Game-Changing Strategies and Study Techniques for Online School

March 15, 2021 Nadya Corscadden

What if I told you all of your online school woes could fall away simply by implementing some of the things on this list? Would you want to try them?

Ok, what if I told you these things might not REVOLUTIONIZE the way you study, but they will totally help. Truth be told, they aren’t revolutionary because you don’t need a revolution. Whenever things are going off track with online school, the solution’s never as bad as it feels like it might be. You’re a lot closer to success than you think!!

When I was going to school from home, I fell into all the un-motivated and distraction traps possible. Here are the best the strategies and techniques that snapped me out of it. Try all of these, some of these, or even just one. Whatever works for you IS the best thing to do.

Here’s a handful of awesome studying best practices to help you learn at home

*As an Amazon Associate, I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Avoid Multitasking

Somehow, whenever you sit down to study, there’s always a temptation to do other things at the same time. While there may be certain things that are so auto-pilot they’re probably fine (some knitters really can just go without thinking), it’s always best to only focus on the task at hand. You want your brain to be thoroughly engaged in whatever you’re working on, and be fully present in the moment.

Besides the obvious “don’t do two things at once”, there are other things that are included in this “no-multitasking” world.

Turn off anything that beeps, blips, or notifies you of everything else going on in your life. While you might not actively focus on it until notifications come up, just having it around keeps your brain only half engaged on your studies. It’s always subconsciously checking. If there’s something supremely important that you absolutely cannot miss, then change your settings so you’ll only get the bare minimum of notifications needed to receive said notification.

While you’re on this train of thought, there is also one secret weapon you’ll want beside you at all times: a “random thoughts” notepad or document. Sometimes when you’re thoroughly concentrating on something, distracting thoughts come up through no fault of our own. If you give yourself a place to write those little things down, you won’t have to waste any brain power trying to remember them. Even if you’re not DOING any multi-tasking, multi-tasking your mind isn’t good, either!

Find a Quiet Space to Study

What good is turning off all your phone’s notifications if you have an auditory distraction built right into your workspace?? Part of getting rid of extra distractions is simply finding a quiet place to study.

Once you have a quiet place, you can choose to add some study music, or you can choose to just be surrounded by the quiet. Both situations can be ideal study settings depending on your preference…as long as you have a say in the volume and content of any music.

If you’re a music person, opt for music without lyrics (or lyrics in a foreign language). Why? If you know the words, it will distract your brain because you’ll sing along with it in your head. If you don’t know the words, there will always be a little part of your brain trying to figure out what they’re saying. It’s best to avoid all of this by simply having music without lyrics. That way, you won’t be subconsciously singing along.

If you can’t find a quiet place to study, it may be worthwhile investing in a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Noises that you can’t get rid of are quite possibly the most distracting of distractions. Even a little drone can be annoying if it’s constant.

For some of the best noise cancelling headphones out there, check out my post:

Best Noise Cancelling Headphones 2021

Study with a Buddy

Studying at home doesn’t have to mean studying alone! Whether you have “classmates” or not, it’s always worthwhile finding a study buddy. The great thing about a study buddy is that you don’t even have to be studying the same thing, as long as you’re both open to helping each other.

One of the best ways to learn anything is to explain it to someone else. So, explain any new concepts to your study buddy, and work from there. If they understand you, then you clearly have a grasp on the material. In fact, this process works much better with someone who doesn’t know your course, because otherwise, they’ll just be filling in any blanks with things that they already know.

Study together by exchanging notes, and quizzing each other. Like I said, you don’t necessarily have to understand the material before you help them…being an interested, listening ear (who can also check the answers from their notes) is the most useful thing you can be.

While it’s obviously more convenient to study with someone who knows your course, ANY external mind involved can help you figure things out. It also means both of you will learn new things…and you’ll never know when those might come in handy!

Use Flashcards

If your course has a bunch of vocabulary or specific concepts you have to memorize, flashcards are going to be your other favourite study buddy. While they should only be a piece of the studying puzzle (when using flashcards, you learn things more like one would learn trivial facts, as opposed to true comprehension), they are certainly a useful thing to have around. If you can’t devote a ton of time to them at first, no worries. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn just through regular, small doses of review.

One of the best ways to use flashcards is to start early. Create them as soon as you learn new concepts, and just have them around and available. If you surprise-attack studying in 5-minute bursts, it won’t feel nearly as overwhelming. While there will still be things you’ll need to study for more than 5 minutes, why not passively learn those things your brain will figure out on its own? The only possible side effect is that you might not have to study as long once you start STUDYING studying…sounds awful, doesn’t it?

For more on making and using flashcards, check out my blog post:

Flashcards (and The Secret Leitner Method): Everything You Need to Know to Succeed

Read Things Aloud

When you find yourself spiralling in your little den of silent reading, don’t be afraid of breaking out of the trap. Reading things aloud isn’t only for classroom settings. In fact, even if you DON’T like reading things aloud in the classroom, it still might be worth trying. For me personally, reading things aloud in a classroom is annoying and unhelpful, but by myself, it’s an entirely different story.

By getting rid of the classroom social pressure, reading things aloud reverts back to its useful state…which is why it’s a part of classroom teaching in the first place. Many people find it helps because it’s more active, and more pseudo-conversational. It also appeals to all three of the main learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. You’re seeing the words (visual), hearing the words (auditory) and physically “doing” the words (kinesthetic). You may also want to use your hands to help visualize concepts and emphasize certain things.

If you want to watch this tip in action, check out the video below:

Take Breaks

While it might seem like the right thing to do is to study during every possible moment, you WILL hit a wall that way. Once the wall has been hit, there’s no turning back. You’ll need a HEFTY break to get back on track if you let yourself get that far.

