Tips to an easier study time for kids

Being a kid in Singapore is no walk in the park. Let’s see…there’s school to go to, extra curricular activities and enrichment classes to attend, and test and exams that come and go several times a year.

The series of tests and exams scheduled throughout the year tend to put kids in ‘stressed out’ mode – while mum and dad get overly anxious as they help their little ones prepare for the ‘big day’. Here are some simple tips to make study time easier and smarter for both parents and kids, with the help of HP print apps and web-connected printers from HP!

1. Give worksheets in smaller chunks

Piling up dictionary-sized assessment workbooks in front of your kids is enough to give them nightmares that involve fractions, decimals and cell function. Instead of overwhelming them with infinite pages of worksheets, it might be a good idea to break these up into smaller chunks (say, 2-3 sheets a day?). Kelvin Yoo, Executive Director & Group CEO of leading academic publisher, Singapore Asia Publishers (SAP) says, “The practice of giving smaller batches of worksheets creates an easier learning curve for kids as they pick up the lessons learnt in school at their own pace. In the long run, this arrangement actually encourages kids to want to learn more and look forward to completing smaller batches of worksheets daily.”

One great way to do this is by browsing the selection of education print apps available on the HP home printing website. A great choice that parents can get started with is the SAP education app, which gives them access to worksheets and test papers from all the best-selling primary school assessment books. Parents who are looking to strengthen their kids’ math scores can look forward to the soon-to-be-launched onSponge Print App. This print app gives primary school-going kids the skills needed to solve math problems covered in the syllabus through tried and tested strategies. Both parents and kids will also be able to access the step-by-step solutions to all math questions on onSponge’s website and post questions on the learning forum if they encounter difficulties in solving the math problems.

But here’s what we really like about these education print apps by HP: The worksheets can be delivered straight to your HP web-connected printer tray, and parents can schedule to have them automatically delivered daily or once a week. Convenient, no?

2. ‘Reward’ them after each assessment done

Mums and dads who constantly find themselves fighting the battle of getting your little ones motivated to complete their daily worksheets, perhaps a simple reward system might help. Remember how we used to reward them with a little treat for being on their best behaviour back when they were younger? This same approach can also be used now when it comes to study time. Give them a little ‘reward’ to look forward to when they complete their daily worksheets. It could be something as simple as being able to print out folding instructions for various types of paper planes through the Awesome Airplanes print app. The idea here is to create a great balance between work and play, and to show how study time can be fun at times.

3. Sit down with them while they study

Most parents make it a point to spend quality time with our kids, especially during weekends. This allows mum and dad to catch up with their kids and find out more about the issues that they may be tackling, both in school and at home. Likewise, it might also be a good idea for parents to initiate some ‘quality study time’ with their kids, simply by sitting down with them as they study or as they go through their worksheets and homework. “Kids will feel comfortable opening up to their parents on the problems that they are facing in their studies, and it helps us understand them better,” says Daddy blogger Kelvin Ang.

4. Focus on the right goals

One of the reasons why kids dread studying for exams is because they often set one-track goals for themselves to get the right answers and achieve a certain result for the subjects that they revising for. And when those goals are not met, they get disappointed. According to Chris Rogers, Co-founder and Director of onSponge, a top math website for primary school kids, kids and parents should not focus on just getting the right answers. The process of going through the steps that brings them to the answer also counts. “It is the same thing as how when we work, we do not accomplish everything in just one day. Instead, most of us set daily targets and goals to achieve. When we do that with our kids and focus on the steps to get to the right answers, we will get there eventually,” he adds.

5. Put the fun in learning

Worksheets may be important in helping kids understand the lessons taught in school and to prepare for their tests and exams. But sometimes, it may not be a bad idea to give them a break from solving complex problems and inject some fun and creativity to the learning process. The National Geographic Kids print app is a great way for kids to have fun as they discover some of the wildest and wackiest facts on wildlife and the environment. And to get the eager little ones started on their learning journey, there are plenty of activity printouts available from education providers such as Education.com and XiaoJingLing.

We hope that the simple tips and HP Print Apps suggested above will help make study time easier for both parents and kids. It might be a good idea to also check out the selection of HP Print Apps available for the whole family and see how easy it is to print the activity sheets wirelessly by connecting your mobile devices to the HP web-connected printer. Go to the HP home printing website to find out more.