How to beat ‘back to school’ blues and prepare for the academic year?

You’ve enjoyed the biggest holiday season, visiting friends, relatives, touring your native town, picnicking and partying at your best. Now, it’s time to get back to school. It’s time to fasten your seat belts and gear up for the next academic year with books, uniforms, bags, stationary, accessories, shoes, timetables, study hour, home works, projects and the list goes on. Getting back to school has never been an easy task for students or for that matter even for parent. ‘Back to school season’ has always been one of anticipation and healthy apprehension for every household having a school going child.
When it is only a few more days to go before the school reopens, your mind is engaged in thoughts about locating your classroom, setting up locker, figuring out your class schedules, making new friends, planning weekend outings, optimising study plans, hanging out in the cafeteria and the likes.
We at Tutorpixie, with 7 years of experience in handling school grade students from grade 3 to grade 12, have understood finer aspects of student learning and delivered measurable tutoring at their convenience. In our quest for making the lives of students easier, our highly seasoned, stringently handpicked tutors have put together a simple 5 point guide to beat the ‘back to school’ (BTS) blues and approach the academic year with confidence and enthusiasm. Read these simple guidelines and remember to bookmark this blog, so that you can come back for more such valuable information and guidance.
Here is what Tutorpixie tutors evolved specially for school graders:
Tutorpixie BTS clue #1: Be organised – Learn Bookkeeping Skills – Color code all your subject note and text books using glitter tapes (like cello tapes). This will help you quickly get hold of the particular book avoiding flipping through all the books in the bag to find one. For instance, you can use green sticker for mathematics note or text or assignment books and so on. Think of similar systems for organising all your school work, paper work and home assignments. You can take the help of your mentors, online tutors who prepare you for going back to school or even elders at home as the need demands.
Whenever you feel that a task is large for you to handle, learn to break it into smaller parts or phases or subtopics. Remember every large task or answer or assignment is a collection of a number of small tasks. Therefore, you will find it relatively easier to approach and complete smaller tasks, ultimately ending up finishing the larger task easily. This leads to neat looking desks and worksations, organised wardrobes, and uncluttered minds that can achieve anything.
Flipside: Writing down lists on a paper using a pen has great benefits. There is scientific proof that writing down something you remember can improve brain capacity. Taking notes on your computer does not serve the above purpose. You can read this blog for more details on increasing memory power
Tutorpixie BTS clue #2: Learn to value time – ‘Whatever you want to do, do now’ since tomorrow or afterwards are completely uncertain terms. Remember you belong to a larger family and social ecosystem, postponement can affect the whole system. For instance, a project which is due for Monday cannot wait to be completed until previous Sunday. Your parent would have planned a day out on Sunday, a surprise guest or even a unforeseen event can end up in loss of a whole day or even two days. Ultimately your decision would end up in non-submission of project on the officially declared date. We believe that you would have experienced a similar situation in your school life as well. The above instance would have given you a rough idea of how external factors beyond your control can send your timetable for a toss. Be aware of such possibilities and plan well in advance to avoid discomforts and disappointments.
Flipside: If you are strong in 2 core subjects and need attention in the third, simply dedicate more time on the subject that needed attention and lower your study hours for the 2 core subjects. If you feel self study may not yield the desired results, immediately bring it to the notice of your parent. They may help you with tutoring assistance if needed. When you can see clearly what you have to work with, and set goals, time management is no ‘rocket science’.
Tutorpixie BTS clue #3: Trouble shooting abilities – This is one of the key skills to develop at an early age that will come in handy your adult life. Critical thinking and problem solving should be an integral part of every human. Is there anybody who can dare to say that I have no problems? Always learn to think 2 steps forward and 2 steps astern of every issue. This habit can take you ways in your student and work life.
Flipside: If delaying has become your habit in anything and everything, it needs to be sorted out on top priority. Delaying might be the result of low confidence levels. This points to lack of focus or concentration. read this blog and you will be able to overcome distraction and increase concentration levels.
5 Simple ways to increase focus and concentration in school children
Tutorpixie BTS clue #4: Hone your written and verbal communication abilities – Be confident about the fact that your help is at hand in the form of teachers at school, private tutors, online tutors, your parents and elder brothers and sisters or even your mentors. All that you need is to communicate and the rest will follow in quick succession. Our tutors encourage you to practice simple and straight forward communication, both verbal and written.
Flipside: Hone you written communication skills by getting into the habit of writing notes to parent who are away at work and placing them in conspicuous locations at home like dinning table, refrigerator etc. Draft emails, letters to loved ones, posts on social media, blogs and so on to develop your written communication skills. Be an active member of discussions at school and home. Keep reading news journals and listening to news to improve your verbal communication skills and vocabulary.
Tutorpixie BTS clue #5: constant self assessment – Learn to assess yourself on a regular basis. Set daily, weekly, monthly goals and review them on respective basis eg. beginning of the day on waking up ask yourself, “Why am I here what am I to do today? write down the answers. At the end of the day before going to sleep check whether you have accomplished what you wished and wrote down in the morning. This will help you manage time and discipline your mind.
We hope this blog post was interesting and informative. We would love to hear from you! Please leave us a comment or write to us at contact@tutorpixie.com – we will be happy to answer your queries!