Nothing quite stresses out students and parents about the beginning of the school year as the return to homework. Households struggle nightly with battles centered around completing after-school assignments.
As a parent, you play a major role in providing the encouragement, environment, and materials necessary for successful studying to take place.
Five Tips to Create a Calming Study Environment
- Get Moving (touch) – Before sitting down to do homework, encourage your child to get active (no video games or television)Get outside to shoot hoops, ride a bike or skateboard, spend time on a playground or swimming. These activities will reduce stress and get the blood flowing and the brain active.
- Eat a Healthy Snack (taste) – Serve after-school snacks that are low on the glycemic index .This will avoid the blood sugar levels from varying quickly, which prevents the child from getting sluggish. Consider nuts, smoothies, cheeses, and vegetables for a snack. Try to avoid high sugar snacks and drinks.
- Pick a Study Spot (visual) – Most important is to find a place where the child will pay attention and feels comfortable. The bedroom can be good, but the toys can be distracting. Remember, for some children it might be sitting on the floor. Also, to reduce stress have the necessary supplies (books, pencils, paper, index cards, highlighters etc) readily available.
- Listen to Music (hearing) – There’s really no easy answer. Some kids study better with music, since it helps them ignore other sounds around them. Other kids sometimes get so into the music that they forget about what they’re supposed to be doing. Try it in the beginning. If the child is getting their work done and test scores are good – why not.
- Odors Influence Performance (smell) – In a report by Scientific American, people who were exposed to natural plant odors were calmer, more alert, and in better moods than those in an odor-free environment. In addition,certain scents created a longer attention span when presented with information, which increases retention during studying.
Consider infusing these scents that encourage learning into your home environment. There are different options for essential oils or a diffuser, such as a Lampe Berger lamp.
Scents that Encourage Learning:
Lemon promotes concentration and has calming and clarifying properties that are helpful when you’re feeling angry, anxious or run down.
Jasmine is also commonly used as an anti-depressant because of its uplifting capabilities that produce a feeling of confidence, optimism and revitalized energy.
Rosemary is the perfect Monday morning pick-me-up. In addition to improving memory retention, rosemary has stimulating properties that fight physical exhaustion, headaches, and mental fatigue. Perfect when brainstorming for a project or essay.
Unlike scented candles, a Lampe Berge diffuses a longer lasting scent which will remain present over time, even after the diffusion is stopped. These lamps don’t just gently scent the air, they purify. Lampe Berger catalysis were designed by a pharmaceutical chemist in response to disinfect hospitals in 1898, thus creating a cleaner home.
So take a deep breathe and reduce the household stress. Create an after-school learning environment which reaches your student’s 5 senses and encourages learning.