Time for a Reboot: 5 Winter Break Tips to Charge Up Your Study Skills

BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwired - Nov 14, 2013) - Winter break provides children with a chance to decompress from school and activities, but it is also the perfect time to bolster study skills to boost academic success for the second half of the school year.

"Without the pressure of school, winter break is a great time for parents and children to assess the first half of the school year," says Julia Fitzgerald, Sylvan Learning's Chief Marketing Officer. "It is also an ideal opportunity to review how your child is approaching homework and studying, and reinforce more of their study skills as work becomes more demanding in the second half of the school year."

Here are five simple tips for parents to help their students tackle studies more efficiently and effectively in the New Year:

1. Planners are a sanity saver. Time management is tricky for everyone, especially children. Making sure a student has one central place like a log sheet or calendar to track major deadlines, due dates, events and extracurricular activities will help the student visualize the coming week, manage time efficiently and stay on schedule.

2. Breaking it down is a good thing. When it comes to major tests or big projects, there is nothing worse than not knowing where to start. Knowing when to take a deep breath, step back and break a daunting undertaking into smaller, more manageable tasks is a key skill. For example, studying for a giant math final suddenly becomes more doable if a student lists all the concepts in the test, and reviews them one at a time.

3. Organization is a must. By becoming disciplined at keeping reading materials and notes in logical order, students can find what they need right away, cut down on time spent tracking things down and increase time spent actually studying.

4. Taking good notes matters. Taking good notes helps keep kids' grades up, especially in middle or high school. Parents can help children learn to "boil down" information into note-like form by encouraging them to pick out "main ideas" in conversations, news reports, church sermons or magazine articles.

5. Study like clockwork. The most successful test-takers don't cram the night before. Students will do their best on tests when they regularly review the information every day at home. Having children work with friends to study or in small groups outside of school is a great way to encourage this.

"Children are not born with study skills," says Fitzgerald. "Like most other academic skills, study skills are learned. The good news is parents can teach their children some simple and effective guidelines and techniques that will help them understand and retain information, unravel complex ideas and feel confident and prepared when test days roll around."

Sylvan Learning's professional tutors have over 30 years of experience in helping children acquire and improve their study skills. To learn more about how Sylvan helps students of all ages build their study skills, visit the Sylvan Learning website or call 1-800-Educate.

About Sylvan Learning, Inc.
With over 30 years of experience and more than 800 locations throughout North America, Sylvan Learning is the leading provider of personal learning for students in grades K-12. As the leader in supplemental education, Sylvan is transforming how students learn, inspiring them to succeed in school and in life. Sylvan's proven tutoring approach blends amazing teachers with SylvanSync™ technology on the iPad® for an engaging learning experience. Sylvan programs include study skills, math, reading, writing, and test-prep for college entrance and state exams. Sylvan also provides educational services to public and non-public schools. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, call 1-800-31-SUCCESS, visit www.SylvanLearning.com or Sylvan's Mom Minded blog at www.SylvanLearning.com/blog.