Here's some points to ponder...
Student A reads for 15 minutes a night, and practices his math facts for 10
minutes a night. (25 minutes total)
Student B reads for 5 minutes a night, and practices his math facts for 5
minutes a night. (10 minutes total)
Step One: Multiply 25 minutes a night times 4 nights a week.
Student A is practicing his math and reading for at least (25x4=100) 100 minutes
a week (and hopefully more!)
Student B is practicing his math and reading for (10x4=40) 40 minutes a week.
Step Two: Multiply minutes a week times 4 weeks each month.
Student A is practicing his math and reading for at least (100x4=400) 400
minutes each month.
Student B is practicing his math and reading for (40x4=160) 160 minutes each
month.
Step Three: Multiply minutes a month times 10 months in a school year.
Student A is practicing his reading and math for at least (400x10=4000) 4000
minutes each school year!
Student B is practicing his reading and math for (160x10=1600) 1600 minutes each
school year.
Student A is practicing his reading and math for an equivalent of 11 full school
days, while Student B is practicing for an equivalent of 4 full school days. By
the time you graduate high school, if both students have maintained these
habits, Student A will have practiced his reading and math for an equivalent of
132 school days, while Student B will have practiced for an equivalent of 48
school days.
With all of this practicing, it seems very likely that Student A would have
learned a lot more information than Student B by the end of high school, and
school performance (grades) would most likely be more positive as well.
Some questions to ponder:
* Which student would you expect to read better?
* Which student would you expect to write better?
* Which student would you expect to know more vocabulary?
* Which student would you expect to be quicker at memorizing his math facts?
* Which student would you expect to be more successful in school?
* Which student would you expect to be more successful in life?
