Another school year is just beginning, and the habits you set NOW will play a significant part in determining how successful this next year is! Here is a compilation of tips from the members of MODG News as to how you can make this school year your best yet!

If you don’t have one already, get yourself a planner! These can be extremely helpful! They really do help you keep up on all your tasks, and are a much easier way to visualize what you want your school day to look like. Also, you can incorporate way more into your planner than just those pressing school assignments you are procrastinating about. Prayer time, sports, free time, chores, family time, music time, and friend time can all be added to the planner, making your life as a whole more organized, and allowing you to make time for everything that is important to you!

Take five minutes at the beginning of your day to change out of your pajamas, get into a presentable outfit, make your bed, say a prayer, and get organized and ready for the day ahead. Just because you’re homeschooled doesn’t mean you get to be sloppy! Furthermore, when you act as if your day has purpose and you are organized, you will actually do far better and have more motivation in your school work! If you feel put together and organized, you will act put together and organized!

Try it out, because for some people it is helpful and others distracting, but listening to instrumental music during your school work can help you calm yourself and be more attentive to your school work. It also makes working more enjoyable. Who knows, you might even look forward to Algebra because of the awesome soundtrack you listen to while doing it!

If you ever start feeling a bit antsy or like you need a break, don’t be afraid of taking a break! Finish whatever it is you are working on at the moment, and then go do something else! It can be doing some chores, taking a walk, calling a friend, eating a snack, or simply getting a glass of water and taking some time to clear your mind. This can make a huge difference towards ensuring you stay awake and focused at all times during your school day!

MAKE FLASHCARDS! Regardless of whether it is for geography destinations or mathematical formulas, Latin vocabulary or biology terms, making and studying flashcards can really make a tremendous difference towards you mastering your school material! Easy to use and effective for learning, flashcards will allow you to retain more information than you would normally be able to, and study on the spot even if you aren’t at home.

Devote yourself to focused studying, and provide yourself with an environment which is most conducive to this studying. When you sit down to do an assignment, find a place that is quiet, put aside distractions (ie. phone, guitar, book) or anything which might tempt you to leave your assignment, and start working. Of course, if you live in a house like mine, there will always be some noise in the background. However, it is important to be able to work hard and focus, and you can do everything possible to try to ensure a minimal-distraction, focused environment for yourself.

Have fun. “Yah, like that will ever happen.” In all honesty though, there are ways that you can make studying more enjoyable for yourself, and therefore easier to do. For example, in certain subjects, I enjoy studying with a partner more than studying by myself. So, last year, I met with someone who was taking the same class as I was, and we studied together, while in the process actually becoming close friends. The ways in which you make school more enjoyable will be personal to you, but if you can find them and start incorporating them into your studies, your academic experience will be all and all more enjoyable!

I hope that you may find some of these helpful! If you have any other tips that you would like to share, feel free to do so in the comment section of this article. Wishing you all your best school year yet!

“Doing little things with a strong desire to please God makes them really great.”
– St. Francis de Sales