bbcovert@juno.com

For children who have never been part of a traditional school setting, study skills may be an alien concept. They’ve never experienced homework. Homeschooling promotes togetherness and family unity, and so students rarely have to figure things out on their own. Somewhere along the way, our children need to learn how to study -- high school work demands it! Acquiring good study skills will equip our children with tools that will be useful for the rest of their lives.

Teaching study skills means teaching children how to learn on their own. If you haven’t given study skills any thought, here is a list of things your children need to develop:

1. Listening Skills. This skill is developed by listening to someone read the lesson and then answering the questions. The questions may be oral or written. You may read history or science lessons to your younger students. You may even read stories to them. Afterwards, ask them to repeat information from the lessons. You may ask them to retell the story in their own words. You will be able to tell whether your children were listening intently or daydreaming.

2. Memorization Skills. Some information just has to be memorized. The times tables, for instance, need to be memorized before the students reach higher level math. Knowing the times tables will help them solve complex problems more quickly. Developing good memory recall will be beneficial for students going to college as well. Of course, God commands us to hide His Word in our hearts. When we memorize Bible verses, God is able to call them to our minds with perfect timing.

3. Note-taking Skills. A student entering a traditional high school or college setting who hasn’t learned how to take notes will have a lot of trouble. Note-taking is a good memory aid. Who hasn’t taken notes during a sermon and discovered that they retained the message better than when they only sit and listen? Students need to learn to recognize important information. It can be overwhelming to try and take notes without prior experience, so it’s good to start young. During your homeschooling years, take time to train your children to take notes. This will involve them listening to an educational audiotape, viewing a video or DVD, or even listening to you read a lesson. As they listen, they will write down the information they believe is important. Of course, you need to know in advance which facts are indeed important so that you can explain any differences between what your children wrote and what they should have written.

4. Presentation Skills. There may not seem to be a need to make “class” presentations in your homeschool. However, this skill should be developed in preparation for life, not just higher education. The speech and organizational skills that will develop as a result of making presentations may be useful in college as well as work and church. You may have your child make presentations to your family that include a short talk and perhaps some charts, pictures, or objects. A homeschool support group may have opportunities for students to make presentations, such as Science Night or an International Festival. Then there are clubs, such as 4H, which encourage presentations as a part of the activities.

5. Research Skills. This list would not be complete without the mention of research skills. All students need to learn how to use a dictionary, an encyclopedia, and the library card catalog, which is most likely computerized. Our students need to learn to do their own research, no matter how much easier it is for us to find the books, magazines, and online articles for them. We must teach them how to put their research in their own words. In traditional schools, too many students resort to cutting and pasting (i.e. plagiarism) in order to complete assigned papers. A homeschool student who can do his or her own work without plagiarizing will earn the trust and gratitude of their future teachers and/or employers.

This isn’t a complete list. Most likely, you will discover other study skills that your students need to know. This list is meant to act as a guideline. These skills will improve our children’s ability to learn as well as improve their chance of enjoying success in high school, college, and the career of their choice. It’s never too early to start teaching good study skills.

Happy homeschooling!

Copyright 2006 by Brenda B. Covert