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■ Customize your study setting Find your child’s optimal home-

work site. Some prefer noisychaos (like coffee houses) to quietlibraries and dead silence.

Whether it’s the kitchen or bed-room, the desk set-up should bewell organized, with a strong lightand desk supplies at their finger-tips.

The atmosphere should bepleasant. This may include pic-tures, plants, or light backgroundmusic — maybe classical, jazz oreven ocean sounds. These acces-sories can help to create a com-fortable and stimulatinga atmos-phere.

“Schoolwork isn’t about pleas-ing your parents and teachers, it’sabout creating options for your-self,” said Decker. “Study timeshouldn’t feel like being ground-ed. The environment should be anexpression of your personality.”■ Take five

A critical part of successful timemanagement according to thetutor is to take frequent breaks.

“Students can realistically study

for half an hour straight beforeconcentration wanes. The key is tointersperse studying with pleasantbreaks. I advise trying to finishmath work, for example, then play-ing one board on your videogame,” advised Decker.

On weekly planners and month-ly calendars — tools which arehighly recommended — fun time(birthday parties, soccer meets)must be penciled in as well asschool exams. This kind of sched-uling provides both short and longterm views of commitments aswell as a realistic timeframe tocomplete assignments.

“If you have an English paperdue in two weeks, it’s easy to breakthat deadline down and figure outhow many steps and hours you’llneed to devote to meeting it,” saidDecker.

■ Have a daily review testReading notes over and over is

an ineffective way of studying, saidDecker. “Unless you have a photo-genic memory, you’re not process-ing the information.”

Instead, pretend you’re theteacher and, using your class notes,devise your own daily test of thematerial you need to learn.

“This helps you identify criti-cal ideas and prioritize materialin an active way. Over time, theinformation is transferred fromshort-term memory toward per-manent memory. And you won’thave to re-learn the data at testtime, thus alleviating pressureand anxiety.”

■ Be supportiveDon’t turn study time in to a

power struggle. Let your childknow it’s OK to ask for help, butrealize there’s a difference betweenhelping and doing the work forhim or her.

“Studying isn’t about memoriz-ing dates or learning to multiply,it’s about learning to problem solve— that’s when it becomes a skill,”said Decker. “You may find that it’sbeneficial to bring an outsider

(tutor) in to take the situation outof the emotionally-tied parent/ado-lescent realm.”

■ Respect your child’s hard workHave a closed door policy during

homework, and make sure you andothers in the family respect it. Turnoff the phone ringer and controlirritating siblings or distractingpets.

Realize that if you make school apriority, so will your child.

By ERIKA PRAFDER

YOU can’t expect your kids to do well in school by excelling in read-ing, writing and arithmetic alone. Study skills, which aren’t neces-sarily taught in the classroom, are vital.

“Especially as students transition to high school, teachers have lesstime and availability to help them develop this ability,” says Cari Diaz,director of franchise support for Club Z! (clubztutoring.com), a nation-wide study skills program that works independently with children tohelp them make the most out of their study time.

Kayte Decker of Holderess, NH, agreed. A popular tutor with thefranchise and the author of one of the company’s educational manuals,“Learning Built to Last,” she’s always practiced what she now preachesto students.

As a high schooler, she was awarded a full academic scholarship toCanisuis College in Buffalo, New York, where she maintained a 4.0 GPAaverage each year.

“One of the biggest differences between an A student and someonewho struggles is a natural ability to figure out the right way to study,”she asserted.

To help you help your child acquire great study skills for high schooland college, here are some of Decker’s tips.

“One of thebiggest

differencesbetween an A

student andsomeone whostruggles is a

natural ability tofigure out the

right way tostudy,” said

study skills tutorKayte Decker

(pictured.)

Education S P E C I A L

Studysmart — not hard.Learning how isthe key to success