Who knew homeschooling would be so challenging! Maintaining god study habits can be difficult especially when you’re at home. What do we mean when we refer to study habits? Well, study habits are the behaviours used when learning academic material and preparing for tests. When considering good study habits we need to be mindful of what works for you as a person because everyone processes information differently, which means that we all learn differently. Working out your learning style is one way to maintain good study habits. For example, if you’re a visual person, then you may find mind maps and flow charts helpful. If you’re a person who is better with words, then you may find that taking notes are helpful. If you’re someone who is more “acoustic” - i.e., learns through sound, you may find that “singing” the information you need to learn to a favourite tune can be helpful. Once you know how you learn, then you can start to use this to help you learn the information that you need to. I would suggest spending some time to reflect on what your learning type is to help you fine tune your study habits.
Another way to maintain good study habits is to tackle common hurdles that arise when studying. We have heard two very common complaints from parents and students in our community when it comes to studying at home. These two common complaints are 1 - people are having trouble getting started, and/or 2 - people are having trouble finishing a task. While we’re discussing this in the context of homeschooling during COVID-19, these hurdles are just as useful once you’re back at school and are having trouble completing homework for school. We have compiled a list of suggestions that may be helpful in each of these areas of complaint:
If you can’t get started on a task:
· Break it down into smaller steps
· Prioritise your goals and start the most important one first
· Begin with the first step and do it straight away!
· Use problem-solving to find out why you can’t get started
· Is the goal really something you want?
· Look at what is stopping you and try to remove those obstacles
· Remember why you wanted to achieve the goal in the first place
· Write the goal down and stick it up where you will see it every day!
· Do something every day towards your goal
If you can’t finish a task:
· Break the remainder of the goal down into smaller, more manageable steps
· Be prepared to alter the goal or the deadline – give yourself more time to achieve it if you need to
· Use problem-solving to look at why you are finding it hard to achieve the goal
· Is the goal still important to you? Have your needs or priorities changed?
· Are there other pressures on you that need addressing first?
· Look at what is stopping you and try to remove those obstacles
· Remember why you wanted to achieve the goal in the first place
· If you need to, set yourself a deadline – sometimes a bit of pressure helps us all!
Now you may have tried some or all of these suggestions, and still feel like your study habits are not good enough. This means that you are likely struggling with some other hurdles such as things like anxiety or perfectionism that could be getting in the way. This is where we come in! If you feel like you are finding study super stressful and need some support to further develop good study habits then please don’t hesitate to give our team a call on (03) 9882-8874 to book an appointment. We’re also about to release an online webinar on developing study habits so keep an eye out for the release of the webinar! You can access more information about the study habits webinar via admin@melbournewellbeinggroup.com.au
~This blog was written and prepared by Dr Celin Gelgec - Director and Clinical Psychologist here at Melbourne Wellbeing Group.