tips for back to school

 

With the end of summer nearing and the start of a new school year just around the corner I think we all need all the help we can get to make this year a successful year, or at least more bearable. So I have decided to add my little grain of salt to the massive pile of tips and tricks for school. Now I don’t claim to be an expert at giving tips but I did just get a high school diploma so I guess I’m qualified enough. Right? Let’s just get comfortable and get going with the tips!

Make use of your calendar! I honestly can’t remember how many times I had to turn in late work because I either left my work at home or I forgot it was due that day. A great way to remember to bring things to school or to do something is using the calendar app. Just set an even for the day its due and put two alerts one the day before it is due and one on the morning before you leave home. The great thing about the app is that it lets you add notes, so if there is something you have to bring in just type it on the notes and you are ready to go. As long as you do this you should never forget to bring anything to school.

Listen to music that helps you concentrate! I tend to be someone who gets easily distracted, and it’s also hard for me to go back to something once I have lost my focus. Once I had to restart an essay three times because once I lost my focus I couldn’t get back to the same mind set and decided to write on something else. I found that if I listen to music and then it is easier for me to keep my focus. The thing with me was that I started singing and dancing after a couple minutes, until one day I decided to put on some classical music because I read somewhere it helped with memory. I not only found that I enjoy classical music but it helped me concentrate! I use a playlist from Spotify called “Epic Classical” and there is another great one called “Classical Essentials”. Another great app is Pandora, just search for classical and you’ll find some amazing playlists. Now, on both apps you can either pay to get an ad free version or you are cheap like me and don’t mind the ads then keep the free version.

Prioritize your homework. I don’t know if this was only just me but I used to do homework in the order of my school periods, this ended up being disastrous because half of my homework never got done because by the time I got to it it was so hard and my brain was already “tired” so I ended up taking breaks and never getting homework done. Then I tried doing homework from easy to hard because I thought that if I did what was easy first I wouldn’t get bored and tired (and I was wrong), you can imagine how much that backfired that I don’t even need to go into detail. Finally I decided to tackle what was hard first and go on from that, I found this to be the best way to do homework because once I am done with what is hard everything else feels like a piece of cake. If you want to give this a try, just start by making a list of your homework from hard to easy and go on from that. Then you’ll be able to experience that empowering feeling you get every time you scratch something of a list. (or is that just me?)

My next tip is about note taking, and since everyone has a different style of learning I have two options for you. I feel like I am versatile learner and I found that I can do both, so if you feel like you may be versatile or learn in many different ways I would try both and see which one I like. The first option quality over quantity, that is for those of who can recall detail when reading a summary or list of titles and subtitles. Try writing neatly and organized because it is better to have little detail but being able to read what you have than having all the information but jot being able to study it because you can’t read it. Use highlighters, colored pens, graphics, and cues. Use your margin, write little phrases that teachers repeat and make them stand out. When I was learning sympathetic and parasympathetic in psychology my teacher said “The parasympathetic is like a parachute, it brings you down.” Like twenty times and I wrote it down and you can bet I remembered what parasympathetic and sympathetic did when I took my exam. Now, if you feel like you have a harder time memorizing then try doing simpler notes. Just bring one pen and one highlighter and instead of wasting time on making it pretty make it efficient and full of detail (it still has to be legible though). Try to shorten as many words as you can, instead of writing “without” you could write “w/o” this will save you time to get more details in. If a teacher repeats something several times throughout the class then highlight it that way it will make it stand out. A great way to study if you are doing option number two is that when you get home you can rewrite your notes making them look prettier. Don’t take away any information though because you are going to need it once you study. I used this method when we studied the world wars in European History because it was very fast paced and there were too many details to memorize and it really helped a lot on the quizzes and tests.

My last tip is to relax. Find some down time every day to relax, I know that school can be very stressful, work just seems to pile up, and teachers don’t seem to get that there are more classes that we have to study for besides theirs. But pilling and bottling up stress is harmful for your mind and body and will eventually take its toll on you. I forgot this on my senior year and it did take a toll on me and my health. My defenses went down and I even got the flu (twice!). Not only that but it also tired me mentally to the point of causing unnecessary anxiety, I even had an anxiety attack while studying for ap psych (it wasn’t fun). In the end you just have to remember that while achieving your goals or passing the standard that your parents or you set. All that matters is that you give it your best. Don’t stress because of past situations. The great thing about grades is that once a grading period is done you get a fresh start on the next one. Personally every time I get inside my head and start over stressing or panicking I like to pray. Praying helps because I get to confide on someone that I know is always listening and will always want the best for me. When I pray for school I always like to ask for him to increase my desire to study, and for help with my laziness and my procrastination. I would really recommend giving it a try. It allows you to confide in someone, and to get what you feel and think out without telling those who you feel would not understand or make fun of you. If you’ve never tried, you don’t know if it would help.

