Front: Me (Amanda), Vanessa, Morgan. Back: My Mom, Stacey Srkyzak
Stacey came to our home to talk about how we transition back to school after a wonderful summer! You can check watch her feature story on the Mommy Matters segment that aired last month. My mom asked me to share some tips from a student’s perspective….so here we go!
I will be a sophomore in high school and take very rigorous classes and have a crazy extra circular schedule with dance every night for 2-4 hours. It’s important to balance my time and use it wisely. I have developed many useful tips that help keep me organized and on track, and I hope you find these tips helpful and keep you organized for a successful school year.
1. Get a planner! An essential tool to visualize your day.
- Block out time that is already reserved for school, extra-curricular activities and work. You can see which days you have more open time and which days you don’t!
- Reserve open time and prioritize your assignments History (15 minutes) Bio (20 minutes) Math (45 minutes) etc.
2. Keep your school supplies organized.
- Have a folder for each class and have one side be old papers and one side be assignments/new papers
- Have a pencil pouch, super basic but that way you’ll always have any writing tools (pencil, pen, highlighter, eraser, flash driver) you need with you. Here’s an innovative one to keep everything organized!
3. STUDY! Although it may be boring, studying is essential for good results on tests, quizzes, etc.! Here are some unique ways/tips for studying.
- Making Note/flash cards are my personal favorite for it really helps me learn the material.
- Quizlet ( is a FREE online website where you create study sets (online flash cards) which can take a while to make so me and my friends often rotate who makes the Quizlet and we all use it! Quizlet also has games to learn the material that make studying fun! Quizlet is a great fast, and free way to do studying!
- Don’t study on the couch or on your bed! Often times when we do this it makes a tired and so we have the urge to stop studying. Study at a table or hard surface, and it will keep you focused.
4. Tips to stop procrastinating:
- Turn off your phone! I could go on my phone for hours so when I do my schoolwork I turn it on airplane mode or even leave it in a different room!
- Don’t listen to music while doing homework. Your brain will become more focused on the lyrics to the song then what you are reading and you won’t pick up the information very well. If you want to listen to music try songs you’ve never heard or songs with no lyrics to allow you to concentrate on what you are doing.
- I like to study/ do homework sometimes at a coffee shop or cafe because it makes me feel productive and keeps me from getting distracted.
- Try to start your homework right after school. The longer you wait throughout the night the less you’ll want to do it!
Hope these help! Share any other ideas you have with us.
