Tag Archive for: learn

5 Reasons to Love Studying

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Life is one continuous lesson! You will always be learning something – whether it’s in the classroom, in the sports arena or in a social environment. As humans, we are perpetual students, constantly learning, with school and university being just another part of the learning curve of life. It is a privilege to be able to attend school, university or college to study. Accept and embrace this phase of your life, and studying will become a satisfying portion of your student life.

Of course, there will be times when studying will become overwhelming and stressful or you may have to endure a boring subject or teacher; but this is all part of the journey. And learning to love studying will help you overcome these obstacles.

I have always loved studying and acquiring knowledge, but it wasn’t always easy. I was always stressed and overwhelmed by the amount of work. But through it all I was hopeful and focused on studies. I have learnt many valuable lessons over the years and these lessons are important reasons to love studying.

love studying

1) Studying Gives You Purpose

Find your WHY (am I doing this?)– Go on a journey of discovery – look at what subjects, hobbies or sport interests you the most and find out what career paths you can take – use Google as your guide. 

Finding your purpose will give you hope and the motivation to endure the anxiety and stress. It will also help motivate you to study for those boring subjects or work through those projects you don’t enjoy. Making a positive association between the studying or schoolwork that you’re not enjoying, and the impact it can have on your life or how it’s helping you to understand music, sports or your friendships better will quickly change your relationship with studying.

Don’t wait for inspiration – create your own!

2) Studying Develops Your Character

Achievement generates self-confidence! 

Set yourself goals for the year, and then break them down into termly, monthly, weekly and even small daily goals, that you know you can accomplish. This will grow your confidence in your own abilities and inspire you to working harder toward achieving your goals. 

Track your progress towards meeting your goals. Always celebrate your small victories – they are the stepping-stones to greater victories! 

Find which study method works for you – more effective studying will be more enjoyable for you, and will help you to reach your goals faster. If you’re not sure how to study, or what your learning style is, BrightSparkz’ Study Skills Crash Course can help.

3) Studying Always Rewards

Persistent hard work will always pay off! Make sure you study consistently, assigning time each day to go over work you’re not sure about, to study for upcoming tests, or prepare questions for the following day. This will prevent you from becoming overwhelmed by only starting to study a few days or weeks before exams.

If you are struggling to study for a particular subject – make it fun! Form a study group with your friends who have different strengths. Or create a reward system for yourself; and treat yourself to your favourite snack for small achievements or a movie for achieving those big goals. Listen to music you enjoy while studying, or bring out your creativity with colourful study notes, diagrams and images.

If you are a parent with smaller children who are struggling to enjoy studying or homework – turn it into a game – children learn best when playing games and if it’s fun they will ask you to repeat it over and over until you get bored of it! 

Use studying as me-time, dedicating the time and energy towards improving yourself or your future. Or use your study group as a great time to socialize with friends, while achieving something!

4) Studying Broadens Your Horizons

Keep your future in mind! Studying toward a career will open many doors for you – if you just know where to look. Find yourself a mentor in the field you are interested in and gain knowledge from their years of experience and mistakes. Create a collage or mindmap of your goal, and put it up where you study. When you start to feel discouraged, remind yourself why you’re studying, and what your end goal is. 

By planning your studying effectively, you will have time to work part time, building up your skill set and references for your CV. This will make your intro into the working world so much easier, as you’ll already have had a few part time jobs!

5) Studying Gives You Options

Studying while you’re in high school, or even at university, might not seem that important all the time. But your good grades, and the study skills you build up, will only give you more options for your future. Working hard in every subject, even those you think you’ll never need, may open you up to university courses or careers that you’d never dreamed possible. Good grades will also allow you access to more courses, and your Matric 80% for a subject might just be the differentiating factor between you and another applicant for a job! Studying now allows you to become a better version of yourself in your future.

Take-Away Message

Embrace studying whole-heartedly and you will become a resilient and independent person. Studying will create future opportunities for you, and one day you will make positive changes to your field of choice – no matter how great or small the impact you make – your input will have a ripple effect and be felt throughout.

So strive to be a better version of yourself each day through your studies. If you need help studying, why not contact us to get a BrightSparkz tutor?

