Finals - Don't lock your child in a room with no windows

First of all, let us say Happy Holidays from all of us at Tried & True Tutoring!

We are very excited that the holidays are finally here, where we are able to spend time with our families and loved ones. During the holidays, students are excited that they don't have to go to school, and that they get gifts and hang out with their friends. I guess all things change with time.

Taking a break from studying over the holidays is necessary and essential to the growth of a student. If you don't ever let your mind rest, the students will begin to resent school even more, and when they are old enough to make their own decisions, they may not be the best ones.

You can either "pay now" and "play later" or you can "play now" and "pay later". Obviously, the former seems more appealing, but I believe the best way to live is to "pay now" and "play now". A healthy balance is really essential in the overall academic, social, and life success of a student.

Having been a teacher for many years, and a highly successful student myself, I am able to see the academic landscape in America today from a unique perspective - I was just a student myself not too long ago, but I have been a professional teacher for 6 years (Physics & Chemistry), as well as owner and operator of a large educational company for the past 5 years. Education is my passion - I have so much to give, and this is the best way I can give back to my community, and my country.

Some students try to rush in a lot of last minute studying before finals - I can not tell you how many frantic parent and student phone calls we receive during this time of year,  a few days before the final. Unfortunately, that leaves us no time to do our job - our assessments, our customized curriculum, our planning - and it leaves no time for us to check for understanding, or for the concepts to really solidify.

Cramming the night before an exam can be beneficial - you can "regurgitate" knowledge that you've memorized. However, those learned concepts will be lost shortly after the exam, and it will be as though you never have learned it. Learning is a process that takes the brain time, and repetition, and good practice, in order solidify the neural networks which actually allows your brain to retain information - or "learn".

Although we have all crammed for one thing or another - exam, presentation, interview, court date (hopefully not) - it is better to be pragmatic and consistent every day. Good habits are essential in a student's academic success - good habits are hard to break, and so are bad habits.

So how do you develop good habits? Or better yet, how does your son or daughter develop good habits? The Tried & True method of developing good study habits is consistency. Do not wait to get one of our professional tutors for the SAT, or Chemistry, or Algebra 2 right before the exam. Plan ahead, utilize the frontal lobe that you have been blessed with (frontal lobe is the part of the brain that is responsible for decision making and planning). If you plan ahead, and start using a tutor on a weekly, consistent basis, your student will undoubtedly develop better study habits. Also, give your student a nice quiet work space to study in. You need to study in the same environment that you will be testing in, in order to the recall the information to your maximum ability.

I could really go on all day about this, but the bottom line is, develop good habits by planning ahead. Have a weekly tutor, do homework consistently at a certain time, and talk about school at least one time every night at dinner. You need to make sure that your son or daughter knows the importance of succeeding in school. The truth is, 90% of the students in the classroom do not want to be there. They want to be with their friends, on their iPads, iPods, iPhones, and whatever other toys they like to play with. The point is, you need to make sure that your student knows how important education is to you as a parent - even if they simply succeed in school to please you - they will thank you later for it.

A good education opens up all the doors - poor education will close all of them. Don't lock your child in a room with no windows by failing to provide him the academic support he needs. The world is beautiful - a good education will give you an opportunity to see all of its beauty. Visit www.triedandtruetutoring.com for more information.