All posts by gunjan

Teaching your child the fun way

27. December 2014 Gunjan General, Mathematics, Schools, Classroom (12)

If your child always wants to play, you’re not alone. Every child has the want to spend most of his/her time having fun and though most parents worry about their studies, I think it’s not a bad thing at all! Games and fun are the way to go if you really want your child to learn to apply the skills they only get to read in text.

Here are some ways to make having fun which is also beneficial to their mind:

1.Do fun quizzes

A quiz that also gives reward points to kids is ideal. Quizzes like the ones available on www.maths9.com are amazingly interactive, colourful and informative. The children get to see their score and learn where they can improve. Also, getting a good score encourages then to do better.

2.Games that require thinking

Games like Crossword, Chess, Chinese checkers, Othello and similar are fun and encourage you to use your mind before making a move. A game like Othello is really easy to learn but not as easy to master which will motivate the child to keep playing it till he/she can beat you! Play them with your children and watch them sharpen their brains.

3.Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt is a popular game where one has to follow a series of hints before they find the ‘treasure’. ‘Treasure’ here could be anything your child likes, for example, a toy, a bar of chocolate, a story book etc. The series of hints could be riddles or simple ciphers that point to the next location your child should be at. Write the hints on chits of paper and enclose them in small envelopes. Place each in a series where each chit links to the location of the next chit till the treasure is discovered. You could make this more interesting by adding a task-to-complete for the child to receive the next hint. The task could be anything from helping you with some work to solving a maths problem. This can be played in your own house, on the neighbourhood streets or any other place you can think of. It’s fun and the child also gets a nice reward for thinking.

4.Talk about how things around you work

How does the gas stove work? How does electricity reach us? How do uncooked vegetables change to delicious curries when heated in different ways? How does moon change its shape every night?

There are a lot of questions in your everyday life and they all have answers. Talk about them and see their eyes sparkle and eyebrows frown as they make an effort to understand. Give them their time and laugh with them as they learn and understand. Seeing science in everyday use not only makes it easier to understand but fun to learn and become aware that things happening around us are not some sort of magic.

Making studies fun is almost always the best way to teach children so do not refrain from doing it the fun way!

6 Horrible Mistakes you’re making with Children

9. November 2014 Gunjan General, Schools, Classroom (0)

To every parent, guardian and teacher who is reading this, we know you do whatever you do for a child when you teach him/her is for their best but there are some mistakes you might be making right now and be unaware of it because unfortunately, they are very common and even considered “normal” by the society. Here are six common mistakes you might be making with your child:

1. Pressurising the child with your version of correctness.

You are an adult and you have way more experience than your kid. That’s true but many a time, your version of correctness is not the best one. Sometimes kids just need to experiment and make mistakes and find out what is the best for them. Sometimes, they find better answers than the ones you have. We can learn so much from their enthusiasm and curiosity as well!

2. Telling them they are stupid/incompetent.

This is a blunder. You should never ever tell them they are below anyone. Every child is different – they may be terrible in some subjects but wonderful in others. As their guardian, you should support them, encourage them to pursue the activities they’re good at and not make them feel bad about the things they’re not doing well. Many talented kids beat themselves up for their weaknesses and lose their real interests in the process. Good parenting and teaching can prevent this disaster.

3. Discouraging them from pursuing a hobby of their choice.

Many parents make this error. When they don’t approve of a particular type of interest, they don’t allow their children to pursue it either. A parent needs to interact with his/her children and see the activity from their point of view. A child is a curious creature, and curiosity is the mother of all learning. So, don’t discourage him/her from pursuing interests which seem unusual (but are safe) like learning an uncommon instrument or collecting information on insects – just watch and support them in their quest.

4. Talking about your house budget and their role in it.

This is something no loving parent should ever do to their children. A child is not supposed to know the amount of your monthly income spent on him/her. They have their desires and sometimes, they might be out of your budget but you do it for them anyway. Yes, that is your love and devotion to your child but do not tell them about it. A lot of financially insecure parents can get stressed because of all the tension related with raising a child on less money and end up showing their vulnerability to their kids. You may think it would make them feel more proud and loved to know how much you sacrifice for them but in a lot of cases, it can develop a sense of low esteem in the child where he/she would think of himself/herself as a burden on you and we know you don’t consider them such. No matter how stressed you are, never put this type of pressure on them.

