but is it helping your student?

At the beginning of the term or semester your student is given their assignments and due dates.  They are also aware of sports training and events they should be attending; forthcoming birthdays and family events; and school activities.  Showing your son or daughter how to use a diary is a valuable life skill to pass on to them.  Sitting down once a week (my wife and I use Sundays) and running through that week’s entries helps to co-ordinate lifestyles.

Remember: We are all given twenty four hours a day, how you use them is up to you.

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April 15, 2013 · 1:16 am

Sports People Do It – Why Not Learners?

Quite often students begin the year in a casual stride and who is to blame them? After all they have just come off two months holidays.

AchievementI come from a sports training background and I can tell you that an athlete who wants to perform well will not take two months off their training year. The repercussions are too great as they will lose too much form and have to work too hard to get back to square one.

A dedicated rugby player who takes one month off during the off season will be maintaining their aerobic level of fitness with moderate exercise. When January comes around they are ready to start full swing on improving their strengths, building on fitness and working on skills. That is how you stay ahead of the pack.

I often wonder why students don’t undertake the same planning when it comes to academic performance. Most students and parents of students are willing to let the achievements of the final months of the previous year disappear through resting the brain after the school year. The brain does not need that much time to recover. In fact that length of time for recovery is detrimental. The last month of knowledge learned prior to exams has been lost and has to be relearned in the first month of the new year!

During long Christmas holidays many students maintained their academic conditioning by attending the Tuition Centre at the Hills District Police Citizens Youth Club. Some used their academic coach (their tutor) to work on their weaknesses from last year while others used the time to get a head start on the subject matter they knew was coming this year. These guys were staying ahead of the pack. Is it worthwhile? You bet it is. They will go into the new year confident and stress free. They have locked in with their coach who is helping them to perform at their peak.

We live in a very competitive world and those who rise to the top are those who are willing to go the extra mile to achieve that result. I see all too often time and effort put into young people with their sport but will that effort bring a return on investment for them? Will these skills bring them an income? Most likely not. If the same effort was put into their academic ability, or at least more evenly distributed well……

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