Multiplication tables are one of those things which everyone has to learn. multiplication tables are traditionally things that have been learnt a certain way over the years. People know they can learn their Multiplication Times Tables, but these are taught to us in a rote fashion, and to get them right takes a long time and a lot of effort.

This means learning a multiplication table is slow, unproductive, and involves too much thinking, as we are taught them in a linear fashion, for example–

Schools still learn as

1 x 2 = 2
2 x 2 = 4
3 x 2 = 6

By reading or saying your times tables out loud repeatedly, or using some another form of repetition.

In this sixth lesson in the Smart Consumer Skills Guide for Brilliant Kids series we ask you to explore debt and how good you really are with debt. In the last lesson, we gave 5 questions to ask yourself when spending. Debt is extremely important to understand and master. It can help in providing you with a great lifestyle, or can end up being a chain around your leg. It can ruin the rest of your life if a healthy respect is not given to it – it is a double edged sword, which unfortunately most of us do not understand.Debt is something that you will come into contact with sooner or later – the truth is that you need debt to live today – it is a fact of life and you need to be able to deal with it. The world economy functions when money is moving around it. Stop or disrupt that flow and people’s lives are affected by changing prices, changing interest rates, changing availability of goods and services. Debt is used to help money flow around more freely and quickly. It is readily available to all.

After the Test

You and your child can learn a great deal from reviewing a graded exam paper. Reviewing will show him or her where they had difficulty and after some analysis, why. This is especially important for classes in which the material builds from one section to the next, as in math. Students who have not mastered the basics of math are not likely to be able to work with fractions, square roots, beginning algebra and so on.

Discuss the wrong answers with your child and find out why they chose the answers – i.e. what their thought process was. This will help to relate back to the question – did they understand the question? or misread a question? If they understood the question and knew the answer, did they fail to make the answer clear?

You and your child should read and discuss all comments that the teacher writes on a returned test. If any comments aren’t clear, tell your child to ask the teacher to explain them.

Reviewing the test paper is also has another benefit – it reinforces the understanding that the test was not difficult. It is important to nurture this thought process in your kids, and to link this to the revision and work they did before the test. By doing this, you are reinforcing the following thought processes:

• test or exam preparation is not difficult
• the best way is to revise the work as you are doing it
• a little discipline now goes a long long way to preparation for tests and exams
• doing the exam or test is not difficult, as long as you follow a strategy or a system
  Remember, you are looking for small wins – where you see this, make you comment and praise them on it.

Finally, don’t get upset because of a single test score. Many things can influence how your child does on a test. She might not have felt well on test day or she might have been too nervous to concentrate. She might have had an argument with a friend before the test or she might have been late to school because of traffic. Remember, one test is simply one test. This needs to be balanced with the child’s overall well being – this may require some trial and error.

Lastly, enjoy the experience, and have faith that it will work out. It does not require a major change in your lifestyle, but this can reap major rewards in the long run.

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Continuing this series of practical articles to help you and your children – Helping your Child Succeed in School, and test taking, in this article we discuss how we can work with our children in helping them prepare for exams, and getting through school.

Kids are intelligent enough to understand comprehend the world around them. They will also be willing to do something if they understand why, although this might need to be reinforced by some ‘rewards’. Here are some tips to consider.

Talk to your child about testing. It’s helpful for children to understand why schools give tests and to know the different kinds of tests they will take. Explain what tests are and how the process works.

Discuss with your child that occasionally, he or she will take “standardized” tests. Explain that these tests use the same standards to measure student performance across the state or even across the country. Every student takes the same test according to the same rules.

Don’t place so much emphasis on your child’s test scores that you lose sight of their well being. Too much pressure can affect the test performance – you do not want your child to think that you will only love them if they do well on tests.

Encourage your child. Praise him or her for the things that she does well. If your child feels good about herself, she will do her best on a test. Children who are afraid of failing are more likely to become anxious when taking tests and more likely to make mistakes.