5. Giving them EVERYTHING they ask for.

A lot of parents don’t think twice before granting each and every wish of their children and end up spoiling them (Think: Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Yes, a child wants a lot of things but you should be careful with how you respond. Getting everything easily is never good for anyone and your kid is no exception.

6. Comparing them with their peers.

Do not do this unless you really have to. Yes, you can use a child around his/her age as an example of certain habits and activities but be comparing them constantly with their peers with demeaning statements like, “You scored only 70? Rita Sharma in your class got 95” then you are only asking them to develop the inferiority complex. Encourage them to do better without repeatedly pointing out how they need to be as good as someone in their class to become acceptable. They are great the way they are and need to improve as an individual and not because you think someone else in their peer group is better than them.

Be a little more careful and raise them with love, care, affection along with some strictness, rules, and regulations.

Why you shouldn’t hate maths

6. October 2014 Gunjan General, Mathematics, Schools, Classroom (1)

Why do some people absolutely hate maths? Is it really because it is a difficult and boring subject? Or is the perceived difficulty just an illusion? Let’s list a few points about why you should not hate it as much as you do:

Maths is about problem solving

When you see a problem, what is your first instinct? To run away from it or to try to solve it?

If the latter option is your preference, then you should not hate maths because it is a subject that develops a logical thinking process. A maths problem requires you to think logically and hones your problem solving skills.

Solving a problem is a vital skill – from a teacher arranging students in groups for a class activity to astronomers deciding the best parameters for an optimal trajectory of a satellite to be launched, every person will always encounter a problem and will have to solve it by logical thinking and some calculations.

Maths is about patience

Maths requires patience. Yes, it is very possible that you will make mistakes and not reach the correct result in the first few tries, but is it really worth leaving the subject to your hateful negligence just because you didn’t get it right the first time? Good things take time, so stay right there and don’t give up! It could just be that you were overlooking a simple yet important fact that was messing up your result.

Maths is about understanding

Maths is not about memorising facts, it is about understanding them. Every concept requires you to understand it and feel it, not memories each step in the proof of a theory. Every step has a meaning and can be replaced by another step if it provides the same result. You need to think and understand and understanding things is not a bad trait.

You can practice your concepts here to improve your understanding and build confidence.

Maths is not only about calculations

If you’re one of those who believe that maths is tedious and only about boring numbers then you are wrong. Maths is about a lot of things – patterns, shapes, games, functions, relations, routes and a lot more! Maths is not only about calculating numbers, it is also about finding logical solutions to most common as well as not so common problems in numerous ways.

Maths is used almost everywhere

Maths is used in almost every domain of life. From your daily activities like shopping from the nearby grocery store to various career paths, from business to fashion designing, maths is unavoidable.

Fashion designing looks fun, colourful and creative and it requires the designer to design according to the measurements of a model, adjust the parts of the design to match others not only in colour but in shape, length and size as well. Maths, we found you here too!

Maths is fun!

And last but not the least, maths is fun! Once you start to understand it and see how interesting it is, it is actually quite enjoyable. Maths based games are fun and so is understanding a new, cool concept.

If maths look tedious and uninteresting to you, you only need to give it a chance. Be patient, be understanding, be thoughtful: these traits are not just useful for maths.

Author: Gunjan Vyas

Gunjan is a college student who likes to write as a hobby. She has contributed to internationally acclaimed anthologies and also published a well-received collection of short stories.

How to uncover your child's hidden talents.

14. February 2014 Gunjan General, Schools, Classroom (8)

Every child is special and possesses one or more special talent - something they are specifically good at, something they do better than other things. Like a seven year old boy could be really bad at dancing, but could be drawing beautiful sketches in his sketchbook and you may not even be aware. Here are some ways by which you can know about his interests:

Listen

As a parent, one should take keen interest in whatever the child has to say. Listening patiently is the key to finding what he/she is capable of. Kids talk about things that interest them and many times, they want to know how they can do it. So, next time when your child comes running to you to show something that's really interesting and you're working, keep your work aside for ten minutes and listen.

