Most kids do not particularly enjoy studying or doing homework. While some kids do just fine in any kind of environment, many kids these days have problems with concentration. Therefore, it is crucial that we provide them with a nice study area where they can have all the peace and quiet that they need.
When organizing a child’s study area, we need to keep in mind that this area needs to be a distraction-free space with good lighting. It is recommended that we use this area solely for studying and doing homework. Having a dedicated study area helps children build a habit of making homework and studying each time they sit down to do the school work.
Since having a special place for studying is not always possible, I will show you a few workarounds that will help you provide the best possible conditions for your child to study and do homework even if your child doesn’t have his or her own room.
In this case, you can always let your child do the homework at the kitchen table. Kitchen tables are usually bigger than regular study desks and having ample space to arrange the books, workbooks, pens, pencils, and everything else your child needs is great.
Most importantly, if your child uses a kitchen table for school work, try to exclude as many distractions as you can. If you have another child that is loud and needs your attention, find a place where you can give your attention to this child without disturbing the one that is trying to study.
If this is not possible, try finding a place in your house where your child won’t be disturbed and consider getting a portable table and a portable box or a basket where you can put all the school supplies needed for the school work. This will allow your child to concentrate on the work and not look around for the things he or she needs to do the work. Having peace and quiet is very important for being able to concentrate, process and remember things that we are trying to learn. I’ve written an article on how music affects your child’s ability to study and do homework and you can read it here.
Unclutter Your Child’s Study Desk
Children are usually not well organized and they tend to leave their toys all over the place. If these toys end up on study tables, children have it difficult to concentrate. Instead of doing the school work, they keep looking at and playing with the toys left on the desk.
Organizing your child’s desk helps eliminate unnecessary distractions.
So, what can you do?
I suggest that you involve your child in setting up all the things he or she needs to be able to do the homework and study without getting distracted.
On one side of the desk, you can put all the pens, pencils, crayons, markers, rulers, scissors, and erasers. On the other side of the desk, you can put extra paper, binders, a calculator, and anything else that your child might need.
The middle part of the desk should be used for the things that your child needs to study and focus on. Here’s where you put the books and the workbooks.
Having the desk organized in such a way will help your child be as effective as possible.
Pay Attention to Lighting
Proper lighting is very important. Not having enough light causes eye strain and so does having too much light.
Natural light is preferable but keep in mind that during winter time when the days are shorter you might need to provide some additional lighting using artificial light.
I highly suggest using bulbs that do not flicker. Unfortunately, not all light bulbs are equally good. I once made a mistake buying cheap light bulbs from one of the largest web stores and the lights flickered so badly that I had to replace them immediately. The flickering was noticeable to the naked eye. So, when buying light bulbs, if you have the means, don’t go for the cheapest.
If your child has above-average problems staying focused and doing the school work, then you might also want to consider getting bulbs that can produce a range of light temperatures. While I was doing research on how to optimize and organize my child’s study area, I came across a German study that looked at the effects of color temperature and light intensity on human concentration and creativity.
What they found out is that the students were more creative under the warm light at about 3000K and were able to concentrate better under colder light at about 6000K.
Knowing this, you might want to experiment with changing the light temperature in your child’s study area to optimize the study conditions.
Provide an Easy-to-use Timer
There is one more thing that you might want to add to your child’s study desk and that is a digital timer. Let me tell you why.
I noticed that my oldest son was having difficulties concentrating on anything related to school work. Instead of giving focus on the textbook right in front of him, he kept asking me how much longer he needs to keep studying. So, I decided to get him a timer that would show him how much longer he needs to stay focused.
One way to do it would be to use the timer on the mobile phone. It is certainly the cheapest option, but I didn’t want him to have a phone to look at while studying and doing homework. He gets distracted way too easily and any incoming call, email, or text message would steal his focus away.
So, I found a nice little digital timer in the form of a cube. To start the timer, you simply turn the cube so that the upper side shows the pre-set expiration time. You can choose between 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes. Once the timer starts, your child can look at the display on the side of the cube and check out how much longer until the alarm goes off.
Of course, you don’t need to get that particular timer. You can use anything that counts down the time, even an hourglass.
If you implement these suggestions, you will have no problem organizing your child’s study area in such a way that it allows effective and productive study sessions.