Looking to infuse your child’s day with a bit of enrichment, but short on time? Nowadays, a parent’s schedule is jam-packed with obligations. Still, finding time to actively expose your child to new and interesting concepts is crucial. We have compiled three 10-minute ways to enrich your child’s day, regardless of whether they are in elementary, middle or high school. Let us know how you like them after you give them a try! A fabulous resource to pique your teen’s interests in a short amount of time is TED.com. TED talks are short speeches given by experts on nearly every topic under the sun, from what it’s like to be a robot to the power of introverts. TED believes in “ideas worth spreading,” and features virtually endless content on their platform. The best part about watching a 10-minute TED Talk is that the tone and subject matter are completely up to you and your child. Wanting to watch something more creative and funny? There is a TED Talk for that. How about digging into a more serious, political topic? TED has what you are looking for. Use these short, engaging talks to springboard a conversation about new and interesting ideas. Who knows? You may learn fascinating new things about yourself and your child in the process. Puzzles are another foolproof way to enrich your child’s say without devoting extra time to prep and protocol. You can find dozens of crossword puzzles online or pick up a crossword puzzle book from the store. It presents an opportunity to learn new vocabulary, reinforce spelling and to explore the concepts related to clues and keywords. The big draw? Crossword puzzles have varying levels of difficulty, so you can utilize this tip with a child of any age. Crosswords not your cup of tea? Give word searches, sudoku, mad-libs, riddles or any other brain teaser puzzle a shot, and watch the enrichment blossom. Finally, the most tried-and-true type of enrichment on this list is reading aloud. For younger children, reading a fictional chapter book like The Princess Bride or the Harry Potter series are great for teaching your little to stay engaged in a longform narrative, and to retain information. Interestingly, many parents stop reading aloud to their children once they reach the age where they can read on their own. However, studies show that reading aloud to teenagers has a positive effect on their opinions of learning and their perceptions of reading overall. At the middle school level, children respond positively to reading texts designed for oral presentation–like plays, poems and other rhythmic literature. For high school kids, change up the routine by having them read to you. Teachers have found success by enriching concepts like the Vietnam War through having students read letters from people living during the war. As it turns out, reading more personalized material it enlivens the historic event and grounds it in a human point-of-view that textbooks lack. Going back to the basics and finding ten minutes per day to read with your child is an worthy investment in your child’s education that you will not regret.
Fighting your child to do their homework is even more difficult when your child hates a subject. Finding ways to make the subject fun for your child can make homework time easier for both your child and yourself. There are many reasons why your child finds a subject boring. It may be because they don’t find it interesting or they are facing difficulties with the subject. If you determined that the subject truly is not interesting to them, there are a few things you can do to help them. Learn 3 key things to help make subjects more interesting. Discover the Context Make Stories and Mental Pictures Use the Knowledge. Discover the Context: Figuring out why something is useful, relevant or important is the first step to believing it is interesting for a child that is bored. Look for ways that you might use the subject or topic in a real life situation and make a game out of it. Believing something is interesting solves a common problem with students when it comes motivation and memory. Make Stories and Mental Pictures: If your child is finding a book too boring, try reading a chapter or two out loud to them. Make the story come alive by changing your voice tones and showing excitement in your voice as you read. Sometimes after the chapter is read, your child will continue to read on their own to see what happens next. You can use this technique for other subjects like history, social studies, or science. When you make the story come alive your child will remember the dull facts better. Use the Knowledge: Sometimes your student is spending too much time studying that they don’t have time to use what they are learning and they don’t see how it applies to real life. For example, if your child is having difficulty in math with fractions, you could have them try making a recipe or pizza in the kitchen. Have them use the fractions that they are learning while cooking. Have them figure out what combos they will need to make the right measurement for the recipe. If your child is able to read you a simple book, don’t get hung up on the word-by-word pronunciation that leads the story to lose the meaning to your child. Also, try to get them to tell you stories. Try to write them down to help them appreciate the importance of their words. You will also end up with a nice memento of this time in their life – silly ideas and all. Whatever your child is having difficulty with, it is important to remember to stay positive. Getting anxious or cross will only put them off more. And most important remember to make it fun. If they don’t seem interested in the simple science they are doing, perhaps you could take them out on a clear night to look at the stars. You could also buy a cheap microscope and put an ant underneath it. You will probably learn something cool along the way and it could be a great bonding experience also!
Math can be difficult enough, let alone finding a way to make it fun. http://www.elitehometutoring.com/ compiled a list of 10 Fun Math games and the best part, they’re free! If flash cards aren’t intriguing and practicing linear slopes doesn’t create excitement- but the skills need to be sharpened beyond what homework provides-a fresh fun angle might be what’s needed. When math becomes fun through timed courses, blasting through alien slime and “chomping” through a Pac-Man style maze; games like Minecraft and Halo no longer replace study time. Let’s face it, staring at a sheet of paper hardly holds a light to the glamorous lights and sounds of the gaming world. Math games not only intrigue more sensory centers in the brain, they engage the mind to learn beyond memorization. The fun math websites listed below are tried and tested by real students and caregivers: 1) At http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-unlucky-robber, students can learn geometric angles, timing and spacial reasoning as they race through a climbing obstacle with the goal of finding treasure in the game “Unlucky Robber”. 2) Young learners can choose the level of difficulty as they play “Math Match” at http://www.abcya.com/math_match.htm. With options from addition to division this fun memory card style game has an exciting ten second bonus round at the completion of every series. 3) Fractions mean fueling up an asteroid blasting rocket as you race across the universe in the game “Space Fractions” on http://www.funbrain.com/brain/Adventure/SpaceFractions/index.html. 4) Move over Angry Birds, this astronaut worm is hurled through space by a slingshot aimed at the subtraction solutions in this game of accuracy and timing. Watch out for the asteroids that will knock you off course! http://www.funbrain.com/brain/Adventure/SlingShot/index.html 5) Symmetry is so much more fun and creative in the gorgeously displayed jigsaw puzzles at http://www.mathsisfun.com/puzzles/jigsaw-puzzles-index.html 6) Math isn’t fun if you don’t know the words, learn math words and a few more in “Hangman”. http://www.mathsisfun.com/games/hangman-game-with-math-words.html 7) Multiplying large sums is no longer daunting confusion in this lattice multiplication game. This fun game of multiplication lends an awesome tool that students will use throughout their education. http://www.coolmath4kids.com/times-tables/times-tables-lesson-lattice-multiplication-1.html 8) Linear equations have never been so fun as they are in the game or rescuing Zogs. These little Zogs have more patience than a classroom setting when it comes to hanging on until the answer is correct! http://www.mathplayground.com/SaveTheZogs/SaveTheZogs.html 9) Practice percentages, multiplication and real world math as you travel through “Math at the Mall”; http://www.mathplayground.com/mathatthemall2.html. 10) Explore the broad range of math games for every student from kindergarten to pre-calculus at http://www.mathplayground.com/. If these math games still don’t aid in your learning process, we can help! Contact Elite Home Tutoring and get on track with a custom plan to get the results you want through one of our credentialed tutors in your area. Please visit: http://www.elitehometutoring.com/ and our concierge service will locate a tutor near you.