Do not judge

So he is talking about how his grandmother knit a beautiful sweater and is fascinated by the design she made and it makes you nervous that he is probably nurturing a hobby more suited to girls. Don't judge him! Appreciating the aesthetics of the design is not something that should make you skeptical about his hobbies, it should make you realise that he may have an eye for design and patterns - a useful and important trait of a graphic artist.

Do not jump to conclusions

Your daughter is shy and stays quiet in the company of others. She is hardly ever comfortable conversing with people outside her family and friend circle and you conclude she is antisocial and lacks communication skills. Wrong!

That alone shouldn't let you decide. She might be imagining strange characters in strange situations. She could be delivering beautiful speeches alone and talking wonderfully with her imaginary characters because real people scare her. It's not social skills she lacks, it's self-confidence. And that's what you should be working on.

Encourage

Encourage your kids to explore, learn, make mistakes and spend time on various activities. Don't stop them from doing anything unless it's harmful. Encourage them to learn from their mistakes rather than crying over them and feeling disappointed.

They know what makes them happy but are not sure and need your help and encouragement for this purpose.

Be a good parent and support them!

Author: Gunjan Vyas
Gunjan is a college student who likes to write as a hobby. She has contributed to internationally acclaimed anthologies and also published a well-received collection of short stories.

5 exam preparation tips that will surely help you.

31. January 2014 Gunjan (0)

Every student in the world dreads them, but still acknowledges their importance. Exams are an integral part of your journey to learning and each student appearing for an exam can do well if they are well prepared.

A few tips that can help you:

1. Relax

How many times have you stayed up all night for an exam the day after? How many times have you found yourself under constant stress of trying to learn everything so you aren't poorly graded by the examiner?

Relax!

An exam is held to test your learning, not to stress you into spending caffeine induced nights.

Don't kill yourself for it. Concentrate on learning rather than wearing yourself out in panic.

2. Schedule and Plan

Rome wasn't built in one day. It took effort and time. If you think you can fare well on an exam by studying overnight then you're wrong.

As the first tip says, relax because a relaxed mind learns the quickest and the best.

Your exam preparation should begin at least three weeks before your exam and it should be properly scheduled so that you complete your syllabus by the end of that time period. Ask yourself:

What subjects are you weak in? Which subject consumes more of your time and energy than the rest? Which subject is your strongest?

Now schedule accordingly. Give more time to the subject you dread, but don't forget your strong subject either. When you're too tired to study the difficult one, but relaxed enough to learn something, you can study the subject you find easy.

Set goals.

You should schedule each day such that you complete one small goal each day. Every small goal will merge with the other to complete the major goal that you had set in the beginning at the end of the decided time period and your burden during the exam period would have reduced substantially.

3. Take breaks

Studying without any pauses is a common practice followed by students, which starts two days before the exam (if there are two or more preparatory holidays provided to them).

Studying continuously for two to three hours is not good. Neither can your mind understand the material correctly nor is it suitable for your health.

Ten minute break.

Taking a ten minute break every hour during those intense hours of revision can be more helpful than you think.

Not only will a break, refresh your mind, it will also give you time and opportunity to grab a quick snack (so you don't run out of energy).

4. Eat well

The hourly ten-minute break gives you time to grab a quick snack, but what kind of snack should it be?

Do not eat junk food. It will make you feel full and heavy and make you sleepy and lazy instead of energising you.

Eat something light and healthy. Crackers, sandwich, raw fruits and vegetables, buttered bread etc. are some small food items you could eat from time to time.

Don't forget to drink lots of water.

Water is the best fluid for your body and you should drink it in large and refreshing quantities during the final days of preparation.

5. Avoid last minute panic

Often, the rush of adrenaline pumps us up so much, we forget the minor details which are just as important for writing well. The stationary, watch and other small things should be ready the night before. Last minute searching will only lead to stress.

Don't study topics that you didn't prepare before at the last minute. Not only will it cause you stress (because you will not be able to grasp it well), it will also disturb the facts that you have already fed your brain.

Don't worry, don't panic. Utilise that energy to learn well and score well!

Author: Gunjan Vyas

Gunjan is a college student who likes to write as a hobby. She has contributed to internationally acclaimed anthologies and also published a well-received collection of short stories.