Great Study Tip for Kids, Preteens, Teens

Study Tip for your child: If your child has a hard time remembering history or science facts here’s a tip a teacher taught me. Make up a word or simple phrase using the first letter of each fact. Example: Your child needs to remember the five oceans of the world. They are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic (or Southern Ocean). If your child can remember the first letter of each ocean and put them together to make a word, phrase, or something similar it will help them memorize the oceans easier. In this case if your child can associate “PI triple A” to the names of oceans it will trigger their recall of them. PI is for Pacific and Indian. Triple A is for the Atlantic, Arctic, and Antarctic. If your child has to remember a date like May 1919 they can think, “I like to play in May double 19.” Even if they can’t remember the whole phrase it will trigger their memory about May 1919. But don’t make the connecting word or phrase so difficult that it confuses them. The whole point is to have the word or phrase jolt their memory. This can help when you stress out and blank, or have the answer on the tip of your tongue. I have used this method myself when I don’t have a pen and paper handy and I have to remember certain information or groceries to buy. The phrase “sugar without the u” can help you remember to buy soap, grapes, apples, and rice. Your brain tries to fill in the blanks when you give particular letters to words. If you remember soap, apples and grapes, but you blank on the last one this method will prompt your brain to find the connection between the grocery and the phrase. You might think and think, “What is the r grocery I need to buy?” then it will hit you, “Oh yes, it’s rice.”