How do you organize your schedule?

Hello - I’m a parent of a high school student. My son excelled in middle school and rarely had to study much for tests. He is now attending boarding school and finding things a bit more challenging.

I notice that he is somewhat disorganized when it comes to planning out his day. When sitting down to do homework he shifts between assignments and takes lots of breaks. He has a lot of temptations online (facebook, IM, etc) but most of his work has to be done on a laptop for school reasons.

Does anyone have any suggestions on improving his organization/planning skills? Does anyone use the Cal Newport method? Looking for any advice.

Being a sophomore in high school myself, I often catch myself getting distracted. My school gives quite a bit of homework since I’m in some AP classes. I usually set goals while doing my homework. I’ll say “okay, I’ll get the toughest out of the way.” Then I’ll take a short three minute or so breather; maybe get a glass of water or something. Then I complete one assignment at a time. Some of my assignments are on the computer as well. Whenever I’m tempted to get on my Facebook or Twitter, I just log out of them. This ensures that I don’t get on them because it takes a lot of time to log back in and out of the sites. Sometimes I’ll also do some homework around my mom so she helps me stay on task.

@swade1234: many thanks for your reply. Sounds like you have a lot of discipline. Is it better to schedule more breaks (but shorter) or longer less frequent breaks? My son has a difficult time and gets distracted easily.

Do you plan your studying schedule/breaks ahead of time, or do you simply wing it?

@sgopal2 I mostly wing mine. I do as much as I can and whenever I get tired I take a break. Getting tired doesn’t mean, for me, wanting to get on social media or anything, but whenever I need to give my brain a chance to kind of rejuvenate. It really depends on how much your son is distracted. If it’s just that he can’t focus for a long period of time then I’d say short, frequent breaks. If he can do more, I’d say get him to do as much as he can until he needs to give his brain a break. I think in the end it can depend on what class he’s doing homework for. If it’s harder work maybe more frequent breaks, but if it’s simple then maybe knock it out in one round.

I don’t know if this way of organization will be feasible with a more rigorous workload or increased extra-curriculars, (or even a job) but it’s worked for me so far. I might have to change next year (junior) when I start taking AP’s or when I hopefully get a job.

However, first thing’s first, the goal is always to try to get as much homework done at school as I can. Many times during classes, I have a spare moment. I always try to get another problem done on a Chem work sheet or write another paragraph for a writing assignment. I get things done in chronological order: first period then to second, third and fourth. Whenever I have a project that is in parts and has a span of multiple days until due, I divide the project into days and do each part on the appropriate day (I only include M-F as days, not the weekend).

My school has a universal study hall-like time most days, and so I have 30 minutes to work on any homework I have.

When I get home (after a bus ride in which I unwind by listening to music for 15-20 minutes), I eat a snack and then immediately begin my homework until it’s complete. Again, chronologically (who has time to devote a thoughtful process based on strengths and weaknesses?). It’s just a matter of organizing your time effectively (like I described with projects) and having a strong work ethic.

For me, personally, I just start to freak out if I don’t have things done according to how my mind mandates I should. Obviously, EC’s and social activities get in the way, but I’ve rarely had a problem doing everything I need to.

It’s just priorities.

I think theres a program on the computer that blocks certain websites (like facebook or youtube) for a certain amount of time. So even if you try to go on facebook, it wont let you, and I think its really helpful. I dont know what its called because I never used it, but some of my friends use it whenever they have loads of work to do.

Im a junior right now and I have to say: junior workload is intense. harder work, more work to do in general. Maybe its because im taking 2.5 more honors/AP classes than soph year, but time management skills/ organization are really important junior year. I think I have had at least 4 quizzes/ tests/ projects due a week.

And yeah, finishing hw at school beforehand is a big help too.

Poorly.