How do your 7th graders study??

[Anonymous]

DS does not know how to study. Parents quiz/“Re”teach everything to him. Flash cards have been ineffective. Open to all ideas!!!

[Anonymous]

What class? What types of tests/quizzes? Multiple choice, essays, etc?

[Anonymous]

Well, I am now in the thick of things with DD who is a little older than your DC. Her older sibling excelled academically with little to no support and guidance from us. DD’s Q3 grades so far indicate she requires much more concrete support from us. We’re now requiring a number of things we probably should’ve required sooner:

* No phone use at home until your homework is finished and submitted
* Academic agenda you must write in every day
* Take advantage of school-sponsored supports on a weekly basis (math is an issue, so this means go to math lab at lunch once a week)
* Study guides are “due” two days before your test or quiz. If your teacher has given you a study guide, you need to complete it with time to spare, and then review that completed study guide the day before the test
* Try to figure things out in your own, but once you’ve tried, you must ask your teachers if you still have questions. They want to help you and want to see you succeed.

We’ve found it helpful to talk about concrete habits versus studying. The habit of keeping an agenda, for example, requires both short-term and long-term planning, and helps facilitate prioritizing tasks (and hopefully keeps primary responsibility for academics with the student). “Studying” was too vague and seemed to include sitting in your room with your homework close by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What class? What types of tests/quizzes? Multiple choice, essays, etc?

All classes and type of exam. My parents didn’t help me learn how to be a good student but my child definitely cannot do it alone. He ends up sitting there, frustrating growing, confidence plummeting. It’s maybe overwhelming like not sure where to start. For some reason I thought school would build on study skills but if they have them nothing has stuck for us. Parental frustration also growing…

[Anonymous]

You need to cut out all screens except for occasional TV or movie with the family. They lead to all sorts of cognitive issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS does not know how to study. Parents quiz/“Re”teach everything to him. Flash cards have been ineffective. Open to all ideas!!!

We struggled with this too. It was never taught to our kids. We ended up using an executive function coach who works in the county which worked really well for our DS. We were very impressed with our coach. My email is [e-mail] if you want the name of the coach we used.

[Anonymous]

Have him make a study sheet. Have him go through all of his notes, books, etc. Pull out the most important points, facts, dates, formulas, whatever, and organize it on one side of a piece of paper. He can add pictures (hand drawn or real), colors, acronyms, whatever will help him to remember things. He can review this sheet for his test and keep it to review for finals.

[Anonymous]

Their middle school taught them the first year.

[Anonymous]

My 7th grader creates study guides in class, and as HW assignments, and she uses those. She reviews them and rewrites answers. The only time she asked me to help was simple memorization tests - world map tests and terms/vocabulary in science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their middle school taught them the first year.

That doesn't necessarily mean anything though. I was taught how to study, but still struggled with it. I could do any other type if homework because to me, there was a definitive middle and end. Studying not so much. I struggled not only with how to study, but for how long to study. I was not keen on studying for hours and hours. That just seemed like a waste of time to me.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like an executive functioning deficit, which is a red flag for ADHD. You might want to seek an evaluation before high school, since all four years of high school matter for college admissions...

[Anonymous]

DC is in 6th grade but this is already a struggle.

I will say, Quizlet has some pretty impressive AI that nicely mimics the "parent quiz" method. But Quizlet doesn't yell at him "you need to learn this stuff before I'm going to quiz you, I can't stand it when you make wild guesses." Which is an improvement for both of us.

[Anonymous]

In seventh grade? I mean neither of them really did. they would “get their homework done” Which in seventh grade was not a whole heck of a lot. But neither kid was digging in and studying to prepare for tests at that age. Older one is doing quite well in t10 college though, so I’m not sure I’m persuaded that study skills in middle school are all that important. I do think there is a level of executive functioning type tasks that they need to get a handle on during that time, keeping track of assignments and handing them in when required, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their middle school taught them the first year.

That doesn't necessarily mean anything though. I was taught how to study, but still struggled with it. I could do any other type if homework because to me, there was a definitive middle and end. Studying not so much. I struggled not only with how to study, but for how long to study. I was not keen on studying for hours and hours. That just seemed like a waste of time to me.

It ends when you know the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I am now in the thick of things with DD who is a little older than your DC. Her older sibling excelled academically with little to no support and guidance from us. DD’s Q3 grades so far indicate she requires much more concrete support from us. We’re now requiring a number of things we probably should’ve required sooner:

* No phone use at home until your homework is finished and submitted
* Academic agenda you must write in every day
* Take advantage of school-sponsored supports on a weekly basis (math is an issue, so this means go to math lab at lunch once a week)
* Study guides are “due” two days before your test or quiz. If your teacher has given you a study guide, you need to complete it with time to spare, and then review that completed study guide the day before the test
* Try to figure things out in your own, but once you’ve tried, you must ask your teachers if you still have questions. They want to help you and want to see you succeed.

We’ve found it helpful to talk about concrete habits versus studying. The habit of keeping an agenda, for example, requires both short-term and long-term planning, and helps facilitate prioritizing tasks (and hopefully keeps primary responsibility for academics with the student). “Studying” was too vague and seemed to include sitting in your room with your homework close by.

NP: thank you for this. I especially like the study guide idea. I am in the same boat- older child didn’t need such rules to excel but younger one (middle school) is seeming to need a lot more support/monitoring