Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Study skills = life skills

One of the most valuable things you can teach your middle schooler is study skills: listening, note-taking, brainstorming, organizing, outlining and prioritizing. These skills will serve students well not only in academics but also in their professional and personal lives. First, buy your child a planner and encourage him or her to use it. Any day planner, calendar or notebook will do. American Education Publishing offers an engaging planner for students in grades 4 through 8. This student planner fits inside a three-ring binder and provides plenty of space to record class schedules and homework. It also offers study tips and a section containing facts for handy reference, such as US Presidents, branches of government, a map of the US, figures in mythology, Roman numerals, the periodic table of elements, customary and metric measurement and more. During our homeschooling, we also used the workbook Note Taking & Outlining, offered by Frank Schaffer Publications. Aimed at students in grades 6 through 8, the workbook provides activities that reinforce listening and organizational skills. It helps students determine fact from fiction and shows them how to avoid plagiarism. And, as the title suggests, it covers note-taking and outlining. We often used this book in conjunction with Delana Heidrich’s Using the Media: Fact, Fiction, and Opinion, also offered by Frank Schaffer Publications. This workbook helps students identify genre, source, author, intended audience and purpose. It also helps students to assess whether a source is credible--an important skill when researching on the Internet.