Ace student shares tips of the trade

Homework begins when walking through the door for Destin Middle School 7th grader Hannah Shepherd.

It’s never too soon to learn good study habits. By junior high, students should have study rituals that allow them to be productive and confident on test day.

Take it from Hannah, 12, who knows all about a sound study environment. Hannah scored perfect on both the reading and math portions of the FCAT in the 3rd grade, perfect on reading in 5th grade and perfect again on both portions this past year in the 6th grade.

Also a member of the academic team at DMS, Hannah knows how to create the best surroundings conducive to studying.

“Right when I get home from school is when I have the information fresh in my mind, so I study right then,” the pint-sized Hannah said.

To her, the study space is just as important as the timing.

“I like to have a cleared off space and everything is organized,” she said.

She also recommends keeping everything in one place so that nothing has to be moved around.

At the elementary school level, much can be done at home to help your kids study what they are doing in school. Here are a few examples.

•Spend up to half an hour each day doing something like reading a few pages out of a book or use flash cards.

•Allow your child to pick out books that interest them at the library or book store. If it is interesting, they will be more inclined to make the effort toread.

•Use cooking as an opportunity to help with learning fractions.

•Work on the basics of telling time and counting money.

•Take your child to the grocery store and let them help you shop with a list and a budget.

•Find ways to relate what they are learning in social studies to current events.

•Help them observe natural phenomena, like how magnets work.

•Show how sound travels by filling a few water bottles to different levels and blowing across the top to notice the different pitches, or observe how and why objects float or sink.

The amount of time needed to make progress at home will vary from one student to the next, but discipline and a routine can go a long way for all and create a foundation for success.

Hannah’s mother, Cristy Shepherd, has instilled an academic philosophy in Hannah from early on. She said that academics are a lot like sports in the sense that you have to hold the same type of discipline in order to succeed.

“She will work relentlessly for four hours (at a time),” Cristy said. “But she takes breaks when I get home and for dinner.”