 

Good luck in school!! I hope this year is very successful to you! If you need any more tips or you are struggling with something in particular you can leave me a comment or PM me on Instagram (its @paminthemiddle)

Until next time! Pam.

 

 

back to school must haves

If there was one thing I will miss from school during this year is back to school shopping. The truth is that I just love shopping (like who doesn’t?), but there is something about shopping for school supplies that just makes me feel like I am ready to take on the next year and be productive. I do tend to go overboard, like when I first moved to Florida I think I got every binder that I liked, two pencil cases, about three sets of pens, and the list goes on. And while there are some things that I could probably live without there are some things that are necessary for school survival. With school inching closer day by day and summer coming to an end I have decided to tell you guys about my school must haves.




My first essential for school is something to drink, there is just something so weird about the school’s water fountains that gross me out (probably the fact that last year someone got the stomach flu from drinking from the water fountain at my school), but water is still a necessity. So the next option, the one I prefer, is bringing your own cups and drinks. What I usually bring is either my Olaf tumbler cup that I got at Disney world or a little glass cup that I got at target with either water or iced coffee. This cups are great for any cold drink that you could think of, and look super cute! live in Florida so I need to have cold drinks or I would probably die from heat stroke, plus in my opinion cold drinks are more likely to keep you up than hot ones.

My next must have is a planner. Now, if you have read my top 10 things about me post you probably know I am all about planners and planning and when I mentioned it on that post I wrote a whole paragraph on how great they are and they truly are great. My mind is not a very organized place, I tend to have a million things going on up there, and thus tend to forget little details like deadlines and special projects. Like three years ago I had this huge math project that was assigned on the first day of the quarter but it wasn’t due until one week before the quarter ended. As soon as the project was assigned I started getting ideas of how I wanted to do it, I divided the work between the amount of days I had, I kept mental motes on everything I could do to make it great and get extra credit; but I made one terrible mistake, I didn’t write one thing down. Days went by, I got more assignments, I out my mid into other stuff, and when I finally remembered my math project I only had two days before it was due. I tried to scramble the work together and turned that terrible project in, I knew I had all the potential and ideas to get an A but I ended getting a D and it was all because I forgot about it. If there wasone lesson I learned from that class was to always write down what I really want to get done. If you have ever experienced that situation or you feel like you tend to always have too much going on some days and nothing on others it could be because you need more structure or order on your days, a planner is one way to help you do that. The great thing about planners is that there is a variety of options to choose there are cheap $3 planners and there are expensive $100 planners, there are horizontal layouts and vertical layouts, there are some that have morning day night structures and others that are hourly, basically there is one planner out there that will work just for you. Now, if you are willing to spend between $30-$50 on a planner I suggest Plum Paper Designs, PPD is an etsy store that sells totally customizable planners and you truly get what you pay for.

 

Another must have is a little makeup bag to keep all my essentials. On it I usually keep my EOS lip balm, a lip gloss, hand sanitizer, deodorant, some gum, a couple hair bands, some Midol, and my girl products (if you know what I mean). I used to take the bus during high school, and the bus used to pick me up at about 6:30 so I was typically running out of my house to catch the bus so carrying the “essentials” assured that I would always look somewhat presentable while in school.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My next must have is notebooks and wrapping paper. I have never been someone to pay too much for anything (unless it’s worth it) so when It comes to a place for taking notes for school I usually go to the dollar store and get their notebooks. But I am also someone that will want to use something the cuter or nicer it looks so I am more likely to actually take notes if I like the way my notebooks look. I found that an easy way to make you notebooks look better is if you wrap them with cute wrapping paper. Michaels, target, and even Walmart tend to have some cute paper. Trust me on this one, not only will your notebooks look cute, but they will also be unique, because even if other people decide to wrap theirs, they will probably do it with different paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last school must have are cute pens and pencils. I bet you have noticed by now but I tend to look for what I think as “cute”, so please excuse my overuse of that word, I don’t mean to over use it but when it comes to school supplies I do go for what looks most appealing. Anyways, going back to pens, markers, and pencils. My favorite place to buy pens and pencils is the target dollar spot, they change their styles frequently and always have the cutest colors, but they to tend to brake easily and they are not the best quality. If you are looking for quality I would go towards sharpie pens or papermate flairs, those are the best in the pen business and their color palettes are huge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it, I think I carried all of this during most of my high school and will probably carry those in college too. But now that I’ve told you my must haves why don’t you tell me yours? Let’s talk about it in the comments! Im curious to know. Als stay tuned on Friday for another back to school post, I am so excited about this time of the year. Can you tell? Haha.

Until next time! Pam.