Breaks and something called diminishing return

Not to depress you, but have you ever thought about the average high school student's day? Seven hours, a short lunch, rushing around from class to class. Tutoring or clubs or practice or games or other things to do after school. Home by dinner time, then homework for like two or three or four hours. Homework assignments on weekends, and even on holiday breaks. It's like having a full time job and a part time job too.

The longer we work and the tired-er we get doing homework, the less we get done and the harder it is to do good work.

Breaks are the answer. The later it gets, the more breaks we need. Try taking 10 or 15 minute breaks every 30 or 45 minutes. It really makes a difference, even though what you probably want to do is just push through and get it over with.

Just make sure you get back to work after the break.

Be safe with a safe

Go to Target and look at what are called document safes. They come in different sizes, but the point is to have one you can lock.

So, obviously, someone could pick these safes up and walk out with them, but that's not the point. What you want is a place for the important stuff, so you can keep it in a special place and know where it is:  passport, blank checks, receipts, etc. Stuff you don't want laying around for just anyone to see. Maybe those notes from your first girlfriend in 5th grade. Whatever.

From Cleared to Cleared

This may be obvious to you already, but apparently I keep forgetting it and when I remember to do it my life is just so much easier.

Before you spread out all the papers and books from your backpack or notebook, make sure the desk is clear.

That way when you're done (or think you are) with everything you need to do, as you gather it all back up and organize it for the next day, it's harder to forget something.

You know, from cleared (surface) to cleared.

First, pile it all up

This is getting harder and harder to do, now that I have a multi-section backpack AND a 3-ring binder AND all these pockets AND a car.

Before I get started on my homework, the first thing I have to do is chase down all the various pieces of paper from that day:  folded, crumpled, misfiled, loose at the bottom of the backpack.

Pile it all up in one place, and sort it all out:  to do tonight, to do another time (tip: put the due date at the upper right corner), stay at home, file with the class section of the notebook for use at school, etc.

If I don't, once or twice a week I miss a deadline, or panic and rush to finish an assignment I forgot because I didn't find the paper until I was doing the laundry, or looking for something else, etc. Not a good feeling.

The alternative, of course, is to carefully organize these papers as I proceed through the day. Not going to happen.

Khan Academy

Check it out. Do it now - or immediately after you finish reading this post, anyway.

This really smart guy who lives on the west coast wanted to help his nieces and nephews on the east coast with their homework, so he started recording these really simple video sessions explaining math and science concepts. Here's the magic:  it's just his voice explaining while you see the formula or whatever being worked out.

These are incredibly helpful, and they are more and more useful as I progress through high school.

I read that some schools in California were switching the lesson plans around, assigning for homework the Khan Academy videos to introduce and explain new concepts, then using class time to work on what would have been the homework problems.

This is important. Go check it out here

Turn me in!

Ok, that's not actually what the label says, but that's the message my brain gets when I see it.

Ever do the homework and forget to turn it in? Who hasn't? But this is crazy after you've done the work, to get a zero or a late grade just because you couldn't get your act together to hand the thing in when you were supposed to.

But who can blame us, really. Our parents have no clue how rushed and crowded our days are, and how huge and loud the classes are, and how crazy it is to change classes every 45 minutes and race off the the next one across campus before the 5 minute tardy bell. (I read about how in Japan the teachers move, and the students stay in one place as a team. Cool.)

So this works for me:  at the front of my 3-ring binder I use for all my classes. there's a black plastic page with a pocket, and on the pocket is a label that says, "TURN IN TODAY" and I start every day with my assignments in that packet, in the order of my classes. At the end of the day I should see an empty black page if I've turned everything in.

Of course, this means I have to put all the pages in that one place every night.

Which means I have to do all the assignments.

BUT if I do them this way I at least get credit for doing them.

See? Better.

Mo' Mophie

One of the best things I ever got was a Mophie case for my iPhone. It's a really protective case but more important it has its own charge - you charge the iPhone, you charge the Mophie. You can choose for your phone to be lighter or have longer battery life, but for under $100 it can double your time.

Go here to see the Mophie