The best way to prevent this burnout is to keep on top of taking regular breaks. While there are certainly a million and one different opinions of how long/often your breaks should be, there is no denying the popularity of the Pomodoro technique.

The Pomodoro techniques works in the following pattern:

25 minute work, 5 minute break, 25 minute work, 5 minute break, 25 minute work, 5 minute break, 25 minute work, 30 minute break.

For more info about this method, check out my blog post on the Pomodoro Technique:

The Pomodoro Study Method - A Beginner's Guide

Move

Sitting all day is rough on your body no matter how you slice it. Some people like to remedy this by having different types of chairs/desk set-ups. Popular choices include a yoga ball, standing desk, a kneeling chair, a wobble board, or a Learniture stool.

Regardless of whether you invest in one of these office-chair alternatives, it’s always a good choice to stand and move around often. While hard-core exercise breaks are certainly an option, it doesn’t have to be THAT overwhelming or strenuous if you don’t want it to be. Go for a 10 minute walk. Get up and stretch your neck and shoulders.

Save your physical challenges for another part of your life, and don’t associate them with being necessary for your schoolwork (unless that’s really your thing! If it is - GO FOR IT!!).

To get a few ideas for some movement-related break activities, check out my blog post:

25 Simple Ideas to Add Movement/Exercise into your Online School Day

Fresh Air

Fresh air is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself when you’re studying at home. It will remind your brain that there’s a world outside (whether you’re out there or not), and you won’t feel half as claustrophobic.

Going for a walk on a break is always a great plan. So is opening a window. So is lugging your work to a park bench. Real air and sunshine have a super calming effect, and where there is calm, there is a brain that’s functional and happy to learn new things.

If the weather is often crappy where you live, or if you don’t have easy access to legitimate fresh air, buy a little plant. While it can’t fix everything, having something little and alive within vision can be calming in itself. Also, the air around it will be cleaner than if there was no plant…so it’s a LITTLE like going outside.

Whenever you’re totally lost and can’t find your way out, give your brain a little dose of reality.

Reality = nature.

Turn the Volume Down

If you have to learn something from a video, and your brain just doesn’t want to pay attention, try playing around with the volume (and the playback speed, too, if that’s an option).

While common sense may tell you to turn the volume up if you’re having trouble concentrating, it might be more useful to do the opposite. Sometimes by listening to something quietly, it forces you to pay attention and therefore encourages your mind to engage. Not only does this play into human nature (we tend to lean into an interesting story; a storyteller knows that, and gets quieter TO make that happen), it’s also affected by factors in our environment. We’re very used to advertisements being louder than normal volume…and we’re QUITE conditioned to not pay any attention to them.

Utilize a Variety of Study Methods

Nobody’s going to learn anything well by constantly doing the same thing over and over again…ESPECIALLY if that thing doesn’t really work for them in the first place. Step one will be for you to find your best practices, and step two will be to use those whenever they make sense.

Everyone learns differently, so don’t just assume that because one thing works for your friend, it will automatically work for you. Very often, the reason students struggle with a topic is just that they haven’t figured out the right study method for themselves.

For an introduction to the three basic study methods, check out my blog post:

Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic Learning: Effective Study Techniques for Students That Actually Work

Take Notes

Always, always, always take notes. It’s easy to assume notes only need to be taken during any aspects of the course that will disappear (such as a live lecture), but that’s only half of the battle. It is best to create a single “everything you need to know” document as you go along. The less you have to go back into the original course material when you’re studying, the better.

Once you have a complete set of notes for a section, THEN you can create the beautifully aesthetic, organized “this is what you need to study” version.

While you’re working through the course, it’s also useful to make note of any important vocabulary words and people. These will become prime flashcard fodder later.

For more tips and tricks on note-taking, check out my post:

Note-Taking: Everything You Need to Know

Don’t Banish Yourself to the Corner

Putting your desk in the corner and staring at a blank wall all day is the worst thing for your brain. Don’t believe me? Just try standing with your nose against the wall, and staring at it for 5 minutes. Obviously sitting a desk-length away isn’t QUITE as bad, but it’s still not exactly helpful. It’s much better to be seated by a window, or else out from the wall, facing the room. If you have no other choice, decorate the wall with pictures or inspirational messages. Do SOMETHING to break up the monotony.

Keeping on this idea of banishment, it’s always useful to have multiple places to study. Not every place is going to work in every situation, but there are usually a couple different possibilities for times when you don’t NEED to be working at a desk. You can also change things up by moving your chair to face different directions, or even just by moving things around in your peripheral vision.

Your brain gets bored if the world doesn’t change, and a bored brain doesn’t pay attention very well.

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Want More Study Tips?

If you’re still looking for tips to get you through homeschooling, check out the A+ Academics at Home book linked below. I was once a new home learner myself, and I TOTALLY get the struggles that come along with it. It was one of the best learning experiences of my life, though, and it completely changed the way I view education. I want to help you on this journey to discover the excitement that comes with learning something on your own!

A+ Academics at Home - Finding Success Through Distance Learning

If you want to keep reading, here are some other articles you might find interesting:

Who is Nadya Corscadden?

Nadya holds an MA in Musical Theatre and is no stranger to the home learning scene. Having spent a good chunk of her younger years in distance education (and opting for some correspondence electives at university), she has accumulated many tricks to help maintain focus and inspiration. She has a passion for independent learning and wants to help anyone and everyone find their stride in this atmosphere whether it’s homeschooling or simply studying for that next big test!

She is also a triple threat singer, dancer and actress….and can’t wait until stages are alive again!