 

Written by Sarita Downing, BrightSparkz Tutor & Blog Contributor

Planning Your Child’s Future

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Recently, I was at a friend’s braai under the shade of an enormous tree on a very hot summer afternoon. While helping out with the braai, I overheard a parent talking to another parent, wondering which university to send his son. To my surprise, his son is only six years old. Well, a thought came to mind, what a lovely topic to write on… “Planning your child’s future”.

Starting to think about which university to send your 6-year-old to might seem extreme, but if we break university acceptance down, we’ll see that it’s necessary to start planning right from the start!

planning

Perhaps a good point to start on the topic is:

Life Skills Development

Countless surveys have shown that money doesn’t necessarily lead to job satisfaction. For many people, enjoying what they do at work is much more important. As your child progresses through the school years towards high school, so they have been slowly but steadily developing as an individual, gaining new insights, talents, abilities, and self-awareness. They have also been expanding their social skills, their own brand through the technology of digital media and have by then already have put in place their personality and psyche stamp, so to speak, garnered a network of contacts and delved into university courses and other career options. 

Coming back to the six-year-old boy mentioned above, what is no doubt important, is to first master their home language.

Literacy Development

A core skill necessary for excelling at school and obtaining that university acceptance, is literacy. You can begin your child’s literacy development from a young age, through an introduction to books, regularly reading to your child, and encouraging a love of reading. Here are what some of our famous literates had to say on the topic:

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.

–Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

And remember: “All great Leaders are Readers!”

Developing a passion for reading will enlarge your child’s vocabulary, improve their grammar and writing skills, allow them to communicate eloquently and increase their creativity. All of these skills will end up helping your child when they start writing tests and exams. 

School Readiness

It is important to ensure that your child is adequately prepared to start school. This will prevent a great deal of stress and perhaps the necessity of your child being “kept back” a year due to not coping at school. 

If you’d like to ensure that your child is ready to cope with the rigors of “big” school, you may want to try the BrightSparkz Little Sparkz school readiness programme. Developed by qualified ECD experts, this programme will give your child that little extra boost to ensure they meet the milestone levels for starting school, all done in a fun and interactive way. 

Exam Tips

In Grade 3, children will start writing tests, which will build to writing exams in later grades, and the need for study skills, and possibly “burning the midnight oil”. Excuse the pun in these days of load shedding!

The following tips might be helpful to a child facing tests and exams:

  • Don’t be afraid to ask your teachers for help
  • Sleep well before exams, so that you’ll stay alert
  • Don’t doubt yourself – often your first answer is the right one
  • Study hard – short bursts of studying, with large bursts of concentration, work best
  • Know your learning style and find appropriate study methods
  • Don’t try to learn everything the day before the exam, but give yourself time to go over your work multiple times

Planning for University

Wow, after writing and passing Matric with flying colours, what is next? Most matriculants aspire to tertiary education. What does it mean to live a university life, “freedom”? Well, yes, but the important thing to remember is to survive the first year with all its distractions and to excel in the subsequent years, perhaps then studying towards an Honours Degree. 

Graduating from University sets your child apart from the rest. Employers are likely to see a University degree and think: this is someone who is equipped with sound financial skills and the ability to think laterally. University graduates have a strong ability to problem solve, are able to think critically, have a sound theoretical base of knowledge, and are able to apply this knowledge. This offers a distinct competitive advantage, career-wise!

To assist your young graduate to navigate the job-seeking minefield, watch out for our Mind The Gap programme for graduates, coming soon. 

Aim for the End Product!

Although university may be many years away for your child, remember to keep this final goal in mind: There is more than one way of getting there, and the most important thing to keep in mind is your child’s happiness and passions. 

Our skilled tutors will be able to assist you and your child in achieving their best possible results. Our friendly consultants can help you to decide on a tutor who best suits your needs, as well as your child’s personality. We also offer Study Skills Crash Courses, to teach your child how best to study according to their learning style, as well as several language Boot Camps, designed to bring fun into learning a language. If your child is still at the beginning of their journey, our Grade R readiness course can help start them on the right foot. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you!

 

Written by: Dor Yen Low, BrightSparkz Tutor & Blog Contributor