Do try plan ahead and introduce a small amount of revision everyday, even if it is only 15 minutes.

Avoid test anxiety. It’s good for your child to be concerned about taking a test. It’s not good for them to develop “test anxiety.” Test anxiety is worrying too much about doing well on a test. It can mean disaster for your child. Students with test anxiety can worry about success in school and about their future success. They can become very self-critical and lose confidence in their abilities. Instead of feeling challenged by the prospect of success, they become afraid of failure. If your child worries too much about taking tests, you can help to reduce the anxiety by encouraging the child to do the following things. This has the opposite effect to what you need to achieve.

Make sure there is plenty of time to do other activities that allows your child to feel relaxed and content. A content child is likely to do better in the tests.

Get away from “cramming” the night before. This will likely increase your anxiety, which will interfere with clear thinking. Get a good night’s sleep. A light flick through the notes is better.

Go through the test mechanics – how to do the test:

• When you get the test, read the directions carefully before you begin work. If you don’t understand how to do something, ask the teacher to explain.
• Look quickly at the entire text to see what types of questions are on it (multiple choice, matching, true/false, essay).
• See if different questions are worth different numbers of points. This will help you to determine how much time to spend on each part of the test.
• Do the easiest questions first
• Do not spend too long on a question, move on to the next question if you cannot answer or your mind goes blank. Do not spend time worrying about it. Come back to the unfinished questions at the end.

These tips will help get the best out of both you as the parent and your children. In the next article, we will talk about what happens after the exam.

www.MyBrilliantKidz.com

This is the next series of practical articles to help you and your children – Helping your Child Succeed in School, and test taking. If you understand the importance of tests and results, and how to use them to nurture confidence and assurance in your children, it will go a long way to reinforcing the positive traits in your children.

What are Tests?

Tests are yardsticks that teachers, schools, school districts and even states use to measure what and how they teach and how well students are learning what is taught. Most tests are designed and given by teachers to measure students’ progress. The results tell the teacher whether they are keeping up with the class, need extra help or are ahead of other students. As parents we should also pay attention to this yardstick. Remember regular small wins is what we are looking for.

The results also tell schools that they need to strengthen courses or change teaching methods. Still other tests compare students by schools, school districts or cities. These become school league tables.

What ground work should you be going?

There are some things you can do to really help and get a head start in this process. The first thing to remember that you are not aiming to make your child top of the class for everything, but are looking for ways to boost and reinforce the overall outlook and thought processes of your kids.

It is worth meeting with your child’s teachers as often as possible to discuss his progress and what they are likely to cover in the school term. Ask the teacher to suggest activities for you and your child to do at home to help your child’s understanding of schoolwork.

Make a study area – a quiet, comfortable place for studying at home. It is good to get your child used to this and form a habit to study here.

Do provide books and magazines for your child to read at home. By reading new materials, a child will learn new words that might appear on a test. Ask your child’s teacher for lists of books for outside reading or get suggestions from your local library. Provide games and puzzles or other things that make your child use their brain – problem solving, creative, or making things….

It also helps if your child has an evening and bed time routine – this makes it easier, and is not questioned, and helps to ensure that he or she is well rested on school days and especially on the day of any tests. Children who are tired are less able to pay attention in class or to handle the demands of a test.

Plan ahead. Start studying for the test well in advance. Make sure that you understand what material the test will cover. Try to make connections about what will be on the test and what you already know. Review the material more than once. Make a study plan – which topics your child needs to cover on each day. Make it a habit for your child to study a little every day if there is no homework.

Each time your children do this, reward them at the end by giving them something or playing with them or letting them do something they enjoy. It is also good for a child’s discipline to stick to time limits as much as possible.

You will to find and strike a balance between this and not over ‘cramming’ and at the other extreme, total freedom for the child. Where you put this scale is up to you, but there is no doubt that this kind of programmed approach is very effective.

The next article in this series will discuss some practical specifics in relation to tests and exams.

www.MyBrilliantKidz.com