How a Child Can Turn a Hated Subject into a Favorite

Everyone has a subject that they liked the least in school. It’s a common thing. Most of the time, it is a subject that they are perhaps struggling with. Their low scores in that subject can be attributed to two things:

1. The child has no personal connection with the subject, so they don’t try as hard to learn the material. 
2. The material could be easier to understand and comprehend. 

However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Some things can be done to change the feelings of “this is my worst subject” into “I’m starting to enjoy this class.”

Make a Personal Connection
Changing a hated subject into a favorite one can start with making a personal connection to the material. If the emotional connection is there, the child will eventually enjoy and learn the material better. 

For instance, I noticed several students did not enjoy history as a teacher. The problem was the events in history that were being presented were not topics that would make them sit up and take notice. 

As an example of how to make the decade of the 1960s more enticing to learn, pick and choose the subtopics that will interest them. If they love sports, look at the top athletes and teams during that time. If they enjoy entertainment, examine the top films and songs from that decade. Once you find something in that decade that they appreciate, you can branch out to other aspects of the decade that they will likely keep an open mind to learning. 

Change the Approach to Learning the Material
School textbooks are often written in a way that makes them about as dry and dull as possible. There is no excitement with how the material is presented. And if the teacher or parent is teaching the child straight out of the textbook, you will likely decrease their desire to learn the content. 

Change the approach to having the child learn the information. With the technology available in every school subject nowadays, countless options exist for engagingly presenting the material. Videos, apps, websites, 3D learning, and other choices can be put into play. 

Once in a while, it can be the person presenting the material that is the problem. They are just not clicking with the child. If that is the case, a tutor could change things around. Here at iAchieve, we have many professional tutors that can meet in person or remotely with a child, hopefully facilitating an appreciation for the subject. 

Careers in the Field
Have you ever heard a student ask, “When will I ever use what I am learning in the classroom out in the real world?” I bet you have also said something like this in your school career. I know I have!

Just learning the material because the school’s supplied curriculum map requires it is not the way to ask children to learn the topic. Instead, present the material emphasizing the types of careers that could go hand in hand with understanding the data. For instance, learning writing skills could lead to becoming a professional writer or editor. If you have strong math skills, you could become an engineer, teacher, accountant, money manager, or pursue various other careers. Whatever the case, whatever the subject, present jobs that the students may be able to look at themselves and think they could make a good living through learning this topic.

RELATED BLOG POSTS

Phonics or Sight Words? How to Teach Children to Read

Reframe a Child’s Negative Talk into a Positive

How to Know Your Child Needs a Tutor