Sitting down to do homework is one of the most tedious things a student has to do. With the pandemic keeping everyone in their homes, even parents have complained about being unable to supervise homework and their own jobs. With schools being out, homework is now more essential than ever. It reinforces what is being taught by the teacher in class.
By doing homework, students get a refresher on their coursework on their own time, which gives them the opportunity to assess whether they understood the material. By doing homework, you are also cutting down on revision time and study time as well. Even with all these benefits, homework can get boring. Here’s how you can make it feel less tedious and boring!
Break It up Into Small Portions
If you sit down and try to complete all your homework in one sitting, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by it. Instead, break it down into smaller portions that you tackle one by one. Do one exercise of your maths homework and then a part of your English assignment. Take a break, and then continue again.
This is to prevent you from feeling like you are trying to chip away at a mountain of work. Make a list of the homework you have and the portions you will be dividing it. Tick off or cross off the portions as you do them to keep yourself motivated to finish. Finishing a list also gives you a sense of accomplishment that will provide you with a boost of confidence too.
Do Difficult Things First
You have the most energy and concentration when you first start to do your work. You can maximize your productivity if you do the challenging subjects first and then move on to the easy ones when you begin to get fidgety. When you finish the difficult things in the beginning, remember to take a break before starting again. You can keep your mind refreshed this way and prevent too much boredom.
By doing difficult tasks first, you are also forcing yourself to finish them. Very often, it plays out like this – you finish the easy homework answers first, then get tired of the difficult one and leave it for later. Procrastinating about homework can leave you overwhelmed and exhausted as you try and finish it all over the weekend. Be kinder to yourself and adopt this strategy instead.
If you are stuck with a particularly difficult question, don’t be afraid to seek help. You can find resources online to get answers to specific questions. For instance, if you are looking for English homework answers you can find a tutor online who can help you understand hidden meanings behind phrases and stories, help you with grammar, and get a deeper understanding of the subject.
Take Breaks
While this might seem counterproductive to finishing your homework, taking breaks between portions of homework is a strategy you must adopt. Working and studying constantly will, over time, diminish how much you are learning. You will also notice a drop in how much you can focus on and for how long. To prevent this from happening, take frequent fifteen-minute breaks between study sessions.
If taking constant breaks bothers you, you can take longer breaks as long as they are sandwiched between suitably long periods of study. What is important is that you give your mind a break. This gives your brain a chance to process all the information you are writing or reading about and a chance to assimilate them into your long-term memory as well.
Keep Snacks Around
It is a big distraction when you are hungry. One way or another, your mind will inevitably return to how hungry you are, all the food you can eat, and which one you should choose to have now. Getting up from doing homework to get snacks can turn into an endless loop as you get some chips, then again some soda, some dessert, and so on.
To prevent this, keep a drawer dedicated to snacks in your study table. Keep snacks that are easy to eat and easy to clean up after. Dry snacks are recommended as they have long expiration dates, so even if you forget about them in your drawer, they’ll still be safe to eat a month later. Biscuits, chips, and single-serving chocolates are other great options.
Reward Yourself
One of the most common complaints we hear about homework is that it seems pointless. When you finish homework, all you get as a result is more homework! To combat this feeling, try keeping a list of things you can reward yourself with when you finish your homework. You will make doing homework have a point, making it seem less tedious in the long run.
Rewards can be simple things like candy or more high-value things like going out to see your friends or even purchasing something. You can even put in rules for when you can give yourself a small or big reward. This way, you won’t have to spend a lot for this trick to work!
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
